Climbing Mountains - Kinabalu then Everest

[FrostyBoy]

Thanks Alinestra for reminding me to start this thread

I will be climbing Mount Kinabalu in May (also traversing some caves), it's a challenge, about a 2 day climb, hot and wet half way up, cold and dry the last half, and the rocks at the top are slippery as hell, if there is rainfall, it will turn into a river.

Check the video to see what I mean:




But all this is just preparation for Everest, now of course, we won't be climbing to the summit, that would set us back over US$20,000. Instead, we're just going to the Base Camp. My question is.. Has anyone here done it before? I need lots of information to prepare.

[SlowwHand]

I hope you live up to your name.

[Ben Kenobi]

You'll need a training regimen.

2 months is not much time, I don't know what your physical fitness is like.

When I used to do this sort of thing, I went 3 days a week running, (generally about 5k) or so. You want to do a mix of both endurance (straight distance) and hill climbs.

The other part is your gear. You'll need to do some training for the weight of your gear fully loaded. I'd add another full weight gear to your regimen once a week, try to walk for about 2-3 hours, so you can get the sense of what it's like carrying about 50 pounds on your back.

The highest ascent I've done is about 2k, so about half of Kinabalu. I can give you some basics on gear, but I don't know how much you know and how much you've done previously.

I don't know if you are in New Zealand, or not, but I'd recommend doing a trek of around 2k metres or so, get a feel for it at lower altitudes. There are a few climbs that high on the North Island.

[Naked Gents Rut]

2k is nothing. You don't really start to feel the altitude until you get above 3k.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Friends of ours climbed Kinabalu with their pre-teen children. I think you'll be fine.

Seriously, though, Kinabalu is supposed to be a pretty easy climb. It's also supposed to be pretty touristy; another friend who did it likened it to the crowded climb up and down Fuji. We skipped it when we were in Borneo for just that reason, opting for more orangutan-spotting time in the jungle (never did see one, but we had a blast).

Anyway, have fun. I love Borneo and hope to get back there in the not-too-distant future (ideally, before the palm-oil plantations have destroyed any more of its natural beauty )

[Naked Gents Rut]

It's also supposed to be pretty touristy; another friend who did it likened it to the crowded climb up and down Fuji.

Ugh.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Glad to have reminded you about your climb! (Though I can't figure out how I did that, exactly. Can't have been from my video game or lawyer talk.)

Are you going by yourself, or will you be with part of a duo or group? Always nice to have somebody else to hold the camera while you're hanging off your hands.

Also, how much of an actual climb (using hands and rope) do you expect this to be? Will it be more of a stroll up a mountainside?

[FrostyBoy]

Kinabalu is a stroll. It's not meant to be gruelling. But that doesn't mean you won't get altitude sickness or problems with weather, so it can, depending on weather, make the climb very difficult, apparently the climb down is worse than going up, it's constantly steep, it never lets up, so you can't use any other groups of muscles. Should be good, I'm from New Zealand, so mountain/hill trekking is not unusual for me.

At the top of Kinabalu, you will need ropes to stable yourself, the rocks are smooth and slippery when wet, one slip, and you might go sliding off the face of the mountain. One British girl died the same way back in 2001.

The mountain has a hotel half way up (yes, touristy is the word), but what most people do is get up at around 3am, and start climbing the rest of the way, to make for the sunrise at the summit. Unfortunately, it's pitch black, a part from your headlight. But it's due to this darkness that people get lost, if they get lost, they can't be helped = likely death.


Everest is a different story, I don't know enough yet how people walk up to base camp. But it's apparently a 3 day trip.

[FrostyBoy]

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