johnsunter.com >> outdoor >> mountains >> mnt kinabalu 1

Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia and my first 4000m peak (1/2).

Whilst walking the Inca Trail, I traversed above 4200m over a mountain pass.

4000m is the magic number for mountaineers (of which I am not actually one, but I can dream) and I had never actually done a 4000m peak.

Mount Kinabalu (which lends its name to Kota Kinabalu) is the highest mountain in South East Asia, standing at 4095m.

Quit a few of the people on the trip had climbed Kinabalu previously and didn't want to do it again.

There were just 4 of us this time, Jason, Sarah, Richard and Me.

The gate on a building near to the start of the walk gave this warning.

I wasn't sure if it meant strange looking people will be threatened with 1st WW rifles, or perhaps that people with unauthorised firearms would be intimidated by strange dancing men !.

Our guide Johan showed us this board which outlined the route.

Start to finish, the peak is 8 kilometres.

That's about 3 times my daily walk to work, much steeper though, so it was going to be a lot harder.

This board shows the world records in different classes, for speed ascents of the route.

Two and a half hours odd to the top of the mountain seemed un-imaginable.

The walk to the start of the route was really relaxing and we passed this waterfall.

Annoyingly all the comfort of the walk downhill to the start had to be made good as we were now at an even lower altitude than at the start.

Once again, the Park fee's we paid had been put to good use.

The guides were all licensed, and carried identity cards and official credentials.

There were ready prepared steps throughout most of the lower sections of the walk and occasionally handrails like this one.

What was cool, was to see the change in vegetation, as we ascended higher.

The Nepenthes rajah is an insect eating plant.

As we walked further, the colour of the steps and stone changed to this.

Just like the Inca Trail we were passed fairly regularly by porters.

The difference here was that some of the ports carried parts to maintain/build some of the buildings at the stop of point above.

When I finally reached there, I noticed that one of the buildings had a washing machine.

I could only presume that it had been delivered by helicopter as I couldn't imagine people carrying it up !.

Further along, the steps become less pronounced and lighter in colour.

Further along the path it becomes more shaded and for a while, the rocks are gray in colour.

We stop of for a breather (one of many).

It was pretty obvious that Sarah was fitter than me, but Richard (photographed behind us) had almost athletic prowess.

Equipment wise, I took the same stuff as the Inca Trail, including my long sleeved Rohan shirt, my Karrimor Sabre daysack and my Karrimor KSB Boots (a companion on just about every trek for the last 10 years).

In my ruck, I carried water, a warm jumper, my Haglof goretex jacket and my head torch.

Camera on my belt so it was always ready and my whistle and mini torch around my neck on a piece of paracord.