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Day Climb on The Summit Trail of Kinabalu
Summit
Trail
is
the trail that you will be using to climb to the Mount
Kinabalu
peak.
After having a nice rest overnight at Kinabalu
Park HQ chalet, you
should wake up before 6.30am and get ready with all your climbing gear.
Have a breakfast and go to the Kinabalu Park HQ office to get your
climbing permit, a name tag, your guide and maybe porter (if
necessary). You will be taken to the Timpohon
Gate,
the entrance to the
summit trail where you will start climbing. Buses are provided by the
park for climbers and it will cost about RM5 per person. It is a 15
minutes drive along the 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) winding and a steep
uphill road leads to directly to the gate.
Most climbers will start
their climbing at 8.00am from Timpohon Gate. After a short registration
at the gate, you will be surprised that the short first section of the
rough gravel and sand track leads down, not up, across small gully to
join the main flank of the mountain, and past the little trickle of
Carson's falls, named after the first Park Warden.
From here the
trail
rises steadily as a series of rough, uneven steps, right up to the
overnight huts at Laban Rata (3,272 meters/10,735 feet). Along the
way there will be 7
shelters (pondok), where each shelter have toilets and untreated
mountain water source. The shelters afford the weary some well earned
rest at intervals and the water tanks will make it easy for you as you
do not have to carry heavy water bottles with you. The average time
taken to reach Laban Rata is about four or five hours.
PONDOK KANDIS
The first trail shelter,
Pondok Kandis, is reached at 1,981 meters (6,499 feet), where excellent
views are to be had looking down to the coast (southwest). It is a
steep 30 minutes climb to the shelter.
PONDOK UBAH
Continuing along
the Summit Trail for another 20 minutes, you will arrive at Pondok
Ubah, 2095 meters (6874 feet). It is a shelter just below a well known
site for what must be one of Borneo's most unusual pitcher plants,
Nephentes sp. It might be slightly off the trail, but you could ask
your guide to point out it to you.
PONDOK LOWII
Soon after, an
overgrown track leads off left to the radio station, but the main trail
continues to the right contouring around the ridge. The forest becomes
thicker and mossy, tree ferns are abundant and everywhere the long
spiky shoots of climbing bamboo pierce the mist. You will arrive in
Pondok Lowii (2286 meters, 7500 feet) after 30 minutes of climbing. The
air is damp and green moss and ferns carpet the ground and stunted
trees. The trail splits soon afterwards, leading to Sabah Radio and
Television Station, a restricted area on the left, and the continuation
of the Summit Trail on the right. The trail winds through the dwarf
forest. Clouds often envelop the trees which festooned with ferns and
orchids.
PONDOK MEMPENING
After 40 minutes
you will arrive at Pondok Mempening (2518 meters, 8262 feet) with wild
begonias growing nearby. Stops at these shelters give you time to
observe the squirrels, tree-shrews and birds that seems so unafraid and
come looking for discarded food on the ground.
LAYANG-LAYANG HUT (PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS CARSON'S CAMP)
Soon you will
emerge onto an open exposed ridge at Layang-Layang 2,702 meters (8865
feet), where a small tin hut provides a welcome resting place (though
not an overnight stop) for weary climbers. It was a 30 minutes journey.
Here wild raspberries and a view to the East make a rest or lunch stop
enjoyable. At this point a band of ultramafic
soil, distinguished by
its orange-cinnamon colour, crosses the trail and the vegetation
changes dramatically. The forest becomes shorter and much more open and
is dominated by the second species of Leptospermum that grows on
Kinabalu,
L. recurvum, with its tiny
grey leaves. This is also the zone
of insect-eating pitcher plants which Kinabalu is famous.
PONDOK VILLOSA
After about 45
minutes and at about 2,690 meters (8,825 feet), you will arrive at
Pondok Villosa. It is situated at the top of an open rocky patch and
soon the forest becomes more stunted. Superb vistas can be had of the
mountain towering above you as you follow the path upwards. At the top
of this open area at about 3,050 meters (10,000 feet), a
small
track leads off to a helipad on the right and it is worth making this
five minutes side trip for the dramatic view of the towering peaks from
the helipad on a clear day. Shortly after the helipad junction, you
suddenly leave the ultramafic
soils. The forest again changes back to
taller trees draped thickly in mosses, and orchids cover the ground in
between tumble granite boulders.
PONDOK PAKA
Another 45 minutes of
journey, you will arrive at the seventh shelter, Pondok Paka at 3,080
meters (10,105 feet), named after the Paka Cave nearby, famous as the
place where Low, Whitehead and others slept before making the final
assault on the summit. The Paka cave, on the edge of a small stream, is
really nothing more than a large overhanging rock. It can be reached
along a rather overgrown track to the left, which continues above the
cave to join the main trail higher up. This detour is fairly steep but
takes only a little longer than the standard route.
LABAN RATA
The thinning air makes
it harder to breathe, but the accomodation complex of Laban Rata lies
about another 40 minutes ahead. The Laban Rata Resthouse is equipped
with running water, electricity, a restaurant and indor showers and
toilets. Electric heaters are provided in the rooms
(in Laban Rata
resthouse) as well as blankets. This is the resting place for most
climbers. You can have your meal, wash yourself up and just have a nice
rest with your travel
guidebook to read.
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