Why do people climb mountains?
YOUR OWN PACE
I wasn’t the only one who had to stop at Sayat Sayat. Five of us missed the cut-off time, including Makna staff Mardhiyah Abdul Razak, 25. She was suffering from altitude sickness, and on her count, threw up seven times from when we left Laban Rata at 2.30am to the checkpoint.
She writes: “I felt lightheaded, nauseated. I threw up and climbed and threw up and kept climbing. As I walked, the air became thinner and I was struck by altitude sickness but I still wanted to get to the checkpoint.
“It was just 1km but with my weakened body, I swear that it was the longest 1km I’ve ever endured! I was so worried that I might faint that I did simple math calculations in my head just to make sure I stayed awake.”
Like me, Mardhiyah had been caught in the rain the previous day when we made our way from Timpohon Gate to Laban Rata. The downpour started slowly at about 2.30pm and gradually got heavier, forcing everyone into their plastic ponchos and raincoats. The mountain guides, however, preferred umbrellas.
When the rain started, we had about 1.5km left in the 6km trek. The mountain path became “rivers” and “waterfalls”. It was cold, wet and windy, and my hiking boots were soaked through by the time I reached the resthouse at 4pm. One of the first people I talked to when I reached Laban Rata was Chan, who told me he’d arrived two hours earlier and missed the downpour completely!
STAR EFFORT
Rounding off our group were four employees from sponsor AirAsia dubbed the Allstars.
Yovita Puspasari is a member of the cabin crew based in Bali, Indonesia; Natdanai Songsiri or Klod is from Phuket, Thailand; Zhou “Ellen” Qianyu is from Chengdu, China while Muaz Pison is a Malaysian AirAsia engineer.
They were chosen out of thousands of AirAsia employees based on two things; the first, a summary of how cancer has affected their lives. For example, Klod wrote about the partner of a close friend who had died of a brain tumour just months after her diagnosis.
The second criteria was their fitness regime. Ellen is a marathon runner, while Yovita is a regular hiker who’s reached most of the high peaks in Indonesia. Yovita was the first from our group to reach the peak, at 5.15am, and I met her at breakfast at Laban Rata at 8am.
“It was so cold at the summit that my fingers were practically frozen and I couldn’t unlock my phone to take a photo!” she said. She managed a selfie eventually, but the cold — it was below 5˚ Celsius at the peak at dawn — compelled her to descend while the rest were still making their way up.
So why do people climb mountains? For the climbers of Klimb Kinabalu
Big smiles from the group before the climb up Mount Kinabalu (in the background). 2017, it serves as a metaphor for a patient’s fight against cancer. A climb is both a mental and physical challenge. It has elements beyond the individual’s control. And while it’s a personal battle, it helps tremendously when you have wonderful company to support you.