Climbing Mount Kinabalu
There’s just something about climbing to the highest point around and looking back down at where you’ve come from; knowing that you are, for just a moment, higher than everyone else and the buildings and roads below have shrunk to form a tiny toy town.
That drive to stand higher than everyone else for a few moments took my partner and me to Malaysian Borneo in mid-2014 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. Someone told me that on a really clear day you can see the Philippines from the top. There was one way to find out. To see just how far 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.
Day 1
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; my work colleagues who wished me well when I last saw them, my family, the rude woman who looked me up and down and said ‘you’re going to climb the mountain’. Perhaps just as effective was the thought of them rolling their eyes at news of my failure to make it to the top. And the rude woman who looked me up and down and said ‘you’re going to climb up the mountain’ thinking ‘I knew it.’
We made steady progress with a few rest stops and reached Pendant Hut at around 2.30pm, almost exactly 12 hours before tomorrow’s early morning departure.
We stayed in Pendant Hut rather than the larger Laban Rata hut, which was already fully booked when we made our arrangements four months ago. By accepting the alternative accommodation at Pendant Hut we were locked in to taking part in the mountain’s
Via Ferrata activity (You are only able to stay in this hut by booking the Via Ferrata. If you choose to not do it or it is cancelled because of bad weather you will not be offered any sort of refund.) Although we didn’t intend doing the Via Ferrata we were obliged to attend a safety briefing on the activity and try on harnesses and practise our skills at negotiating cables.
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 re-joined our guide to start tackling the remaining 2.72 kilometres of trail and 806 metres of altitude 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. It is as though some people think that if they are not first to the top the summit will have moved by the time they reach it.
After the stairs we reach 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 either grab, shake or drop the rope. Anyone still feeling sleepy from the early start was quickly startled awake in the mayhem with guides shouting warnings and instructions. This section of about 100 metres feels a lot longer due to the slow progress and the effort required to haul yourself up the slope.
We made it to Sayat Sayat Hut where the last check of our ID tags took place before we continued. 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. Here though the altitude reaches above 3700 metres and some people begin to hit a wall, whether from effects of altitude or just burning out. 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 lower down. 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 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. This final section tests your will to reach the top. You can see the sign on the summit within reach but it takes quite an effort to get up there. With that 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 in the nick of time to join in the Via Ferrata activity with last cut off at 8am. We decided on the spur of the moment to have a go – since we were there and we had paid for it. Dressed in the safety harness and head gear we had to make our way back down the steep rope section at the 7.4 kilometre mark to get to the start of the Via Ferrata route. In the light of day you can 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. We decided to ‘scratch’ ourselves from the Via Ferrata, almost at its starting gate, and instead continue back down the mountain Via the regular trekking route. I hobbled back to Pendant Hut. After a coffee, some more toast and a rest we were keen to get to the bottom.
We started the descent about 10.30am. The trip down was much quicker than the way up. We made good, steady progress. Almost half way down the mountain a woman coming up said ‘Good morning,’ and I asked ‘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 appear huge and the summit of Mount Kinabalu is a tiny speck in the distance.