Ascent of Kinabalu (4101m)

I went to Kinabalu on three occasions, the first in 1980, a second trip in 1985 and the third time in 2000. This summit picture was from the first trip organised by Spencer Chew. It was my first mountain climbing trip. I recall being very excited about the trip and trained very hard for it. Used to run 10km around MacRitchie Reservoir. However, in those early days, I did not think of climbing stairs, as a consequence I recalled that my leg muscles were very sore after the climb. Kinabalu was the start of a long association with adventure and which was to take me to the high Himalayas.

Climbing Kinabalu is relatively easy. A well made trek, often with steps leads up the mountain. A overnight stop is usually made at Pana Leban at an altitude of about 3350m (11000 ft). Hotel-like accommodation is now available here. From Pana Leban it is a 3 hr climb to the summit. Most climbers start their ascent at 3 o'clock the next morning, in order to arrive at the summit to catch sunrise. Sunrise atop any mountain is always spectacular and well worth the hard climb.

The transverse of the Pana Leban rockface, soon after you leave Pana Leban for the summit is quite exciting, especially if you have not done this kind of climbing before. As the climb is done at night, it is even more frightening as you can't see much. I recall being quite frightened at this stage of the climb. On my second trip, as shown in this picture, I had acquired much more experience and crossing this face has now become a breeze.

The obligatory summit picture. This was taken on my second trip, which was a photographic excursion for me. I carried two Minolta SLRs to shot both prints and slides.

Ropes are put in some places to assist climbers to go up and down the steeper portion near the summit of Kinabalu. The last part of the climb is all on solid granite. The view is fantastic.

One the first anniversary of our climb, we celebrated it with a party at my place. We even ordered a cake for the occasion.

In 2002, I returned to climb KK for the third time. It seems that it gets easier with the passing years. Not sure what is the reason, perhaps it is the accumulated experience of a life time of climbing.

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