Journey up to Mt.Kinabalu! (PART 2)

Part 1: https://steemit.com/partiko/@gracefu/journey-up-to-mtkinabalu-part-1-z8etk1xc

So on the next day of the climb, we all woke up at 1am and get ready ourselves for our supper before our summit attack climb.

Lining up for our buffet supper.

Supposed to eat just a little but i took abit too much. 😂
And i regreted it 10 minutes after started the climb because i feel all bloated and uncomfortable.

Started our climb around 2.40am, it was so cold and hard to breath plus its super dark. There are just wayyyy to many stairs to climb from the start on the way up which is quiet challenging.
I was like omg whyyyy so many stairs?
Can i just fly to the top? 😂🤦‍♀️

At that point i keep taking breaks in between just to catch my breath and get used to the environment there because as we were climbing higher and higher, the oxygen level gets lower and lower.

We started off together with my group of 4 person including me with 1guide but our guide asked us to go ahead 1st then he will catch up.
Throughout our climb, one of us was left out behind because we cnt wait any longer or we will hold up the line so we keep going.

Then along the way, we all end up walking on our own so i just decided to keep going and follow the crowds who were climbing to the top too.

At that point where you are all alone without your group and guide, i realised one thing that this climb is just like life, where somedays you will have so many people in your life on that part of your journey and the next thing you know that you are all alone but what you got to do is keep trusting yourself that you can do it & never give up. Not everything you do in life needs to be dependent on another person, sometimes you got to just believe in yourself and just keep going even if you're alone and the road is very rough.

Sunrise on the top was just amazing!
I sat there chilling for nearly 30minutes enjoying the view. Still cnt believed it that I'm there at that moment.

Took a selfie because nobody can help me take a picture. 😂
All busy getting on their climb.

Up up we go again.

Few minutes before reaching the top for pictures, i stopped and took this picture.
At this moment where i was breathing so fast, feeling all exhausted and freezing cold because i couldn't wear my face mask because it will blur out my spectacles which is quite dangerous that i can't see my steps properly.
So i got to breath in all the freezing cold air in instead.
At that time i nearly gave up climbing and one of the 3guides that bumped into me the day before who were not my guide saw me and called my name.
He asked if i was okay. I said i just need a break but then he came down and ask me to hold his hand.

He said come i bring u go up,you cannot rest too long or else your legs will get cramps then you won't be able to go down later on.
He pull me up and guided me few minutes until i reached the top for pictures. I'm very thankful that he helped me up if not i think i might give up just then, it was like just few steps away to the top.😂(tbh it's was super freezing cold and i nearly cnt stand it)

Actually most of the guides there are quite friendly and helpful even one of my friend was guided all the way up by someone's else group guide. 😂

She said if it was not for that guide who hold her hand and bring her all the way up to the top, she don't think she will make it there. Halfway through the climb she was already thinking to give up.

When i reached the top.
The view is so mesmerising! ❤️

So here i am! 💪😜
Actually i wanted to climb to the top of the signboard but the guide said no need, just down here also can. 😂

A candid picture of me and Jess. She arrived few minutes earlier before me with the help one a random guide too.

After talking pictures we both actually waited a little while more and few minutes later another friend from our group arrived.

I'm just dreaming up here. 🤭
Still cannot believed that i have made it even without proper training.💪
Yes indeed my once in a lifetime experience,another bucket list tick! ❤️

Then i looked down and said to myself,

How did i climb all the way up?
Can i just fly all the way down now? 😂😂😂

On the way down, we actually past the lovely lake.

Pictures again but it was starting to get foggy. Missing one person from our group.

😍So nice the background ❤️

More pictures on the way down.
😂Can't see anything behind.

This is how foggy it is because we are late already to go down.
So i decided to speed up going down and 3 of us were separated from each other again. 🙈

Looking at those stairs.😂
Thinking to myself this is a total nightmare. Hahaha.. But oh well the beautiful view made me think, it's okay i will be down to Laban Rata without me even realising it.
Hungry for breakfast and i don't want to missed it!
So eventually i speed up even more. 😋

And yeah another selfie. 😝
30minutes later, finally I'm down at Laban Rata. 💪

Then i bumped into this lady again.
She is from Sawarak, all the way from Sarawak to Sabah alone for her 1st Mt.Kinabalu climb experience.
I met her with her guide along the way up the day before and that's where we began to become friends.
Really salute her because 1st she is so brave, coming here all on her own and 2nd, the day before she carried her 10KG bagpack all by herself until Laban Rata.
Her guide said she was so stubborn cause she won't let him carry her bagpack. 😅
I didn't manage to get any contact from her but just managed to ask for her name.
She said if you're happy, you will remember me. I'm Eppy. (I'm not sure if i spell it right)
But yeah, a very friendly and nice lady from Sawarak. 💪👍😊

So after that i quickly go and have my breakfast, get change, packed my bagpack and checked out by 10.30am before i get charged another RM100 for late checkout.
My two friends eventually catched up and after checkout we were waiting for the last one from our group who is still on the way down from summit.
Waited until it's nearly 11am then i was very worried because nearly everyone else had already left Laban Rata back down and it's getting foggy up there plus we heard from another guide that its going too rain soon.
My biggest fear was the safety of us 3 because we don't have our guide with us.
Ended up i whatsapp our guide for advice that should we wait for them or we just go down while there are still people going down too.
So our guide said its better for us to not wait and go down 1st before it gets dark.

We left at 11am, on the way down after 2KM it rained a little and the tracks and stones started to get wet and slippery.
3 of us continue our journey as there was only us, the rest of other groups were already far ahead.
At some point after 3KM all of my toe nails started to hurt so bad that it was hard for me but to feel pain on every steps down.
My two friends were already ahead of me.
😂
I'm all alone again this time.
Looking at those stairs down and also those slippery rocky path, i was already freaking out a little.(That's the time were i just want to go down as fast as possible to get it over with.)
Prayed hard along the way so that we all will get down and out safely.
I nearly slipped few times but thanked God that i didn't and finally safely arrived out at Timpohon gate by 4pm sharp where 2of my other friends were waiting there. Then we took the bus to Kinabalu Park to collect our certificates and search for dinner near that area while waiting our that one friend to arrived.

We made it to the top and back down safely.
The rest are histories because one of us came down super late at 8.30pm.

One thing i learned from this climb is that, don't take things for granted or even advice from older people or experience people.
You will never know what will happened if you don't listen and acted arrogantly.

My only advice to climb this mountain is that,stay humble and respect the nature, the mountain and everything that's on it.
Be fully prepared for that climb especially mentally and physically too.
Doesn't mean you are super fit, you will be able to reached the top because that's not true.
High altitude sickness can happen to anybody because the our body is not used to it to the change of the environment with less oxygen.

Bonus tips that I've learned throughout the climb:

-Prepare yourself with some good vitamins & electrolyte tablet just before the climb.
-Start with a deep breath all along the way up and also down,try doing small steps at a time from slow and slowy speed up when you get a hold of it.
-Stopped right where you are when your heart is racing too fast or feeling dizzy or fatigue and rest while taking more deep breaths until you feel much better.
-Don't rest too long or else you will get cramps.
-Keep your time checked.
-Stay hydrated too from time to time.(I think i drank nearly 2.5L on the 1st day😂.I guessed that's why I'm feeling all good)
-Eat something like chocolate bars/sweets when you feel hungry along the way.
-Lastly, keep motivating yourself mentally so that you will keep going no matter what.

That's it for that one adventures climb that i thought i would never make it up there to the top of the the Mount Kinabalu but i did!
Once in a lifetime experience but if i would have another chance to climb Mt.Kinabalu again, i think i will but this time with proper training beforehand and without a group perhaps. 🤭

Cheers!
Hope you all enjoyed reading. 😉
@gracefu

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