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I hiked up Mt Kinabalu on Day 1. I got bored at the top, Low's
Peak, at 4095.2m. I hiked down Mt Kinabalu on Day 2. I picked
up the T-shirt and spent the rest of the day in a hot tub at Poring
Hot Springs.
Well, admittedly there is more to my three days at Kinabalu Park than these dire words suggest. Kinabalu Park is the major national park of Sabah in East Malaysia on Borneo. It centers around the monumental Mt Kinabalu with its several peaks, all hovering around 4000 to 4100m. As with so many things in Malaysia, visiting the park is a well-organized tourist affair. Tourists come from all over the world to see the park and, as the highlight, climb Mt Kinabalu.
Accomodation is basic. At some point of time, I thought of
this experience as the summit of inconvenience. At my first night
at the park, rats made their way into my cabin room, already the
most expensive choice, and ate my chocolate. After switching rooms,
I moved the bed into the middle of the room, and made sure that
everything was hung up high that night. The last thing I needed
was some hungry rat nagging away on the leather of my hiking boots.
The next morning, the shower provided only cold water. Later that
day, at base camp, someone stole my polo-shirt that I had hung
up for drying after the sweaty hike. Finally, on the mountain,
I had to sleep in wet bedding without heating. (Which I really
really hated. But then, I didn't find sleep anyway.)
The marketing brochures describe hiking up Mt Kinabalu as an
affair for which you have to be only moderately fit and maybe
come with a good pair of sports shoes. I beg to differ, and so
did all other hikers I spoke with. While I and many others climbed
up the mountain without significant problems, it is nevertheless
a strenuous affair for which you need to be fit and well-equipped.
To hike safe in sub-alpine climate at heights where altitude sickness
occurs, is definitely not a job for People
with Badelatschen. Alas, on our way up, we saw many people
coming down who had given up, had muscle cramps, or looked generally
ill. The next morning on the final part of the ascent, at 3am,
I saw someone vomit---a sign of possible altitude sickness.
You have to hire a guide to hike up the mountain. On the first
morning of the 2-day hike, I showed up at the park warden's office
to be assigned a guide. I asked for a guide who speaks English
well and can show me some of the fauna and flora found on the
way. I got Sigul. Sigul is an older well-respected guide. I'm
sure, he is full of stories, experiences, and knowledge about
the mountain. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell me about it, because,
in his own words, he speaks English only "little little little."
For example, I asked him: "Which of these trees are Dipterocarps?"
(A tree endemic to Malaysia.) To which he answered: "Strrrawberrries,"
giving me a perfect Dada moment. About the only useful information
I got out of him was that every year more than one hundred visitors
die on the mountain, a piece of information the marketing brochures
and guide books conveniently ignore. The causes of death, I could
not figure out. Nevertheless, as most Malays, Sigul was a very
friendly and nice guy, always smiling happily.
The first day, we hiked up to the Laban Rata hut, which serves
as the base camp for the summit attempt next morning. This is
a 6km hike starting at 1900m going up to 3300m (Laban Rata), which
makes for an average uphill hiking angle of 13.5 degrees. Sigul
and I made the hike in about 3.5h. Next day, we got up at 2am
to ascend to the summit before sunrise, which we did in time.
This is a 2.7km hike up to Low's Peak at 4100m, which means hiking
uphill at 17.5 degrees (but, except for a rope to hang on to,
on un-groomed terrain). Unfortunately everything remained cloudy
that day, so that we didn't get to see the reputedly spectacular
sunrise. From there on, it was basically just hiking downhill,
first back to Laban Rata and then on to Park HQ.
The first part of the hike is interesting, though not spectacular. I saw some pitcher plants and some animals. The second part, the final ascent, is more interesting, primarily because it is more taxing. When we left base camp at 2:45am it was dark and we needed torchlights to find our way. During the first part of the hike, I had hiked in front of the guide, primarily because he would have left me in the dust otherwise. During this second part, I was following him closely. There wasn't much danger to get lost though: Basically we joined a long trek of sun devotees that all had gotten up early to be at the top for sunrise. Sigul was making a mad push for the summit, overtaking one group after another, because we had started so late. Except for a stop at the Sayat Sayat checkpoint, we had no break. We reached the summit at 5:15am and waited for the sunrise. When we got to the summit, we joined an already crowded place. However, most people were still struggling to reach the top but didn't make it in time. This wasn't too bad, as there wasn't really anything to see: The clouds hovering around the summit prevented the promised glorious sunrise from being seen.
The conditions for the final part of the ascent were pretty bad: It was sub-alpine climate (hence cold), we walked on wet and slippery granite, it was night (little moonlight---we had to use flashlights), the air was thin (4000m above sea level!), and it was raining. I was glad I had all my equipment with me. Most importantly, on the wet granite my B-level alpine hiking boots gave me the grip that I needed. Because it was raining some of the time and it was generally wet all of the time, I was very happy that I had both my GoreTex shell and pants with me. Under this, three layers consisting of fleece, shirt, and undershirt helped me retain enough heat not to freeze. Add Thinsulate gloves and a PolarTec hat, and I felt fine. This isn't to say that technology reigned supreme. My guide was considerably worse equipped, yet his experience, technique, and fitness made it easy for him. But I was thankful for the helping hand that technology lend to me.
The 8.7km hike downhill was strenuous as well, and considerably
taxed my knees, but was otherwise uninteresting. Basically, we
were racing down without stopping to get to the nearest shower
as fast as possible. Back at the Park HQ, I got an official certificate
stating that I had climbed Mt Kinabalu. I didn't get a T-shirt,
because I couldn't find a nice one. Together with Johanna and
Jonas, a newly-wed Swedish couple (like Veronica
and Marcus), I hitched a bus to Poring Hot Springs. Johanna
and Jonas were super-fit. Avid hikers, they didn't seem to break
into a sweat ever, and they had been the first wherever I got
to on the mountain.
Poring Hot Springs is a place in the park with natural hot
springs, ideal for relaxing your muscles after the climb. I grabbed
two hot tubs, filled one with hot water from the springs, and
one with cold water, and switched between them as I pleased. This
way, I spent the afternoon of the second day and the morning of
the third day, until we finally left for Kota Kinabalu.
On the bus back to KK I caught a cold from the air condition.
Oh boy...
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