Malaysia day 4: Gunung Kinabalu.

Submitted by maria on Sat, 02/06/2012 - 18:06

Early in the morning, today we start the ascent of Mount Kinabalu and we are very excited.

 

Escaleras trekking Monte Kinabalu

Escaleras trekking Monte Kinabalu

 

 

We go to the station to take the bus that leaves at 8 and takes us to the entrance of the Kinabalu National Park, it is a small van. The scenery is promising, the road is going up and everything is jungle. We have breakfast before riding what we bought yesterday on 7/11. We share the ride with some girls from HK. We arrived at the park two hours later.

 

Mount Kinabalu trekking

Mount Kinabalu trekking

 

 

Mount Kinabalu or Gunung Kinabalu is the roof of Sabah, with 4,095 meters high was the first place in Malaysia declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Surrounded by jungle this granite mass stands imposing. The ascent is done in two stages and the descent in one. You can descend the first section by via ferrata. Kilian Jornet is the athlete who has climbed and descended the Kinabalu in the shortest time, I think he didn't make it to 3 hours. The journey is about 11 kms.

 

Our guide

Our guide

 

 

If you have not made a reservation you can do it at the entrance of the Sutera Sanctuary Lodge office. The ascent does not require special equipment, except for a headlamp, warm clothes and good shoes. You can rent canes and sell raincoats. It is not advisable to carry much weight, most importantly water, although there is a fountain along the way.

 

Views from Mount Kinabalu

Views from Mount Kinabalu

 

 

We are assigned a guide, is riquired. We are a group of four people, a Catalan who works as a diving instructor in Ko Tao (Thailand) and an Austrian. We start the ascent, the climb is hard, there are a lot of stairs at the beginning. The first stage takes us from the entrance to the Park at 1860 meters to the Laban Rata cabins at 3273 meters. The views are spectacular and the beauty of the place (and the path) is immense. As you ascend the rainforest changes, it is spectacular. We are a lot of people, mostly Japanese.

 

Laban Rata

Laban Rata

 

 

Five hours later we arrived at Laban Rata. Our cabin is about fifty meters from the main building where meals are served and there is a small shop. It's for four people, with bunk beds, although they give you blankets, it's quite cold.

 

Laban Rata surroundings

Laban Rata surroundings

 

 

We have dinner at 5 pm. We know Dimitri, a Frenchman who went up yesterday and came down the via ferrata. He shows us some pictures of the Petronas in KL from the hotel opposite, he paid 400 euros for the room.

 


Trip up Mount Kinabalu: 1,300 MYR. (accommodation and food included)
Drinks in Laban Rata: 50 MYR.