Mount Kinabalu (Malay: Gunung Kinabalu) is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Located in the East Malaysian state of Sabah, it is protected as Kinabalu National Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the highest peak in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago. Mount Kinabalu is also the 20th most prominent mountain in the world by topographic prominence. (Source: Wikipedia)
Enough said. It is ALREADY tough to climb a mountain. Not to forget that this is one tough mountain to climb.
In end Sep 2013, the comrade Kong and I decided to attempt this mountain out of our already very cuckoo mind. If the journey is tough, reaching the destination is even tougher.
Below is an reproduced, totally uncensored correspondence I made barely hours after the climb:
The whole climbing experience was really memorable. To sum it up, I would describe it as tortureous. Now my whole leg muscle is aching like crazy, I have difficulty sitting down on the toilet bowl, climbing up to my upper deck bed at the hostel. I also walked with a strange gait. I got a nasty bruise on my right kneecap and left feet. I barely drink 1 litre of water in 2 days, and also survive on snacks during the 2 day climb. My 2 hands are red, swollen and stiff from the frostbite, and everytime I touch water will have stinging pain. Yesterday as I trek down the mountain, I also have blood shot eyes. And as the driver drove us down the mountain, I had carsick and vomitted.
BUT BUT BUT... I certainly enjoy the whole experience even though it was tortureous.
The mountain is really high and majestic. When I was at the base of the moutain, I was wondering how can man ever reach the top.
Though this time round, my friend and I did not manage to reach the summit, but I am glad we pushed ourselves to climb as high as we could. There was 1 point, I was so tired, I didnt want to climb anymore. I was debating within me whether to continue or stop. So I stop at a spot for very long, hoping my guide ahead will come back for me. Then I will tell himn I want to quit. But he didnt come. So I had no choice but to climb further up to him. I think it is a ploy from him to make me climb up. When I finally caught up with him, I told him I am tired and want to give up. He looked pensive and said " the climb is indeed difficult. But, let's move on". And so I moved on. I think my guide could tell that I am able to climb but just have very low willpower so he pushed me on.
The torrential rain started a while after we left out basecamp. With the gale wind, the temp could have been like 0 degC. Soon, there was a cascading waterfall down the rockface even as we haul ourselves up. As we climb in the dark, we could only depend on our headtorch. With the wet surface, slippery slope and steep gradient, every move up was like defying death. A single slip and one would fall off the rockface down to the bottom with nothing to stop your fall. In the end, he mountain peak is about 4000m above sea level and we managed to reach 3600m. It was with a little regret that we didnt summit as the weather condition was really bad yesterday. My guide said I am good at rock climbing. As my glove is wet, I didnt wear it for a period of time. So it was frostbite and rope burn for me as I used my bare hands to grap the rope dearly. I complained to my guide about the frostbite and he, who also didnt have gloves, told me that he also got frostbite so stop complaining. My life is depended on it so I had to bear with the frotsbite and rope burn. But my friend keep losing her grip and slipping. I have to thank the Kampung Adidas for saving me from many potential deadly fall.
When we reach 3600m, we were told that it is dangerous to climb up further. Our guide advised us not to climb further up. Partly as we spend a substantial amt of time navigating the tough terrain up, our timing wasnt really good to reach the summit in time. So disappointingly and also thankfully, we stop climbing.
At 3600m, the temp was so cold. Many of us huddled in a wooden hut, body close to one another for some warmth. My only source of warmth was from a candle. I put my hand so close to the fire for some heat. But with the frostbite, I also couldnt feel the fire. Thankfully, I did not burn my fingers from the candle light. Soon, there was a man whom I think managed to reach summit and then climb down to the wooden hut. He looked like death warm up. Ghastly and probably hypothermia. He had muscous dripping from his nose. My friend asked if he is a mountain guide (as he look like a local) or a climber. He only muttered "cold" and from then on, he couldnt talk.
For the technical part, my achilles heel has got to be the climbing of stairs up. My guide said I am slow and at one point, he looked concerned and asked if I had altitude sickness. For the climb down the mountain, I took only 5 hours when the average is 6 hours. My guide said I am good. My friend took 6 hours 15 mins.
Now as I am consolidating my thoughts and reflection while recoiling in horror everytime I have to climb a stair, I am starting to think about my next chuang jiang hu trip.
Maybe scuba diving? ;)
Signed off,
The dromomaniac
