modus vivendi of Clovern: I defeated 4095.2 (Part II)

It was 2.30am in the morning, and we all sat in the cafeteria, freezing (I think it was about 5 to 8 degree celcius), trying to nibble some bites before heading to the second phase of our journey. All of us were drained off from the previous day hike. But still, we were in a high spirit of wanting to conquer the highest peak of Southeast Asia. We got ready by putting on our gloves, headlamp, layers of clothes and beanie. At around 2.45am, we were well-prepared.

Get set, go!

Climbing up an almost vertical slope by pulling the rope back to back, in the totally dark situation. The only light of source was from our own headlamp. Along the route was a series of man-made wooden ladders, some tree roots and branches. As we ascending up, the air was getting thinner and colder, these really make the trekking much more physically and even mentally challenging. After one hour plus of hiking, we reached the Sayat-sayat check point at 3668m for registration. We have to show our name tag in case we get lost in the mountain. From there, the trekking was getting tougher and my legs were getting heavier. Each step taken was effortful. The journey continued with steepy slippery silver black rocks, I counted every 10 steps, and rested to catch a lungful of Oxygen. It was really tough.

My devil-mind told me to surrender, it's enough to suffer my own body. But my angel-mind said, just keep going, it's just 1/2 km away and you can do it!

And slowly, the sky turned brighter as time goes by.

Ahhh.... The breathtaking breaking of dawn with the velvet sky.

We finally made it!!!!

From left-top: Boon Pin, Tze Chein, Lai see

From left-bottom: Me, Ling Yue, Yang.
There was 7 of us but 1 of my climbing mate (Chee Eng) left behind.

The tour guide did mention explicitly that we have to reach the low's peak at least 5 minutes before 6am to catch a glimpse of dawn. And I could see the sunrise from the halfway of the low's peak! I was a bit late, late for like 10 minutes to the low's peak. Arghhhh.... Wasted!

From where I was standing at the top of the Low's peak, I could see the grey granite slabs stretch endlessly deep down and it was like 90 degree of slanting line.

Behind was St. John's Peak (4090.7m).

We were contentedly basking in the warmth of the morning sun.

This was something extra-ordinary that I have never seen before. On top of the opposite peak, there appeared the almost full-circle of rainbow in the middle of the mist. According to a Taiwanese climber on the spot, they called it as "kuan yin circle".

At 6.45am, the morning fog seemed like going to blanket the view of the surroundings and we all decided it's time to head down.

With our guide (and also porter) at the mark of 8.5km.

Could you notice the white lines on the rock? It is so-called the aplite dyke.

Good shoes bring you to good places, indeed, I believe so!

We were actually having fun playing around with the
distance and dimension of photography skills.
" I'm literally holding the South's peak!"

With the 2 cute little native guide whom brought us all the way up to the summit.

It was really cold and breezy up there.

At that paricular time, it would be PERFECT if there were a Starbucks ground brewed coffee + freshly baked walnut muffin!

Descending down from the plateau of Mount Kinabalu with clear blue sky.

Pitstop: Ribena, the hiker's energy booster!

The 8km mark with South peak at the background.

Tell you what, I was wearing multi-layers of clothing. I was really fear of cold. Even I couldn't stand like Genting that kind of weather.

Top, from in to out: sport bra, long john, long sleeve shirt, t-shirt, sweater,

wind-breaker (rented RM10 from laban rata)
Bottom, from in to out: breifs, short pants, long john, yoga long pants, and track bottom.

We were taking our own sweet time to really feel the fresh air and the wind-blowing on our face.

With the sun beaming in our eyes......

Sitting at summit plateau.

The Donkey's Ears Peak was covered by the think fog.

At last, 7 of us got into the picture at Sayat-sayat hut. We are the climber!!!

And, the stunning scenery continue along the way....

Kundasang small town at the backgroud.

At some point, I was totally clueless about how I got up from here?

Getting down carefully from the precipitous cliff by holding tightly of the rope.

Awwwwww.....

Some weird-looking leafless tree.

Heading down and it's getting hotter as the sun rised.

It was quite scary when you look all the way down from the wooden staircase.

Step by step, we get there.

The green hut was Guntung lagadan, where we'd stayed the previous night.

At 10.30am, we were actually running kind of late and consider the few last groupies that still packing and taking breakfast at Laban rata resthouse. Everyone else had started to make their way down. So, without any delay, we made it back down again with a lot of heavy groaning,

" Uh, Ah, Ouch, Help!"

My calve muscles and knee joint were killing me and we have another 4 hours, to be exact, 2500 steps to go via Timpohon route. The last hour had been daunting and it hit my limit as I really wanted to just roll down the hill. Slowly, at 4.30pm, I planted my feet at the timpohon gate. It was great to reach the bottom finally!