Mt KINABALU

The Kinabalu at sunrise

When I arrive in the city of Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo on the 1st of November every person in the Akinabalu youth hostel was talking about climbing the Mt Kinabalu and how expensive it was but also how difficult it was to get a permit to climb. All that was new for me as coming from the Alps the mountains belong to everyone and you do not need a permit nor to pay to climb it !

I think that  right there, I had forgotten the prices that were given to me to be able to trek around the Kailash mountain in Tibet and some other parts of Nepal ! !

I finally went to the Sutera Sanctuary Lodge that runs the Kinabalu park and received all the exact information.

My first reaction was “no, I will not climb, it’s simply too expensive”. And I still had in mind the money that was stolen in Bangkok and the consequences on my budget. But as it was so hot and humid in KK, I decided to come spend a few days at the bottom of the mountain at 1500m altitude.

 It was a long week end here in Malaysia and could not find a place to stay around the park, all the dorms accommodations were fully booked. So I changed plans and decided to visit the  Sepilok reserve ( the orang utang reserve ) and then continue to the Sungai Kinabatagan river.

I had a great time, but the Mt Kinabalu was still in my mind, as it was one of the reasons of my coming to Borneo! So I decided to go to the park without reservation and if I could find a place to stay I would then go to the headquarters and see right on the spot if there was an opening for one person for climbing.

We were Tuesday, the 8 of Nov. The bus dropped me off in front of the Rose Garden Lodge outside the park but at the foot hill of the Kinabalu. One bed was available for a few days. Then it took me half hour to walk to the entrance of the park. There, one possibility to climb was on Nov 11. I took it !

I was very happy and all of the sudden a question came to my mind: would I be able physically to make it to the summit 4095m ! I reassured myself as I have taken with me the homeopathic medicine Coca that my friend Maryse reminded me to take before leaving France ! with this , no problem!

The next day I hitchhiked to the little village of Kundasan to go to the ATM machine and then walked 10 km in the park just to get the atmosphere of walking in a very hot and humid place and to feel how my body was doing!

The next day a lot of rain. I took time to visit the orchids gardens and watch a video on the park .

Nov 11! Beautiful sunny day. I was at the entrance of the park at 7am and  paid for everything.

Fabian was my guide and we started to climb at around 8am from the Timpohon gate at 1866m. It was hot, sunny and you could hear all kinds of birds singing, some rhododendrons were in bloom and Fabian pointed out a few nepenthes also. I must say I was happy, not to say the happiest girl in the world!

The first part was to climb to the refuge of Laban Rata 3273m, 6km.

After 3hours of walking the rain started and I had only a thin raincoat as my walking rain coat was forgotten somewhere in the Kinabatagan river!

I did not feel the change of temperature as we were getting higher.

We reached the Laban Rata refuge at around 12h45, that means in 4h45 mn

 Fabian told me that he expected to meet me tomorrow morning at 2am for breakfast and we would start climbing at 2h30 and then he disappeared.

Not only was I proud of myself but I was soaking wet and freezing.

I got a bed  in a dorm of 4, a hundred meters further up than the refuge itself, with shower but only cold water. No need for cold water at that time,  I took off all my wet clothes, tried to get dry and put on all the dry clothes that I had carefully packed in plastic bags and that remained dry in spite of the rain ! It took me 2 hours to warm up under 2 layers of blankets and I rested and slept. Waking up that silly question was still there will I be able to reach the top? I took 5 little pieces of coca and went down to have something to eat . A large buffet with a great variety of food was offered and we could eat and drink tea or coffee as much as we could.

At around 6pm it was getting dark and still raining. I tried to rush to my bed and all of the sudden I got aware of the altitude and had to adapt myself ! good lesson.

In spite of the rain through the clouds we could admire a colourful sunset.

The water from the mountain was rushing down in beautiful wide and roaring waterfalls. It was very impressive. I went to bed at around 6h30pm and could still hear the rain pounding on the tin roof! I was sleeping when I heard the door of the room getting opened . Two young men soaking wet just arrived and we were sharing the same dorm.

The next day 1:30 am everyone was up. I was ready to go very quickly as I had slept in my dry clothes . I put an extra layer on and went for breakfast. Again a big buffet.

No rain and a few stars and the moon, could be seen hidden behind the moving clouds. I really had the feeling of being blessed.

Slowly we stared to climb each one with a front light.

 Three km to go and 750 m to ascend.

The beginning of the path was steep and very wet, then we reached the softer part and just had to follow the rope indicating the way to go. We turned off our lights, a big round moon was shining, no clouds, and we could see the first lights of sunrise.

 We were the 3^rd group to reach the top. The need of my coca pills disappeared!

A 360° view wrapped up in the moon light ! I have no word to describe that spectacular scenery.

A very cold wind started to blow, but the atmosphere there was just incredible.

Just being able to watch the moon set on one side and the sun rise on the opposite side was breathtaking. The wind was very cold.

The sun was up but the moon had not sunk in the Chinese sea yet, and we started to walk down.

A stop again in Laban Rata to have brunch. I changed clothes as it was getting much warmer there already.

We slowly walked down, and it was hard on the knees and the thighs!

The rain started again about half way down, the path was very slippery but it was not cold. The last km was the hardest my legs were like a puppet disarticulate.

At around 2 pm we reached the entrance of the park, I was exhausted but more than happy !