Kinabalu trip

I dont know where to start, and I think this will be the most 'here and there' post; but, please enjoy reading my thoughts on my journey to the top of Kinabalu, the Low's Peak.

After hiking for a month during our field camp in Summer 2011, I knew that hiking/mountain climbing was a thrilling thing to do. Because of my small size, it was relatively easier for me to reach any summit as compared to my other classmates. Well of course, stamina played an important role here; but after climbing Kinabalu, I believe that 90% of it depends on your mind actually. Back to the story in summer, after the field camp, I planned to climb more mountains in Malaysia, and that included Kinabalu.

So, I finally got the opportunity to climb this mountain, the highest in South East Asia, through Ikhwan's friend and after asking mom's permission,  I excitedly registered my name. I didn't do much training except for turun naik tangga at home and that was it. Never the less, conquering the top of Kinabalu was always on my mind and that was the most important drive I had prior to and during the climb. 

We started off on the 21st of August, from the Timpohon Gate at 9.15 a.m. When Abg Jai told us the time frame for fast, average and slow climb, I immediately challenged myself to reach there before 2. (Mesti nak pukul satu something jugak). He mentioned that the first four kilometers was an easy route, but the following kilometers, memang susah. So, I hiked as usual, with my  normal walking pace (usually, my pace is faster than an average person, and you can ask Farhana or Dibah about this) and I managed to cover 2km in the first hour. While climbing, I kept saying, I didn't know that Kinabalu has lots of STAIRS! Because we had to climb, not just hike the trail. 

I was glad that Ikhwan was hiking with me most of the time until the 5th KM. And I was thankful that I knew someone was around the corner 'coz it made me feel so much better. Hiking alone is nice because you don't feel pressurized by your friends, but I tend to feel lost when I'm alone. After KM 5 checkpoint, Ikhwan left and I started to slow down as the path got steeper. I stopped every 5 steps (roughly) and I rested longer than usual. Taking a deep breath also took longer time and I guessed I could blame the altitude for that. 

Luckily, I met three friendly and positive Chinese girls along the path. Mind you, that Laban Rata is at KM 6. In that one kilometer, I struggled so much with my climb but not to the extend that I would quit. I wanted to reach the top but man, it got a lot harder as we went higher. The three Chinese girls kept motivating me and at that point, I just went with the flow. As soon as the girl at the front saw Waras Hut, she shouted at me, "Kak, Dah nak dekat!!'. And I was like, Ye la tu.. and after few seconds, I saw Waras Hut as well as Laban Rata. And I just rushed to the latter. 

I thanked the girls, shook their hands, took a picture and dashed into the yellow building. Saw the guys from our group there and felt so happy to be the first girl in the group to reach Laban Rata at 1.45 p.m. So, I achieved my goal and felt very thankful for that. I ordered Bubur Ayam (coz Dr Shafeeq decided to add two more brackets 3 days before my adventurous journey and I couldn't even chew properly). So, we waited for the rest of the group to arrive and rested for the night. 

At 1.30 a.m. (22nd August), we started the Summit Attack. As soon as I walked, I could feel that my breathing got so difficult. And walking in the cold temperature made my muscle all tight up. I was not very happy at that moment, because we gave way to other people first and I was at the very end of the line. Starting at the front of the group always gave me a good boost but not that morning. So I just walked with them and few minuted later, some of them started to stop and give way to other people. As much as I felt glad that I could move faster, I felt bad for them because I knew that early stop/rest meant you're gonna stop and rest a lot more frequent. 

Anyway, from KM 6 to KM 7, there was a lot of climbing and we needed to use ropes for 3-4 times. You need to hold tightly onto the ropes (with two hands, I got warning from the guide as I was too lazy to use both hands at this time) because you don't want to fall off the cliff. From KM 7 to 8.5, the trail was not too bad (at all), but this was the most crucial time because oxygen level got really low. I knew I could do it, but at that point, I started to feel slightly dizzy and nausea, and it was so hard to lift my legs. Kak Min approached me, somewhere close to KM 8.5 and after that, she just went ahead leaving me behind. (Sedih sikit sbb x dpt nak jadi the first girl smpai summit, hehe). 

**I must say that I really adore/respect Kak Min because she was a lot more steady than me; at the age of 40. She has a very consistent pace, breathing and I could even hear her berzikir along the path. Dahsyat kan?**

I could not estimate well, but at one point, I realized that going up the summit got a lot harder because you need to start climbing (yang guna tangan to reach batu batu tu). I was like, "Really???? Nak kena jadi macam cicak pulak ke?". It wasn't too bad actually (noticed this after the sunrise) but as you are aware, we were climbing in the darkness of the mountain. You could only rely on your headlamp and your instinct. I was alone, too, at that moment, and I could not really copy the path of the person before me. So, I spent more time judging where should I step on, and would I fall if I step there? 

At 5.10 a.m. (kot, ke awal sikit), I finally reached the Low's peak, Alhamdulillah. Few people were still at the peak, taking pictures so I decided to solat Subuh first. After that, I took picture with Kak Min and Kak Linda. And then, we waited for sunrise while freezing to death. Well, it was really cold. Our gloves were all wet and we didn't have extra (En Fadhil was complaining about this too). So, we sat closer together and at one point, I decided to move around to find a better spot, away from the cold wind. I finally found a small gua, just nice for me, and I laid down quietly. I could not really remember what happened, but I told Ikhwan I wanted to sleep. He said no, but at the end, I dozed off. (I'm unstoppable when I'm sleepy and hungry). 

So, I slept soundly for how many minutes pun I was not sure and suddenly, Ikhwan woke me up and I heard people kecoh kecoh behind me. A sweet young adik even teased me, "Sempat tidur ye kak?. I then heard Alissa's voice and got all excited again. (Actually, after few days, I realized how stupid I was to miss the sunrise and the majestic scenery up there, haish). We took a picture using Safwan's gopro and started to head down around 6.10 a.m. Then only, we realized how steep some of the path that we went through.

To be continued.