4D3N Mount Kinabalu Trek (Summary Report)

Contacts / Vendors Solicited:
TYK Adventure Tours Sdn Bhd
Kinabalu Rose Cabin Sdn Bhd
Mountain Torq Sdn Bhd

My trip to Mount Kinabalu had been a fruitful one. I learnt a lot from this trip and was very thankful for this opportunity to travel with this awesome group of twelve adventurers. The age group for this Mount Kinabalu adventurers ranged from as young as 15 years old to 60 years old, a mixture of gender, but all sharing the same goal, that was to climb Mount Kinabalu and reach the summit before sunrise. Prior to this, we arranged a meet up to climb Bukit Timah Hill together. This was to create rapport with the people and as well as providing them information for the Mount Kinabalu climb.

After 2 sessions of climbing Bukit Timah Hill with a 6-10kg load in the bag pack, it was evident that this group of adventurers had set their minds to train hard so that they could make it to the summit.

Thursday, 24 June 2010 – (Day 1)

All of us met up at the Airport, we had breakfast together and everyone was so excited about the trip. Some of them printed out maps of Mount Kinabalu, borrowed books on Mount Kinabalu from the library. It was amazing, to have all twelve adventurers who were so enthusiastic about the climb who also shared with each other past adventure experience.

After the 2 hour long flight, we met up Mr Sadib, our driver, who took care of us very well. As all of us were very hungry, he took us to one of the hawker centers to have our lunch, which wasn’t part of the plan! Great service!

After a hearty meal, we continued our journey to Rose Cabin for a night stay. It was a 2-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu City. We reached Rose Cabin at about 5pm. We checked-in into our rooms, changed and washed up. We met up at the Lobby at 6pm for a short briefing. After which, I took their breakfast & lunch orders for the next day as the ordering of meals had to be made in advance. All of us decided to have dinner together as a group and we ventured slightly further away from the hotel. Unfortunately, the sky was getting dark and we decided to return back to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The food was not too bad though, pretty decent

Group photo just outside Rose Cabin, Awesome weather, breathtaking view!

After dinner, everyone went back to pack their little backpack for the climb the next day.

Friday, 25th June 2010 (Day 2)

We arranged to meet at the lobby at 7am for breakfast. After which, we checked out from Rose Cabin and the transfer picked us up at 7:30am from Rose Cabin to Kinabalu Park. Kinabalu Park (Headquarters) was where the climbers would store their baggage before the climb. Participants only needed to carry things that were essential to them to trek Mount Kinabalu. A trekking pass was required for the climb hence climbers had to register at the Visitor Centre.

Visitor Centre / Trekking Pass: To be shown to the guides at the different chekpoints so that they know u are not lost or missing on the mountain & to check that u did reach the peak!

Some of the climbers brought their own trekking poles.
Walking sticks could also be purchased from the Porter though.

Thereafter, the Coach brought us up to the first stop which was the TimpohonGate.

Our youngest adventurer! Everyone enjoyed his company! Timpohon Gate at 1800m.

A group photo taken in Pendant Hut

“This is where we are going to!” Chi Ching said.

Supermen and women who fly up and down Mt KK

The 3 Bandits!

The terrain.

1km.... 5km more to go before we hit the resthouse at 3000m for our overnight stay!

Our porter, which carried THREE BAGS UP THE MOUNTAIN. Each bag is 10kg

The route becomes misty when we got higher & higher!

2nd stop for the overnight stay. We reached Pendant hut at around 3pm! Took us 6 hours to get here. At 3200m.

Dinner at the nearby Laban Ratan Resthouse! Only Laban Ratan serves food so everyone had their dinner there. Very crowded & noisy!

The place where we slept in Pendant Hut.

The mountain’s advice!

After overnight rest... the summit attempt started at 2am.
(Most of us slept at 8pm and woke up around 1am for breakfast...)

Our only “life line”!

The FAMOUS 5 who reached Low’s Peak!

SADU & CHI CHING!

Neo Sze Liang!

Jonathan Jiang & Stephen Ng!

Descending from the Peak!

Saturday, 26th June (Day 3)

Descended from Mount Kinabalu. Reached Hotel Shangri-La at 7pm.

Our stay in Kota Kinabalu City

Decided to head down to KFC for dinner and headed to a massage parlour for a foot reflexology.

Colonel Sanders is everywhere! Spotted at least 3 KFC outlet in one area! Not even one Mac Donald’s!

We had a 2 hour massage. After which, it was about 11pm and all of us were tired. Before returning to the hotel, I informed them to meet at 7am for breakfast the next day.

Sunday, 27th June 2010 (Day 4)

7am, I gave every room a wake up call. We met at the Café for breakfast. All of the participants had about 3 hours of free and easy time. We then arrange to checked out of the hotel at 11am and the airport transfer came to pick us up at 1130am.

Headed to the Airport.
Learning Objectives:
1. I should have brought a First Aid kit as some of them felt nauseous and vomited.
2. I should have been more precise in my preparation list. E.g My preparation list for participants include gloves, however, I should specifically write waterproof gloves. Reason being, the non-waterproof gloves dries slower and it cannot grip well.
3. I should have been equipped with First Aid knowledge as one of the participants sprained his ankle. If I could help him bandage his swollen ankle, it would have prevented his injury from getting worse.
4. It's not your average Bukit Timah Hill.

Article contributed by SAFRA Adventure Club

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