Gunung Angsi was chosen as the 4th training for the September 2007 Mt. Kinabalu climb. For me, it was my very first mountain climbing adventure.
We met in church at 7.15am but only left half an hour later. By the time we arrived at Gunung Angsi, it was close to 8.15am.
We stretched a little, drank as well as dispensed some liquid, registered our names and paid RM5.00 each. According to Peter and KG, this was the first time they had to fork out money to climb this 825m mountain. There was no group discount either.
It was 8.37am when all 16 of us started the climb. The trail, which runs parallel to a stream with mini waterfalls and huge rocks, was easy at the beginning. I thought to myself, “If the trail continues like this all the way to the top, I’d make it without any problems.
Alas, after 45 minutes of stretching those leg muscles and gasping for more intake of oxygen, I stopped to rest and replenished the water content in my body. Some of the team members also stopped to take a break.
John and Francis took turns carrying my backpack even though I kept telling them that it wasn’t my backpack that was slowing me down.
Believe me, it was still a relatively easy climb at that time but we were walking briskly (well, for me anyway) and 45 minutes was a little taxing on my never-really-strained-for-a-long-time leg muscles.
An hour passed and we were going up the hill a lot (of course! What do I expect? After all, we were climbing a mountain!!!). By then, I exhaust easily. Ban Meng, who was infront of me, said that it would get more tough once we got to the foot of the hill. I went like, “WHAT????”
“Focus!” I told myself, and tried to keep up with the rest, who by then had gone way past infront of me.
We had to cross 2 streams (with huge rocks) before reaching the foot of the hill. It wasn’t much of a problem as the water level was low enough for us not to get wet as we move from rock to rock.
By then, only Peter and Ban Meng were left with me. They were helping me along. Peter carried my backpack even though the bag kept me stable and Ban Meng provided the music.
We came to a steep slope where we needed ropes (which thankfully were tied to trees by some good Samaritans) to make this climb.
We walked some more and all this while, I kept asking myself, “Why am I doing this?” Mt. Kinabalu came into mind and I asked myself another question, “Is it worth it?” Of course at that moment, all I wanted to do was to give up, turn back, “slide” down and go home. The temptation was great but I had Peter and Ban Meng to give me moral support. Thank God for them.
Once again I told myself to focus and things came into perspective.
Did I stop to admire God’s handiwork of nature? Nah! All I could think of was, “God, why did you make this mountain so difficult to climb?”
Another thing I really thank God for was the weather. I prayed for no rain as well as no sun… well, clouds covering the sun. The weather was perfect when we were climbing up. True, we sweated like dogs (do dogs sweat?) but at times, a gentle breeze would cool us down.
I walked on, thanking God for the weather.
And then I stopped. Time to catch my breath.
The bee buzzed around me, causing me to take shorter breaks and climb up slightly faster than my really slow pace.
We came to another slope so steep, I think it must’ve been about 70º-80º. I was terrified. They want ME to climb up there?? Once again there were ropes. This time, we really had to pull ourselves up and God help anyone if they are too heavy to hang on to the rope for long.
Peter actually asked KG to come help us (ME!!) up this steep slope but I managed to do it on my own. (Yeh!)
We climbed higher and I tried to catch up with Ban Meng, who was about 15 steps ahead of Peter and me. But alas, I needed to rest after every 5 steps or so – to catch my breath. By that time, my head was pounding, not a headache, though. More like the blood rushing up to my brains.
I made the mistake of eating a sweet, thinking that it would quench my thirst but I felt more dehydrated after that.
Twenty minutes before we summitted, KG appeared and carried my backpack. I continued my 5-steps-up-and-20-seconds-break climb all the way to the top.
Phew! I made it.
Peter and I arrived at the summit at 12.07pm, exactly 3.5 hours of climbing. That was good timing, according to Peter. He estimated that we would arrive at the summit just before 1pm.
We rested for ½ hour and had our lunch. I was REALLY hungry. Even an apple which Ban Meng looked good, and I normally don’t eat apples.
My lunch was just 3 slices of squashed bread and some spread. I had to drink constantly. In fact, I really felt like drinking a gallon of water. My mouth was really dry. I felt dehydrated.
We took a group picture just before we went down. By then, the weather took a turn for the worse and it started to drizzle.
At first it didn’t bother me much because the trees acted as umbrellas, shielding us from being wet. Then the rain started to get heavy. I had to put on a PINK poncho, which belonged to Eunice. Yucks! Can you just imagine how horrible I looked in Pink? There wasn’t any time to think about how ghastly I looked. KG was already walking down and I needed to follow his footsteps.
The heavy rain cause streams of water sliding down the trail, making it slippery. And what was worse was the fact that the rain water kept getting into my eyes and my spectacles were blurry, causing me to be wary of my steps. At times I couldn’t even gauge where the ground was.
Thank God for KG. He’s really a great leader and helped me when the paths got too slippery. He was wearing a pair of heavy duty hiking shoes with very good soles and they proved to help avoid a tragedy waiting to happen.
We were fine until we reached the very, very steep slope. I remember thinking, “Will I ever make it out of this mountain?”
By then, there were quite a number of people trying to see which was the best way to get down without slipping.
The rain stopped by then and I had to chuck the poncho into the backpack.
KG went down first and told me to follow him. I was petrified. He kept asking me to hang on to the knotted rope. I finally did.
So there I was, hanging on to the rope, trying to find a good place for a firm footing (none there, actually) when suddenly, my right toes cramped. I panicked for a while and knew that if I didn’t try to loosen the muscle cramp, I would not make it. So I lost all footings. I was practically flat on the slope with only my hands hanging on to the rope for dear life.
Thank God for KG. He was just below and immediately helped me. I somehow was able to loosen my toes muscles and managed to stand on a slightly more firm ground.
THAT was really scary.
We started on with our journey…. But KG looked back to see how the rest (of whom we don’t know) are faring with that (killer) slope. There was a young boy and an adult trying to go down another way using a rope which was far too short to last the whole slope. The boy looked nervous so KG turned back and piggy-backed him down. I was impressed! That was really nice of KG to risk his life for that boy.
We walked about 6 steps when we came upon a group of mute. One of them was being carried by two of his friends. We stopped and found out through his hand movements that both his feet were cramped. KG sat him down and started massaging his legs and feet.
We continued with our journey down, stopping every now and then.
Then came the two streams. The rain caused the water level of the first one to be about 1 foot deep and we had to walk through it. No problems.
The second one was worse. The currents were a little stronger plus the water level was about 2 feet. Plus the fact that there was a possibility of leeches wanting to suck our blood. Yucky!
The rest area at the foot of the hill came into sight. We stopped to rest and also to get rid of the water and sand from our shoes and socks. By then, my feet were so wrinkled. I also checked for leeches. None in sight! Yeh!
We waited for Peter, John and Samuel to turn up. We had to wait in the shelter nearby because the rain was beginning to pour.
After 20 minutes, even though it was still raining (by then it wasn’t too heavy), we started walking.
I had this thought that the worst was over but boy, was I wrong. There were many challenges ahead of us. A tree trunk fell during the heavy shower and PTL, we managed to get to the other side.
The rain also caused a slight land slide and to tell you frankly, I was really scared. I just couldn’t see how we could possibly go anymore without slipping. KG to the rescue again. He positioned himself carefully and helped us across just by using his hands to act as a grip to our steps.
In another part of the trail, we had to climb up a slippery slope. It was fine before the rain but it really looked impossible to get up there. But we did it and yes, you guessed it. KG again. But this time, I was so afraid that KG might lose his footing and the both of us would fall down. And mind you, far below was the stream with strong currents. I shudder just to think about it.
Whenever I feel I can’t do it, KG would always give me his hand and ask me to look at him, so that my focus will not be on how tough the situation was but on him helping me through it. Kind of reminded me of Jesus’ words to Peter when his focus was not on Jesus and was drowning.
I kept asking God, “Why did you send the rain?” The answer? I needed to have enough faith in God and my friends. All this while, I always relied on my own strength to finish any task. I guess this has taught me a valuable lesson. Another reason? To create a little excitement in my life, I guess. I’ve been complacent, living in my comfort zone and enjoying life.
Well, after that, the trail was quite easy and we reached the start (or rather, end) of the trail at 5.15pm, about 1.5 hours later than expected.
And let me tell you, I was really relieved to see civilization again.
Thank God for friends who work as a team, helping me when I desperately needed help, giving me moral support and also carrying my backpack, which at the end of it was wet and dirty. Both my phones didn’t work properly because water got into them. It was a good thing I didn’t bring any camera along.
And why am I doing this again?
Unlike Gunung Angsi, we hit some very steep terrain even at the begining of the hike. And as you know, your truly has a case of breathlessness whenever strenuous any climb is required. And so, I was panting all the way up. 
