MOUNT KINABALU, Sabah – Eastern Malaysia – 23-24 September 2024
Mount Kinabalu is a UNESCO Global Geopark, the summit is 4095.2M above sea level and we would be starting the walk at Timpohon Gate (1,829m ASL). I have to admit to a high degree of anxiety for this trip … I’d not walked continuously uphill for 5k before, how would I cope? Would I get to the check point (to continue to the summit) by 5.30am? So much anxiety!
8.30am and there’s a lot of people getting ready to start, just standing around waiting for their guide – you can’t do the mountain climb without a guide. We stood somewhere with no-one else around us until a guide came over to introduce himself to us, Saiheng, but we could call him Sai.
Perfect weather, and looking up from the parking lot, our first real glimpse of the mountain … that’s one serious climb for me lol.
So, we set off at 9am, along with around 100 other climbers (I’ll use this term although we weren’t climbers as such). Only 3,000 people are allowed on the mountain annually (as part of the UNESKO accreditation as a Global Geopark. The start isn’t too bad a few steps down and then a few up with a short flat section.
Someone told me that there were 22,000 steps up the mountain (someone had actually counted them). When they weren’t these washed out steps, they were bloody big rocks. I was hoping for some easy cement steps at a nice 25cm height for each. Unfortunately for me, because I’m short, some of the steps were about 50cm which makes it difficult for me, involving dynamic moves to get me and my pack up the step.
The first of many signs, .5k from the entrance gate and we’re at 1,935m. I call these “hope for the future signs”.
I saw that some of the guides were carrying big packs and then found out that you could hire your guide (or a porter) to carry your pack for you. No-one told me that! But then I thought for me it would feel like cheating … however, probably at lunchtime I decided that Jim and Sia could take some of my heavier stuff, that made life easier!
Part of having the UNESCO accreditation is that all human waste from the mountain had to be taken off the mountain, so a thick pipe (about 12″ in diameter) was installed all the way to the top (the check point before the summit). Must be about 8k of pipe.
Unrelenting steps! By now it’s starting to rain, initially I decided not to put on my rain jacked, I’d get too hot, then I decided it was better than getting totally soaked.
Sia told me to just go slow, so I did that and each time my heart rate got up to 150, I stopped to get it down again (only needs a minute to get back down to 100). There were shelters where you could sit down and have a snack and then toilets to use. There were 7 or 8 shelters and each time we got to one for a rest, it was good to know that there were only a few ahead of us.
Can’t remember how far up we are at this point but this girl was having some photos taken so I took advantage of the opportunity to snap a shot of how I was feeling. She was exhausted, but obviously still had a sense of humor.
These are native squirrels and there were many of them at the shelters scavenging food from climbers (and out of the bins if they could).
Along the way we were constantly being overtaken by porters who were taking everything from food and consumables that the accommodation would use to building supplies, very heavy packs. They were so fast going up the mountain, then we’d see some coming back the opposite way, taking all the waste (waste from the accommodation) back down the mountain on their return trip. Nothing was delivered to the mountain by helicopter.
About 2/3 the way to the accommodation, a guide passed us, carrying an 80kg man piggy back style. This is called the Mountain Taxi service. A climber can pay a guide or porter to carry them down if they can’t make it any further, it was going to cost this guy MR800 that’s about A$280 to be carried down. Then the guide would have to come back up to continue with his group. The next day we actually saw about 3 women being carried down. I have to say I worry about this though, this is the only income for the locals (possibly from the Dayak people), and this must play havoc with their back, would you carry someone down a mountain for A$280?
Along the way we met many people who had done the climb more than once. This is Mizzi who was doing it for the 7th time, although she said she may not summit this time as she’d done it before. She was an interesting Malaysian woman, had even climbed to Everest base camp. At 50 years, she was very impressed with my age, as were most of the mountain guides.
Sai, Mizzi and Jim.
Beautiful scenery. By this time I’m in survival mode so Jim is taking all the pictures.
We arrived at the accommodation at around 5.30pm. It had taken us 8.5 hours … compare this to the Danish couple (who came in the car with us from KK), they were at the accommodation first at 12.30!!! Bloody young and fit!
Our accommodation for the night, top floor is dormitory rooms and middle level is the dining room.
I was so tired, I just had a shower (cold), ate some dinner and was in bed by 7pm. I didn’t sleep well, kept on waking up, and then at 1.45am Jim and I got up and dressed to go downstairs and get 1st breakfast, all the tables were full at 2pm (at which time the food was put out) and there was a queue of about 30 people. Obviously the fast people wanted to get going and not be behind the slow people. You MUST be at the check point (not sure how far up that is) by 5.30am otherwise you’d be turned around and wouldn’t be able to summit. I was already anxious about the whole thing (having been punished the day before), but I was ambivalent about the thought of getting to the check point after 5.30am (a) it would be a disappointment but (b), then I wouldn’t have to punish myself further.
There were lots and lots of steps, and then rocks to climb over, but with so many people ahead of us, the pace was actually quite slow and suited me.
We were at the check point at 4.30am – I think Sai was happy with my progress. Once past the check point (after a short rest and our last toilet stop) we were now above the tree line and it was just rock.
There were ropes set up that you could pull yourself up as the angle was so steep, mind you it was still dark so couldn’t see all that much (you can see the lights of the town in the distance.)
We were probably about half-way up (between the check point and the summit) when the sun started to come up above the horizon, amazing view, with the peaks of the mountain around us.
Another marker point, the 3,929m (and 8k of walking), Jim took this photo of him and his dinosaur, Ninga, that has been going on trips with him for the last six months.
Once past the really steep part, we were now on a more friendly angle and you just had to follow the ropes which were now more as a guide to the track that you should take.
By this time I’d had enough and I looked ahead at the 100m I’d have to climb and started to think “I’ve seen the summit now, I probably don’t have to go any further”. When we sat down and had a rest I told Jim and Sia how I felt and they tried to convince me … there were a lot of people up there on top, it sort of looked like Everest with all those people, I’m not good with crowds (can you hear me, any excuse not to climb that last 90m). And then Jim brought out the heavy artillery Cadbury’s Old Gold chocolate with Almonds as a bribe! I was in, so long as I could have some on the summit – and I don’t even like dark chocolate!
So, we set off, the last 90m wasn’t that bad although with all the rocks I had to climb I felt like it was Hiliary’s Steps on Mount Everest – particularly when I looked up and saw all those people. However, there was less room than on Everest and we had to jockey for positions to take a photo (to prove I was there LOL).
At the summit, Jim and me (and Ninga on top of the sign) and some random climbers that wanted to have me in their photo! You cannot see it but on the sign is the name of Sia’s great grandfather who was the guide for Hugh Low, a British colonial administrator and naturalist, was the first European to climb Mount Kinabalu in March 1851 (although they didn’t get right to the top where we were sitting).
The route down, the ropes (once the sun came up) were more there to guide you where to go, although at some points it was so steep that I had to hold on to them for safety.
Almost down to the Check Point hut.
Looking back at what I’d climbed in the dark. In the bottom right hand corner you can almost see some of the stairs that you had to use to climb up.
We were back at the accommodation at 9.30am. We had to pack out gear, and have second breakfast, Sai told us that we could have until 10.30am before we had to leave.
The walk down was shear hell, if I though going up all the steps was bad, going down was WAY worse. No photos taken we were both too shattered to be bothered. It took us until 4.30pm and then I was faced with a staircase up to the NP check-out point, was sooooo demoralizing.
But, we made it, and I’m so glad I did it, though I have to say, it was the hardest 2 days that I’ve ever done!
Thanks to ….
Jim for accompanying me, probably wouldn’t have enjoyed myself as much by myself (no-one to complain to) and big thanks for all your photos used here, too many to accredit to you.
Keenzia – Big thanks to you, I’m sure that the exercises you gave me helped with the endless steps going up, but coming down, nothing was going to help, I was shattered at the end of day 2. And it’s three days later (as I write this) and my quads are still screaming at me when I go up stairs, and very tender to touch. The rest of me is fine though LOL.
Nick B – took your advice, didn’t suffer at all from Altitude sickness, took the medication as prescribed and had no adverse effects. However, your hint to do Perrys Lookdown (whist I did it and other big climbs), doing it three times in the one day still wouldn’t have prepared me for the 22,000 steps!
Alan S & Nic B – Both of you said “you’ll have no trouble”, who were you talking about, Wonder Woman? It was punishing!!! but thanks for your encouragement, probably wouldn’t have done it if you’d been less supportive.
River Junkie Tours – can’t say enough about their service – pick-ups were all on time and the driver was great, the accommodation for the night before we started (and the meals), plus the guide you organised for us. Can’t recommend you enough. With 2 x 2 paying customers on the day we departed, splitting us into two groups each with our own guide was the right thing to do. The other couple (we’ll call them the Danish couple) were so fast, it would have been shear hell trying to keep up for either group!
Sai … our guide. What can I say, we had the guiding guru on the whole mountain. He’s a fourth generation guide, with his great grandfather guiding up the very first European mountain climber who summited the mountain. Sai had such an amazingly supportive nature and I definitely couldn’t have done the climb without him. And it was obvious from the way all the other guides and porters who greeted him (and they all knew him), that he was held in high esteem. I even met his uncle (also a mountain guide) who was coming up the mountain with another group. Sai’s (and all of the other Malaysians from Sabah) grasp of the English language was also amazing, we (and some of his guide friends) had great conversations when we were resting.
Things I learned …
- I’ve been telling everyone I was going to Sarawak to climb Mount Kinabalu, actually, it’s in Sabah, totally different state.
- A porter carrying my pack would have made the trip a lot easier (note to self for the future)
- I took the right number of clothes, taking into account how cold it was on the mountain.
- I didn’t need to carry the first aid equipment that I carried, that would have cut down on my load.
- Because I took my Apple watch (to monitor my heart rate), I needed also to take the charger and adapter, should have gone with my Fitbit, less weight.
- I should have taken my old rain jacket and not my Dad’s – less weight.
- Should have left the iPhone and just taken my camera – less weight.
So, the first part of the adventure is over, it’s now off to Sarawak … Niah and Mulu to do some caving – hopefully without any steps!!!
Well done you. Porters at altitude are a great idea, it made the Inca trail so much more enjoyable. Constant downhill is so hard to train for. Is this the start of a new adventure career, climbing?
Thanks Trish, yep I’m converted with the whole porter thing, but no more climbing!
Great work M. Will this be inspiration to keep up the training that you hate? 😅
Yes, DEFINITELY!