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The goal:
sunrise over Sabah
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An Early Start!
We woke up around 2 am. In fact, nearly everyone
in the hostel woke at 2am.
Why so early? It's all in order to get to Low's
Peak, the top of Mount Kinabalu, in time for sunrise. That makes for
great views, but it's also for safety. The mountain is fairly
reliably clear first thing in the morning, but usually clouds over by
mid-morning. So this is the best time to go up (though we all felt
convinced at 2am -- I'm not sure!)
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Early morning restaurant
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Can we face breakfast?
There can't be many restaurants that close at 7:30pm and
then open from 2 am to 3:30 am, but the one in Laban Rata does. Peter
couldn't face the day without food, so grabbed a quick breakfast. The
rest of us weren't ready to face a lot of food, so we got by with Mars
Bars; Michael and I had one each, Rebecca and Mum shared one.
Ready to Go!
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Mountaineering in the dark!
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We set off on the final ascent at 2:30 am.
There are streetlights for the first 50m from Laban
Rata; mainly to serve the smaller unheated huts around Laban Rata, where
one can also stay. After that, it is a steep climb through the
trees. It was a mixture of wooden stairs and rock climbs and we
needed our torches.
Once we got beyond the tree-line, the nearly-full moon
gave more than enough light to see the way ahead and torches were an
irritation, rather than a help, so we generally managed without them.
Rocks and Ladders
The climb continued to be a mixture of rock steps and
wooden stairs until we got to the granite face where the thick white rope
began. This rope extends all the way to the summit, with only
occasional breaks. It is mainly there as a guide, though there were
some stretches where it was useful to have it to pull ourselves up
with. While it is a help to climb with, it is also a safety guide
against getting lost if the mist comes down (A British girl died of exposure
in 199? when she took a wrong turning on the way down and got separated
from her family and guide -- see link below).
As the ascents got steeper, Rebecca and Anne-Marie both
had times when they doubted the wisdom of deciding to go right to the top,
but neither gave up.
The climb became one of steadily ascending over vast
granite slabs. Sometimes it was less steep, but it was always
up. Like most mountains, there were many false hopes that we were
nearing the peak, and then as we got close another peak appeared beyond it.
But finally, we were in sight of Low's Peak. The
final ascent was a fairly steep climb up the rocks to the summit.
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Sunrise
breaking over Sabah as seen from Low's Peak, Mount Kinabalu
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Low's Peak at Last
We were aiming to get to the top in time for sunrise, which
our guide said was 5:45 am. Anne-Marie, Rebecca and I arrived at the
top of Low's Peak (height 4,095.2m) at 5:43 am (3-1/4 hours, 2.72 km of
walking and 1,222.5m of climbing from Laban Rata).
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A bit of
Mount Kinabalu
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The shadow
of the mountain
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Another bit of
Mount Kinabalu
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Peter and Michael had gone ahead (partly because they thought
the sunset was earlier) and had got there about an hour earlier. They
were the 3rd and 4th people to the summit that morning. However, they
were pretty cold by the time we got there, so I'm not sure that they
thought it had been worth getting there so early.
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Peter at
the top (with Man U Shirt)
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Waiting at
the top of Low's Peak
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At 5:45 am, the top of Mount Kinabalu is probably the
most crowded spot in Borneo. By 6 am, there were probably nearly 50
shivering people trying to share the tiny summit area (I hate to think what
it is like in Malaysian holiday time).
After we had watched the sun slowly rise, everyone (all
50) took turns to have their photo taken beside the Mount Kinabalu
sign.
We have a beautiful shot of Peter with his Man U short
beside the sign (see left), but unfortunately the one we got someone else
to take of us was all out of focus (see top). I think the camera got
accidentally set to infinity focus.
(The photo with the Man U shirt was an attempt to win a
digital camera in a Man U magazine competition).
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Going down
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Going down
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After that, it was time to go down. We started the
descent at 6:45 am and reached Laban Rata at 8:30 am (1-3/4 hours to go
down what had taken 3-1/4 hours to go up!).
The thick white rope was a great help to quickly descend
the granite slopes. This was not proper mountain climbing, just
scrambling down with a rope to hang on to and help.
I think we all quite enjoyed this stretch. It also
got steadily warmer as we descended towards Laban Rata, so that was more
pleasant too.
Back at Laban Rata Again
We took our time and showered, breakfasted, and packed.
We left Laban Rata about 10 am. We were actually the last to
checkout.
Going Down -- Aaaaaaaagh
Going down was torture on the legs. Stopping
didn't help (and wasn't really necessary). We weren't short of breath
or energy like we were on the way up; but our muscles were complaining at
the work involved in constantly checking our descent.
We got to Timpohon Gate about 2 pm (4 hours for the
descent from Laban Rata, compared to 5 hours going up). A Kinabalu
Park coach was waiting there. We piled in and collapsed. We
waited a few minutes for the driver and a few more walkers and then were
driven back to Park headquarters.
2:30 pm we had lunch at Kinabalu Balsam Restaurant: slow
and erratic as ever (we were the only customers).
We then collected our hard-earned certificates (though
we couldn't get them laminated as there was no power).
No Rest for the Exhausted
We were ready for a rest … BUT there was to be no rest
on this holiday. We had to get to the other side of Sabah and I
wanted to get there before it got too dark and also in time for
supper. So at 3:20 pm, we left Kinabalu Park to drive across Sabah to
Sepilok. Peter and Rebecca slept for most of the way. Michael
stayed awake most of the time. Anne-Marie would have liked to sleep,
but stayed awake to make sure that I stayed awake.
The road had just enough potholes and areas of
subsidence to make it impossible to relax. This wasn't too bad in the
light, but the last hour or so was in the dark, which was exhausting.
Sepilok Jungle Resort
We arrived at Sepilok Jungle Resort about 7:30pm.
We were offered a four-bed "family" room and a double-room, but
the rooms were too far apart for us to be happy for Rebecca to be separated
from us and we knew Peter and Michael wouldn't want to share a double
bed. In the end, we settled for three beds in a 4-bed family room,
where we were guaranteed exclusive occupancy, but were not allowed to touch
the fourth bed and two beds in an adjacent 4-bed family room, with the
possibility that other people might turn up and take the other two beds
(which at 8 pm seemed unlikely). This cost us RM 125 complete with a
breakfast of toast and coffee/tea.
We were really too exhausted to do anything … BUT this
was an activity holiday, not a rest holiday. Tomorrow, we were
visiting Sepilok Orang-Utan Sanctuary first thing in the morning and then
leaving for the Kinabatangan River and Jungle straight after lunch, so
Anne-Marie made a heroic effort and managed to get things sorted ready for
the next day.
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