You guys honestly didn't think it was a goodnight's sleep, did you? Nope. Because of the altitude, there was less oxygen to breathe as we were used to. Combine this with Sois having a healthy cold and clogged nose which produced some major snoring and you know just how much sleep Chel got. In addition, the alarm buzzer rang at 2:00 am in the morning as we had to leave to the top at 2:45 am. Sleepy-eyed we jumped into our clothes, strapped on the backpacks and headed downstairs where our mountain goat.. err... we mean guide. We put our headlights on and headed out, right into the cold night.
We started walking straight up the solid granite rocks, actually overtaking people that had started before us until we were walking solo. It was such an amazing site, three little people on a gargantuous mountain (see pic above: the glowing thing is Chel). However, our confident pace dropped steadily as the lack of oxygen and the altitude were starting to affect us. We decided to lower the pace a little and instead just try to trudge along. Along the way there were white ropes to hold on to, but somehow they proved to be more of a burden than a help.
As we continued our ascent , Chel started to become a little affected by the height. While she was able to breathe properly, it seemed she suffered from a mild form of altitude sickness. Nevertheless, we continued because she didn't want to leave Kinabalu Park without reaching that summit. After a hard final 500 meters, the three of us managed to get to the top and take this picture (where we are looking quite bewildered I might add).
It was very cold at the top; we had to wear all the layers of extra clothing we had brought to stay warm. Although Chel was feeling victorious, her situation worsened at the peak and we decided not to wait for the sunrise and start a little bit earlier on our descent. So we packed up everything (except the cameras) and followed our mountain goat who was staying close to Chel just in case.
During our descent, the sun was slowly rising up from the valley. The fog was also setting in but we managed to take some nice pictures. The further we got down, the better Chel was starting to feel. We went down quicker and quicker and decided not to stop until we reached the Laban Rata guesthouse where we had to pick up our big bag and the trusty walking sticks.
After the quick pitstop at Laban Rata, we decided that we would walk down as fast as possible because the path was steep and didn't offer many chances for sightseeing: we did that on the way up ;-) The pics used here are taken still on the upper parts of the mountain. These amazing sights alone made it worthwhile to do the climb. A lot of people that rached the resthouse, however, decided not to go to the top because it was relatively demanding.
Let's talk about the descent now to finish things off. In general, the ascent went pretty well, especially the last part (despite Chel's altitude sickness, we were doing fine condition wise). However, the descent was long and tedious and very demanding on the knees. In addition, it had rained the night before, making the path very slippery. Chel fell in total 5 times, but walked away everytime without serious injury. Sois made a few slips but got saved everytime by Chel and our guide.
After 12 hours and 15 minutes of climbing and descending (without the overnight stay at Laban Rata, but including other rest stops), we finally made it back to the Timpohon Gate, only to be confronted with the sign portrayed in the picture above. And yes, you are reading this correctly: the people that do a "climbathon" here every year (running up and down the mountain) do all of this in 2 hours and 50 mins. Wow! Despite this, we were happy to be down again.
All in all, it was a great experience. Both of us have never stood so high above sea-level in such beautiful surroundings. But we were both hammered, and after a well-deserved lunch, we went back to Kota Kinabalu to get ourselves ready to visit Sepilok (an Orang Utan rehabilitation reserve) and some R&R in one of the East Coast Islands. Let's go...
A dreamy Chel pondering about our past and forthcoming adventures
You guys honestly didn't think it was a goodnight's sleep, did you? Nope. Because of the altitude, there was less oxygen to breathe as we were used to. Combine this with Sois having a healthy cold and clogged nose which produced some major snoring and you know just how much sleep Chel got. In addition, the alarm buzzer rang at 2:00 am in the morning as we had to leave to the top at 2:45 am. Sleepy-eyed we jumped into our clothes, strapped on the backpacks and headed downstairs where our mountain goat.. err... we mean guide. We put our headlights on and headed out, right into the cold night. 
We started walking straight up the solid granite rocks, actually overtaking people that had started before us until we were walking solo. It was such an amazing site, three little people on a gargantuous mountain (see pic above: the glowing thing is Chel). However, our confident pace dropped steadily as the lack of oxygen and the altitude were starting to affect us. We decided to lower the pace a little and instead just try to trudge along. Along the way there were white ropes to hold on to, but somehow they proved to be more of a burden than a help.
As we continued our ascent , Chel started to become a little affected by the height. While she was able to breathe properly, it seemed she suffered from a mild form of altitude sickness. Nevertheless, we continued because she didn't want to leave Kinabalu Park without reaching that summit. After a hard final 500 meters, the three of us managed to get to the top and take this picture (where we are looking quite bewildered I might add). 
It was very cold at the top; we had to wear all the layers of extra clothing we had brought to stay warm. Although Chel was feeling victorious, her situation worsened at the peak and we decided not to wait for the sunrise and start a little bit earlier on our descent. So we packed up everything (except the cameras) and followed our mountain goat who was staying close to Chel just in case. 
During our descent, the sun was slowly rising up from the valley. The fog was also setting in but we managed to take some nice pictures. The further we got down, the better Chel was starting to feel. We went down quicker and quicker and decided not to stop until we reached the Laban Rata guesthouse where we had to pick up our big bag and the trusty walking sticks. 
After the quick pitstop at Laban Rata, we decided that we would walk down as fast as possible because the path was steep and didn't offer many chances for sightseeing: we did that on the way up ;-) The pics used here are taken still on the upper parts of the mountain. These amazing sights alone made it worthwhile to do the climb. A lot of people that rached the resthouse, however, decided not to go to the top because it was relatively demanding. 
Let's talk about the descent now to finish things off. In general, the ascent went pretty well, especially the last part (despite Chel's altitude sickness, we were doing fine condition wise). However, the descent was long and tedious and very demanding on the knees. In addition, it had rained the night before, making the path very slippery. Chel fell in total 5 times, but walked away everytime without serious injury. Sois made a few slips but got saved everytime by Chel and our guide. 
After 12 hours and 15 minutes of climbing and descending (without the overnight stay at Laban Rata, but including other rest stops), we finally made it back to the Timpohon Gate, only to be confronted with the sign portrayed in the picture above. And yes, you are reading this correctly: the people that do a "climbathon" here every year (running up and down the mountain) do all of this in 2 hours and 50 mins. Wow! Despite this, we were happy to be down again. 
All in all, it was a great experience. Both of us have never stood so high above sea-level in such beautiful surroundings. But we were both hammered, and after a well-deserved lunch, we went back to Kota Kinabalu to get ourselves ready to visit Sepilok (an Orang Utan rehabilitation reserve) and some R&R in one of the East Coast Islands. Let's go...
A dreamy Chel pondering about our past and forthcoming adventures
2 comments:
Geweldig schatten dat jullie dit gedaan hebben petje af voor jullie big hug van mamsie
Hallo travelers, heb alles gelezen het een nog mooier dan het andere,vooral de foto's waren te gek die met dat lichtje vooral daar halen jullie de eerste prijs mee bij world press foto.Blijf nog maar lekker genieten hier is triest en kil. Groetjes en dikke X paps
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