The lodge was warm & heated… and had lots of food. The kitchen was stocked with water, chocolate, and other supplies (INCLUDING postcards & stamps - I sent one to my parents) .
All the supplies for the lodge are carried up by porters. As we were hiking up, we saw locals carrying HUGE loads strapped to their back and hanging from their heads…. as they passed us.
Up to this point, the sky has been foggy & drizzly. Just before sunset, the skies cleared for the first time.
on the balcony
sunset - on level with the clouds
Chris & I left the trailhead around 10am with our guide Julius. (I know that’s probably not how he spells it… but that’s the best that I could pronounce.)
The trail was steep & I started really feeling the altitude about 2 or 3 hours in. Chris (who had just climbed Mt Rainer) taught me a couple helpful tricks, including power breathing (taking a full, short breath out every few breaths).
We arrived at Laban Rata around 4pm.
start of trail - looking fresh
scenary
sillhoutte
action shot
start to see peaks
My friend Chris & I decided to climb Mt. Kinabalu. The summit is 4095 m (13,450 ft), the tallest between the Himalayas & New Guinea. For some perspective, Mt Rainer is just taller 4392 m (14,410 ft) - although, since you’re trucking through snow, Rainer is a tougher climb.
The climb up Mt Kinabalu starts at about 1866 m (6,122 ft). The first day, you hike up to Laban Rata at 3272 m (10,734 ft), where there is a lodge to spend the night. The next morning (around 3am) you start the final 823 m (2,700 ft) climb for sunrise at the summit. After hiking back to the lodge for breakfast, you make your way back down.
Some dibits…
- Full roundtrip:
- 2229 m (7,312 ft) elevation gain
- 8.72 km (8.41 mi) each way meant it was straight up/down…. no switchbacks.
- 28.5 hr trip with about 14 hr of hiking for us….
- 2 hrs 41 min is the roundtrip record (which is just ridiculous)
- Generally, altitude headaches start happening around usually takes 2400 m (8,000 feet).
- Heavy doses of advil helped this.
- Fortunately, neither of us got really sick.
- Hiking poles
- These are seriously the best invention ever. (okay, not really… but they certainly helped!)
mt kinabalu from a far
our tags for the hike up
my gear