Mt Kinabalu

Dad and I spent the last couple of days on Mt Kinabalu. We drove from Kota Kinabalu to the park on the 16th October. We checked into our hut for the night. We had to get acclimatised to the conditions because it's so high up.
On the 17th we got ready for our climb. Our guides name was Cornelius and he was there to help us climb and help with directions. I felt so excited at the start of the climb. There was lots of moisture in the air as we began our ascent.
The walk was through the forest and it was steep. There were lots of stairs. We had stopping points throughout the climb, but if you stop for too long your legs started to freeze up. About the 3.5km mark, it started pouring rain. It was terrible to walk in and it rained the whole day. By the time we made it to Laban Rata, I was so relieved . You could definately feel the change in oxygen level and it was hard to breathe. It was really cold too. We were excited to got some dry clothes on but when we opened the bag, they were all wet. We had some dinner and fell asleep very early.
On the way up I saw some nepenthes, which were really cool. To get a photo I had to go down a slippery side track. If I fell off this track, it was a long way down. I also saw a squirrel which jumped on me!
The next day, the 18th, was a very early start- 2am. We needed our headtorches and really warm clothes and we started the ascent to Lowe's peak. I started spewing about 500metres into climb. I had altitude sickness. It was really hard- probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I was above the clouds and filled a bag with some cloud to bring home.
The view was incredible on the mountain and I felt like I was floating in the sky.
The walk down was harder then walking up. My legs were like jelly and every step I took was harder and harder. It started raining again on the way down again.
When I got to the bottom I was so relieved and absolutely exhausted. I was a bit upset that I got sick at the top but I was really proud of myself for doing this climb with dad.Read more