Conquering Kinabalu, Day 1

We lived!
And we owned everyone, including this stupid mountain:
I even laughed in the face on the mountain. Ha-ha!
In all, the 26-hour, 17 kilometer odyssey (started at 945am on Monday morning, hit the top at 530am on Tuesday morning and finally finished at noon on Tuesday afternoon) was probably the most difficult thing either of us had ever done. I told Logan it was probably the biggest accomplishment of our lives (he was more non-commital, but still, kinda a big deal). To recap as briefly as possible:

Monday
945am to 1245pm: 6km straight up, right to Laban Ratan (our lodge)

Tuesday
3am to 515am: 2.5km super-straight up (ropes mostly required) --- 40 minute rest at top for sunrise
6am to 8am: 2.5km super-straight down.
10am to 12pm: 6km down further.

The end.

In sum, about 9 hours of intense hiking action for roughly 40 minutes of total satisfaction (some people only stayed at the top for like 5 minutes, it was so cold!), with lack of sleep and absolute physical exhaustion thrown in for good measure.

And today as I write this, our legs are totally crippled, it feels like someone's just been punching them non-stop for the last 24 hours, never been this sore in my life. At our hostel in KK today (the day after the climb), our room was on the 4th floor and it might as well been on the 40th, it seemed that freakin far. It probably took me about 2 minutes to get to the lobby on the 2nd floor (no more than 50 steps) because I had to make sure I had a hand on the railing and that both feet were planted firmly on each step, step by step, giving me the walking skills of either an infant or an 125-year old man.

But all the day-after aches, all the waddling like a penguin, all the weird looks today from strangers at the food court or on the bus or on the airport stairs boarding and getting off the plane, all of them wondering why you are taking forever to take one measly step, all of it --- it was all worth it.

And for the record, we did the 6km climb up in 3 hours (it's supposed to take like 5 or 6), passing what Logan estimated as 80 people (most with walking sticks, full on hiking gear, the works) along the way and getting to our hotel at Laban Rata in the first handful of people up.

And also for the record, we were the last group to leave for the summit at 3am (after like 160 other people), but in the first dozen or so to the top, staking out the prime seats for the sunrise.

Just proof that with enough will, some music (my iPhone speaker was on blast the entire way up), a couple high-fives from strangers and loads and loads of painkillers, you can do anything! Yep, we owned everyone. Here's our reward for being such baller mountain climbers:
So I guess I'll start from the night before we climbed, since there's some stuff in there I want to remember. I'll try to be as concise as possible, but you know how that goes.

SUNDAY NIGHT
10pm: The night before. After blogging about the climb, I feel roughly like I do before a final: outwardly anxious and focused on what could go wrong (really, Stan Smiths and shorts?!), but subconsciously, pretty confident. A little worried about my back holding up (and needing like a gazillion surgeries down the road), but all and all, me and Logan are pretty sturdy, so no reason to really fret. Got 'emz.

We decide to make sure we get all packed up the night before. 530am wake-up call (I need to stretch and pop some pills a little early to prep), so we want to be good to go in the morning.

But before, I head over to our Taiwanese friends Yen's room to grab his flashlight (the 2.5km to the top is in the dark). Along the way, I muster up the courage to ask if I can borrow his Nikon 18-105 lens for the climb (forgot to mention that I broke my wide-angle lens on Day 2 in Dumaguete, something I was bummed about, considering the real reason I brought my camera was for the Kinabalu climb. Standard idiot move).

Yen is the nicest guy ever, so of course he says yes. I give him my 55-200 zoom lens in return. 30 minutes later, he comes to ask for my laptop as collateral. No problem. I'm amped, I get to take pictures!

12-1am-ish: Still pumped. As we go to sleep, I'm pretty anxious. I tell Logan it feels kinda like the night before Christmas. I totally forgot he was Jewish, so he doesn't really acknowledge me. Oops. Whatever, we're still pretty pumped. Les go!

MONDAY
530am: Wake up, do the requisite pills and stretch. Grab a quick breakfast (we're carbo-loading on the hostels free white toast and papaya) and out the door with Ester, our Dutch climbing companion and default partner-in-climb, who neither of us are entirely fond of.

A word on Ester: Our first night in KK, we ate with her at the night market, and realized pretty quickly we didn't mesh that well --- she was into awkward stares, putting packets of sugar on every she eats and just making us feel generally uncomfortable. And turned out she was climbing the mountain the same day as us. Someone to share a taxi with, we thought, but maybe not someone to climb up the mountain with or stay overnight at Laban Rata with (or so we thought, more on this later).

7am: The three of us hop in our taxi headed for the base of Mt. Kinabalu at the KK Park HQ. A Malaysian morning-show plays on the radio. Everyone fades in and out of sleep. The cabbie named Chong stops for gas. He pays 30 ringgits. He is getting 48 riggits to drive us 1.5 hours to the mountain. His net is 18 ringgits (like $6 bucks US). I think this is a bad deal for him.

Here's Logan getting pumped for the climb in the taxi:
9am: Make it to the Park HQ for check in. Logan is doing most of the heavy lifting, figuring out paper work and running us from place to place. I am AWOL, trying to get some stretching in before we go. Definitely worrying about having to carry a backpack of clothes and fatty camera (not to mention the 4 liters of water in Philson, our travel companion that I'm determined to bring to the top) straight up 8km. My back is pissed.

915am: We meet Azham, our guide and sage for the next 26 hours. He's short, friendly, soft spoken and I think he vaguely resembles Manny Pacquio. He also has a sixth finger on his right hand right below his thumb that sort of resembles another pinky. Logan names him "Alfonseca" after the great relief pitcher for the Marlins and Cubs (his name was Antonio Alfonseca), who threw 95 MPH and also had six fingers on his throwing hand.

920am: After stretching alone for a few minutes, I walk back to Logan and the rest of our group. He has a look on his face like he has something to say, only I'm not gonna like it. His look says it all: Ester is climbing with us. She asked to join us and Azham for 40 ringgits (she didn't have a guide and you are required to have one), he couldn't say no. I agree. Even still, 5-6 potential hours is looking more painful now, especially since we can actually see the Mt. and it looks taller:

930am: Short drive to the start of the trail. We make it without crashing (a couple of close calls on the windy roads). We get out. Logan sees some scrawny, Korean guy in some brand new black Chuck Taylor's getting ready to go up.

"If that dude can do it in Converse, I can definitely do it in Stan Smiths," he says. Good point.

945am: The journey begins!

We walk 5 minutes or so and then find some Australians hiking and start celebrating a little early. "We made it!" They thought we were serious for a couple seconds and then laugh. We head forward, Logan in the front, Ester in the middle, me staying behind with Azham following. This formation wouldn't last.
10am: Ester is already starting to lag. The night before, as she waxed her hiking boots in preparation for rain ("Well, it's definitely going to rain," she declared like a meterologist, a prophecy that didn't come to pass), she smuggly asks me if I am a fast walker, the thin grin on her face implying that she's gonna smoke me or something. Phhh. Fat chance, Ester.

Shortly after I pass her, me and Logan have to wait a couple minutes for her and Azham to catch up (since he is obligated to follow behind the slowest person in the group). "You are fast walkers," she concedes.

We take a break for some reason after barely starting. Azham and the other guides (who could cllimb Kinabalu in their sleep) discuss how all the tourists that climb Kinabalu are slow and unfit and fat:
1010am: We hit the 1km mark. Ester says we can go ahead without her, so we do, kinda forgetting to say goodbye. She stays back with Azham. Sorry, Azham. We take a photo to celebrate:
1030am: The next few km are just a blur. Me and Logan start playing six-degrees-of-separation games with NBA players to pass time. This helps. So does the music from my iPod. Between those two things, we knock out the next 3 km pretty tidily, easily passing the halfway mark (which is pictured below, where I was already covered in sweat and gasping for air)

The mist of the mountains gives Logan gray hair, as he angrily ponders why he decided to do this:
The jungle we slayed
1115am: 4km mark. Water break. I decide to have a cigarette (from Indonesia!) with this Malaysian dude name Fad (cool guy), just to see how it feels at high altitude, here he is with his friend/possible son
It's pretty rough, I stumble and almost fall backwards my next couple steps. Bad decision. The trek continues, but not before we take a picture and celebrate prematurely, a rookie move
The final 2km were what you would expect, just tough work, where you feel each step more and more and the final destination seems like it will never, ever come.

0.5km left, brink of collapse
1245pm: The end (of at least the first leg) finally comes. After 6km, there's nothing but relief, even with 11km left in the next 24 hours. Anything is posssibbbbleeee!!! Our lodge is finally upon us
And Philson made it too
2pm: Settle in at Laban Rata. Very nice, good looking buffet. Our accomodations
Me celebrating on the porch by getting rid of my sweaty ass shirt and taking a picture
230pm: Good news: The hot water for the showers works. Bad news: Ester is staying with us. Still not sure how this is possible, since the dorms were separated between men/women, but we don't protest, accepting our fate handed down by the mountain gods.

5pm: Fat buffet. We do work (predictably).

7pm: Everyone scurries off to go to bed for the early wake-up call at 2am. I'm not really tired, so I hang out on the porch with a Norwegian couple and smoke Norwegian cigarettes with them. There is an awesome lightning storm show that we have a cool view of, here's the porch sans lightning:
9pm: Lightning stops. Lights at lodge are all out. Go to sleep for three hours. Wake up at 12am. Sit and bed for a while and wake til the 2am rise-and-shine.

I guess that's where I'll stop for now, on to the top tomorrow, since my legs are shot and I'll probably be bed-ridden most of the day (I promise more pictures, less words).

Quick Update: Gosh darn, it's already 4am here in KL (Kuala Lumpur). Just got in tonight, staying at the Reggae House 2, which was so popular, they made a second one. We got lucky at showed up at their door at 130am (Reggae 1 was full on booked) and the place is gorgeously modern and clean.

There was nothing left for us in KK, anyways --- the last image that I have of it was a little kid peeing into the top of sewer on the street as we walked by a block from our hostel, only to watch his friends play hopscotch over it. "If you lose, you fall in the pee," Logan said excitedly. HAHAHA. Not like KK was even that kind of kids-peeing-in-the-streets city (fairly clean, pretty well-developed, nice people), we only had one other kid peeing incident, but that was at the waterfront, a much more understandable place.

And to further put in perspective our being done with KK, we went to the movies again last night and saw Killers starring Ashton Kutcher. Awesome.

Anyways, like I said, we're ready for something new in KL. Hopefully my legs will be recovered by tomorrow. Til next time (probably tomorrow)

Peace, Love and Sustainability,
Jack