April Squares: Kinabalu

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All the hillwalking we did in the first part of 2005 was to prepare us for a trip to Borneo to climb Mount Kinabalu (13,435ft) in July. This is not the highest we’ve ever been – Pikes Peak in Colorado, which featured in an earlier #SquareTops, is 14,115ft. However, a road goes up to its summit so that’s not comparable in terms of achievement.  Kinabalu was a really tough, two-day hike, and even though we started at 6,122ft that still meant we climbed over 7,000ft at altitude.

Because John had hurt his back six weeks earlier we were out of shape, and I hated every second. If I were to select the worst experience of my life, Kinabalu would be right there near the top of my list. I don’t even feel a sense of pride that we did it – but anyhow, here we are at the same point as the picture above to prove we were really there.

We’re on our way back down, which is probably why I have managed a smile. The white rope denotes the route to follow across the summit plateau – it wasn’t necessary for us because it was a clear day, but people have wandered off the correct route in the mist and died. The peak behind us is not the one we climbed which was Low’s Peak, the actual summit. Another peak, Donkey’s Ears, was partially destroyed in an earthquake in which several people died in 2015. Sometimes I feel very lucky to be alive, and someday I will get around to telling the full horror story of our adventure.

Here ends my mini-series-within-a-series of top of the world shots for Becky’s #SquareTops challenge. For the rest of the month I’ll be featuring some of the smaller hills we’ve tackled in the last few years.

Malaysia , , ,

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  1. It sounds dreadful, and I’m quite sure I would have hated it every bit as much as you did (probably even more!), but good on you for making it to the top anyway. I probably would have given up on the first day to return to the bottom, find a hotel, and read a book in comfort whilst waiting for everyone else to finish!

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  4. Just reading this is enough to put me off ever wanting to do anything like it, even on a smaller mountain – I’m not even interested in walking up Snowdon! I’m glad you lived to tell the tale – I’d love to read the full story though now you’ve mentioned it 🙂

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  7. A dear friend of mine has been to Borneo twice and I have to ask if he climbed this. I would enjoy the story you have climbing this but John must have been in bad pain because this is not an easy climb as you know full well but must have been horrible with his back pain.

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  8. Just getting to the mountain in Borneo must have been a trial in itself. Glad you made it back or we wouldn’t have all these other adventures of yours to follow!

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  9. Anabel, Stunning photos! I cannot imagine the difficulty of the hike. Darn on the ‘hated every second.’ Darn on the horror story. Interesting about the rope. You remind me how sometimes the best part of a hike is when it is over.

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  15. I was about to ask your if altitude sickness affected you but I gather from one of your replies above that it does. It certainly affects me, and at only mild elevations. It’s a ghastly feeling. I remember having to be transported down from Monserrat (outside Barcelona) and most people thought I was drunk because there was a large drinking party of Brits there at the time whereas my husband and I had had nothing. You were brave to attempt Kinabalu considering John had just had his accident but sometimes we are not always as sensible as maybe we should be. You did well though, and no one would guess you weren’t enjoying every minute at the top in that photograph.

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    • It’s so unpredictable, Mari. Neither of us has had altitude sickness as such, but we’ve both been affected. John felt quite ill here the night before the summit (you go up so far then stay in a hostel) whereas I was ok. The time before at altitude, he was fine and I was poorly all week! So I don’t particularly want to risk it again.

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  18. What bad timing for the trip, or do you think you would have struggled anyway. I don’t think I would enjoy 2days hike to climb 7000ft . . I prefer to take my time! Incredible summit though 🙂

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