Mount Kinabalu
Sabah, Malaysia
• Height: 4095 metres
• Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
(Moderate-Tough)
• Ideal Climbing Duration: 02 days
(with overnight stay at Laban Rata Resthouse)
• Level of Fitness Required: Must be Physically Fit
and with Good Endurance
.....it was in 2011 and I was still in the Service then; few of the officers had planned for a climbing trip to Mount Kinabalu, and I found myself alongside my wife, into that adventure.
It was our maiden climb; so Mount Kinabalu became a real challange for a novice climber like us, who prior to that, have no proper climbing knowledge or experience for such a climb.
As such, the hike itself became sort of a rush up kind of climb; for what or why we rush up, we couldn't know exactly the reason why. We thought, climbing was all about how quickly we can climb up, and reach for the summit.
Inexperience was truly apparent in our behaviour towards the mountains, back then.
......and so we just went out and started climbing Mount Kinabalu without proper team organisation, nor with a planned out structure or planning to chart our hike.
We were novice true to the words!
Hence it was no wonder that out of the eleven of us attempting the climb, only six of us made it to the summit.
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Added to that inexperience, we encountered the test of nature too.
The summit push was at the early hour of 02:30 a.m. The mountain cold weather, was made even tougher by a sudden fall of the heavy rain halfway through the climb.
Even the jackets we had, weren't specifically mountain climbing jackets that were waterproof, nor were they windproof. They were merely thick jackets for low terrain use, not for high altitude demands.
That alone, put those that didn't make it to the summit, be caught in total mercy of the elements, that they in the end were overcame by the mountain coldness.
We were really inexperience then, and it shows in our gears and the way we pace our climbs too.
On hindsight, it was a dangerous thing to be caught in such situation, and our group were indeed lucky not ending up with any serious casualties.
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While the climb began with a trail that are comfortable, the summit push, done in the early morning, was a little tough for some of us; more so without sufficient rest.
The brighly litted headlamps that lighted up along the path, signified a high volume of climbers that morning.
But it soon became a fading thing like stars gone from the sky when the torrential rain took over, clearing one by one the climbers into succumbing to the weather and returning to the safety of the basecamp.
For our group, we had passed through the Layang-Layang Guard House and so there were no Rangers out by then, to stop us furthering into the climb.
The only people that wanted us to turned back was our 02 hopeless local guides who were clearly never interested in giving any of us a proper climbing guidance, nor encouraging words (even when we set off at the entry gate) - they were there just to make money out of us.
With umbrellas - what an awful sight to be climbing on the mountain with umbrellas, more so that this came from them the mountain guides - they urged us to turn back.
.....but we were defiant and persisted to move on instead.
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It was at the flat terrain some 800 metres to go to the summit upon my return to base camp after summiting, that I chanced upon the other half of the group that had stalled there, overcame by the cold weather.
One or two of them were into
heavy shivering.
Amongst those in the group was my wife. Looking at her, with my own jawline losing control due to the severe coldness I felt too, I told her directly as ever in my straightforward talking:
"Up ahead, to the left, is to the summit - some mere 800 metres to go; down, to the right, is the return to the base camp.
We came a long way and with weeks of training put in, and here you are at another 800 metres to go, and you got yourselves stuck.
You must decide to move on - go up or turn back to the basecamp.
But make sure it's one decision taken that you would never regret about, later on in time," to that effect, I told her, and then I left her with the other members there, thereafter.
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At Laban Rata, the basecamp some hours later, the thudding sound was heard; it was the couple in our group that were overcame by the temperature outside, making their entry home, to the basecamp.
The couple guy was quite in a bad shape, and was treated by his companion nurse friend who was in a slightly better condition than him.
......I sat at the dining area having returned much earlier after a successful summiting; with a cup of hot tea in my hands to keep warm, I was waiting for her return.
I knew in heart that she would not give up halfway through because as my training partner, we had built within us each that discipline to always complete what we're into. That conviction had me keeping faith of her that she would too, with the climb.
.....and then, there appeared at the front door of Laban Rata some moments later, her yell of joy:
"I made it!!"
....sshh!!
I had to silent her as a reminder for her to keep her volume down and to keep the respect for the others that had returned camp, unsuccessful in their attempt. In celebration, we still ought to be considerate and not to forget about those who are not as lucky as we were.
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But I must say, silently within, I was so proud of her!!
She came, and she overcomes it - she conquered her own mountain of challenges.
Her achievement was truly a merit of her own, having the climbing done literally on her own without me short-changing it by any means of giving her unnecessary lift or assistance.
She has been taught to earned her own win, to merit her own success & triumphing moment on her own, not via any of my direct physical help or intervention, unnecessarily.
I was tough on her in training,
much so too, during the climb.
That made it even a prouder moment for her; despite what were there of the challenges inherent in that climb, she pulled through and made good to craft herself that winning moment!
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That maiden climb put into perspective about who we were each; that Mount Kinabalu climb then marked the beginning of our climbing adventures together as husband and wife.
.....and it since led us to many more mountains as we embarked climbing them together, with other like-minded friends, conquering - not merely the height and the terrain of the trails - but more than anything else, we learned to conquer the sheer mountains of self-doubts within, the uncertainties inside each of us - to discover within each what we truly are made of.
We each are given that special gift, we called it: The Human Spirit!
Always respect the mountain;
yet believe in thyself too.
That human spirit will always pulled ourselves through.
That was what Mount Kinabalu had taught us, about ourselves."
~ musafir,
THE WANDERING MOOSE COLLECTIONS©
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