2D/1N MT. KINABALU CLIMB - Day 2 [The Summit Trek]
Continued from MT. KINABALU CLIMB - Day 1
We had 4 hours of straight sleep but thereafter, hubby was up every 30 minutes to check the time… Grrr… until he decided to have a feel of the weather outside around 12mn. As early as 1am, we joined the early risers for a coffee and light supper. Then at 2am, we started the final 2.7KM trek under moonlight and a freezing temp. The wooden stairs made up most of the first 500meters and it felt climbing a 30-storey building but in an open air. At the last resthouse, my wintery attire brought a strangly-feeling so I decided to remove my inner layer. And before I knew it, flock of climbers overtook our trail. Sister continued with her trek not knowing that we were left behind. According to her, from her view above, the sight of headlamps lining up the trail resembled a parade of fireflies torching the night.
We had 4 hours of straight sleep but thereafter, hubby was up every 30 minutes to check the time… Grrr… until he decided to have a feel of the weather outside around 12mn. As early as 1am, we joined the early risers for a coffee and light supper. Then at 2am, we started the final 2.7KM trek under moonlight and a freezing temp. The wooden stairs made up most of the first 500meters and it felt climbing a 30-storey building but in an open air. At the last resthouse, my wintery attire brought a strangly-feeling so I decided to remove my inner layer. And before I knew it, flock of climbers overtook our trail. Sister continued with her trek not knowing that we were left behind. According to her, from her view above, the sight of headlamps lining up the trail resembled a parade of fireflies torching the night.
The rope guided single pile trail from KM6.5 to Sayat Sayat Hut limited us from over taking. The longer we stayed on the trail, the more arduous the trek has become. I started losing hope of a sunrise view at the summit. After the Sayat Sayat Hut, I restored my inner layers as the cold breeze hailed the final kilometre. The spare gloves saved my numb hand that was dampened by the ropes.
At 530am, we reached the South Peak 8KM marker. 700 meters away, the lamp of the early summiteers at Low’s Peak, where sister was among them, was already visible and the sight of sunrise at the back of Donkey Ears and Ugly Sisters Peak wanted to speed up my pace. But unfortunately for hubby, his “mind over matter” conviction was not enough as the weary body tore him down. Every time he says, “sorry mommy the spirit is willing but the body is not and this is the most that we can be”, we sat down to enjoy the scenery and I somehow accepted our fate.
Thankfully, hubby regained his will by the inspiring words of other climbers passing our rest, "you’re just 500meters short and you’re already here, you’ll make it right!”. I silently whispered, yes… please dad… we will make it…
Slowly, we inched towards the peak…
until finally at 630am, we were atop Sabah’s highest. And yes, all the efforts were worth it... Sister patiently waited at the peak, cold and
shivering with raincoat-on as an added windshield. We so much wanted to stay for more, to fill
our eyes more, to enjoy the highest peak that we’ve scaled so far… But the check-out time at Laban Rata restrained
our stay. We did a final gaze, a 360-degree
look, a deep sigh and appreciation of
the fathomless beauty, and a prayer – see you again one day…
On our way down, the beautiful landscape
was thoroughly painted in our memories. I
tried to capture the details with my lenses and scrambled for
words to portray it, but true enough,
the beauty was beyond words and my lenses were vague. It was one of a kind and by summiting it; another goal in my bucket was cleared.
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| View fronting Low's Peak marker with South Peak from afar and St. John's Peak in front |
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| View at 2o'clock of Low's Peak marker with St. John's Peak and Alexandra Peak |
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| View at the back of Low's Peak marker with Alexandra Peak |
At 9am, we were back at Laban Rata… the 1030am bell kept on ringing in my head. Yes I know we need to check out otherwise another day will be charged to us. We had our breakfast buffet before we packed our things and by 10am, we bade goodbye…
We trekked under the rain for the whole descent but we managed to reach Timpohon Gate at 2pm where our tour coordinator was already waiting. The overly strained torso and limbs numbed our body and in as much as wanted to stroll around, the pain held us from doing so.
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How much can one spend to climb Mt Kinabalu?
ReplyDeletewell, were from PH and we spent about P25K including two-way airfare and the Brunei trip... the climb alone (since there was only 3 of us) amounted to about P13k per head :)
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