The name Mt Kinabalu really
conjures up a picture of a big island name Borneo,
covered in dense rainforest,
with well-fed rivers and inhabited by primitive jungle
tribes. At least, this was my
first impression when friends first talked about
Mt Kinabalu some 8 years ago...
I have always imagine Mt
Kinabalu as another similar place like Gunung Tahan in west
malaysia, with the only
different of a much higher altitude. Now, ..having visited this
magnificent playground, I came
to realise just how much I have missed by not exploring
it earlier. I guess, this is an
almost universal misconception that is partly to blame for the
general lack of interest in
Kinabalu among mountaineering circles.
The outer sides of the mountain
rock faces are accessible only after a long jungle trek of
several days, or involve
somewhat featureless slabs or very broken pinnacles ridges.
Therefore, the lack of classic
lines has resulted in climbing normally being concentrated on
the upper peak areas. I guess,
the upper peak areas alone has endless unexplored and
unclimbed possibilities that
every rock climbers dream to work on....???
Five of us ( mike slater, Cathy,
Roz, David, and myself ) booked a flight from Johor
Bahru to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
via the cheapest fare by malaysian airlines. From
Kota Kinabalu airport, we hired 2 taxi
of RM$140 each on a 1 1/2 hours journey on good road to Kinabalu Park HQ.
There is no lack of hotel style accommodation at park HQ for those who need
a confortable overnight
rest before the gruelling ascend.
Unloading
our gears at Park HQ
At park HQ, while obtaining
clearance to do rock climbing on the mountain, I suddenly realised that I've
left my insurance certificate at home. Luckily, I got it sorted out by borrowing
mike's mobilephone to call back singapore insurance agent for my certificate number.
Then another surprised pop-up. Roz's had misplaced a MSR fuel pump in the
taxi boot and forgotten to retrieve it. So, we landed up with only one stove
for 5 of us. Then, Dave's was very piss-off on the new rule for non-malaysian to
pay RM$50 each for a climbing permit. Next came another surprised, cathy's forgot
the ski pole that dave's had lent it to her and left it on the park HQ counter. At
this stage, we were all hoping that there is no more surprises. Perhaps, we ought to
have a punja before our up-hill journey!!!! Anyway, we just kept our fingers crossed
and got moving.
We left park HQ at around 4.30pm
for the standard route. To save time on the
up-hill journey, we planned to
reach Mempening Hut (2515m) in the dark. After having a quick brew at the hut, Roz and I
split up with the team and continued up to Layang Layang (2600m) for the night.
But the accommondation at Layang Layang is for research purposes, thus no
other visiter is allow. At a distant downhill we saw light from the windows
of the hut and was hoping that someone would realise our present and show
some sympathy to invite us inside. We tried making some loud noise to gain
attention, but they seemed to be all "Dead" asleep. We ended up
sleeping just right at the doorstep outside the hut. In the middle of the
night, I was woke up by a storm that was pouring in rainwater onto my
sleeping bag. In a desperate condition, I took out my tent flysheet that
sheltered us completely throughout the night. The
2nd day, we regrouped up at Laban Rata (3270m) for the last of our restaurant
food of fried rice and cheese omelette toast. "Hmm,....yami." Our
last decent meal !!!
We managed to reach the slabs
above Sayat Sayat in good timing of around 7.5 hours in total. That was a
hell of a grunt for me, mike and Roz, hauling up loads of about 26 - 28 kg each.
We established communication through walkie talkie with dave who was scrambling around and recceing
all over for possible
routes for the foundation team next year. The only stove available also gave us
trouble for the first 2 days. It was not till mike's personally gave it a major
overhaul that it finally started behaving properly. That screwed-up all our cooking and drinking
plans. Conversely, we were very happy to be rewarded that evening with a
spectalcular sunset. Words and pictures can never compensate for such an experience of being there, with the clouds beneath your feet and the sunset
in the distant horizon. I felt really fortunate to be there with friends sitting on the slabs and
looking down at the vast wilderness. The climbing was just a way of getting
there. Being to this wonderful place with great people sitting around camp,
shooting the cold breeze, eating sardines, boiling tea, and sharing the
dreams... These are the essence of climbing.
Sunset
at campsite above Sayat Sayat
On the 3rd day, It wasn't
pissing down but we had gusty wind all day. Mike headache
did not improve. The sad bit was
that mike, who had a day less on the hill than us,
had to go home without a single
climb. Well, this was somewhat within our
anticipation and so we had to
climb in threesome. It's a bit slow, but still workout
quite well. We attempted a 3
pitch climb up the west ear of Donkey's Ear. The 3rd
pitch was rather tricky with
hidden view, superb exposure and freezing gusty wind
that finally back-off cathy and
Roz, leaving myself to give it a shot. And so,.. I
managed to draw all my courage
to go for it. With Roz belaying me, I climbed to
the start of the expose bit and
made my moves to go above it. "Thank God", once
on the exposure slabs, I saw
good pitons protection and so I desperately clipped
into them. "I'm safe!!
", I shouted loudly. I did not complete the 3rd pitch as I took
a lead fall dued to a ripped off
handhold at the crux, and a retreat was followed.
We left a sling and a maillon to
abseil off to safety.
The last day saw us climbing the
central route of Kinabalu South Peak.
A delightful 2 pitch climb of
whom cathy lead the first pitch and I did the 2nd to top-up
at the summit together with Dave
who scrambled up on the easy side in 40 mph winds.
The descend of Mt Kinabalu was
really a grunt for Dave's and some of us. Our packs
didn't get any lighter, and so,..
the legs, knees and ankles seemed pretty weak.
Roz cruised down to park HQ in 2
plus hrs, whilst I took about 5 hrs with most of
the time waiting for Dave. I
think dave really had a bad time dragging his bad leg in
the pouring rain with every step
downhill a real pain...
Despite all these hardship, we
had a good meal after a hot water shower and a well earned rest in Hotel Full
Hua. Next morning we had our favourite murtabaks followed by a visited to
the park office in KK and got to
learn about the new Mesilau Nature
Resort which has the possibilities of joining the summit trail of the standard route.
Obviously this means..more potential of exploring the Mesilau rock faces.????
Yeah,.. I'm most certainly
sure that I'll be back?
SOME USEFUL INFORMATION:
Cheapest way for singaporean
to get to Kota Kinabalu is to obtain a JB-KK airticket for about S$310 and
getting the airport connection using Senai/JB Airport shuttle coach (S$12 to
JB, RM$10 return) that leave Copthorne Orchid (formerly Orchid Novotel). A
quicker way is to fly direct from Singapore's Changi Airport - tickets are
about S$450+ pp.
Staying in Kota Kinabalu: One
of the cheapest and most popular is the Traveller's Rest at RM$15 pp a night
for bunk-style accommodation in non-airconditioned rooms. They have lots of
brochures and info on things to do in Sabah. The other is the Full Hua Hotel
(RM$65 for twin) - aircon, TV, hot water - some nice and affordable comfort
after a hard grind ! Both these suggested accommodation are near
eateries and basic shops.
The Park accommodation
(except Gurkha Hut) is now under the purview of Kinabalu Gold Resorts. and
bookings in the future should be made through them.
Kinabalu
Gold Resort Sdn Bhd.
Lot
3.46 & 3.47, 3rd Floor Block C
Kompleks
Karamunsing
Locked
Bag 179
88744
Kota Kinabalu
Sabah
Tel:
088-243 629/245 742
Fax:
088-242 861
email:
nature@kinabalu.net
website:
http://www.nature.kinabalu.net
Changes
in Peak permit:
Non-Malaysian
over 18 years = RM$50
Non-Malaysian
under 18 years = RM$25
Malaysian
over 18 years = RM$25
Malaysian
under 18 years = RM$10
Park
entry fee by main gates = RM$3
Insurance
(for normal trekking route to summit) = RM$3.50
Persons
wanting to conduct multi-peaks or technical climbing must get:
#
prior permission from the Park Warden, Fax: 88-221001.
(useful if you can show previous track record with them or member of
climbing club)
#
insurance coverage (proof of policy to be shown at Park HQ) that includes
coverage for rock-climbing/technical mountaineering.
***
WARNING: Kinabalu
rock climbs are essentially alpine/adventurous in character,
ie,
shaky pitons, uncertain anchor points, long run-out, uncertain rock
condition, complex route-finding at times, cold winds, high-altitude risks
and medical problems.
GO
PREPARED !!!
***
