Day 5: Climbing Mount Kinabalu (Part II)

Beware: Long post!

26th March 2007 Monday (Day 5) Part II

Finally, we passed the 4km mark at 3hours 45mins after departing from Timpohon Gate.

Timpohon Gate to 4km: 8.38am-12.23pm (2745m a.s.l).

From here onward, the trail are much more steeper and thus it took VERY long time to climb. So long that we reached the 5km mark after 1hour 20mins or 5hours 5mins from Timpohon Gate.

Timpohon Gate to 5km: 8.38am-1.43pm (3001m a.s.l).

To tell you the truth, our legs were still in pretty good shape. How could you not when you have the freshest air to fill your lungs and tonnes of beautiful view to savour like this one:

or this one:

We passed by Pondok Villosa, the 5km mark and Pondok Paka with Laban Rata Resthouse in our mind.

“Where the hell is that resthouse?”

More beautiful pictures:

Amazing view+branches!

Click click click! 95% of the pictures shown in this Sabah travelogue were taken by ME! Ahem! ahem!

And then we finally saw a hut! Waras Hut! Yeah you’ll be sure to go crazy by now. Wonder how many steps we have climbed so far?!? Thousand perhaps.

By then we already saw a faint view of Laban Rata in front of us. Wohoooo! We passed another hut called Burlington Hut.

At 3.06pm we FINALLY arrived at Laban Rata Resthouse. So crazily wonderful! It just took my breath away. I’ve been dreaming about stepping my foot on this resthouse since the idea of climbing Mount Kinabalu came into my mind. Reaching this resthouse is like a dream come true. Never mind if I never made it to the top…

It took us a total of 6hours 28mins to reach Laban Rata from Timpohon Gate.

Timpohon Gate to Laban Rata Resthouse: 8.38am-3.06pm (3272.7m a.s.l).

Did ya realise that we haven’t reach the 6km mark? And that we took like 1hour 23mins just to reach Laban Rata from the 5km mark? Yeah that show how winding the trail is. It was like in a twlight zone movie… you climb and climb but never reach your destination. But in actual we’re just a slow bunch of people (sis and me ONLY la). Dreamcatcher and Jidane have to wait for ‘the slow-coachers’ who took a few too many breaks every few minutes.

This resthouse took about 1 year and 6 months to be constructed. From 27th Oct 1983 ~ 15th Apr 1985 to be precised. This is the resthouse main entrance. Yes and it was damn cold here baby!

We hadn’t have any heavy food since our breakfast at Rose Cabin. Our lunch? It was chocolate all the way. Since I couldn’t wait for the 5pm dinner, I ordered a plate of fried mihun at RM15!!! Later on when dinner was served, I couldn’t stomach much of the food. Yeah yeah… we had an early dinner because we’re getting up early the next day.

We’re lucky that we were safely tucked in the resthouse because not long after that it rain quite heavily and the resthouse were shrouded by thick white mist which brings the temperature down even more. I was shivering like mad liao. Wore socks and gloves.

Ohh and for those who love to send snail mail whenever you’re travelling (like sis and me), here’s some good news. You can purchase postcard and stamp from the restaurant counter and drop in your ‘precious’ postcard at the counter as well.

At 5.30pm we continued our journey up again. 😭 Pity us la. Our accommodation for the night wasn’t at Laban Rata Resthouse as it was fully booked already.

3 minutes later… Yahooo! We finally reached the 6km mark!!!! Hahaha

Laban Rata Resthouse to 6km: 5.27pm-5.30pm (3290m a.s.l).

Beauty!

15mins after departing from Laban Rata Resthouse, we reached our final destination for the day… Gunting Lagadan Hut! Yipeede duda!

Most climbers would prefer to stay in Laban Rata Resthouse rather than Gunting Lagadan Hut. So are we. Why? The main and ONLY reason is because THERE’S NO F***ING HEATER IN THE ROOM!!! (Gunting Lagadan Hut) Well, at least I get to wash up with hot steamy shower! Oh lala! But as the night looms… the air keeps getting colder.

The 8 of us shared a room that comes with 4 double-decker beds. Around 7pm the other 4 guys just plopped to bed and tido mati (you can hear the pleasurable snoring lagi!). I wished I could do that but I couldn’t. I was freezing cold… especially my feet. Finally I wore 3 socks, 3 layers of shirts, 2 pants coupled with 2 thick blankets and a mat BUT STILL cannot man! My legs arrgghhh so icy ‘Kimi’ cold!

Alas I came down from my top bunker and share a bed with my sister below. Hehe she was feeling the cold too. So together we keep each other warm. So now it’s 4 blankets! But what the heck eh? We were still so cold. Dreamcatcher even borrowed us one of her blanket. TQVM ar! And finally about 9pm we managed to catch some sleep. At one point I can feel my legs become warm again. What a wonderful feeling. 🙂

Ohh what about our tired legs? They’re pain la. Knee pain, back leg pain, feet pain… of course we apply heat rub. I asked myself whether I was able to climb tomorrow. I had no ‘toilet’ issue so far. I was too dehydrated to produce any additional waste. Altitude sickness? None too. So I wasn’t worry about that and that. Just my very tired legs.

In all my Sabah posts, I’ve never inform you guys whether I reach the peak or not. Here’s a question. Do you guys seriously believe that I went on and conquer the summit or did I chicken out the very last minute?… I’m curious to know la. Tell me. (my frens, if you know oledi please don’t say a word la)

p/s: Give me some time ar. I haven’t start writing the next post.

If you miss my earlier Sabah travelogue entries… chill. Just click below.
1. Will I Reach The Summit?
2. 6 Days & 6 Nights Backpacking at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
3. Day 1 & 2: Snorkel + Rain + Hell @ Kota Kinabalu
4. Day 3: Whitewater Rafting @ Kiulu River + Shopping @ Kota Kinabalu
5. Day 4: More Shopping @ Kota Kinabalu + Hello Kundasang
6. Day 5: Climbing Mount Kinabalu (Part I)