Day 2 : Climbing Mount Kinabalu @ Sabah, Malaysia

By : Chha


zZzZzZzZz ... RING !!!!! We were all soundly asleep .. and suddenly the alarm clock ring ... its was 1.30am and we all have to wake up to the agonizing sound of the rooster crow from my friends handphone of which he don't even know how to turn it off, hahaha ! Well, since i am already awake, i might as well get ready for the hike up the summit of Mount Kinabalu which starts at 2.30am. Bath is by using icy cold water. Then at around 2am, we were all ready for supper.


We had our supper at the same place we took our dinner last night, which is in the same building as our dorm.

After our quick supper, we all went straight for the hike which was suppose to start at 2.30am but due to some delay, our group start hike at 2.45am. Day two hike is slightly different from day one because the route we are using now, is actually newly open route after the 2015 Sabah earthquake that struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia with a moment magnitude of 6.0 on 5 June 2015, which lasted for 30 seconds. The earthquake damage the old route of 2.7km therefore a new route of 3km is recently open for hikers to hike up to the summit of Mount Kinabalu.


Hiking up to the summit of Mount Kinabalu starting from Laban Rata, a lot of people fear of altitude sickness and the leck of oxygen. We were advice by our Mountain Guide to not force ourself to continue to hike if we feel dizzy, if we throw up and if we don't feel well when hiking. Some of us did prepare some altitude sickness pills but i did not take it as it will give some side effect to certain people like face numbness or hand numbness. Instead I took two panadols for my head ache of waking up too early, hahahaha ! Well, i guess the panadols help because it will help prevent you from becoming dizzy and headache during the hike and in turn preventing you from vomiting.


The weather is really cold at 2.45am when we start hiking, so for today i wear 1 heat tech cloths as my base wear, 1 t-shirt, 1 jackets, a water proof wind breaker, a long pants, a head cover and a head lamp. Oh, not to forget a pair of glove too as we need to pull on rope when he hike up steep area on the mountain. If you don't hold on to the rope, you will have difficulty climbing up the mountain, so a pair of good glove is necessary to keep your hand warm and for climbing ropes.


Sayat - sayat is the last check point for Mount Kinabalu which is roughly around 1.7km hike away from Laban Rata. Everyone MUST reach this check point before 5am, IF NOT, then you won't be allow to proceed hiking to the summit or the people here call it the Low's Peak.


Hiking from this point on is really hard because of the thin layer of oxygen. I basically have to stop hiking to take rest only after around 10 steps of hiking. Unlike hiking on normal trail, where i can walk non-stop for few hundred meters.


I manage to reach the summit at around 5.45am, just in time for sunrise and the view is breath taking ! The weather is nice and cold .. the view is awesome .. all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears are all worth it ! yehhhhh ... haha .. of course not blood, i over exaggerate a little there, haha ! But really, it is all worth it for such an amazing view from the top of Mount Kinabalu.


While hiking up Mount Kinabalu you will notice a few famous spot like the South Peak, which is the image at the back of Malaysia old RM 1.


The Donkey's Ears .. which was slightly damage from the previous earthquake.




We were allowed to stay at the summit only for awhile and were directed to leave the area after that. Everyone need to descend to Laban Rata area before 10.30am for check out. If we check out late, we will be charge additional RM100 per hour. Therefor we have to rush down to Laban Rata to have our breakfast.


Every hikers will have to register themselves at the Sayat - sayat check point by using the badge with our name on it which was given to us on our first day of hiking at Kinabalu Park. Without this badge, you are not considered as a hiker on Mount Kinabalu. Your entrance and exit is recorded by using this badge for safety purpose. If you successfully hike to the summit of Mount Kinabalu, you can order your certificate at Sayat - sayat check point and later collect them at Kinabalu Park office before 5pm because that is the time when the office close. So it is another series of rushing down the mountain for us in order to reach Kinabalu Park in time for lunch which ends at 4.30 pm and Kinabalu Park office for our certificate.


Luckliy descending mountains is actually easier than hiking up. It takes us around 4 hours to decent a 6km route, the exact same route as hiking up. With this meal at Kinabalu Park, this marks the end of my Mount Kinabalu Climbing Adventure ! haha .. It is really fun to have a bunch of friend to go crazy with you along the journey of Climbing Mount Kinabalu. The experience and the adventure gain here hiking is really invaluable. So go go go ! Give it a try to Climb Mount Kinabalu .. it will be an experience you will never forget, maybe just maybe, you will even fall in love with hiking ! You never know ... hahahaha ! Till then ~~ Signing Off ~~ Jay Chha !!

Visited : March 2016

Posted Date : 25 March 2016
Posted Time : 10.27 pm

Comments

  1. hi there can you uplease share how much in total you spent?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rani Nucahya : sorry that i didnt really track my total spending ..

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