Mount Kinabalu is the highest Mountain in South East Asia, 4095 metres above sea level. Its a 'must do' on the backpackers trail in Borneo and so, we were going to do it...... because it was there......

Memories of Huyana Potossi in Bolivia haunted me, sub zero temperatures, barely able to hobble wearing excessive amounts of clothes through pure fear of the cold, our nasty guide who said I was'nt fit enough and sent me back to base camp only to hang his head in shame when I made it without him, faulty crampons, deathly altitude sickness, over excited annoying professional mountaineers for company and that horrid tin hut perched on the top of the middle of the world that we were expected to sleep in the night before the summit climb. As soon as we landed in Borneo I started to worry about this plan we had to climb Mount Kinabalu. Don't get me wrong, Huyana Potossi was one of the biggest achivements of my life but I was'nt under the impression we were making a habit out of climbing mountians. I'm a diver for god's sakes!! (Thats my excuse!)

At the end of the day travelling for us is not about turning down opportunities. We went shopping for waterproofs, (apparently essential...great!) soup, (good for the summit, if you get there, at 6am) pasta (the overpriced hostel at the base camp was rumoured to have a kitchen) and rubber shoes (Adidas Kampong: The local's adidas, better than any modern-day invention by fashionable travelling/adventure/sports companies). We caught the mini bus to Kinabalu National Park, our hang-overs abating slowly. That night we stayed in Rose Cabin, 2km from the park entrance, happy we had done some research and saved a small fortune in not opting for the parks damp dorm beds. Even the unobstructed view of the mountian from our balcony, the constant reminder of the feat ahead, did'nt stop us from having the best nights sleep for months and months. It must have been the duvets.

The road ahead

To climb the mountain you have to have secured accomodation at Laban Rata, a sort of base camp 6km up the mountain and the place you rest your head (no sleep invloved) from about 8pm until 2.30am. We knew this but chose to take a chance and hope for cancellations. We had heard that the local tour companies book out all the beds so they can sell their overpriced but identical itineraries to unsuspecting tourists. If the tourists don't come, they simply cancel their bookings and there is space for all the backpackers who don't have strict timetables or who aren't used to having to book ahead. That night we visited them at 8pm and were told they would recieve confirmation of cancellations at 9am the following morning. We were there, bang on time and were lucky and would be climbing that day. I won't swear!

Ever economical, we waitied around in the Park headquarters for people to make up a group of 6 or more. This would reduce everybody's cost considerably as the price of the compulsory guide would be shared and the transfer to the beginning of the trail would be reduced from RM30 per person to RM6. 2 hours later we had our group. A Czech couple and a Dutch couple. It started out well enough..................

Overpacked porter. (Not ours!)

There was about 500m of 'normal walking' at the beginning of the trail that gave me a false sense of security. After that the uphill slog began. Step after step after step. You could'nt even pace yourself because the steps were doing it for you. Big wide ones, about 10 million and then tiny small ones, about 100 million. A waterfall, also in the first 500m, gave me hope that the climb may be scenic and picturesque, because after all what is the point in climbing continuously for hours with no view except for the stones at your feet. It was false hope and there were no views over rolling hills not even of the National Park below showing us how far we had walked and what we had achieved. The mist and the clouds covered everything and sometimes you could'nt see the person in front of you. In fact not only was my excuse for going slow (hanging back to take in the beauty of the nature and take photos) now invalid but we were never to see the person at the front of our group, cloud or no cloud because she was speedy gonzalis. Nobody could have kept up with that Czech speed freak, not even her boyfriend who we often found panting at the rest stops, flabergasted as to why and how she felt the need to run!

Munchkin on the mountain

Too many times I had heard people say "Old people climb Kinabalu" Judging from the middle aged Tiawanese I saw on their way down, decked out in gear that cost a years worth of wages for our guide, clutching their chests, sticks in both hands, unable to speak, not happy at all, I felt confident that they may attempt the climb but reaching the summit was a different story...surely!! I was only 2km into the 8.5km climb and I was having doubts about my ability to finish.

The further I walked the more I was convinced that the only information which had been correct, for once, was that from the LP. "We encoutered more than a few people who were unable or unwilling to push themselves to the summit", I really really believed I would be one of those people. At about 5km I felt a drastic change in altitude and each step was an effort. My head was ringing and I felt dizzy. I had a spinning headache like you get when you're too drunk and need to lie down. I felt sick and I was white. I tried to explain to what was left of our group that it was the altitude but I'm sure they were'nt convinced. Apart from Jez, only the guide, our wonderful guide, understood because he had obviously seen it so many times before. They say the way to conquer Kinabalu is to take it very very slowly, very small steps using as little energy as possible. This is the only way I could move anyway. The oxygen was thinning and I resigned myself to the fact that I would not be making it past Laban Rata.

"Bates Motel"... That'll do nicely

As we unpacked our pitta bread and dried pasta meals the rest of the group looked at us like we had gone mad. " Do you always eat like this?" It was such a clash of cultures. They were on 2 week holidays and we were backpackers. No we don't, but when the meals here are RM30 for fried rice and this was RM3 and it tastes of cheese and I don't have to walk back down that God awful hill to the restaraunt, and come back up again, then yes I do! You like it when we offer you cups of hot tea and coffee with milk and sugar (sugar sachets that my mum spent months collecting from various restaurants) though don't you! At 7pm we all decided to hit the sack. Our guide was waking us up at 2.30am and we had to get some kind of sleep. I'd had a chat with the Dutch girl and she too was feeling vunerable and unsure of her ability to make the climb. When a fellow country woman bailed out and offered her 2 massively gorgeous bear-like coats we both felt a little glimmer of hope. Maybe it would be possible after all.

It was the worst nights sleep ever. 6 to a dorm, bitterly cold, rats and pigme squirrels rooting for food in our room, everyone with the sniffles,unable to breath properly, a headache from the depths of hell and a constant need for the toilet, feeling guilty for waking everyone up when I opened the door changed my mind again. I wasn't doing it. I just could'nt.

Sinus relief tablets and a loving boyfriend who makes great tea and makeshift hot water bottles saved me. At 3am we began. It was pitch black and without our new headtorch we would have been up the creek. Most of the walk was spent clambering up steep sheer rock faces with only a wet frozen rope to pull ourselves further. No health and safety in Borneo then! It was actually the most exhilarating part of the climb. A bit of fun, some adventure, something different, so what if we might die at any moment! It had the opposite effect on the dutch girl though. The dark scared her and the altitude had started to affect her. If you've never had altitude sickness before you can mistake it for a normal headache but it can be dangerous. They decided that enough was enough and stopped at the checkpoint, still an enormous achivement at about 3500m above sea level and 6.5 km into the climb.

One kilometre to go... straight up!

Sunrise was supposed to be at 6am but at about 5.15am we could see the sky changing colour. We were told that you should set off at 2.30am but our guide had insisted 3am was OK. Now we knew it was'nt. We had overtaken groups but no-one had over taken us. We had been the last to set off. If we were to make it to Lowes Peak in time we had to speed up. But, the air was getting thinner and thinner and with only 1km to go it was the hardest part of the whole climb. We could see torches ahead of us walking up to the steep outcrop that was the summit but they seemed so far away. I kept asking Jez to go ahead. I knew he could make it. He would'nt. We reached the 8km mark and only had 500m to go. At this point I insisted that he attempt to make it. He agreed and as he strolled on I clambered, hardly able to put one front in front of the other. As the sun came up I was half way up Lowes Peak and I found a little corner to snuggle/fall into to catch a glimpse of the rising sun. Jez was not far away and the thought of a big hug and a cup of hot soup, the guides encouragement and the fact that there were about 40 other people on that peak who had made it, spurred me on. When I got to the top I cried and cried. I really and honestly could'nt believe I had done it.

Champions!!!

The views form the top and of course the sense of achievement made it all worth it. Those views don't last long though, we were lucky to see what we did becuase the cloud descended quickly. For half an hour we were blessed with crimson flashes followed by golden streams and then deep deep blue sky. The other peaks around Lowe's are just as obscure and endearing. I was astounded that the crazy shapes which form the top of Kinabalu I had seen from our hotel room balcony were those infront of my eyes now and that I could touch them. After a few piccies the guide rounded us up and pleaded with us to go as quickly as we could to avoid complete cloud cover and the threat of rain. This would have made the initial descent very dangerous, a slippery minefield which we did not want to enter.

What the ridiculously early start was all for

The climb down was just as hard as the climb up. Those steps made the whole thing much tougher and an absolute killer on the knees. Whenever we reached a flat part of the trail it was like heaven. Even if it lasted just 10 seconds. The guide predicted it would take us 3 hours from Laban Rata, infact it took us 5. I refused to run like some people in our group. There was no bus to catch and no need to put myself through anymore agony than was necessary. We made a point of smiling encouragingly at the people passing us on their way up, just beginning, wondering how many of them would make it. 70 people stayed at Laban Rata on the night that we did and 26 of them did'nt make it to the summit. But we did and I am so very proud!

Success at the end of the line!!!