“Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world!”  – David McCullough Jr

Borneo is home to the highest point in Southeast Asia; Mt Kinabalu! Located in the World Heritage Site of The Kinabalu Park it stands at 4095m above sea level at its summit, but to reach it travelers must first conquer a series of challenges…

The Summit Trail leads hundreds of climbers a year to the top of Mt Kinabalu, and it begins as you may expect when climbing to great height, with steps. But what you may not expect, are steps that at first do not lead you up the mountain, but down…

Descending to picturesque Carson’s Falls the trail then takes the predictable upward direction where 8km of steep mountain stairs (made from a tangled combination of rock, mud, tree roots and soil) guide me from the lush lowland forests of the lower slopes, through the mist draped world of mossy forests blanketed with orchids and the famous pitcher plants, through bamboo and ferns broken with rhododendrons and wild begonias to the scrub layer dominated by smaller trees and boulders before finally reaching the bare granite slabs of the peaks.

• 

I hoped to catch a glimpse of the hundreds of insect and bird species that call Kinabalu home, as well as the bold tree shrews and squirrels commonly seen around the shelters dotted along the trail.

A common sight on the trail are the guardians of Mt Kinabalu, the Kadazandusun people. Many are the mountain guides and inexhaustible porters who spend their days powering up and down the mountain slopes carrying large packs of supplies and visitors bags all while easily overtaking our slow struggling selves.

After what seems like an endless amount of giant steps (literally giant…in some places) I arrived muddy, wet and tired to the Torque Hut which would be my accommodation for the night. The climb can be undertaken in either 2 or 3 days with an extra night spent at the huts to allow climbers to adjust to the rapid altitude change.

At the early hour of 2am my quest for the summit really began, as I rose to have a quick breakfast before continuing my journey to catch the sunrise from the top. Day 2 began much the same as day 1 with, yes you guessed it, more stairs! But this time instead of the giant stairs of the previous day I was faced with hundreds of tiny wooded stairs, the kind that really gets the calves burning…

After the steps came what I have dubbed ‘the rope section’. A steep rockface in which a series of ropes are attached for climbers to pull themselves up. This usually results in a few mountain traffic jams as each climber ascends this section one at a time.

Beyond the rope section I reached ‘the danger zone’! Don’t worry you can’t see the cliff edge you are walking next too in the dark, just an endless line of head torch light leading you ever upward along the rock. The tiny balls of light are the only illumination in an otherwise dark rocky world, and despite the many other climbers my world shrunk to the patch of rock directly in front of me and the long trail of rope I followed.

Before I began the final section permits had to be shown (make sure you don’t forget to pack it as it’s a looooong way down to retrieve it!). The final stretch was the hardest part of the climb, a seemingly infinite uphill expanse of wet and slippery rock which ends in a hands and feet crawl through boulders to reach the highest point; Low’s Peak 4095.2m!

Obligatory photo at the summit complete, I hunkered down in a rock crevice to await the sunrise. It’s freezing at the summit, so the thin layers of day 1 which saw me through the humid forest are replaced by beanie, gloves and jackets.

For the lucky climbers who summit on a clear day the view across Borneo is simply breath taking! (Although that could also have been due to the reduced oxygen of altitude…) This view however amazing is usually glimpsed through the gaps in the cloud banks that rise vertically in front of you as they are swept across the mountain.

• 
  
  

• 

• 

• 

After taking many, many photos it was time to descend back down the rockface for second breakfast at the hut (a slightly scarier prospect now that I could see just how high I had come) and the final 4km descent back to base. Jelly legs is a apt description of the physical effort involved in climbing Mt Kinabalu, but sitting in my rocky crevice watching the sun rise over the mountains is an achievement I won’t soon forget. And the view is well worth the challenges involved to reach it!

In a handy twist of fate The Kinabalu Park is also home to Poring Hot Springs, the perfect way to soak away the aches of mountain climbing. What challenges did you face on your quest to a summit?

Are you ready to plan your own Borneo adventure? Check out my Top Tips for climbing Mt Kinabalu 

Don’t forget to subscribe to Discover with Danni to get first look at all my new content!