MOUNT KINABALU

I’ve had my eye on Mount Kinabalu since I arrived in Borneo, literally. The entire northern tip of the island sits under his watch, with his colossal 13,435 foot peak dominating the vista for miles in every direction. Typically a morning person with a bold presence in the early hours, Mount Kinabalu tends to disappear under a blanket of clouds mid-morning and vanish into the horizon for the remainder of the day. He’s inconsistent and moody, and whether or not you’ll get to the top for a good view is a gamble considering his tumultuous relationship with Mother Nature. With only a couple of weeks left in Borneo, I had no choice but to try and conquer this almighty beast!

It was mid-week when I set out on the two-day trek, and since most of my friends had climbed the mountain already, I embarked on the journey alone. Well, Kinabalu National Park requires hiring a guide for the hike, so I had this little local man trailing me up the mountain the whole way. He didn’t speak much English, but was always there to provide an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up with every glance over my shoulder.

You can opt to hike the mountain in a day, but it’s best done broken up into two, since reaching the summit in the early morning will give you the best chances of having a view. And when I say ‘early morning’, I mean by sunrise. People start the second day of the hike around 2 o’clock in the morning and ascend the mountain with headlamps so they can be on the peak at daybreak. Laban Rata Guesthouse is perched on the mountainside just below 11,0000 feet, and provides meals and dorms for the mid-hike repose.

The trail was steep, and I realized quickly that there's no such thing as a switchback in Kinabalu National Park. The entire hike is a little over five miles in each direction, but the increase in elevation from the trailhead to the top is over 7,300 feet. As we started the hike my guide informed me that it would be a good five or six hours to Laban Rata, and I don’t know what got into me, but I was on a tear heading up the mountain! In just over two hours I was perched on the deck of the guesthouse drinking a beer and scarfing down a plate of mee goreng telur. Exhausted and full, I retired to my dorm for an afternoon doze and fell asleep to the sound of heavy rain on a tin roof.

The guesthouse was crowded when I awoke from my nap and the afternoon storm had come and gone. I spent the end of the day on an earthen terrace below the guesthouse and celebrated eventide by watching an endless parade of clouds march and morph through the sky. The residual vapor from the afternoon showers held a rainbow that seemed to bridge heaven and earth, and while the slope of the mountain obstructed the setting sun, the colors of dusk pushed through as the clouds below rolled over hilltops through a pink and orange light. I could see Kota Kinabalu and its outlying islands along the coast, and watched the twinkling city lights grow as daylight faded. With a long afternoon nap behind me and the growing anticipation of a summit sunrise, I was hardly ready for sleep, but with an alarm set for 2 a.m., I forced myself into an early bedtime.

It doesn’t matter if you’re close to the equator in the middle of summer, if you’re at 13,500 feet pre-dawn, it’s going to be pretty damn cold. After renting a jacket from the guesthouse, we set out in the middle of the night for the final leg of the ascent. The tree line broke soon after our departure, and our footsteps followed the wake of our headlamps as we scrambled up the rock face through the darkness. I was on par with my previous days pace, and made good time in reaching the summit a little before 5 a.m. The peak was small and awkward, and got progressively more crowded as dawn approached. Arriving early gave me the chance to stake out a good place for the sunrise, but trying to keep warm with over an hour until daybreak was challenging. By the time the sun started to peak over the horizon, I could barely feel my fingers enough to handle my camera.

We were blessed that morning with the perfect balance of clouds and clarity, and when the sun finally broke, the land was hit with an explosion of color. While the cloud cover above remained a static palette for the mutating shades of dawn, the opposing peak wore a tumbling billow that moved as though it were in a time-lapse. I could see for miles, all the way up to the tip of Borneo and out across the coastal islands. On so many mornings I’d gazed upon Mount Kinabalu from the shores of Mantanani, and now I was looking down on the island as a little speck in the South China Sea. It was an amazing sunrise. And I also gladly welcomed the warmth that it brought.

The hike back down to the guesthouse revealed over 2,000 vertical feet of beauty that had been covered in darkness just a few hours earlier. The collection of peaks that appeared saw-toothed from below were divided by sweeping moonscapes that rolled down towards a misty green earth. I took my time hiking down, and still reached the guesthouse before I usually get out of bed. After a quick rest and a small breakfast, I hit the trail again for the final leg of the descent, and reached the bottom mid-day on a wobbly pair of legs. I’d conquered Mount Kinabalu. Or maybe I’d become his friend. He did decide to give me a most excellent view, after all, and an experience that I’ll never forget.