25-28 August 2017
2 newbies, 1 anemic and 1 hopeless case (that’s me).
Sometimes, you just need willpower to conquer mountains.
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| The carnivorous pitcher plant |
Similar to when I went to the Himalayas, as soon as we booked our trip
to Kota Kinabalu, I prepared for the trip by doing two local hikes (Mt. Ulap
and Mt. Batulao) and visiting the doctor (I was slightly sick for the last 2
months). Two weeks before our flight, I had my annual physical exam and after
some hiccups with my results, it was deemed that I was not unfit to hike. J
Even though we arrived early in the afternoon at Kota Kinabalu, we
didn't bother going around the city. We went straight to our lodging, prepared
our gear and just went out to eat and buy what we needed. We were asleep early
that night and by 6AM, we were ready to go!
We started at Timpohon Gate (1866 MASL) sometime past 9 in the morning
and arrived at Laban Rata (3270 MASL) around 5PM. My friends were walking at my
pace, so we were all slow (although they eventually went ahead at the latter part of the trek). A lot of groups arrived earlier and our group was
among the slowest.
There were (6) huts along the route to Laban Rata. One hut for every
kilometer (out of 6 kilometers) although the distance from one hut to the other
varies. There were toilets and benches on each hut and a sign on how far
is the next one. The route was mostly stairs and large steps. Then when it
rained, it became mud.
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| The route to Laban Rata is mostly steps |
After around the 3rd hut, one of our mates hired a porter and I was
walking a good distance behind from all of them. It started raining when we around
the 4.5km mark. I had a poncho that kept me dry, except for my shoes which got soaked
(even though they were supposed to be waterproof).
It took us almost 8 hours to reach Laban Rata. Without taking off my
soaked shoes, I had my dinner. I had two servings of dinner and a porrridge
before bringing my bag up to our room. I was going to go back for another
serving but I ended up staying in bed.
We switched off our lights by around 7 in the evening but there seemed
to be electricity throughout the night. My bed was next to the window and I
could hear the rain most of the night. The room felt stuffed and a little
suffocating and it was a relief when someone finally left the door ajar during
the night. I was damn tired and although my sleep was more or less sufficient,
I kept on waking up to pee during the night.
We were awake by 1:30 and had a small meal before we resumed our ascent
at 2:30AM. The beginning of the route to the summit was mostly stairs and
steps. Near the summit, we were walking on big rocks (the peak is basically a
massive rock) Some parts of the route were so steep that you need to use ropes
to ascend. We were told that we had to reach the checkpoint by 5AM and the
summit by 7AM. I knew that I was slower than the average so I was determined to
keep on walking no matter how slow my pace was. I barely stopped to rest
throughout the ascent. We made it to the checkpoint a quarter before 5AM. I
later learned that they weren't that strict with the time limits. As long as
you're willing to go up, you will make it to the summit.
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| Ropes on the route |
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| Steep ascent |
The sun was rising when we reached the 8.5km mark. For a moment, I
thought we were already at the summit. We weren’t. But the summit was in sight.
We just needed to walk and climb over a few more boulders.
It was cold and windy. When we made it to the summit, my body was warm
but my hands were freezing. I brought a fleece jacket on my way to the summit
but didn't use it. My windproof/waterproof jacket over my sports shirt was
sufficient to keep my body warm. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring proper gloves. I
brought safety gloves which protected my hands while holding the ropes. But since
the ropes were wet and there was cold wind, my hands were freezing. Since I had
to keep my hands in my pocket, I ended up not taking photos (which was
unfortunate for my friend who took my photos).
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| The sky is your backdrop |
After waiting in queue to have our photos taken on the summit, we started our descent and made it back to Laban Rata 10AM. After 3 servings of breakfast, we checked out around 11:30 and resumed our descent. Descending was torturous. Imagine climbing down a staircase from 4095 meters to around 1200 meters. Our stops were less than 5 minutes. My knees and thighs were in pain. We all hired a trekking pole for 10myr (120php) each at the start of the trek. I didn't use it on the way up but I leaned on it all the way down.
After what seemed like endless flight of stairs, we finally made it
back to Timpohon Gate around 4PM. My legs were aching and I was walking funny
(It ached for an entire week). This is probably gonna be my last hike for the
next couple of years.
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| Why I trek |
