There’s just something about climbing to a high point and looking back down at where you’ve come from; knowing that you are, for just a moment, higher than everyone else.
Wanting to stand higher than everyone else for a few moments enticed my partner and me to Malaysian Borneo to tackle Mount Kinabalu. At 4095.2 metres at its highest point at Low’s Peak, Mount Kinabalu is South East Asia’s highest mountain; looming large over Kota Kinabalu and its surrounds.
The summit is accessible via a trekking path of 8.72 kilometres with an overall altitude gain of 2229 metres. It’s said that, on a really clear day, you can see all the way to the Philippines from the top. There was only one way to find out.
Day 1
To see just how far you really can see from the top, we set out on a two-day one-night trek from Kinabalu Park Headquarters accompanied by our guide, a tiny woman who has been leading people up the mountain for more than 20 years.
Our objective today was to reach Pendant Hut at 3289 metres and six kilometres along the trail. With the start of the trail from Timpohon Gate at 1866 metres, an altitude gain of just under one and half kilometres was required.
It was a long slog. The first hour was the hardest as legs have to warm up quickly while climbing some long, steep staircases. Surprisingly though, the going, while steep, was relatively unchallenging with no need to scramble or crawl anywhere. It can become a little monotonous after a time. At least the scenery and terrain changes along the way and there are shelters about every 500 metres for rest stops out of the changeable weather.
When I got tired or bored I thought about the people back home to get them to egg me on. There was my work colleagues who wished me well when I last saw them, my family, and that rude woman who had looked me up and down and said ‘you’re going to climb the mountain’…
Perhaps just as effective was the thought of them all rolling their eyes at news of my failure to make it to the top. And that rude woman who looked me up and down and said ‘you’re going to climb up the mountain’ looking me up and down again and saying ‘I knew it.’
We made steady progress and reached Pendant Hut at around 2.30pm, almost exactly 12 hours before tomorrow’s early morning departure.
After dinner over at Laban Rata we had to go to bed around 8pm and try to get some rest for tomorrow.
Day 2
Being summoned from bed at 1.30am is a rude shock even when you knew all along this was going to happen. After some coffee and toast we were re-joined by our guide to tackle the remaining 2.72 kilometres of trail, and the 806 metre altitude gain to reach the summit.
The rain that started just as we arrived at Pendant Hut yesterday hadn’t let up and we began walking in pitch dark and persistent drizzle. The trail to the summit begins with a series of long, steep staircases. I was quickly overtaken by dozens of fellow hikers, many of whom seemed to have a dose of ‘summit fever’ with some literally pushing and shoving to beat other walkers up the stairs. Some people seem to fear that the summit will have moved by the time they get there if they don’t rush. We would see many of these people again later as they burned out and slowed.
After the stairs we reached the notorious section around the 7.4 kilometre mark where climbers need to hold on to a rope to ascend a fairly steep rock slope. In all of the research I did prior to taking this trip, this rope section was cited as the trail’s most dangerous and the scene of the most accidents – as I was soon to find out. You need to hold the rope and walk up the slope while moving hand over hand along the rope; a bit like Batman and Robin going up the side of a building but not as steep. It sounds easy enough except remember that you’re doing this in the dark and you can only see a couple of metres in any direction with your head torch. The other difficulty is that you are not the only person holding on to this rope. The tension in the rope, and its height, continually change as different people in front and behind grab it, shake it or drop it. Anyone still feeling sleepy from the early start was quickly startled awake in the mayhem. Guides shouted warnings and instructions.
We made it to Sayat Sayat Hut and presented our ID tags for the last time. The rain soon stopped as we got above the clouds. The next kilometre to the bottom of Low’s Peak takes walkers over a rock plateau. A rope stretched across the rock surface marks the safe route to follow although here it is not usually necessary to hold the rope. It can be slippery but the gradient is surprisingly gentle.
The altitude now reaches over 3700 metres and some people hit a wall. The pace had definitely slowed and I found myself, without really trying to, steadily overtaking many of the people who had earlier raced by me on the stairs. Slow and steady wins the race.
Right across the rock plateau a long line of trekkers, with only the beam from their head torches visible, stretched out like a line of fireflies in the darkness. Ahead of us the lights of the first to reach the summit could be seen on top of the peak. They provided the first sign that our objective was within reach. We were nearly there.
The sun began to come up around 6am just before we reached the final climb to Low’s Peak. We had a final scramble over large rocks to reach the summit about 200 metres above. With a final effort we successfully reached the summit. Kinabalu was conquered!
We barely had a chance to take it all in and enjoy the sense of achievement we’d earned. The summit is really overcrowded. You can only take a few moments to get that ‘proof I did it’ photo by the summit sign and then get back down off the peak.
We found a spot on a rock just below the peak to take it all in. It was an amazing view from the top even though it was not terribly clear. We couldn’t see the Philippines but the mountain’s other peaks poked through the cloud cover and when the cloud cleared we could see all the way back down to park headquarters; its buildings like tiny Lego bricks way below. We could now see just how far we’d climbed up to get here. We could also see just how far we had to go to get back down.
We retraced our steps across the rock plateau arriving back at Sayat Sayat and then back down the precarious rope section. In the light of day we could now see how precarious this section is. Wander away from the rope in the dark here and you would take a very a nasty slide down the rock face. With only a few metres to go to the end of the rope section I lost my footing on the rock. I suddenly found myself swinging out from the rock face and then slamming back into it and badly bruising my thigh, shin and arm. It really hurt and left me sore and dazed. I hobbled back to Pendant Hut. After a coffee, some more toast and a rest I just wanted to get off this mountain as quickly as possible.
The trip down was much quicker than the way up. I played a game imagining myself in a race. I could score points if I passed people. I scored quite a few. Almost half way down the mountain a woman coming up said ‘Good morning.’ ‘Is it still morning?’ It was. It was just before noon and we’d already been on the go for around 10 hours. We made it to the bottom just after 2.30, almost exactly 12 hours after setting out for the summit.
From Kinabalu Park Headquarters we were driven to our hotel in Kota Kinabalu from where the buildings were huge and the summit of Mount Kinabalu now appeared a tiny speck in the distance.
Louise and Andrew climbed Mount Kinabalu in June 2014.
Mount Kinabalu is in Sabah, Malaysia around a two-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu. For more information and bookings visit: http://www.mountkinabalu.com/