Top of SE Asia...back to my element

Luckily met a nice man where I booked my accomadation for the trek up Mt. Kinabalu and he was able to get me a van ride with 4 other people on packaged tours even though I wasn't on one so that my transport was cheap and quick and also group me with two other people so that I could share guide fees with them. He said, "there is a couple who say they are from canada, but they speak french, so I think they're french, and you know how they are, and then there are two swedish girls and young, who do you want to go with?" As much as I would have liked to go with the french posing as canadians...or more likely just french canadians from quebec, I chose the two swedish girls. We all met up at the travel agency and the french/canadian couple was indeed from montreal and very nice and they had done the trek up gunung tahan and described it as "miserable" They were much more scared of the bees than us and hid in their tents and when they had to go out had full clothing and even socks on their hands (as opposed to us in our underwear). As it turns out, I made the right choice to go with the swedes as they were my age, not too bad looking, but most importantly quite cool and in great shape so I didn't have to go painstakingly slow and boringly up the mountain.
We got dropped off at the base, which is at about 1585m (5.200ft) and met our guide, Fendly, and did all the paperwork. You are required to have a guide in another prime example of asian over-protectiveness. The trail was easy to follow and by far easier than any of the major mountains I"ve climbed in Rocky Mtn outside of hallet and flattop. You then take a bus up to the timphon gate 1866m (6,157ft) where you must show your guide and permit and this badge they give you to wear around your neck along with your permit number to get through the gate. (the badge had the date, and as you really have no idea of dates and days of the week while travelling I amusedly noted that it said june 21, the longest day of the year) Everyone was wearing these neck badges the whole time and it was quite amusing to me. I sure as heck wasn't going to climb a mountain wearing some number (at albertson college of idaho, they told me I am not a number!), so I stuffed it into my pack. The hike to the resthouse where you sleep is only 6km and then from there another 2.8km to the peak. These are very short distances, but don't be fooled, it takes longer than you think b/c it's straight up. in the 8.8km (5.5 miles), you go up 2229m (7355ft)! In comparison, longs peak you go up roughly 5000ft from the 9,200 ft of the trailhead to 14,200ft summit in a little over 8 miles, and longs is steep as i'm sure mom can attest. We started late, the last ones in fact b/c we had an issue with my permit as I had booked last minute and the sytem had been down that day. We started around 11am (they say to start no later than 10am). Just a few meters into the trail we went by a nice waterfall, but after that it was basically up up and more up on crazy stairs. The cool thing from a biologists point of view is that during th hike you go through like 14 vegetation zones. Quickly I realized that the swedes (Caroline and Frida) were in shape. I let them lead and they took up a burning pace. We stopped for lunch around the elevation of Estes Park, and I was a little embarassed at how hard I was breathing at that elevation, even if I had the fact I had been at sea level for the past 6 months as an excuse with little cardio exercise. After lunch we continued the quick pace passing people left and right until we were actually nearly the first people up there. It took us 3 hours, and the estimated time is 4-6. The resthouse was a large dorm at a place caled laban rata (3270m, 10791ft) with some amazing views of the giant granite mountain through the mist and at about treel line. This is where you are supposed to acclimatize for the summit push in the morning as lots of people do suffer quite badly from altitude sickness. We rested for a bit drinking sabah tea and relishing the cool weather which reminded us all of june in Estes/Sweden. As we were feeling good and we knew the trail was good, we decided to go for the summit that afternoon to see if we could see the sunset. If would be iffy if we'd see anything as the clouds were moving in and out with some rain, but the main problem is that you have to be on the trail with a guide at all times and our guide said we couldn't go up in the afternoon (didn't actually say it, but implied it with body language), only in the morning like normal. Well...that didn't really stop us. We said we were going off for a nap and instead walked to where the trail started. There was a huge fence and gate blocking the way, which did little to stop us, and soon we were on our way. Got caught in a rainstorm for a little bit, but after that we had some amazing views of the massif. The whole mountain is just this huge granite monster. Giant slabs of granite and whole peaks of granite. After 30 mintues or so, you leave the trail and are just following the "white rope" along granite slabs the whole way. I was much relieved by this point to find that my body had remembered that it was from the rocky mountain state and had no problems breathing anymore. That little bit of estes blood will never leave. We had fun climbing and looking at the amazing scenery, taking photos, and the videos with the camcorder they brought. We made it to the summit by about 5:45pm after climbing for 2 hours. It was amazing. We had this whole place to ourself. It was massive in expanse and incredibly quiet too. The setting sun was casting beautiful shadows and the misty clouds added to the effect. We relished the cold as we sat there and also the fact that there we were all alone on top of thie beautiful and famous mountain, and in a few hours there would be no room on the summit as the 150 or so climbers with permits woud be up here. It was a trully magical moment for me and one of my highlights in asia so far. It was cold, which was so nice and I noticed goosebumps (what are those?), the first I'd had in over 6 months. A chilly nose and numb hands were also lovely feelings. I was back in my element , at a high elevation on a mountain peak(4095m, 13513ft), sitting in the cold, looking out over massive granite mountains, feeling exhillerated after a touch climb...but with a touch of asia, looking far down at jungle and the ocean and sharing mango slices with the swedish gals. We were just loving watching the beauty. We wanted to watch the sunset and we had brought flashlights for going down, but unfortunately the buffet dinner was from 5:30 to 7:30 and we were all quite hungry and the sun was taking forever to set. It sets much later when you're 13,000ft high looking over the ocean than when on a beach! I then noted that it was the longest day of the year, repeating what I had said earlier, and we all got quite the laugh out of that. We could see the sun heading for the ocean, but we decided it best to go. We moved fast following our tummies to get to the food. In fact we ran down the granite slabs as they were fairly smooth, just really steep. We made it back by 7:15, just in time to get a huge and tasty buffet dinner.
We all went to bed early as you have to get up early to go for the summit in time for sunrise. Most of the people would be leaving between 1:30am an 2:30am to reach the summit, but as team sweden and the colorado kid were pretty fast we were going to sleep and leave at 3:30am. Of course once the rest of the 60 person dorm (separated into small rooms of 2 bunks) woke up at 1am and started moving about with their big boots, there was no sleeping. It was chilly up at that elevation, which was perfect for me to sleep. I woke up around 11 to pee b/c I had heard the guy below me leave and I thought this was a good time b/c I wouldn't wake him when I got up. He was in the hall in full ski jacket, gloves, and ski hat and just shaking. He asked if I knew where extra blankets were. I felt sorry for him, but the scene was quite hilarious b/c there he was shaking in full january ski gear and there I was wearing only my underwear and feeling quite warm. I gave him my wool blanket and other blanket which seemed to help him out.
The Swedes and I went down for early breakfast at about 3am and were the only ones there as everyone else was hiking. We left around 3:30, the last ones to leave, and made it to the summit by 4:45. I was really feeling good with the altitude during that climb, almost normal I would say. Hiking up was quite interesting, b/c obviously it's in the dark and there is a huge string of headlamps from the 150 or so climbers and their guides. Also, although it is quite cold, when you're working hard, I get quite hot. So I was in shorts and t-shirt (and still sweating) and the swedes also in tanktops, while everyone else we climbed were fully geared out. Most of the westerners were wearing ski coats and hats and gloves and the asians (mostly chinese, malay, singaporeans,) were in full down jackets and hats and gloves and looked ready to ski a -20 day at winter park. So they always gave us surprised looks as we motored past. We passed everyone but about 5 or 10 people by the time we got to the summit at 4:45. We then had to wait until the sun started to rise at about 5:30am. This was when it would get cold. So I took off my sweaty clothes and put on a fleece, long pants and my rain gear pants and shell and used some socks as gloves, and then of course the best trick of all, the boiling water bottle I had brought from below to stuff in my jacket. It was definitely cold at the top, sitting in the dark, with the wind and the temperature at about freezing. None of the puddles were frozen today, but they say they often do. Sadly the last glacier on Kinabalu melted in the 1970's. The sunrise was indeed beautiful, but not as magical as 10 hours previous during the sunset b/c we were sharing it with lots of people...noisy, flash happy, etc. We had a good laugh though about how this was our 2nd time up in 10 hours and how we figured there had probably been few if any who had ever done that. About 30 minutes after we had made the summit, our guide finally caught up! Once down at the bottom (8am) we had another huge buffet breakfast and then chilled on the deck with sabah tea and enjoyed the warm rays of the sun, but the cold air around us. We waited around until 10 before heading back down b/c the lunch buffet down there was between 12 and 4, but we wanted to get down early so we could go back to kk and enquire about diving before shops closed. We got down to base just a few minutes past noon. The buffet people said the buffet wasn't open yet b/c it opened at noon. We said it was 12:07, and they said, "oh, the buffet is now open" So they had it all prepared, but I think were surprised b/c the next climbers didn't make it down til after 1. We were glad we had come early as it started to poor. We ended up not leaving for kk until about 3 b/c the buffet was so nice and we sat outside and enjoyed the cool breeze and the feeling of holding tea mugs to warm your hands...some things we definitely missed about home.
I have been looking for some people to share diving with me b/c all dive packages in borneo are twin sharing, which means as a single person you have to pay double. Turns out that caroline is a diver and she was interested in the diving rig I had picked out. Unfortunately Frida isn't a diver, but a snorkeller, but she may be interested as well. We talked to the dive shop in KK tonight caroline definitely seemed interested and so I think we're going to do it. There are open permit dates for Sipadan on the 27th, so we might do it then. Sipadan is a top 5 dive site in the world and they only allow 100 divers per day there, so you have to get a special permit.
It also turns out I have a little bit of a crush on caroline, but they leave for home around the end of june anyways, and i'm too shy, and they probably have boyfriends as that's usually how the cool girls are. But both girls are very cool, extremely fit, outdoorsy, quite adventurous (I mean they put to shame every other guy on the mountain), caroline is in med school, so I assume she's pretty smart, and they are doing the same sort of travelling I am doing, the more adventure and activity oriented as opposed to the often beer and beach travelling that most backpackers do (which is why I think those climbing kinabalu struggled so much)
Tomorrow we're going to decide for sure on the diving, book it, then maybe hang out on the islands here at KK and then head to semporna where the diving is.