2010/10/31

Friday Apr 16 – Hike day 2: Gunting Langadan to Low’s Peak (summit)


Are you ready for this?

I think the alarm went off at 2AM. We packed up our belongings, ate a light, hot breakfast and hit the trail with our guide. We all had a little less pep at such an early hour, but I was soon thankful for my fully functional body, as we passed several people vomiting (most likely altitude sickness), and one poor girl having an embarrassing bathroom emergency just 2 feet from the trail. It was dark, so she still had some privacy, but Ricky was spooked by the noise and flashed his headlamp over to see...oops!

The view at the beginning of the hike was just a trail of tiny headlamps. I was getting trigger happy already...

The hike to the summit started off mainly with wooden stairs, and then led to thick ropes, bolted to the rock at various intervals. This is my way of telling you it was a steep climb. Impressed yet?

Up above the tree line, clinging to the wet white rope, the daylight started to emerge, and we got our first glimpse at the view. From then on, everything became more spectacular by the moment. The color in the sky shifted continuously, and the light began to fall on the various rock peaks, highlighting their interesting patterns of sedimentation lines. I was truly speechless. I wanted to capture every moment and had a hard time deciding between the camera and my own eyes.

Every direction offered something different and beautiful.


It seemed so quick that the dawn slipped away and the mighty sun rose.

With daylight in full swing, we headed for the true peak to photo-document our achievement.

And we didn't leave before spending some time just having fun:


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