So it turns out Mount Kinibalu is south east asias highest mountain at a staggering 4095m above sea level. The first day you will start at around 1600m and work your way through steaming bug and squirrel infested jungle. Your goal for the day is the basecamp area located at 3200m! This is a 4-5 hour walk alone and compared to the highest mountain I have climbed before it is roughly 200m higher! Here you collaps after your Via Ferrata briefing and supper, so you can sleep a little before being woken up at 2 am to start your hike to the summit and the sunrise waiting there at 6am. After accomplishing this you then have to hike 400 height meters back down the mountain before starting your remaining descent to the base camp area, using the Via Ferrata which turned out to be the world highest(oh joy!), consisting of a series of small metal steps going down the sheer cliff face and takes another 4-5 hours. So after 10 hours of climbing you still have to make it off the mountain which is believe it or not tougher than going up!
So to sum it all up... GULP! What had I gotten myself into..
Getting picked up at 6.30 in the morning and driven from the nearby city of Kota Kinabalu to the mountain where we met our guide Sherif and got our named passes that would allow us to access the mountain. So off we went one step at a time, 6 km of distance and 1600 height meters to the base camp. By the time we got there it was 2 pm, sun high in the sky, all our water nearly finished, exhausted from the walk and jet lagged on top of that it didn't take long to simply fall on the bunk bed and fall asleep.. Being jet lagged thou meant my body didn't really fancy sleeping past 10 pm so I was up in good time for our 2 am wakeup call. The good thing about jet lag thou is that even thou your body should be feeling tired it simply doesnt because its not supposed to at this time back in Denmark..
Outside it was pitch black and very windy so we put on all our clothes, mounted our head lamps and went up the mountain. Even at this hight we were still walking through forest, lightbeams flashing through the trees from the people infront and behind us. Over our heads the stars twinkled from a cloudless sky and it wasnt really that cold but quite enjoyable. After the first hour or so you leave the forest and face a rope hanging from the cliff.. So up you go, hand over hand climbing the steep rock. As you leave the trees the lights of the valleys below become visible and you start realizing the height you are already at. In addition the air really starts to get thin so you are strugling for breath every 50 meters.
About halfway up you reach the final ranger checkpoint and south east asias highest toilet.. From here the climb becomes more flat but you are now exposed to the hard winds and its starts getting cold. All the time you are walking in pitch blackness only seeing a few meters along the rope guiding you to the top. In the dark you pass people sitting, laying on the rock catching their breath, you hear voices from several nationalities and of course a couple of danes as well. As you near the summit it starts to lighten up and the wind picks up even more making it freezing. You are now basically caught in a dilemma, either you rush the last stretch to the summit so you can get back down again or you wait in the cold for the sun to rise even more so you have enough light to enjoy the view and get some good pictures. A sudden gust of freezing wind settled the matter quickly..
A last push to the top, snap snap snap.. and down again! It was simply too cold to stay up there for any period of time so we made it back down again quickly, teeth clapping and fingers numb. From the top we hiked back down to the 7,5 km mark where we met our Via Ferrata guide Larry.
The wind was still very strong and cold so we didn't hesitate in strapping on our harness and crawling over the edge of the cliff to get out of it. Now Via Ferrata supposingly means iron road in Italian and is a form of traversing a cliff face that is slightly less challenging than actual rock climbing. You wear a safety harness that attaches you to a metal wire, that is again attached to pins drilled into the mountain. You then move along using metal steps and handles drilled into the cliff. In addition there are different bridges suppended across deep ravines and gullies.
So when we had finished the Via Ferrata and made it back to the hut it was 12.30 and we had been going for nearly 10 hours and we still had to make it off the mountain.. But before that we had to rest and eat. By the time we were close to the park exit, the sun had set again, we were wearing headlamps and the night creatures of the jungle were making their presence known. This was by far the toughest trip I have made in a long time and there were times where I was wondering if it was worth it, but now that its done I feel like we made a true accomplishment and earned our right to the beaches and ocean around Mabul and Sipadan island the coming week.
