Amazing Gunung Kinabalu

wehh..bersawang dah blog nihh...soory la fellow bloggers, the urge dah kurengg...but this time I'm back with a revenge...this my experience climbing the great gunung kinabalu on july 3, 2009...

Where do I even begin to describe about this trip? The preparation or just straight to the event itself? The preparations, planning, gathering team members is an ongoing process till the very last week to the event! This trip was actually masterminded by my good friend, Z. the three of us, Z, I and moir are gud friends since we were in secondary school and before reaching the big three-O, we wanted to do something big to signify our glorious years. The biggest in Malaysia, is definitely Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak not only in Malaysia but also in SEA..barulah gempak sket celebration..hehe…

In order to prepare for the big climb, we practiced hiking and jogging almost every week, 3 months prior to our trip. Memg sangat membantu okey!
Back again to team members. We have members going in and out. From the initial 3, to total of 8 to back at 3. We need minimum people of 4 to get a good price. Fyi, minimum of 4 people for a tour guide to climb kinabalu. If less than 4, we have to pay more..the trip is quite pricey, totaling to more than 1k per person, and that’s for 4 people..if less than 4, do the maths laa…actually the total cost includes our padas trip also. So the actual cost for kinabalu alone is amounting to about rm800. One of our friends, who had been climbing up the mountain few years back had only to pay rm100 as compared to us now at rm800. Giler naik tahap gaban. But somehow, it’s becoz it’s getting famous and kinabalu park needs to limit the people going up. At last, end of March this year, we managed to get our 4th team members and surpirisingly :
1- Z is no longer in the team
2- 4th team member is my opismate which I didn’t know for very long but jumped in to join right after I mentioned bout the trip to her.
And that’s not the only surprise. The last surprise is, our 4th team member, at the very last minute, 3 days before our departure date to KK, informed me that she wud not be able to join. Ahah! But somehow, she had made all the payments, so our trip still went on, but we need to still have our 4th member and she turned out to be my housemate. Lucky her! She had been following me and my other team members practicing for our big climb and it’s her rezeki to also follow us to KK.
So, the final 4 are:
1- Dell, red teletubbies
2- Izan, leader of the tribe
3- Ida, saved by bumblebee
4- Moir, the superwoman..hehe
Upon touched down at KK airport, a driver was ready to take us to Kinabalu Park. Ah Hai, very fast and nauseatic driver. We had to endure his F1 driving skill for 2 hours. Once reaching the kinabalu park, located at kundasang, we mobilized our stuffs to nepenthes lodge, very comfy chalet for nite sleep before starting the journey to mount kinabalu the next day.


The view and team members.....
We woke up at bout 500am. Actually that’s the time we woke up everyday for this trip. It’s already bright here at about 6am. We decided to walk to the HQ rather than waited for the van since the van wud only start after 730am. We wanted to be early so that we cud start our climb earliest by 800am. We had breakfast (food is delicious here at balsam café!), took our packed lunch, leave the other bag (travelling bag and other unnecessary stuffs for the climb), paid for fees here and there, found our tour guide (a nice murut man named wandy- pronounced as wendy) and boarded the bus to timpohon gate. All in all, we started the climb at about 830am.
There are 2 routes to climb kinabalu. Timpohon and mesilau. Yes, I took timpohon since it is mostly recommendable for beginners since it is easier with stairs and shorter. With timpohon route, we will climb 6km up. As for mesilau, it is more challenging and adds 2 km more. So total of 8km up before reaching laban rata. But the advantage of taking mesilau route is, you get to enjoy better view. It is really up to u to choose which one is more suitable for u. as for me, if I were to climb kinabalu again, I will absolutely choose mesilau since I’ve tried timpohon.
Even though the view of timpohon was said to be less scenic than mesilau, my group still think it’s breathtaking. As we go higher, u’ll see the change of type of trees and cud see the clouds below u. the only thing which is boring is seeing the endless stairs to laban rata. Memg buhsannn and demoralized la when u see the steep stairs..penattt…but whenever I saw one, I told myself to just look at the one step ahead of me, not the overall picture since when u see how steep and high it is, u will definitely become demoralized. Just go one step by one step and not go rushing up and tire urself. U will need all the energy u have for the second phase. The first phase of climbing up from timpohon to laban rata shud not be forced. My group took our own sweet time and get to laban rata in 7 hours. More than 1km/hour. Slow? Yeah, try it urself!
Check out the pix.....








I was sooo happy reaching Waras hut that I thot it was Laban Rata. But when I saw “Waras Hut”, I became almost tak waras. Where the hell is laban rata??? Well, it’s not that far…only 200m up..whatever it is, cheer up!

Laban rata...............

U will reach the top but please be prepared physically AND mentally. Don’t come to kinabalu without any physical preparation. My group did traininig 3 months prior to our trip. We just went hiking to Gunung datok, bukit tabuh and bukit FRIM. I also did swimming at least two times a week. Since I had trouble with my leg, kena buat extra sket la. These activities help so much! As for mental strength, just stay positive. Believe in yourself that you are going to be on Low’s peak, the highest peak in SEA. To tell u the truth, I wasn’t the fittest in my group, however, I was the first one to reach Low’s peak, much to my own surprise!

Later that nite, not much activity going around since we need to sleep early. Still, since izan, is celebrating her birthday that nite, sempatla celebrate. It is surely the birthday she cud not forget!! How I wish I cud my bday in that style also..sooo jeles of u izan!

celebrating izan's bday with the uncles...one of them is ida's bumblebee...

Oh yeah, did I mention that we stayed at Gunting lagadan and not laban rata? At first, we were quite disappointed upon knowing this but since we cud delay our trip any further, we just agreed to this arrangement. The problem with staying at gunting lagadan is, there is no heated bed and it is 200m above laban rata. However, we were so grateful once knowing that heated shower is already there. The temperature up there is very cold. But no worries to those who stays at gunting lagadan coz from our conversation with our mates staying at laban rata, the heated bed didn’t help at all since it gets too hot and they had to swith it off. Yeah but the minus point is the location coz you have to climb the stairs again after having your makan at laban rata. So if u didn’t plan on going up and down from these 2 places, bring along ur extra food.

We started sleeping at bout 9pm since we need to get up at 1am!! The second phase climb started at 230am. But I didn’t even get to sleep AT ALL! I don’t know if it’s due to the coldness (I put on 3 shirts and a sweater, 2 layer of pants, 3 layers of socks AND I had 2 blankets), or excitement to climb to Low’s peak or whatever. i just cudn’t sleep and it worries me that I will get tired and not able to reach the peak. Luckily, it didn’t happen.

I got up at 1230am, after so tired of keep watching my watch for every freaking hour and go to the toilet. Not to take a bath, but to do some unfinished “business”…hehe..maybe I cudn’t sleep becoz of that?...hmm…
My friends are already up and bout by the time I reached my room. We had hot milo with Maggie (heaven!)…we were supposed to go to laban rata for supper, but we didn’t think it is wise to go down and then up again..penatlaaa..the advantage of staying at gunting lagadan is, u get to start early since u r already 200m above laban rata. We were the first group to start the climb after the gate to Low’s peak was opened (yeah, THERE’s a gate, if not, people surely suka hati up and down to Low’s peak kan?). 500m from gunting lagadan, this is ur worst nitemare. There are no more stairs coz it’s just mountain of rocks and u need to hold on to a rope to go up. As there were so many people on the climb, sometimes you have to que. Once reaching the last check point at sayat-sayat, there’s someone who will check on your tag and name (DON’T ever forget ur tag, put it ON all the time!) to record your attendance there. During our stop here, wendy told us that for those who can go faster to lead the way as not all of us has the same stamina. Seeing ida lead the pack, I joined her. This time, I didn’t want to follow the rope since I realized that the rope can actually slow me down. I decided to follow the trail beside the rope. But do watch ur step. If u are not confident enuff, just hold on to the rope. Becoz I wasn’t following the rope, I lost ida. When I turned back, she was no longer behind me. I told myself to keep my pace and hope to see her at Low’s peak. As it gets higher, it gets harder to breath. The oxygen is thinning. I was bout to give up but by a stroke of luck, I met douglas, my friend from previous rafting trip. I met her at laban rata while makan but didn’t expect to see him up there. He was quite surprised seeing me and told me that I was quite fast. No, douglas, I didn’t practice harder than my friends. It is my mental strength that gets me to the top. I fully believe I can reach the top. Douglas helped me so much. Not only he let me borrowed his spare gloves (bless him!), he also motivated me all the way. However, 300m to reach the top, I asked him to leave me since I slowed him down so much.

There is this funny story. Actually I never see the peak while climbing up since it was dark. Eventho douglas kept telling me that it wasn’t that far, I just didn’t know where the it is. So, I kept going and going and going. I was about to take a sip of the drink in my bottled water when I looked up and saw many people clustering at a spot. They were taking pictures!! That’s Low’s Peak!! I was sooo damn happy that straight away forget my drink and went to touch the plates that’s just few steps away….i looked up my watch and saw 530am…wow! I cudn’t believe it…did I make it that early? I have this friend who had just came back from kinabalu and he reached the top at 550am and I thot that I cud never beat him since he is fitter than me but I BEAT HIM!! I was so damn proud of myself!! Not only that, I was rewarded with the view of the most beautiful sunrise eva! Dell, my other group member reached the top 20 minutes later.

This is before we start the CLIMB....

With douglas, once reaching the top..thanx douglas!

sunrise....

soooo preeetyyyyy

st john's peak...

with the rest of my teammates and wendy...

Before 7am, all my other team members reached the top. We took pictures and laughed together. We made it! I still can remember how long the planning takes place and how I thot that it cud never be a reality. Having reached Low’s peak, I believe that I cud do almost all the things that I plan to do. It’s a surreal thing and I felt lie being in a different place. You have to be there and experience it urself. No words can fully describe the feelings.

Well,if I can conquer Kinabalu, so can YOU!!