THE HISTORY OF MOUNT KINABALU CLIMBING
Today's relatively comfortable two day climb to the peak is a far cry from the travails of the early explorers. In 1851, Sir Hugh Low, then the Colonial Secretary for the British crown colony of Labuan, credited as the first person to climb the mountain, took nine days to reach the summit plateau, traveling in a group of 42 people.
Low and John Whitehead, a zoologist who discovered two of Kinabalu's spectacular birds, Whitehead's Trogon and Whitehead's Broadbill, both started their historic ascents from the village of Kiau, situated on the southern flank of the mountain near the Kadamaian Waterfall and recruited their guides and porters here. This route was both steep and arduous, and when the park was gazetted in 1964 and the Kinabalu Park HQ was established, the ascent route was changed to the present one. People from the nearer village of Bundu Tuhan supplied most of the guides and porters, and Bundu Tuhan's most famous son, Gunting bin Lagadan, reputed to possess remarkable powers, become the first officially registered park guide. Though Low reached the summit plateau, he did not reach the peak that now bears his name. John Whitehead is the first person who reached the summit in 1888.
Pendakian bermula jam 9 pagi (agak lewat dah tu..) 8km pendakian melalui mersilau trail...panjang, memenatkan tapi view mmg cantik... setiap 1km akan ada pondok rehat dgn toilet..so tak la stress sgt sampai menyalahkan diri sendiri kenapa join team gunung nie....
sbb byk sgt rehat ngan sesi fotografi, kiterorg sampai lewat..dlm 4.30ptg sampai di Laban Rata..otw ke Laban Rata hujan..so bila sampai dia sana, dapat la tgk view gunung masa hujan..mmg cantik.
tido di Gunting Lagadan dlm 10 minit je mendaki dari Laban Rata (dekat je actually) tapi penat la...
yg tak bestnyer dorm nie mmg tak ada heater..sejuk sampai ke tulang...
jam 2.00pg semua team dah bangun nak mula cpt takut nanti jam pulak dekat puncak tu....berjalan dlm gelap ni mmg takut, ditambah pulak dengan cerita2 ada climber jatuh gaung la sesat la...semua org ikut tali yg disediakan....Alhamdullillah semua yg naik tu berjaya sampai ke puncak walaupun lewat. :-D
