Mount Kinabalu rises to 4,095 m (13,435 ft) and is the highest peak in the Malay Archipelago. Its a granite pluton that formed about 10 million years ago and is still pushing up at 5 mm per year.
Having left Mulu and returned to Miri, I took a flight over the Kota Kinabalu and then a mini-van over to the Kinabalu Park Headquarters. There I spend the night and I took this photo as the sun was setting on the peaks of the mountain. It's a two-day hike to the top of Mount Kinabalu from the Park Headquarters for most people. No special gear is needed but you do need to be reasonably fit. Of course, if you're untra-fit like Italian runner Marco de Gasperi you can do the 21 km round trip in 2 hrs and 36 minutes and 59 seconds. But most people walk to Laban Rata on day 1, rest overnight and then go on to the summit and back to the park headquarters on day 2.
The Park HQ sits at 1,554 m (5,200 ft), Laban Rata at 3,353 m (11,000 ft) and the summit at 4,095 m (13,435 ft).
So the photo below was taken from the Park HQ, the sun here having set some time ago but still striking the peaks where not in the shadow of the cloud. With the cooler evening air moving in, the clouds were starting to from in the valleys.
In the middle of the photo there are three radio aerials. Just above the one on the right you can make out the Laban Rata Guesthouse – the short horizontal light line. That's where I was expecting to be 24 hours later. Nowadays you have to be accompanied by an accredited guide. I've no recollection of hiring a guide so I don't think that regulation was in place back in 1989. If it was, then I must have ignored it, because I know I did not have a guide.
Get a 15% discount on your purchase or upgrade of any Topaz product when you enter discount code rdavisphoto at checkout. Click on the image below for this offer.
