And so we've conquered Mount Kinabalu, if you define conquering as climbing to the top of the peak. However, it was a common feeling that Mount Kinabalu has conquered us. It is safe to say that we have taken everything the mountain has to throw at us as a deterrence from scaling to it's peak.We set our footprints on the Mesilou trail, the less beaten path because of its ascending and descending paths and its longer distance compared to its counterpart. 8km of uphill and downhill is a thigh ache-er man. Prior training sessions at Pinaccle@Duxton's and Bukit Timah hill paid off a little, but could not prepare us for the entire climb.
Altitude sickness was something that we could not prepare for, and this was a factor that affected most of us, and I the most, with splitting headaches at 3314m on top of the thin amount of oxygen in the air which kinda took our breaths away, literally.
Then there was the downpour midway during the climb which according to Robbie who said the people at the mountain told him, Mount Kinabalu hasn't seen since January. We were so "fortunate" to experience this showers of blessings, which totally took the dryness from our shoes and socks, the warm heat from our body, and our morales away. We were WET. Like, really wet. Drenched from head to toe. Not very fun especially when the temperatures were sub 10 degrees. The chicken and mushroom soup at the Laban Rata Resthouse was a life saver. REALLY.
What goes up must come down indeed. For all the joy and sense of achievement gained from reaching the top of Low's peak, there's still the full 8km worth of downward descend to the Timpahan gate, the end point which I would aptly describe it as knee breaking and ankle twisting. We definitely felt older than old men, especially with a few of them passing us like we were old men to them.
The climb up Mount Kinabalu was definitely my most shiong holiday yet, and although the sunrise at the peak was not the most fabulous, it was the most hard earned. Some people might not even qualify this as a holiday. The stars we saw during the night climb was just amazing. The camaraderie we shared, and the encouragement of each other to keep going, was something we could not experience in our daily lives. I guessed the 4 of us reached our physical and perhaps our mental limits during the trip. Next up, Mount Kilimanjaro? HAHAHAhahaha....
"What doesn't kill us will just make us stronger."
