Beginning the ascent...

Day 3 Monday 11th May

After a good breakfast and a pep talk, we were taken by coach to the gateway of Kinabalu and the mountain nature reserve. The forest was very thick and the humidity today was particulary uncomfortable. Our guide led us to the mountain path which was beatutiful everywhere you looked there were waterfalls, vines, pitcher plants (meat eaters) and flowers of all kinds. I was forced into a false sense of security that this was to be a breeze. As you can imagine, the higher we climbed the steeper it got and the terrain became less like paths and steps and more like climbing a mountain. After several hours we entered the cloud line and visibilty was a little limited, the temperature was beginning to become alot more pleasant, however the air was noticeably thinner and every step was a real effort. 7 hours later we finally arrived at our first night's mountain accomodation, Laban Rata - 3200m. After a buffet of Malaysian hot food we bedded down for a very early night ready for our 2am wake up call and the beginning of the final ascent!