It's always happy at the beginning (Mount Kinabalu Part III)

On the day of our climb we had decided to start early. Early to rise, early to bed later on was what I thought and so we set off rather up beat. The guide had offered portaging services which made this experience even more Everest like in my mind but we begged off not wanting to seem like the bungling tourists we were. It had been raining for the past few days which would be good during climbing. Nothing like a cool breeze to keep you going and we much preferred this to the hot humid air that sapped our strength whenever we climbed back home.

The trails up Kinabalu were immaculate. Steep inclines had wooden planks strategically placed in order to minimize the erosion that the constant rain would have brought and for the more sketchy parts of the trail, wooden hand rails were available to guide the climber safely past that point. Every now and then we’d run into a rest stop with a gazebo and strangely enough a portalet in the back. There were even tanks of water which strangely enough had the words “NOT FOR DRINKING” emblazoned on it. The rest stops also had informative placards on it indicating how far along the trail we were and how far the next rest stop would be. This was both a source of hope and despair as the trail started becoming harder and harder. Not evenly spaced, some rest stops were further away than others and resting along the trail seemed ridiculous, that’s what rest stops were there for.

The first few climbers we met on the way up were rushing to get down so there were hardly any exchanges beyond the customary “Hello” and “Good Morning”. Towards the second rest stop however, the second wave of climbers were more cordial and probably less in shape than the first wave and they stopped to chat. It turned out the climbers before us were not allowed to go beyond Laban Rata. The constant rain had turned run-off water on the slick granite face into raging rivers and so the authorities had shut off the peak. Given the limited space in Laban Rata, the climbers had no other choice but to go down, no waiting for the next day to make the peak. At first this had filled us with dread. We had not come all the way here and had not spent all our money on our budget airfare and $2 a night accommodations only to be turned away now. And so with the same confidence I had that it would not rain on my wedding day, I continued to climb knowing the rain would stop while it continued to drench my clothes my pack and everything else around me.