Mount Kinabalu Hike 2018

Mount Kinabalu Hike 2018 

Another event ticked off the bucket list ! 

Climbing up Mt. Kinabalu and able to reach to the peak of the legendary mountain is one of the proudest moment for most of the Malaysians. 

Our hike costs about RM450 per person, booked through a friend's friend who is organizing for the hike. Hiking group must be at least 5 pax in a group to book for the hike and only for selected dates.

    We chose to climb during end of July so that everyone does not clash with Hari Raya and also to avoid the rainy season starting from August. As per information gathered online, the best time to hike would be around May, June and July for driest months. 

    During our hike up to Mt. Kinabalu and to the peak, we are so grateful that the weather is great and not raining. However, when we are descending Mt. Kinabalu, it started to rain and made our descending journey much more difficult as the surrounding is forest and the environment is so humid and wet. Our muscles started to be fatigue and we can all feel the pain with the cold weather. 

    Prior to hiking Mount Kinabalu, we have just started our training 1 month before the hike. To me, it is adequate as long as you tried going for real mountain hike once every two days conditioning your muscles. For some of us who do not have access to mountains nearby, training by going up and down flight of stairs at condominium or apartment is good too. 

    Since I am working in Ipoh, Perak, I went for training by hiking Kledang Hill at Menglembu with my colleague on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sundays. We hike different type of trails and opt for the trail which are more similar to Mount Kinabalu trail. Every starting is difficult and day by day we become stronger and one step closer to our dreams. 

    We even did our training by carrying the real bag pack with weights and put on our RM10 "Adidas Kampung" as recommended. Adidas Kampung is so affordable and good enough for hiking. It is fully rubber and with non-slippery base.

    Unlike normal jogging shoes with thick heels support which exerts more pressure to the knees, Adidas Kampung made us fully landing on the ball of our feet and utilize the entire feet to support. But make sure to wear two layers of socks to prevent blisters. I put on plasters or Band-Aid to areas prone to blisters, identified after few training sessions wearing the shoes.

    Last but not least, hiking pole is a must for hiking Mount Kinabalu. We bought ours from Sports Direct for around RM30 each. Adidas Kampung were bought from Ace Hardware beside Jaya Grocer at Ipoh Parade. Rubber lined gloves for peak hiking were bought from Mr. DIY and is good enough. The temperature at Mount Kinabalu peak is about 2 degree celcius but not that cold as described as the body is generating heat during the hike. Need not to bring very thick gloves or winter gloves. 

    As for hiking clothing, put on a beanie or a cap during your hike as sweat is dripping and you might feel dizzy and headache after wind blown. Bring along an outer waterproof jacket or rain coat in case of rain. Windproof jacket is good to keep you warm too as is will be quite cold while ascending and descending the mountain. The weather could be windy and drizzling once in a while. Unpredictable!

Beanie / scarf / head band is recommended, with windproof jacket. 

    We worn three layers of clothing for ascending the peak on the 2nd day, but after just started our journey for a few minutes, we began to remove the middle layer (fleece jacket / down jacket) as it was too suffocating. We end up wearing only the windproof outer shell and base clothes. However, it is recommended to bring along so that you could put it back on while taking photos and resting.

    Always keep your body warm and do not stop too long during hike as your breathing will be affected and you will began to feel muscle pain. I went slow rather than walking too fast and make more stops. It is very important to follow your own pace. One of my regrets are not able to walk along with my other teammates to the peak and I experienced breathing difficulties when I stopped too long or walked too fast or too slow. (I guess I need to go another time again to compensate the walking together experience :P) 

That's us at KM8.0 stop. We all thought that the KM8.0 is the peak all these while, but actually NOT!!! The Low's Peak is another 1km away from this stop. We only managed to take photo while descending as we are all rushing to the peak for sunrise.

Taken while ascending Low's Peak. 

This is taken on the 1st day during sunset hours. Beautiful clouds seen from our dorm. 

First day (29/7/2018) 

We stayed at CMC Homestay at Kundasang a day before of hike. Highly recommended homestay with all basic amenities and 5 minutes drive to the entrance of Kinabalu Park. Quiet and large rooms with hot shower and kitchen for cooking. We booked ours through Airbnb. 

    Since the package is budget and does not include packed breakfast and lunch, we prepared our own and brought along bread in sandwich bags. We had also bought 1.5 Litres water from Kota Kinabalu town before going to Kundasang. We brought around 3-4 Litres of water for our hike and still feel like it is inadequate. Half of them were brought up by porters. It is either you pay for the porter fees or you will have to buy extra water at Laban Rata for around RM11 for 1.5Litres of water. 

After parking our car at the Kinabalu Park Entrance, we waited for other groups to arrive and proceed with registration. We are required to sign a form and put on a given tag at all times during hiking. We weighed our items for hiring porter at the Park. Make sure to bring extra sturdy bag for the porter to carry the items, so that the items would not fall out during ascending.

For our group, 2 of the guys did not hire porter, while 3 of us share and hired one porter for the hike to carry extra stuff such as water and extra clothes. The price per way is RM65 for 10kg and you have to hire for both ways, with payment of total RM130. We totally salute the porters as they could carry load up to 40-60kg per person hiking up to Laban Rata. 

I personally think it is important to hire a porter so that the load would not burden and worn you out before the hike to the peak. The 2nd day descending Mount Kinabalu is very tough journey. For the 1st day we only hike for about 8KM of the journey, while for day 2, the journey would sum up to around 10KM (2KM from Laban Rata to the peak + 8KM descending back to Timpohon Gate. Descending is always tougher than ascending due to pressure exerted to the legs while braking and supporting the body. 

 

The trail conditions are different for different stretch of trail. Some are large boulders, some are flat sandy trail, some are steps with large gaps made of wood, some steps are small, some are wide. 

We started our hike around 9am in the morning after all procedures have been carried out and managed to reach Laban Rata around 2pm. We took photos at Laban Rata and patiently waited for lunch at 4pm.

After that, we checked in to our rooms at Lemaing Hut. At that time, the shower water is so cold and only 1 shower is available. Fortunately, there is one electric kettle available inside the dorm. We boiled water and poured into a pail and got a quick shower before preparing for our rest. 

                                

                                     

Second Day (30/7/2018) 

We woke up at 1:30am, and get ready for our breakfast before our hike at 2:00am in the morning. The sky is so dark and head lamp is required for the hike to Mount Kinabalu peak. Remember to bring along extra batteries. Mine used up before reaching the peak, but luckily it is a full-moon day with bright sky, though on the down side, could not clearly observe glittering stars. 

The hike started with stairs with very big gaps (for short people like me, we feel the steps are very wide), gap at approximately 2 steps of stairs. Bring along hiking poles and gloves. We are told to reach to the Sayat-sayat checkpoint in order to proceed with our hike to the peak. We managed to reach around 4:15am and continue with our hike to the peak. It is also encourage to do push ups as part of the training as hand strength is required to hold on to the ropes while hiking to the peak. It is another long 2KM journey from Laban Rata to the peak with much steeper trails, mostly large granite surfaces and could be very slippery. 

   Laban Rata is at KM6.0, while Sayat-sayat check point is at KM7.0. Most of the hikers stopped ascending at KM8.0, while Low's Peak is at about KM8.5. So, be prepared for more. The last 500m is so near yet so far, do not give up!!! 

After sunrise and taking enough photo at the peak, we began to descend back to Laban Rata. The sky is bright already by the time and gave us more fear as we are able to see how steep the trail is. It is like once you missed a step, you will be sliding all the way down. The trail is dangerous and be careful while descending. We walked past the previous earth quake incident area and noticed very large fallen rocks. There are a few notice boards reminding everyone to walk faster pass the area. 

Upon reaching Laban Rata, we are all exhausted and headed directly to the café for buffet breakfast. Free tea is given with great choices of food available. We are supposed to descend at 10am but due to delay we started descending at 11am. They sky starts to drizzle and we had difficulty is descending with cold body. Others managed to reach Timpohon Gate at 4pm, but we only reached around 6pm. It is good to bring along chocolate bars as no lunch is prepared for the descending. We are tired and starving and cold all the way down. Steps are slippery and we have to hold on tight to any hand rails available. 

It was true that climbing Mount Kinabalu is like walking through hell. You have to keep going with highest determination and without complaint. Nevertheless, the hike gave us a very good experience and good amount of muscle pain after the hike. This experience could be once in a lifetime and whenever I face difficulties in life, I can always tell myself: I made it for this Mount Kinabalu hike, no matter how difficult it is, and I could always make it for other matters.  

If you feel like climbing Mount Kinabalu too, go on and give it a try, but always make sure that you climb with a humble heart and bring back nothing but memories. Malaysians believe that there are Gods protecting the mountain, so do respect the mountain and say no bad things. Happy hiking! 

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Since I have not got more photos from my friends, I will continue writing after this. 

Sorry and thanks for reading!