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B O R N E O ’ S U P H I L L B A T T L E
into a wilderness filled with challenges
that test your survival skills. Kinabalu
was a fun, social experience. We asked
Sofrey questions and talked with other
climbers at the many
pundoks
—
rest
shelters — along the way.
Essentially unencumbered, you can
concentrate on watching the landscape
change. En route to Low’s Peak, you
climb through six distinct vegetation
zones. The low elevation forest is a
teeming mess of plants in every shape
and size, while the trees that grace
the higher reaches of the forest made
Top: There are more
than 5,000 plant
species found at
Mt Kinabalu; (right)
the Kinabalu City
Mosque
Hot Tips for
SavingColdCash
If you think you’ll fancy a drink,
bring your own. Beer is available,
but it’s going to cost you somewhere
around PHP600 a can.
Pack gloves. It’s can be very cold
at the summit. Gloves are available
for sale, but they cost around
PHP200 for a useless pair and
nearly PHP900 for a useful pair.
it look more like savanna. Following
these forests are tiers of granite
boulders mixed with shrubs. Finally,
you’ll enter the sparsely vegetated
summit plateau, where only a handful
of small flowering plants reside,
including some rare orchids.
Laban Rata, the lodge perched
on the mountainside at 11,000ft, is
an impressive place. The dining hall
testifies to the community spirit and
effort that’s gone into building and
maintaining such a facility.
With just the right number of tables,
you’re encouraged to interact with
the other guests during meals. Sutera
seems bent on feeding you, so, for a
climbing trip, you will eat well, and you
will eat a lot.
With nothing left to do but call it an
early night, we found our bunks and
curled up under piles of wool blankets.
At last, the climb
Climbers will use the phrase: “We’ll
need to get an ‘alpine start’”, to
pleasantly explain the need to drag
butts out of bed well before dawn.
On Kinabalu, every party is required
to start out pre-dawn. If this were a
typical alpine start, I’d wake up, shove
an energy bar in my mouth, and down
some instant coffee before heading out.
PHOTOS
JOSHUA MCCULLOUGH
