Climbing Mt K – Day 3, May 19 2011

In no time it was time to get up. The NZ guys didn’t seem to sleep well either; everybody just seemed to be waiting for the alarm and was up at the first sound of it. I was expecting an icy slap on the face when we opened the door but surprisingly it was not as cold as I expected, and hooray no rain!

We started our climb at 2.30am, groping around in the dark with only our headlamps. Though seriously lacking in sleep, I wasn't exhausted or sleepy, must be the adrenaline! It was also a strange, crazy feeling to be up and about in the dark at that hour and seeing blobs of lights in front and behind me. We were pretty fast and soon overtook most people. When we came out in the open, the moon was right there all full and bright on a clear beautiful sky. It was absolutely mesmerizing.

- Mountain explorers we are! (~Lobster)

- Km7, 1km+ to go! At that altitude, 1km is a looooong way... (~Lobster)

- South Peak and the moon...this is what I see when I close my eyes...(~Lobster)

- Dawn breaking at about 5.30am

- The rocks were very steep, it was cold, the air was thin, the peak is right there but you just can't close the distance!!

- Finally! The view from the top! (~Lobster)

- Oh yeah, made it up here alive and kicking and absolutely exhilarated! Poor Ping2 was not feeling as great though... (~Lobster)

- Our mentor =D (~Lobster)

- The mist came and went, it was like being in an enchanted land and it sure does look like a dragon lives here! (~Lobster)

- Line of climbers going down, see how the rope snakes through the terrain

- Looking back up..oh boy..no idea how I got up there (~Lobster)

- The Ping team with our guide, Margaret
- Interesting topography and plants up here
- View on the way down, it was like we'd discovered a hidden valley (~Lobster)

- Haha public phone that was rosak! Too bad or it'd really be the only phones at the highest altitude.

- Very steep descend; it looked so different in daylight I have absolutely no recollection of the route we'd taken (~Lobster)

- Finally back to Laban Rata! Last group photo taken before we made our way down (~Lobster)

- Saw some monkey cups

We took about 3 hours to get to the gate. The last hour was absolute agony as my legs gradually felt so stiff and painful. It also started to rain when we were just 1km from the gate. We had lunch (yay for chairs!), got our bags and said goodbye to Lobster for his wonderful company.

We went back to Summer Lodge and was given a family room instead of a twin. I immediately took a nap because I was extremely nauseous from the drive back. Woke up a couple of hours later, showered and went to look for food. While we were walking around and pondering, Ping2 saw a familiar figure walking by and yelled, "Lobster!!" By golly, such a coincidence! (Thinking back, we'd have totally missed him had we sat down at the first eating place or came out earlier or later.) Turned out he was staying at Borneo Backpackers which was just a block away from us. We later sat by the sea and chatted till it was midnight.

Post-climb thoughts: It was a very surreal feeling, like I was in a dream. That night, we were sitting there talking in the city with lights while just that morning, we were high up in the mountains with only our headlamps. In a way, it felt like nothing ever happened, even with the soreness of my legs. But it was also an incredible feeling and a very fulfilling experience for me. Right there, at Mt K, I felt something inside changed...