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(sorry folks, it's my longest blog yet, as it's been a busy couple of weeks - once again, you have been warned - enjoy.)

"Borneo to be Wild (sorry)"

Simon Wadsworth
2006-09-04 17:28:08

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were looking good - weather great, a fun group of people to make the climb enjoyable and my ankles finally healed enough to stop me walking like an old man. And for once, there is no 'but', things were perfect.

Most of you are probably wondering what's so specal about this mountan anyway. Afterall, all he seems to have done these last two months is climb mountains. Well, ever since I was in Asia two summers ago, I've wanted to climb Kinabalu, especially after Mr Millard's antics, and made a vow that when I came back, I would. Unlike those babies in NZ, this is a real daddy of a mountain, the biggest in SE Asia, and at 4095m, the world's highest mountain with no snow and the tallest tip between the Himalayas and the Snow Mountains of New Guinea Island.

To reach the top, you must force your legs to climb 5000ft on the first day and another 2000ft on the 2nd day, before descending all the way back down again; endless steps that are enough to put you off a hostel staircase. A good description of the walk is actually given in the trusty Lonely Planet, if I may: "The climb is uphill 99% of the way, it is unrelenting, steep in places and there are seemingly endless steps - 2500 as far as Laban Rata. Then it gets a whole lot tougher. The trail becomes even steeper as you approach the summit, then disappears altogether on vast, near-vertical fields of slippery granite. Every step can be a struggle as you gasp for breath in the thin air." So not exactly a walk in the park, and I admittedly nearly died on the first day. But we took our time and made it with the afternoon to chillout above the clouds. The truth is, as mountain walks go, it's luxury. There's free tap water at various points on the climb, everyone is given a guide (Marios was ours - a quality guy we nicknamed 'Jungle Monkey'), and there's even hostels and a restaurant at Laban Rata. However, we were put to shame by the local porters who were even ...