Before spending the summer in Sabah, I have to admit I knew little to nothing about both Sabah and Borneo. I assumed it would be hot and humid and mostly rainforest. Before arriving, my friend and coworker mentioned hiking Mt. Kinabalu, which is the highest summit in both Malaysia and Borneo. I was definitely interested and we arranged to hike it after our work had finished.

Overall, I was feeling excited about the hike. It had been exactly three years since the last time I hiked about 4000m and I felt that I was in much better shape this time around so I was ready to get after it. The hike starts at around 1800m and the first day we traveled roughly 6km to the camp, which sat at about 3200m. The way up was cool and wet and we were able to make good time, arriving to camp in the early afternoon.

On the way up we had the pleasure of meeting a a 90 year old man who had recently summitted and was on his way down the mountain, surrounded by an entourage of family, friends, and guides. He had just set the record for oldest man to summit Mt. Kinabalu. It was quite an amazing experience to meet him and we couldn’t resist getting a photo.

After getting to bed early, we set out for the summit shortly after 2am and made it successfully to the summit just after 5am. The way up was cool, but the weather was dry and clear for the most part. The last stretch to the summit was totally on exposed granite, which made for amazing views, but made me a bit nervous, given the fact that I am not a rock climber and was using a worn pair of running shoes to hike. Nevertheless, the dry granite proved to be plenty sticky enough and we made it up with little to no issues. You could feel the altitude, but we were patient and it didn’t end up giving us too much trouble in the end.

From the summit you could see Kota Kinabalu and the sea on one side as well as other mountain ranges on the other side, including Mt. Trusmadi, which I had climbed previously. It was truly stunning and we were blessed with amazing weather and good health on our way up. I highly recommend this experience to anyone exploring Sabah. If a 90 year old can do it, so can you! 🙂