Filed under: Escapades
It’s 12 am and Kevin has already awake preparing for the final climb. I didnt really slept for the last 4 hours.. its too cold outside and the it rain non stop from 8pm til now.Im still trying to squeeze myself with every warmth i can get from the blanket. Still got 2 hours to dream before i get started.. but Sean awaken up also chattin with Kevin outside. Their voices made me no choice but to awake and prepare too. Just when i finish wearing all the gears n stuff, hot warm water was waiting outside for me. Yes just few sip of hot water b4 risking the next 3 miles. Outside is still raining, we pray it stop soon or our journey will me more harder. Damn, its so cold even my clothes ( wind breaker + jacket + t-shirt + turtle neck long sleeve + another singlet inside + double pants + double socks + shoe + gloves + beanie ) werent enough to keep me warm. Its 7-8 degrees outside, i hide back in my blanket after a few chat n a drink with them.
Me inside the pantry container.
Sean …. -_-
2am - Our guider has come. Give us some short brief again..now just 6 out of 8 of us prepare to continue. The other 2 was sick or maybe just one guy had fallen sick and his gf has decided to stay taking care of her.
It was a long walk of stairs not far away from our container when the gate open. The first hour it was just only steep wet small stairs. With just one headlamp to focus on the path, its get harder and harder to reach up. Obviously most of us didnt bother to take pictures that time due to the wet weather and its dark everywhere. Of cos there is other climbers too along the journey.. most of them were foreigners and uncle/aunties. Then soon we reach Layang Layang Hut.. after that it was just plain rocks along the way. At some point, the level of inclination was almost 70 degrees, with only a rope separating us between life and certain death. With just few hours of nap, fever and the lack of oxygen as we go higher makes mobility even more difficult. Nonetheless, me and Sean still got our power Bar to get us motivated. I swear to you thats the yummiest thing to eat that time. At km7 the wind starting to blow heavily making the climb harder. I were practically walking every20 steps and collapsing, walking every 20 steps and collapsing… until we almost felt like giving up and sit down to rest. We close our eyes and nearly slept! Luckily we didnt or we end up rolling back down the hill. Every step nearer to the summit make us hard to breath… we tried to find hiding places behind rocks to escape from the wind. Bloody it was damn cold.. the guider said now its around 5 degrees and i ask him how much further.. he replied me " Jauh lagi "… Cilaka betul that fella can make me happier saying near soon ma…
Nonetheless, with our spirit and motivation .. we walk and walk and walk… we reached km8.5 near to the top already. I push my final breath and climb up super fast to the last 200-300 metres to the top of Mt Kinabalu - The Low’s Peak. At 10 minutes before 6am… we manage to reach up leaving other slow hikers far behind.. one of our teammates Wan Yen, unfortunately didnt make it at km7.. i heard she started to vomit and collapse the porter have to bring her back to Layang layang hut to rest. We manage to see the sunrise!! woohoo… then after that i hide back to some rock.. its too cold until my hands are frostbitten and not manage to grab the camera out from my pocket. Lucky Kevin was there with his camera..
Sunrise………………………………we witness the break of dawn from the top!
Sean forcefully and shivering to smile at Low’s Peak..
And then.. its flash time!
Both of us souring high ! You can actually see the South Peak from here.. note the sharp triangle peak. That’s the South Peak!
Donkey’s Ear Peak
St John’s Peak.. both our camera batteries run out due to the coldness. What’s left are just our hp cam.
The highest peak - Low’s Peak
Sean with great view from above.
Death man lying on the rock.
Sean - meditating and thinking "Shit..no more cigarettes."
Me at KM8.5
Well, after that it takes hell of a tiring walk back to Laban Rata. Actually it’s even tougher and need to be more careful going down due to the steep rocks. I got bunch of pics taking when going down but to to the account limit.. i can only post these much pics so far.. most of other pics are scenery view.Too bad I think i only manage to wait for the next month to post the group pic at the summit of the Low’s Peak from Kevin’s camera. And hell yeah.. we walk extra 2 km more after we reach back to the starting point because our other teammates were slower. We didnt take the car ride and along the journey back we finally get shower by rain. And the mother of all purpose it this stupid certificate proove us manage to conquer Mt Kinabalu Low’s Peak.
Damn it cost RM 10. Bloody ppl there really know how to do business. I thought it was included on the hike when we pay the guide’s fee and IDs registration fee.
