Asian Extravaganza, Days 8-10: Hiking Kinabalu, part 2

Just as a reminder, this is the 2nd post about Kinabalu... you need to jump back 2 posts for the stealth addition of the 1st one.

So Tuesday morning we were up earrrrrly to start hiking. The plan was to hike 6km up the mountain on Tuesday, stay overnight up there in a lodge, then get up at 2am and hike the last 2.7km to the top to watch the sun rise over the mountain. Yeah. 2am. The good news is the whole thing to the top is only 8.7km, right? Easy, right? I mean, that's much less than what I did per day for 4 days on the Inka Trail last summer in Peru, and like a third of Half Dome. So it should be simple. ...... Simple. ................ hmm.

The 6km on Tuesday wasn't so bad. It was pretty doable. It was a steady up... probly like 30% grade or so for most of it. Legs were tiring, but the views weren't bad, and it was lots of fun seeing the vegetation change as we climbed. By km 5 we were above the lower cloud layer and it was like looking out a plane window. I'll post pics when I can, but I have to tell you it was BEAUTIFUL. And we had a lot of fun on the trail... the trail is marked at each half-km, so at each full km we had a full-team Tanzenparty (german for dance party). I have video of that I'll also post later. ;)

So we started up around 9:30am, and it took us about 3.5 hrs to get to the lodge, Laban Rata. We were tired, but feeling good. We hung out up there in the afternoon, enjoying the great view and hanging out with randoms that we met. Specifically with this nice kid (Jeff from Philly) who just graduated from college and has been teaching English in Penang, near where Dan's working. He ended up taking Jen's spot in our 6-bed dorm room in the lodge (Jen had to skip the hike because of knee problems incurred a few days before from a rafting accident). So we all hung out and played Uno... the loser had to run up and check if we had hot water for showers. Eventually there was hot water, but not until after most men at the lodge had given up and taken cold (and I mean glacial-cold) showers... including Jeff. hehehe. And the girls NEVER got hot water. hahahaha. But Dan and I did... it was almost scalding! =P

I stayed up "late" till about 8, talking with Jeff and then watching the thunderstorm outside from the balcony, basically at eye level. ;) Then we both joined the others and crashed hard.

So yeah. Next morning we were up at about 2:30. Our guide gave us some extra time because we were pretty fast getting up to the lodge, so he was comfortable that we'd get up to the top quickly, as well. Did I mention the lodge is at an altitude of 3000m (9800 ft), and that we were hiking to 4092m (13425 ft)? Not as high as Dead Woman's Pass on the Inka Trail, but high enough to be low on oxygen and warmth. Oh, and light, too, at 3am.

So we hiked that last 2.7km in total darkness, using only our headlamps. Much of it was up smooth curved rock, with ropes assisting. And all of us were bundled up in winter clothes and windbreakers so we didn't freeze to death. It was a tough, steady slog up, and the very last bit was basically scrambling up boulders. But we made it just minutes before sunrise... and it was a spectacular sight from up there. The peak itself is nothing like Half Dome, which is very flat on top and can hold hundreds... this peak on Kinabalu is very pointy and can hold barely 10 people. =P So we were jockeying for position to get pictures. Luckily no one fell to their deaths in the process. Phew!

From there we hiked back down... holy balls. All of us were bitching about our knees and quads and calves by the time we'd shimmied the 2.7km back to Laban Rata, where we ate breakfast (it wasn't even 8am at that point) and then rested a bit. We struck down the rest of the 6km a few hrs later, and holy CRAP was that 6km looooooooooooong. And soooo painful. We were all hobbling on our hiking sticks like we were 80 years old. It was just nonstop steps down... almost no flat parts, and barely any ramps. Just stepping down for 3 hrs straight down irregularly spaced and heighted boulders, carved stairs, etc.

I cannot convey to you how hard it is to go down such a steep mountain. Even with a walking stick it was far far harder than going up. Your body doesn't use those muscles as often as the going-up ones, so it's just not prepared for that kind of punishment. 3 of 5 of us are triathletes, and I'm fairly athletic myself, but jeebiz. I can only tell you that I'm writing this on Sunday, 4 days later, and only today was I able to walk down normal stairs or steps without extreme pain. Even stepping down a curb was incredibly difficult for the last 4 days. Now, I don't say this to discourage you from hiking or climbing a mountain... it's more to warn you what to expect, and to suggest that you take your time coming down, and ABSOLUTELY have a hiking stick to help transfer some of the work to your upper body. Oy vey.

So anyways, after lots of painful schlepping down the mountain, we met back up with Jen, had lunch, showered, and rented a van back to Kota Kinabalu. The drive back was uneventful... we mostly slept and chilled. In KK we got our bags from the Hyatt and said goodbye to Jen... she was back off to her year of wandering SE Asia (she's already been at it 6 months), while we were off to Kuala Lumpur. We taxi'd to the airport and said our goodbyes to Luis as well (he's headed back to Singapore where we'll see him again in a week).

Oh... we'd done a lot of shuffling of baggage because Air Asia doesn't allow you to take more than 15 kg PER PERSON as checked bags. That's 33 lbs. I had packed 2 bags under 50 lbs each for my month away, per Singapore Airlines policy. I hadn't prepared for the much more restrictive Air Asia policy, which costs $3/pound overage. That gets expensive FAST. So I had to transfer the densest stuff to my backpack as a carry-on... the shuffle is annoying to do. But because Luis was headed to Singapore we sent him with a bag of our winter/hiking stuff that we knew we wouldn't need anymore.

So instead of checking my backpack I carried it on. And lo and behold, Malaysian airport security found my missing Leathermaster (swiss army knife), that I hadn't been able to find for like 2 years, and that no other airport security around the world had found in the last 2 years either. Turns out it was in some crazy nook in my hiking daypack. So there was some drama with me trying to check a small bag of Dugan's so I could save my $100 knife... no one was at the Air Asia desk, the flight was boarding, and I still wasn't through immigration control... oy. But last minute I found an airline rep who snuck my bag on, and I made it to the tarmac to board. I actually passed a baggage guy as I walked to the plane to board who was carrying out our bag.... he handed it off to a guy who didn't want to open the plane back up to put it on there, but the guy who carried it out pointed at us and I waved and gave the plane guy the universal sign for "pleaaaaaaaase" and he loaded it up. Thank goodness. And then we were off to KL for a night of exploration, before heading up to Vietnam.

Yay!