Mt. Kinabalu is one of the best mountains to climb in SE Asia and many travelers will go to the island of Borneo or Kalimantan as it is also known to visit the Malaysian side. During their travels they may go to either Kuching which is in the state of Sarawak or Kota Kinabalu, which is in the state of Sabah or possibly try both.
This post is about climbing the islands highest mountain, Mt. Kinabalu
There are many mountains in the world to climb and Mt. Kinabalu is one of them. It is not as high as Kilimanjaro nor does it take as long to climb or is it as costly. With that in mind I always recommend to travelers going to Borneo that they should climb Mt. Kinabalu and below you will find the details about this wonderful climb. By the way, I do suggest that you do the two day, one night climb.
There are two ways to accomplish this climb, one is the easy way which is to book everything with a tour company which usually increases the total costs by a large amount, or do all the booking yourself which is a combination of using a tour company and handling other portions on your own which is not that difficult.
I suggest that you read this post completely before deciding on which option to take when booking this climb.
First, I will direct your attention to the official web site for Mt. Kinabalu
The remaining portion of this post is about booking the climb with the second option of using a tour company to book certain portions of the climb, specifically the accommodations only and then doing the rest yourself which will include the transportation there and hiring a guide.
But before you read more, let me explain about the dynamics of the climb which is mostly the difference between going with a group and going on your own.
As with any tour consisting of a group of people there will be a mixture of age, athletic levels, the personalities of the group members, individuals’ capabilities and group dynamics. When climbing a mountain such as Mt. Kinabalu
Doing the climb as either a solo climber or if you have a friend with you, will allow you to direct the way in which the climb progresses, stops for rest/photo/etc.
I have personally done the climb by using a tour company to book the accommodations only and then did the rest myself and after having finished the climb and decent, I observed the groups doing the same and I would not have done it any differently (I never, ever book group tours).
Depending on the time of year, booking the accommodations could be difficult if you are on a limited time schedule. Many web sites will mention that they can not guarantee a climb and this is based on the fact that the base camp (Laban Rata) could be fully booked and if it is fully booked then you can not go up if doing the 2D/1N climb. Therefore, again, time of year is critical and booking of the base camp accommodations is the choke point to doing a climb where you will rest for one night before heading to the summit the next morning.
At the base of the mountain there are luxury accommodations (very expensive) all operated by the Kinabalu National Park
When I did the climb, which was during the month of October, the dormitory called Bishops Head Hostel was completely empty other than for me. There is another hostel with dormitory beds called Rock Hostel but I have not personally seen this.
After you reach Kota Kinabalu, KK for short, and while you are seeing the sights there, during this time locate a tour company and inquire about the climb. In the past there was an area in KK where a large concentration of tour companies operated, I am not sure if they are still in the same location as KK has changed since I did the climb and was just there last year for a short visit.
I suggest that you ask the hotel or guesthouse staff for a tour company close by with a good reputation.
Regardless of which tour company you use, the tour agent will present a beautiful color brochure explaining all about the mountain, trails, flora, fauna, lodges, etc.
In the brochure it explains that there are two trails which are both of different difficulty, one is about 6 kilometers long and the other is about 4 kilometers long (see the trails section of the official web site). Both trails start at different points but join together.
The first trail is called the Timpohon Gate trail and is considered the easier of the two because it is shorter. The other trail is called the Mesilau Nature Trail and is considered the more difficult due to the extra 2 kilometers.
The brochure explains that the Mesilau Trail should take between 4-6 hours to climb and the Timpohon Gate trail should take about 2-3 hours to climb. While not wanting to be a wimp, I went for the more difficult trail. Needless to say, I took almost 8 hours to complete (mostly due to the fact that I stopped a lot for photographs), which started at the Mesilau section which was 6 kilometers long then the trail ties in with the Timpohon Gate trail for an additional 2 kilometers to Laban Rata base camp.
What the tour agent does not tell you is that the Timpohon Gate trail is almost all straight up until it joins the Mesilau Gate trail and the Mesilau Trail is a more gradual up and down and up again before it joins the Timpohon Gate trail. Once at the junction of the two trails, the remaining distance of the climb is nearly vertical.
An interesting factoid is that you can get a porter to carry your things up the mountain; this includes any excess children that need hauling up the mountain as well and this is a not a very common practice but it has been done. As my guide and I were climbing, we would encounter numerous porters with at least 30 kilo pack loads going up the hill. They had a strap around their head to help support the load and they do this every day, sometime doing two trips.
So, back to the climb. Once you make the first part of the climb, you will reach the base camp (it is nothing special, basic dorm rooms with bunk beds, food, tables) where you eat and go to bed very early because the climb to the summit begins at 3 am in the morning giving adequate time to ascend to the summit to sit and wait for the sunrise, in most cases about 2 hours after you arrive at the summit. The groups leave early because of the slowest member.
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What the tour agent does not tell you is that the Timpohon Gate trail is almost all straight up until it joins the Mesilau Gate trail and the Mesilau Trail is a more gradual up and down and up again before it joins the Timpohon Gate trail. Once at the junction of the two trails, the remaining distance of the climb is nearly vertical.
An interesting factoid is that you can get a porter to carry your things up the mountain; this includes any excess children that need hauling up the mountain as well and this is a not a very common practice but it has been done. As my guide and I were climbing, we would encounter numerous porters with at least 30 kilo pack loads going up the hill. They had a strap around their head to help support the load and they do this every day, sometime doing two trips.
So, back to the climb. Once you make the first part of the climb, you will reach the base camp (it is nothing special, basic dorm rooms with bunk beds, food, tables) where you eat and go to bed very early because the climb to the summit begins at 3 am in the morning giving adequate time to ascend to the summit to sit and wait for the sunrise, in most cases about 2 hours after you arrive at the summit. The groups leave early because of the slowest member.
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That evening it began to rain very hard and I was advised that if it were raining in the morning, then there would be no climb due to the dangerous conditions from water flowing down the granite face where the ropes section are. After making my assent to the base camp, I was completely leg stressed, worn out and thinking to myself that if it rained, well, that was fine with me. Here I was after climbing all this way, sort of hoping that I didn't have to make what I thought would be the toughest part of the climb.
Well, just my luck, the rain stopped and the climb was on. Everyone started getting up around 2:30 am, stomping around getting ready, putting on heavy winter clothing expecting it to be below freezing on the summit even though the temperature gauge measure a balmy 9C at the top. I had never seen so much arctic weather gear in one place, people wearing wool this and other types of full extreme weather gear. As for me, I had arrived with two short sleeve shirts, a t-shirt, one pair of thin gloves, a rain jacket and rain pants and that was it. I felt very unprepared in the face of all this major winter gear that everyone else was wearing.
Earlier, I had instructed my guide that we would not be leaving until around 4 am because I was not really interested in sitting on the summit for 2 hours waiting for the sunrise. He looked very puzzled at this but since I was paying him and I was not with a group, he had no choice.
At 4:45 we leave, torch on head, packs on back and dressed for the extreme weather. As we went out, the clouds were so thick that you could not see more than 1 meter (2-3 feet) in front of yourself. Everything was wet, the rocks were very slick, and the ability to select your footing was almost impossible. This of course made the adventure that much more difficult if not almost impossible to make any progress. The trail was almost vertical, the wood steps were so slippery that it was almost impossible to maintain your footing and we were doing this in the dark and thick cloud fog with the head torch light reflecting in the thick fog.
Well, just my luck, the rain stopped and the climb was on. Everyone started getting up around 2:30 am, stomping around getting ready, putting on heavy winter clothing expecting it to be below freezing on the summit even though the temperature gauge measure a balmy 9C at the top. I had never seen so much arctic weather gear in one place, people wearing wool this and other types of full extreme weather gear. As for me, I had arrived with two short sleeve shirts, a t-shirt, one pair of thin gloves, a rain jacket and rain pants and that was it. I felt very unprepared in the face of all this major winter gear that everyone else was wearing.
Earlier, I had instructed my guide that we would not be leaving until around 4 am because I was not really interested in sitting on the summit for 2 hours waiting for the sunrise. He looked very puzzled at this but since I was paying him and I was not with a group, he had no choice.
At 4:45 we leave, torch on head, packs on back and dressed for the extreme weather. As we went out, the clouds were so thick that you could not see more than 1 meter (2-3 feet) in front of yourself. Everything was wet, the rocks were very slick, and the ability to select your footing was almost impossible. This of course made the adventure that much more difficult if not almost impossible to make any progress. The trail was almost vertical, the wood steps were so slippery that it was almost impossible to maintain your footing and we were doing this in the dark and thick cloud fog with the head torch light reflecting in the thick fog.
As we are ascending, it becomes clear that the anticipated extreme cold was a figment of everyone else’s imagination. Not only was it not cold, but because of the exertion of the climb, we were pealing off the jackets to let the body breath. As were are climbing, we come to the section on the mountain that is near vertical, no vegetation, just bare granite, slippery from the previous rain, and a bit scary looking. This is the rope section and any slip was the end of existence, straight down without any way to stop, bye bye.
Oh, from the base camp to the summit it is about 3 kilometers, straight up.
The rope section was the last section and it was about 1 kilometer of the climb, the ropes were wet, cold, and hard to grip with minimal footing at best. If you lost your grip, fell down or got too exhausted, well that was the end.
After about 2 hours of climbing, stopping for oxygen (not tanks), we finally reach our destination. We had made it above the clouds and could see the stars which were magnificent at that altitude especially with no light pollution. I guess it was about 15-20 minutes before the light from the sun started to appear gradually and this lasted for about 15 minutes, then the sun very slowly broke through the clouds below us which was spectacular.
Oh, from the base camp to the summit it is about 3 kilometers, straight up.
The rope section was the last section and it was about 1 kilometer of the climb, the ropes were wet, cold, and hard to grip with minimal footing at best. If you lost your grip, fell down or got too exhausted, well that was the end.
After about 2 hours of climbing, stopping for oxygen (not tanks), we finally reach our destination. We had made it above the clouds and could see the stars which were magnificent at that altitude especially with no light pollution. I guess it was about 15-20 minutes before the light from the sun started to appear gradually and this lasted for about 15 minutes, then the sun very slowly broke through the clouds below us which was spectacular.
After sitting there for a long while, taking photographs, marveling at the beauty, it was time to go back down and here is the tricky bit and I must assume that this is the same if you booked a full tour or self arranged your tour.
Unless you booked another night at the base camp to rest from the days climb to the summit then you have only one option, that being to do the entire decent from the summit to the bottom of the mountain. This means that you will do the summit climb starting at 3:30 am, sit at the summit till the sun rise and maybe even longer then have the trill of going all the way down the mountain in the same day.
Some like to say that going downhill is always easier and in some cases this might be true but descending down the very steep trail in one day is a killer on the legs and toes. I wear some of the best boots I can purchase and when I got down my toes were in terrible shape.
Once down, your legs are like rubber, walking is at the best difficult and at the worst almost impossible.
Also, if on the ascent you started out at say the Mesilau gate then you will not want to go back down that way and will instead go down the other trail which ends at the Timpohon Gate or it may be the other way around. Of course you could also decide to go down the same way you went up. I am not sure how this would work with a package tour.
After your decent and you have arrived at the base of the mountain, unless you have pre-booked a bed to rest that night then you must get back to Kota Kinabalu. Or in the event you are going from Mt. Kinabalu
Assuming that you plan to return to Kota Kinabalu, to obtain transport you must walk out of the park to the road and wait for some unknown bus to come at some unknown arrival time or point. For the budget travelers who decided to not book the tour with a company this is the hardest part of the entire adventure.
I discovered that directly across the road from the main entrance there are a few shops and restaurants and when asking about a bus I was told to wait, one would come and if I were standing on the road it would stop. This all sounded good except there was no schedule for the bus arrival time.
After resting at one restaurant, having some food, water and killing time for a bus I finally asked if there was any other way back to KK and was told that smallish collective taxis come down the road and I can get a ride with one of these, again, no schedule as to when one will come, wait please.
Since I did my climb all of the above two paragraphs about the return transport may have changed but I would plan for the worst case and if things have improved, all the better.
Finally after a couple of hours waiting for the ghost bus a collective taxi appears and I am in luck, not full and he was going to KK, all I needed was to pay the price.
I realize this explanation is very detailed and long, however, in writing about travels for others, it can either be a short writing with little knowledge passed along or more comprehensive and detailed writing which does take time to write and read.
A few final thoughts, when you are talking with a tour agent they will tell you all about the wildlife, orchids, flora and may even mention the Pitcher Plants which are carnivorous type of plants that are contained in the park. It may be possible to see some animals (I only saw some ground squirrels which would come if fed candy), the orchids all have a different time of year that they bloom and you need to realize that for the most part they will be in the high tree canopy which you can not view. I did however see some few examples of Pitcher Plants prior to the junction of the Mesilau trail with the Timpohon trail.
Other than that, there was not a lot in the way of wildlife and for the most part the flora is limited to what you can observe at ground level and along the trail. Do not expect to see a lot but then you did not do this climb for the flora or fauna, you did the climb for the adventure, to conquer a very tall mountain and to experience the marvel of standing at the summit high above the clouds to witness the amazing sight of the sun rising before your eyes.
Now for a few images. Not too many because you need to experience these things first hand and not from my camera. Please do not be disappointed in the images, I do not wish to spoil your own adventure with my photographs and these are just examples.
Now for a few images. Not too many because you need to experience these things first hand and not from my camera. Please do not be disappointed in the images, I do not wish to spoil your own adventure with my photographs and these are just examples.
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| Mammal |
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| Pitcher Plants |
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| Trail |
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| Ropes Section |
My own experience with costs are very close to what he has stated with the exception of the accommodation costs for the dormitory but because this climb has become so popular (it has always been popular with the Japanese), that I can understand an increase in rates for the dorm bed but I have my doubts about the cost he quotes but then, this is more updated information than I have. In addition he has stated that you must arrive at the park the day before you climb but he does not write that he stayed overnight. His post is also about doing the climb in one full day, that means arrive, go all the way up without seeing the sunrise and then come back down all the same day and then return to KK.
Travel Safe, Travel Happy