savor every wipe

Having played under the sea, it was time to head up... way up... to the highest peak in SE Asia, Mount Kinabalu, towering at 13, 435 ft or 4095 m.
While staying at the Mulu caves, we chatted briefly with a lovely couple from Canada, Heidi and Kevin, who happen to mention in passing that they were on their way to KK and had planned on climbing the mountain.
On our first night in KK, at the seafood night market, we ran into them by chance, and spent the next few days hanging together... snorkeling, scuba, adventures in eating and watching Keanu try not embarrass himself as a Samurai.
It was their inspired plan that would have us climb over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
So it was no question that they would be our climbing buddies (and in case of emergency, responsible for calling our mommies).

The adventure began with a 5am start and a 2 hour cab ride to the Kinabalu State park headquarters.
Looking up at the beast which we would soon we doing battle with... actually the beast is in that giant cloud bank...

Everyone even thinking about climbing is issued a guide.
This is a point of contention with some delusional adventure seekers... "I do 30 mins on the StairMaster every day" or "I have hiked the mean trails of Peters Canyon",  Why do I need a guide?
There are a 100 reasons why a guide is a good idea... most important of which is to keep our privileged, manicured asses safe.
Goranmin Hing Tsao or Min, as he liked to be called, was assigned as our designated guide.
As you can see from the picture, he did not immediately take to my charms.

20 feet from the starting point of Timpohon Gate (6122 ft / 1866 m), the trail starts up with not a single solitary step down until the top.

Part of the reason the mount is such an icon of the people of Sabah, the region of Borneo where the mountain is located, is that there is nothing even remotely close to it's heights.
A view into the interior of Sabah, off the trail only a few miles into the hike...

The park has lots of wildlife, most of which have the smarts to stay far away from the trail.
This mountain squirrel, apparently missed the memo about be afraid of humans, and decided to go looking for nuts up the wrong leg... Heather's.

The climb to the top is separated into 2 sections, the first is to a single guest house called Laban Rata.
There is no Malay Postal, or FedEx or cargo elevator... everything, and I mean, everything gets carried up the mountain.
Including of course, rolls and rolls of the good stuff for our delicate Western bums.
Savor every wipe friends, there was a lot of sweat and pain behind it...

As the trail wore on, it became more wet, slippery and treacherous... and of course, it rained a little...

After almost 4 miles and 4600 ft of elevation, over some serious trail, we arrived at the first day stopping point, Laban Rata, where we were lucky enough to catch, literally, a 1 min window of clear skies before another giant cloud bank rolled in and turned the view into pea soup.

The crew, along with about 50 others, enjoyed an early Christmas Eve dinner, capped off with the most delicious dessert ever, banana fritters.
I suspect, given we were beyond exhausted, they could have served fried mountain squirrel and it would have been the most delicious dessert ever.

Heather, all nestled snug in her bunk bed, with visions of sugar plum fairies about to be dancing through her head, hoping jolly ole St. Nick would have a hope in finding her in this god forsaken place.