From the metropolis of Singapore we landed, late in the evening and very tired, in Kota Kinabalu. It is not a sight for sore eyes, having been largely destroyed during WWII and then rebuilt in unsympathetic 60's concrete 4 storey blocks. Our hostel (Akinabalu hostel) was housed on several floors of one such block but thankfully most of the inside was more appealing than the outside suggested with plants, open planning and a zen water feature!

This was one of several brief stays in KK before heading onto the main event for Northern Borneo (Sabah)....climbing Mount Kinabalu , or at least for me. Brenda was more sceptical about the 'fun' of climbing big mountains. We were picked up the next day for our trip after a mad dash around the supermarket looking for high energy snacks for our trip. Several packs of oddly appealing lemon salty sweet biscuity things made the cut. We met up with our group of three other Brits (oddly enough), who were all very easy going, and headed by minibus to Kinabalu National Park, about 2 hours drive on twisty roads. Our first glance at the interior of Sabah revealed steep jungle-clad mountainous terrain shrouded in low clouds.

The Park HQ is about a third of the way up the mountain at 1400m and 12 odd km from the summit. Here we found our dorm for the five of us for the night. Very comfy it was too, with deluxe thick mattresses, fluffy towels and individual soaps and water bottles! A solid start. We spent the afternoon drinking tea in the living room watching the torrential rain and low cloud which seemed to be coming in through the window. Nervous giggles ensued about our weather prospects for tomorrow.

We got up early after a nervous night's sleep (except for me, I slept very soundly!). Brenda had nightmares about falling off mountains....frenetic organising and finding guides, packing bags and getting breakfast distracted her long enough to stop her changing her mind about the climb and before we knew it we were bussed to the start with our personal guide, Jamil. Timpohon Gate (1800m) marks the start of the summit trail, a steep and steady 8.5km climb to the 4100m summit, a mean 250m height gained for every km up. The first day involves going to Laban Rata (3200m) rest hut to spend the night before the summit push, a climb equivalent to Ben Nevis.

We started briskly enough, with our guides telling us to slow to what seemed a ridiculously slow pace. Our guide looked slightly older than the others, could it be we just had a guide who couldn't keep up? We asked how many times he had been up 'about 200' was the answer. He probably knew what he was doing, we slowed down. This was a good thing too, because around 3km in we started to feel pretty tired. At this point the rain started and then didn't stop until we got to the rest hut. An unfortunate sight greeted us here, a dead body of a climber being stretchered down the path. Except on closer inspection he wasn't dead, just very pale and covered in plastic sheets to keep him dry! He did have a broken left ankle, having slipped on his way down from the summit earlier that morning. A team of guides were carrying him down the rough trail. He was oddly cheerful given his predicament, but his ankle was well splinted and he was not in any pain, so down the mountain he continued! We continued on up a little bit more nervously...

Laban Rata was a bit of a slog of never ending steps and muddy stones. It took 5 hours to cover only 6km but the path was muddy and very steep. The effect of altitude was also starting to be felt. Brenda was ecstatic when the guide pointed out the restaurant, and we stopped for me to have a huuuge cup of tea. Lovely. Our rest hut for the night was unfortunately a further 150m up the trail, doh! This was much more basic than our last dorm, with 2 bunks jammed into a tiny room. Forget romantic notions about mountain huts....we tried to fall asleep with the sounds of the screams of our fellow climbers as they tried to wash in the cold showers. Wet wipes for us. Not that much sleep was going to be had. Dinner was at 5pm, 'sleep' from 7pm and then up at 1am, bright and cheerful, for the summit push after a brief snack of fried rice and cold baked beans, breakfast of champions!

Now was the time to put faith in our guide. We had head torches, he didn't seem to need one, knowing all the twists and turns of the path from habit. We started out near the front of a torchlight procession of 140 people aiming for the summit. Many stairs followed, but seemed a bit easier than the afternoon's slog up to our rest hut after our 'sleep'. Then came the hard part. Fixed white ropes, wet from the drizzle now falling, had been attached to the rock for climbers to pull themselves up the now very steep scramble onto the summit plateau. This steep section continued for 700m of hand over hand pulling to get up the slippery rock. I was glad it was too dark for Brenda to see the steep drop off to our side.

After this steep section, taking about 1 hour and a half, we stopped at the plateau checkpoint. Jamil then informed us it was another hour and a half, which we hoped was a joke but turned out spot on as usual. From here the effect of altitude is much more pronounced. We were far ahead of the others in our group and most of the main body of climbers. It was pitch black, now raining and extremely cold. Brilliant! Brenda's face suggested otherwise. Prior to leaving the checkpoint we passed an American who was holding his face and had slurred speech. His front tooth had been knocked out by the climber in front yanking on the rope whilst he was bent forward about to pick it up. Fair play though, he carried on to the summit.

It was a slow plod from here. At about 3900m, we weren't far off the summit, but ascending at such a quick rate meant we felt the alititude and left us breathless, stopping for breath every few minutes. We were lucky really, another of our group was vomiting (another effect of altitude) and not very happy. Stumbling on in the dark, we followed the white rope marker towards the final summit scramble, which wasn't too welcome when you are that tired and cold, but the excitement of being at the top spurred us on. At the top others had caught summit fever, with a crush to get photos taken. Two people behind shoved past Brenda when we were next to have our picture taken. Bad karma for them, their camera wouldn't work! They then quite rudely demanded we take their picture on our camera, I politely declined....Our camera did work and we duly had our photo taken by our ever helpful guide.

We had arrived at the summit at 5.30am. I'd guess it was about freezing, especially with wind chill and the fact that Brenda had ice on her gloves. We only had to wait till 5.45 for sunrise, which duly arrived in spectacular fashion lighting up the other jagged summits that make up Kinabalu. We couldn't see the valley below because of blankets of low cloud. We then couldn't see anything because of blankets of cloud on us too, so we gave up taking any more pictures and headed back off the plateau to a semblance of warmth below. As the sun rose so did our spirits, the rain stopped and we dried out a bit before tackling the ropes back down the steep section. The light meant we could now see the wonderful view (at times when cloud allowed), the footholds, and the big drops below! We held our nerve and got down safely to Laban Rata for second breakfast and lots of coffee about 8am.

With the hard part done, we now thought it would be a doddle to complete the last 6km back down the mountain, back in time for tea and medals. How wrong we were! The first 3km was fine, making relatively good progress, though it did rain again (it did that alot!). Then our legs turned to jelly, and Brenda adopted a bizarre walking pattern that didn't involve ever being able to keep straight legs or face. I carried both bags and gave her both walking poles but she still teetered dangerously down the steep steps. This slowed things up somewhat and it took us a gruelling 5 hours to reach the end, in much pain and soaked to the skin. We can laugh about it now though, can't we?

Don't worry, we have fully recovered about 10 days on and Brenda can straighten both legs if she tries really hard. I think we both retrospectively enjoyed the experience and we have a certificate each too!

From here we headed to Sepilok, a haven for wildlife in North East Sabah, to rest and recuperate. More soon.....

Lots of love

David & Brenda

xxx