George Lew posted on January 10, 2011 17:43
Mount Kinabalu Challenge
Ten special teens took on Mount Kinabalu in 2006, in rain, lightning and thunder. Four made it to the top. MARY CHEN writes.
110 intellectuallychallenged athletes from Brunei, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia is set to scale Mount Kinabalu (4,101 m) on April 18 for the event known as the “4th Special Olympics Mount Kinabalu Challenge”. This climb is organised by Special Olympucs Sabah to break the current record held by 61 special athletes who successfully reached the summit in 2005.
This news reminded me of my own trip in 2006, when a group of parents, climbers took ten special teens up Mount Kinabalu, in rain, lightning and thunder. Four of the teens made it to the top.
The view is certainly different from the top especially when you are on top of Asia’s tallest mountain peak. For Amirol Faiz B. Kamal Azwan, Muhammad Asyraf B. Hassan, Muhammad Haziq B. Mohamed Izmi and William Lim Wei Sheng from Selangor, it was certainly an unforgettable moment.
Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia, is 4,095 meters above sea level. It is the place where you could see breathtaking sunrise from above the clouds, provided you can make it to the peak.
Our climb up Mount Kinabalu started on Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006. Ten special teens with ten supporting friends and three guides. We arrived at Timpohon Gate, the base of the mountain at 9am, collected our name tags, warmed up and were all ready to conquer this towering structure before us.
Ever changing. Mount Kinabalu is the mountain of tropical rainforest, colorful blossoms and golden sunset, and also dark and violent storms.
At times, a ghostly mist shrouded the mountain and it was easy to believe the local Kadazandusun’s claim that it is the homeland of their spirit world.
The trail to the highest peak winds along the southern side of the mountain. It is an 8.5km trek to the top. For most people, the journey takes two days. For us, we intended to take 24 hours.
Our first goal was to reach Laban Rata, where our organisers had booked our accommodation in advance. Timpohon Gate to Laban Rata is a climb of about five hours, but for some of us it turned out to be a much, much longer trek.
The day started warm and sunny and it certainly seemed like a picnic stroll, as we ambled slowly but surely up to the various checkpoints, seven shelter huts, with toilets and untreated mountain water storage tanks to fill our water bottles.
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