Hiking Mount Kinabalu's Low Peak (Via Timpohon Gate) & Map included

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 , , , 0 Comments


Trail difficulty rating: Medium - Hard
Time to from Entrance Gate to Laban Rata (hotel): Approx 6 hours
Time from Laban Rata to Low Peak (Summit): Approx 3 hours
Time from Low Peak to Laban Rata: Approx 2 and half hours
Time from Laban Rata back to Entrance Gate: Approx 4 hours
Recommendation: Please, at least have decent stamina if you plan to hike Mount Kinabalu. It'll really make your hike a more memorable one. I know of people who trains at Batu Caves, carrying weighted bags as a simulation or you could find for a nearby forest to hike (for most KL dwellers it would be Apek Hill, Cheras or Bukit Gasing, PJ or Ayer Hitam, Puchong and etc). A good place as a 'tryout', I would say be Gunung Nuang.

Altitude sickness might be a big thing for some of you. Personally for me, it wasn't too bad as I realised I only needed to breathe harder at certain altitude. I also had altitude pills 2 nights prior to the hike and during the hike (Thanks Ashley for being our pill provider!). If you're afraid of cold, DO BRING thick clothings (base layer, thermal wear, gloves and etc.). I would've enjoyed it way better if I had a proper pair of gloves (I thought I'd stinge on gloves so I wore my cycling full-fingered gloves. Nope, didn't shield me from the cold) and socks (I wore thick socks made of polyester and it didn't protect me from the cold at the summit aka low peak)

 There were no leeches inside (but some blogs said there were but we didn't encounter any at all). I know some blogs mentioned that we needed to bring a lot of food up but... well, I baked 2 batches of pumpkin muffin (24 small-medium pieces) and didn't exactly ate any at all.. (well, I had 3 but that was because I was hungry when I was waiting at the KK's airport, not during the hike). The others also brought their fair share of food but we had way much more than needed because we're all fully fed from the hotel's food and all.. Maybe if you're a really big eater than you'd need to bring so much of food. Or maybe if you didn't book from the hotel or hike up and down of Mount Kinabalu in a day then, you'd definitely need to bring a lot of food.

 I've also scanned the maps I've obtained from the park for your own reference, which can be found below this post.

Peak! :) Calvin (bottom Left)
Ashley, Christine, Me, Benjamin aka Ben (Left to Right)

This time, we are visiting Kota Kinabalu! :) All thanks to both Christine Peh and Shimri Lim, we managed to pre-book our guided tour and accommodation earlier (during December 2014 and we had to pay a deposit to secure our booking for 2 rooms at the base, Kinabalu Park and 1 room at Laban Rata) which includes our pass and insurance at Mount Kinabalu, accommodation and meals. Here's the meal provided for us at Kinabalu Park:


dd/mm/yyMeal 1Meal 2Meal 3
6/3/15
-nil-
-nil- 
 Note: Standard Check-in time at 2:00 p.m
Buffet Dinner @ Balsam Restaurant: Served at 6:00 p.m - 9:00 pm
7/3/15
Buffet breakfast @ Balsam Restaurant: Served at 6.30 a.m - 11:00 a.m
Packed lunch @ Balsam Restaurant: Collect during breakfast
 
Note: They gave us 3 halves of a cheese sandwich, an apple and a 500 ml bottled water. This is for during our hike up.
Buffet Dinner @ Laban Rata Restaurant:
Served at 6:00 p.m - 9:00 pm
8/3/15
‘Supper’ @ Laban Rata Restaurant (before summit): Served at 2:00 a.m.
Note: More like food before the hike up to the low peak (summit).
Buffet Breakfast @ Laban Rata Restaurant (after summit): 
Served at 7:00 a.m - 10:00 a.m
Lunch @ Balsam Restaurant: 
 Served at 12:00 pm - 4:30 pm 
 Note: if you reach after 4pm, will only provide you packed fried rice
Adapted from Christine's summary for us! :) Thank you! :3

Let me provide you with our brief travel itinerary before I continue with our adventure.


dd/mm/yyDetails
5/3/15
10:00 a.m. arrive at KK town and stay 1 night at Masada Backpackers
6/3/15
12:00 p.m. checkout Masada Backpackers and take a taxi to Kinabalu Park.
7/3/15
8:30 a.m. start hike at Timpohon gate until Laban Rata
8/3/15
2:30 a.m. start hike to summit, come down, have a short break then, descend back to Kinabalu Park and back to Masada Backpackers at town
9/3/15
6:30 a.m. rise and shine, pack up and leave KK back to KUL


Christine (left) & Me (Right) at the airport

I love milk! :) Love their local milk at Sabah! (Daily Dairy)

We met at the airport and boarded the morning plane so we'll arrive at KK together. Then, we took a taxi to Masada Backpackers (dorm-style hotel) [Waze / Google],  chilled in the room, went for some quick-shopping for necessities, unpacked and head out for dinner at Welcome Seafood Restaurant. [Waze / Google] (This place is recommended by my Sabahan friend as it's where locals have their seafood with reasonable price and taste. I'd say it's pretty good for the price we paid.) Then its lights out! :) Just a quick note on the hotel, no complains and it's pretty good. Nice, cozy and clean. They even provide a 'mini-buffet-breakfast' (toast, jam, milk, cereal, banana, coffee, tea, milo, biscuits; some of the things i remembered on the table)

The building opposite where we waited for our taxi



Telling us some stuff about where we're about to stay

On our 2nd day, we walked out of our hotel to their 'taxi-waiting-place' to Kinabalu Park. It wasn't exactly like a proper place you'd have in KL (with taxi-stand), its just like a 'meet-up' point where all the taxis are. You can either take the Kinabalu Park's bus shuttle or either you book a whole taxi. The bus shuttle is a few ringgit cheaper per person and for either transportation you choose, you'll probably spend about RM 12 - RM 18 per person. It took us about 2 hours from where we were to the park. The place was really really cozy and nice and it wasn't long before I fell in love with that place. We were ushered to our hostel, which was Rock hostel and there we were briefed on where the places is and etc. The briefing about tomorrow's hike will be at 6 p.m, before our dinner. After loading our bags, we then loitered around, had dinner at Balsam Restaurant and then we dozed off to sleep.

Our mighty strong but small porter!

They weigh your bags before the trip for the porter service :) 

Christine giving the tag to Ashley. 
Next to Ashley is our guide, Freddie Akau

Today's the day we hike to Laban Rata! This is Day 3 of our trip. We had breakfast at Balsam, then went to register, got a porter for all (we had 2 bags of about 10 kg each, packed for the porter to carry. Items we put in the 'porter-bags' were things we do not need during the hike like our food, clothes to change, etc.) of us and were greeted by our quiet but friendly guide. He introduced himself as Freddie. We decided to take the park's shuttle van to the starting point (which was about 1 - 2 km away from the Reception). I think it costs each of us RM 8 one way. When we were on our way to the starting point, our guide quickly briefed us, again on the hike and what we'll be expecting. These are the 2 pointers I thought would be useful for my readers that our guide mentioned:
  • * 3 - 4 hours for fitter/faster groups & 5 - 6 hours for moderate speed group. 
  • * Best to arrive Laban Rata by 3 p.m and when coming down back to Kinabalu park, try to be back before 4:00 p.m. so to not miss 'Lunch Buffet' at Balsam.
  • * Toilets and rest huts are available at almost every km of the hike 
  • * If you're injured and not able to come down, per person would be RM 3k :p
Beginning of the hike 

View from Laban Rata's Hotel

So, we started hiking at about 8:30 a.m. and then we arrived the hotel at 2:15 p.m, which gives us a total of 5 hours and 45 minutes of hike (rest included). And, our porter arrived way earlier than us...! He's so tiny but have mighty strong legs! It's just so amusing to see porters and carriers carrying heavy and big things up when we're on the way hiking. We had lunch at Laban Rata's hotel and then our guide came to our table and told us a few more things for the next day's hike to the summit. Here're the more important ones I've also noted:
  • * Hike to the peak starts between 2:00 am - 2:30 am. No later.
  • * Headlamp is highly recommended.
  • * It is recommended to leave your hiking poles when you hike up and bring sufficient water (I personally needed 1 bottle of 500 ml throughout the trip to the summit and back to Laban Rata).
  • * Going up the first part wouldn't be as cold but during the last 2 km it would be really cold. So, bring proper gloves (as aforementioned above), beanie and other necessities you'd need to shield you from the cold (especially if you're afraid of the cold). 
  • * Here's a list of what I brought/wore when I hiked up there, that might be useful for you:                        
  •    - headlamp and a spare battery
  •    - base layer/thermal wear, 1 outer-wear and one jacket
  •    - shorts (inside) and 1 long base-layer pants.
  •    - 1 bottle of water, 500 ml
  •    - camera ( to take pictures of course! :P)
  •    - Powerbar
  •    - full-fingered cycling gloves (which, clearly didn't help me shield from the cold at all. It was as if I soaked both my hands in ice,cold water. For me, my feet and hands gets cold very quickly.)
  •    -Thick polyester sock (Didn't help me when i was on top. My feet was crazy cold)
  •    - Sports glasses (Thankfully for these glasses because my eyes were dry from the wind blowing! But the rest of my buddies were not affected, though)
  •    -My faithful Columbia shoes :) 
I hurt my back quite badly a week before the hike so 
I wore this throughout the hike :) Thankfully I pulled through!

I decided to go to shower because today's the 3rd day I decided not to wash my hair and it seems that I can't really take the itch on my hair! I had to bath in cold water because their hot water at Laban Rata is limited. It's mentioned that only when there's sun there will be hot water. The reason why I didn't dare to wash my hair because I assumed that, in the cold weather, my hair would not have sufficient time to dry; not to mention we needed to sleep early. Well, thankfully with about 2 and a half hours, my hair is dry enough so that I'll be able to get to bed.


As Christine quoted: "stair stair stairs...!"



We slept at about 7 p.m. and during the night's sleep, Christine and Calvin was really sick from the altitude. :( Even with the pills, it didn't quite help them. Calvin was vomiting when I was fast asleep and Christine was having diarrhoea. While both of them had their little (unfortunate) date with the toilet, they also heard other hikers share similar fate with them in the toilet. They heard few others vomiting. Both of them didn't quite exactly had a good's night rest but they still manage to get up for our hike up to the summit. 

Pitch black! :)


This is the 'cliff/edge of the mountain' I mentioned. 
The picture doesn't do justice because it's scarier than it looks. 

We woke up at 12:30 a.m. , had our 'supper' at 2:00 a.m. and then started our hike at 2:40 a.m. The hike up was dark and we all depended on our headlamps to get up there. As for poor Christine, she vomited along the way up but thankfully felt better after that. The hike up was pretty steep as we needed to ascend a flight of stairs and rocks. After about 1 km, we arrived the part where it gets a little bit tricky. It's actually also quite dangerous and you'll need to hold on to the ropes as you walk along the cliff/edge of the mountain. But not to worry, listen to the guide and you'll be good. We're also super proud of Ben because he manage to get all the way up and overcome his fear for heights! With some little 'voice-guidance' and 'sight-detour' (Christine made him look at my back and shoes), he made it up. The cut - off time to reach Sayat-Sayat hut is at 5:30 a.m. If you arrive there after the cut-off time, you are not able to continue up. All of us made it pass Sayat-Sayat on time, although we didn't get to arrive to the summit to catch sunrise. 

See the crowd at the summit? Everyone wants a picture.
I mean, who doesn't? So, snap and leave so that the place can be less clogged up. 

I'm freezing!!!! That's why I'm squinting :( 

It was freezing cold when we arrived up there and the guide told us that the temperature up there was about -1°C. No wonder I was freezing my hands and foot off when I was up there! Then again, my hands and feet gets cold first so, it might be a different story for you. We quickly snap a group photo and ascend down. While going down, Calvin was suffering from his tummy ache and so, thankfully for our guide, he stayed with him behind while we hurried down as we were trying to checkout from Laban Rata's hotel before the cut-off time. The check-out time for Laban Rata hotel is at 10:30 a.m. I believe they're doing this so they have sufficient time to clear the rooms for the next batch of hikers to come in since spaces are quite limited. They impose a fine of RM 100 per hour for not checking out on time.

A picture with our guide (next to Benjamin's left)!


They offer personal guide, too and they usually hold your
hands and tell you where to step and not. Even if you didn't hire one,
certain sections (when they see you're struggling) they'll hold and pull you 
through as it's obvious safety is their priority.

Private Masseur for Ben :p 

Thankfully, we arrive the hotel quite early, at about 9:15 a.m, in time for breakfast and to quickly pack our items out. We relaxed for a little before our final push-off back to the entrance! We started at  11:00 a.m. and came out at 3:15 p.m. I needed a lot of small breaks in between because my quads were burning! It's as if I had leg day!!!!!  We had to 'leave' Calvin and Ashley behind with our guide (thank goodness for the guide!) because we were trying to get back to Balsam for late-lunch and also to try and get a taxi for us to go back to Kota Kinabalu town. There weren't much left when we arrived and since both our buddies can't get back in time for the buffet, we tried to get some food for them.

...and we're back!


Christine got a taxi for us but it costs a lot because its already after 5 p.m. We were told that busses are hard to get after 5 p.m. (and also because it's a Sunday) as the time schedule is not fixed and if you're unlucky, you might need to wait for an hour or 2 before the bus comes. Also, not to mention you had to walk out of the park and cross to the opposite side of the road to the bus station to get the bus. Taking the bus would cost you about RM 2x (I can't re-call the exact figure).We're all also pretty pooped out to walk so, looking at all the circumstances, we spent RM 200 per taxi to get us back to town.

The 'ikan bakar' (means grilled fish in malay) we didn't have :( 
Picture taken on the first day we arrived KK.

Noodles we had for breakfast on the second day we arrived KK..!

We reached town at about 8 p.m. feeling crazy exhausted and Christine ordered some pizzas for us but she herself couldn't even eat any because she still feels sick and can't eat. So anyway, I slept pretty early, at about 10 -ish pm while the rest were outside the common area mingling with Calvin's Sabahan friend (she decided to drop by, impromptu, because she bumped into calvin while he was out with Ben). 

my surprise gift! So nice of them! :3
So they say I'm "Shy but naughty." :p

So, the following day, we woke up, packed and it's time to head home back to our respective home. Just when I thought our trip was over, Calvin, Ashley and Ben got me a surprise little gift! *cheesy grins* Thank you! Ben got the idea when he was looking around at the airport's gift shop and he said he'd get a monkey shirt for me and Ash spotted one, which all of the agreed whole-heartedly that I'm true to the shirt's statement. What you'd say?

Looking forward to another adventure,


Disclaimer: There are many many blogs out that might recommend different from what I wrote here so, just take mine as another piece of advice...! what you ultimately decide to pack and prepare is entirely up to you! :) But you can drop me a message/comment if you'd need help and I'll try to help whenever I can. And no, I'm in no way affiliated to any of the hotel or restaurant that I have mentioned above. 
This is the map from Timpohon/Mesilau to the peak

Description of the trails you'll find around the park

Map of the park you'll find around the park

Cleo Loong

One of God’s many creation on planet earth. Here are just some of the things I’ve learn thus far from life and I believe there are many many more lesson to come in this journey.

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