Mount Kinabalu Expedition - Final Episode : Low's Peak

Right after our long 5 hours hike from Timpohan to Laban Rata we finished up what was left from our packed brunch at Laban Rata's restaurant and later on we checked in into our dorms at Gunting Lagadan Hut which is another 5 minutes hike up the mountain.

[caption id="attachment_915" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Gunting Lagadan Hut, Mount Kinabalu"][/caption]

Story fast forward...

I had yet another sleepless night at Gunting Lagadan Hut. I was too tired or probably high in anxiety to even sleep. Finally, I think I settled for a mere 2 hours sleep and got all geared up with my 4 layers of clothes, gloves, beanie, buff, my trusty Adidas Response Trail shoes, headlamp and the bag pack packing one small bottle of mineral water, camera, extra headlamp, first aid kit and chocolates. The 2 am, way too early breakfast consists of tuna spread on 2 pieces of bread, a couple of sip of someone's milo I think and another couple of spoons of someone's Maggie cup and cold, plain water. Haha. With all these so called 'energy' I was about to set for the summit of Mount Kinabalu together with little sleep starting from one night before. Greaaaat!



FF checked on the thermometer outside the hut and if it reads correctly, the temperature at around 2 ish am on that 14 May was only 10 degree Celcius, wasn't exactly that cold under 4 layers of clothes. By 2.30am the whole team gathered at a little spot just before the gate towards Low's Peak, had a little briefing by our guide and a short prayer later, we were off.

The journey began at around 2.30 am starting with steps yet again. At that time we were among the first 3 teams that had started the journey to the summit while most other teams were still at Laban Rata's cafe to have some bite of their early breakfast or  what they called it as supper. We skipped the buffet supper because we didn't want to tire ourselves and waste time going down to Laban Rata and coming up back again to begin the summit hike which starts exactly right behind our Gunting Lagadan Hut back door.

At the steps, I always found myself bumping right behind Bullert's bag pack and it was a slow one step at a time hike. I liked the pace we were going because I had time to take a breather every second we stopped for another step on the stairs and since we were already high up on the mountain, it's  best to acclimatize with a slow and steady hike as we ascent. Since I was wearing 4 layers of clothes, I was scorching under the layers after the first 10-15 minutes of the hike. My immediate response to that was that I  better get a layer off me before the rope track begins or before I get even hotter during the next couple of hours and I stopped and took out my fleece. At that point, our guide, Gampat stopped and waited for me to change and he said roughly this to me," Up there is going to be very windy you know." I don't remember replying back to him but you know what, right after a minute or so I got myself back on the track, the wind started to blast like crazy all the way up toward the summit. At that point, I was thinking, man ,why did Gampat has to open his mouth and say such negative things. Thank God since I was still sweating under my now 3 layers of clothes, the wind and temperature at that time was bearable. The jacket did got all big at most times because the wind were coming from all direction.

I hiked until the end of the wooden steps and found myself standing in a queue behind two Aussie couple and their guide. At that point, Zue and Azleena were approaching toward me and I remember telling Zue that the rope was here in front of us. To tell the truth, I have no idea how to even climb up the steep rock with the long white rope dangling at the bottom. The two Aussies climbed up first and I followed suit later without having both Zue and Azleena behind me because I reckon both of them took a little break before they began the rope hike.

From  now onwards, my other teammates were no where in sight either behind or in front of me. I kept my pace and followed the Aussies with their guide so that I know where to hold the rope and where to put my feet on the rocks. At one bend, I kept going forward on the ropes and left the two Aussies behind as I gained my confident to hike alone on the rocks. There were other people on other teams ahead of me of course and my goal at that time was to reach the nearest person in front of me or simply to just catch on behind them. At all time, the wind was blasting from all sides and my nose got automatically runny. I was wiping on my gloves, my buff and just about anywhere really. Haha. I even tried to cover my buff just above my nose but I found myself suffocating behind the made-shift balaclava instead. With runny nose, I was even breathing from my mouth at times.

The wind showed no mercy at most times and there was one time when it started blowing so hard that I was literally pushed forward on the steep rocks. Thankfully it happened only once and that got me gripping tight on the ropes and making sure at all time, I will hike only a few centimeters away from the rope so that it's easy to get hold of it at any time. As I pressured on alone, I did met up with the two guys in the team but decided to pushed ahead again since both of them decided to stop a lot after reaching a little distance. I couldn't afford to lose my body heat by taking lots of rests and since I was down to a mere a tank top, thick long sleeve tee and my jacket, I didn't want to be caught freezing up there.

Pushing on all alone wasn't easy. I tried keeping myself all motivated with prayers again and my little positive words chant. You never know at that altitude, your prayers may be heard after all. By 3.35 am, I was already checking in at Sayat-sayat check point and after a quick sip of water, I hiked on again. It sure was cold and windy up there but for some reason I felt that the temperature was bearable and it felt a little bit like being at Cameron Highland only slightly windy. At this point, the only next person either ahead or below me was like 60 metres away from me. The only light I saw was a tiny dot of light from the next person's headlamp. I'd never imagined that I was able to go through the hike alone, in the dark and windy cold of the mountain. I was so focused to get myself up to Low's Peak that I never stop. If I did, I would stop for less than a minute and pressured on again. I also stopped to look behind me and I could see dots of light behind me on a long trail and far below I could even see the nearest housing community around that Mount Kinabalu area. As I got nearer to the summit, there were a couple of shooting stars flying down from the sky above me and the stars were clear and looks so near. The lone hike went on and on until I met a guide resting on a rock and I asked him how much longer and he said 10 minutes. I was like "Wo, I'm getting there already and it's still very dark." 10 minutes later I was hiking behind a bunch of Aussie army, some of them was even wearing a t-shirt, and we ended up walking on some rocks and then I saw the Low's Peak signboard. At that time, I was thinking,"Oh okay, this is the board. Probably there's another signboard up ahead because come on, I couldn't have actually reached Low's Peak so soon right?" . And what do you know, that Low's Peak signboard marks the highest point of Mount Kinabalu! Unknowingly, with all those consistent effort through the wind and cold, I made it to the summit of Mount Kinabalu in about 2 hours and 24 minute, at 4.54 am.

[caption id="attachment_917" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Myself at Low's Peak! Look ghostly, pale and shocked! Haha."][/caption]

Right after reaching the summit I was looking around for my friends because I knew some of them should have arrived by now and true enough I found 2 of them, Fazilah and Marlina huddling on to each other on the cold rocks just behind the Low's Peak signboard. After a quick snapshot of myself at the summit, I joined both of them to wait for the sunrise to come in another 30-50 minutes to go. Once I stopped hiking, my body immediately got cold and my hands went frozen. I would never have waited for the sunrise if both of my teammates weren't there waiting in the cold. I would rather have quickly climbed down towards Laban Rata the instance I arrived at the summit. However it was worth to wait in the cold for the ultimately beautiful sunrise view and thankfully I waited at the best spot on the summit to view the rising of the sun and looking under on the curling clouds that formed a huge dome over the lower part of the mountain below us.

[caption id="attachment_918" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunrise around 5 ish am at Low's Peak, Mt.Kinabalu"][/caption]

*photo by Marlina

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iqtnw6Rc5w

No words to describe the feeling of being there on the highest summit of  Mount Kinabalu. I was totally awestruck  by the beauty of it all. After one hour plus of freezing hands later, we head out for the hike down and that's where I thought I was on the Climbathon race and set out running!