Borneo (Sabah) - Mount Kinabalu

During our stay at the orphanage we managed to book some last minute passes to climb the famous Mount Kinabalu. The climb is only a two day affair and we decided to do it on one of our free weekends. Getting up early and heading to the bus terminal we found that there were no buses because of Hari Ria so we arranged a shared taxi out to the ‘base camp’. By the time we had reached the base, organized a guide and set off on the hike it was about 11 o’clock. Now we had heard varying accounts of how difficult the climb was…standing at 4095m (highest peak in S.E Asia) several people had said it was really tough but then it does only take two days and Jerry had done it 7 times!! So we figured it couldn’t be that hard?!

Mount Kinabalu!

Sunset on the first day

I thought it was horrendous!! We climbed straight up for literally 5 hours…there was no respite, it was like climbing stairs solidly and some of the steps were well over a foot high. I couldn’t believe how unfit I’d become since Nepal…2 months of enjoying the local cuisines were definitely taking their toll. To make matters worse about half way through the climb it started to pour with torrential rain and with only feeble rain jackets we got completely soaked through. When we arrived at the hut where we were staying we were absolutely freezing but relieved for the climb to be over! There wasn’t any heating in our little dormitory so it took forever for us to warm up and none of our clothes dried. Luckily we were the only two in there so we were able to steal all the other blankets! J At 4pm we had a buffet dinner which was really tasty especially considering all the ingredients had to be carried by foot up the mountain. Then we went to bed at 7 to try and get some sleep before getting up at 2am for another dinner and the climb to the summit.

On the way to the summit with headtorches

At 2am I felt like I hadn’t slept a wink and when I had to put my damp clothes back on and start the climb in the pitch black I was pretty miserable. In my superior athletic shape I had managed to pull one of my hip flexors on the climb up, so as well as complaining about being tired I was able to complain about that too. J The climb started with lots more steps (and lots of people!) and then evened out to a sheer slope where you had to use ropes to climb up. Despite the climb being equally as horrendous as the

The rope to pull yourself to the top

day before the scenery was magnificent and completely unlike any climbs we’d done before. The view and
the sunrise when we reached the summit were really beautiful and dare I say it definitely worth the climb. We then proceeded back down the mountain to have breakfast at the hut before making the final descent to complete the mammoth 15 hour trek.

Finally... the summit!

I have to say that whilst I thought I was going to die on the mountain…Mike was absolutely fine. He had no problems with the altitude and no problems with the climb. It is true that for the next 2 days we could barely walk and were exceedingly sore but apart from that – no problems! I on the other hand was ill with vomiting and fever for the next three days and maybe I found it so hard because I was coming down with something? But I think it’s probably more likely that I got ill because I’d got so cold and found it so hard! I’m so glad we did it though…almost everyone we’ve met since we left Sabah has asked us if we climbed Mount Kinabalu and whilst I don’t think I’ll be climbing it again, Mike is considering if he could make the climb in one day J