Mt Kinabalu Climb 9-10th Aug

Conditions:
Persistant <80km/hr winds with lashing rain throughout
6C day temperature, 3C night temperature
At 1.30am 10th, weather conditions no change.
Final 800m climb to Lowe's Peak summit ruled out by guides.
About 40 climbers, mostly from overseas, were obviously disapponted as none made it to the top.
Matt and Chi made it up in 4 hours and I reached the Laban Rata lodge in 4.5 hours.
I made it down to the Tombohon Gate in exactly 3 hours, Matt and Chi 15 minutes later.
Satisfaction: Quite an achievement for me, having been through a heart operation exactly three years ago, and Chi had just recovered from a broken leg a few months ago. I guess life is not a spectator sport for some of us.
















On 8/19/06 1:33 AM, "Yap Chi Chie" wrote:

Alice
Thanks for your encouragement.
Wish you and your family could make it. It would be wonderful to see all of you again.

Pete, Matt and I had a nice, quick breakfast in Kudabulaut(?) before we head for the mountain. Sound like a slow suicide to us. But what a memory. The climb was such a challenge. The wet, clod, windy condition was not a fun thing to do. Made it much harder for the 50's one. We learn from the porters, never do it in August, Sept, Nov and Dec. Those months were the most terrible climate for the mountain. Best time to do it is in March and April. Not to mention when we were at the top, I had breathing problem and suffered from altitude sickness.

Matt was having a good time. He was chatting away, squatting at the side of the trail, pretend he was smoking like the local people, waiting for me. He learn the word "Bagus"~good and "Jalant jalant", whenever I was ready, he will used the word to signal the porter. As we went towards the top of the mountain, whenever we came across the open space, the wind were so strong that we nearly got blown away several times. When we got up to the rest house, I was walking like a drunk. Matt had a big plate of nasi gorang with ikan bilis and enjoy himself with a hot Milo. Pete and I shared a plate of mee hon. We both had a bite and felt like throwing out due to the mountain sickness. Pete almost drop his head into the plate of mee hon infront of him. The local ducks lost face man!!

Pete was very kind to let us stayed in a room with heater. We managed to make friend to a couple who had bought a room with 4 punk beds just to themselves, very kindly gave up two of their beds to us with a very warm room. So we all had a warm room to stay for the night.

The wind was howling, I was trying to catch my breath throughout the night that I can hardly sleep at all. By 2am which we were supposed to start the climb, I had to tell the porter to wake us if the wind die down on 3am which was the last attempt for the climb. Unfortunately by 3 am it was still cold, extremely foggy and windy that all climbers had to cancel the climb, because the ranger would not allowed any climbers and porters to risk their life. It was so sad that everybody stood by the lobby waiting for the last chance to go. Everybody came so far, one can see the top of the mountain in the middle of the night. The so far and yet so near really mean so much to many of the climbers. I speak for myself lah, I am 50, man, I thought I will make it again for the last time.

Going down hill is actually harder. Matt and I were pacing ourselves. Pete did very well when descending. The steps were so high, rocky and water running like a stream alone the way. We had to bent our knee so often to get to the next step. It was such a hard work for our knee and legs muscle to balance on the rocky wet trail. Bata shoes doesn't help in this weather and road condition. A pair of good hiking shoes is an extra plus.
Well, I lost my legs the next 2 days...can hardly walk.

So ladies and gentlemen, we had another 50 years to get ourselves to the top. So start working now!!

Did I tell you about our diving???:-)))
Chi