The Climb (Mount Kinabalu Part IV)

“The last two kilometers before you reach Laban Rata” answered one of the climbers when we asked them what the hardest part was. By this time we had taken off our goretex jackets, preferring to be drenched by the rain rather than our own sweat and the climb was taking its toll. We had hoped the worst was behind us or at the very least that the climber would lie to us and say ‘It’s all downhill from here” but that was not to be the case. The higher we reached, the quieter our group got. No more funny jokes, no more pointing at the colorful plants, no more stopping to share the great views and taking pictures. Rather we were now individual climbers trying to draw strength from our inner selves, taking mental pictures of the great stuff we saw so we can share these at Laban Rata when we were dry and warm. And after a while even that was starting to shut down.

“Just put one foot in front of the other, take three steps and rest. Then do it over again”. By this time Ivy was having a real hard time. I was probably suffering as much but was really good at hiding the fact. By now the rain had drenched everything we were wearing and for once I realized what all those survival stories on the Discovery channel were talking about when they said the cold was sapping the strength of the lost climbers. Jose, by then my ex-friend who had the smart idea of telling me about the Air Asia Promo, was in shorts and a thin shirt. He hadn’t even bothered with the jacket early on knowing that it would be useless in the rain anyway. I’m not sure what state he was in but he was still smiling and climbing. He was after all an active adventure racer and triathelete and probably the only one in the group who was not having a hard time. Apart from him, Chot, Ivy’s girlfriend was also having a hard time and Suiee was still pretty up beat and had the presence of mind to help Ivy (and secretly me) along. “Take three steps and rest”.

By now the voice of William Shatner was entering my head. With the theme music of “Rescue 911” in the background I could hear him say “Little did Joey know that his mid life crisis dream of climbing a foreign mountain would end in tragedy”. I had had it. My mind was shutting down. The three steps and rest routine was losing its meaning and beyond breathing my body wanted to do little more. I was ready to shut down and sit by the side of the trail with no other plan than just sitting there. And as if by cue someone shouted “we’re here”. I stood there and didn’t know how to process that, I’ve climbed long enough to know “we’re here” can mean anything from a minute down the trail to another 30 minute ascend up some steep incline. Nonetheless those words gave each of us that last push to climb (luckily) that extra minute of trail. Jose, the first to reach Waras Hut, the first hut in Laban Rata, had the lucky job of climbing a 50 meters further to the main resthouse when he realized that our hut was still locked. The rest of us crawled, clambered and otherwise made our way to the front door and collapsed. Waras Hut was going to be our accommodations for the night.