The other person in our group who was suffering more pain than me would be my husband. He started the journey with the nagging worry that one of his knees might give him problem as it has been giving him pain every time he exerted it too much. So with his knee braces, he was pacing himself slowly and carefully.
As it turns out, the first part of the climb right up to 11,000ft was manageable for him. However, the toughest part of the journey for him, and all of us for that matter, began at 2:30am the next morning….
When my husband finally reached the peak at 8:00am, he looked a mess and really, really tired. As he was the last to arrive, we quickly had our group photo taken before we had to start moving down again. My husband hardly had time to rest and only had time to munch on a wafer before he had to set off down again.
While I was trying to walk as fast as I could so that I can reach 11,000 ft as soon as possible to change out of my painful shoes, my husband was slowly making his way down with one of the guide staying behind as anchor.
I reached 11,000 ft in time for lunch and to meet up with the rest of the group. Just as we were finishing lunch, my husband finally reached the restaurant and again, because we were
rushing, he also had to quickly gobble down his food before setting off with us.
After lunch, on the way down, I was walking a bit more slowly in order not to leave my husband too far behind. Xin Lei and Chung Weng were nice enough to accompany me and we had a wonderful time just chatting, walking and resting as we wished. As it turned out, we were among the last few groups to arrive. That was around 4:30 pm and all the other members of my group have already reached the base camp and gone back to the hostel as did Xin Lei and Chung Weng. I decided to stay back to wait for my husband. That wait was one of the most anxious – I kept asking the other groups who came after me whether they have seen my husband – and the reply was always the same – a vague 'yes, I think we saw him and he is ok'. I was so worried that he may end up like the poor chap we saw on the way up who had to be carried down because his muscle was all crammed up and he couldn’t walk any more.
I was so happy when I finally saw him (walking on his own two feet!) just before 6:00pm! That last 200 metres seeing him walking towards me at a snail pace (he was in pain and was actually just inching his way!) was one of the longest! And he looked a real mess – his lips were parched and white as he has been breathing through his mouth because he was having blocked nose due to the cold air, and his hair was all messed up! When I asked him about his hair, his retort was, ‘I’m half dead, got no time to worry about my hair!’ And this coming from someone who was always so careful that not a single strand of his hair is out of place! :-) He said he was so exhausted all he could think of was to keep walking and to just breathe!
When I asked the guide later how was my husband throughout the journey, he said, ‘your husband was very good. His knees were giving him some problem and he knows he can’t go fast. In order to make it back to camp before dark, he knew he had to keep a constant speed and stopping will make it more difficult for him to pick up speed again, so he didn’t stop at all, he just prod on and on and on’.
In total, we counted that my husband had walked a staggering non-stop 16 hours! From 2:30am in the morning, until 6:00pm that evening, he hardly had a rest except to take the group photo with us at the peak and the 10-15 minutes lunch break.
That night, as we were having a well-deserved dinner, I asked him what gave him the strong will power to make it to the peak instead of giving up half-way through like so many did when he was finding it so tough, his reply was, ‘my thought was my wife is up there, waiting for me to take photo, so I pushed myself to make it up there.’ Aw… shucks…. ^_^
Pic on right: My girl and my husband with his knee braces and walking stick
Pic on left: A well-earned shot with the peak of Mt Kinabalu in the background
Note: Luckily no shots was taken of him upon arrival at base camp as he would have otherwise killed me!
VL
March 2009
As it turns out, the first part of the climb right up to 11,000ft was manageable for him. However, the toughest part of the journey for him, and all of us for that matter, began at 2:30am the next morning….
When my husband finally reached the peak at 8:00am, he looked a mess and really, really tired. As he was the last to arrive, we quickly had our group photo taken before we had to start moving down again. My husband hardly had time to rest and only had time to munch on a wafer before he had to set off down again.
While I was trying to walk as fast as I could so that I can reach 11,000 ft as soon as possible to change out of my painful shoes, my husband was slowly making his way down with one of the guide staying behind as anchor.
I reached 11,000 ft in time for lunch and to meet up with the rest of the group. Just as we were finishing lunch, my husband finally reached the restaurant and again, because we were
rushing, he also had to quickly gobble down his food before setting off with us.After lunch, on the way down, I was walking a bit more slowly in order not to leave my husband too far behind. Xin Lei and Chung Weng were nice enough to accompany me and we had a wonderful time just chatting, walking and resting as we wished. As it turned out, we were among the last few groups to arrive. That was around 4:30 pm and all the other members of my group have already reached the base camp and gone back to the hostel as did Xin Lei and Chung Weng. I decided to stay back to wait for my husband. That wait was one of the most anxious – I kept asking the other groups who came after me whether they have seen my husband – and the reply was always the same – a vague 'yes, I think we saw him and he is ok'. I was so worried that he may end up like the poor chap we saw on the way up who had to be carried down because his muscle was all crammed up and he couldn’t walk any more.
I was so happy when I finally saw him (walking on his own two feet!) just before 6:00pm! That last 200 metres seeing him walking towards me at a snail pace (he was in pain and was actually just inching his way!) was one of the longest! And he looked a real mess – his lips were parched and white as he has been breathing through his mouth because he was having blocked nose due to the cold air, and his hair was all messed up! When I asked him about his hair, his retort was, ‘I’m half dead, got no time to worry about my hair!’ And this coming from someone who was always so careful that not a single strand of his hair is out of place! :-) He said he was so exhausted all he could think of was to keep walking and to just breathe!
When I asked the guide later how was my husband throughout the journey, he said, ‘your husband was very good. His knees were giving him some problem and he knows he can’t go fast. In order to make it back to camp before dark, he knew he had to keep a constant speed and stopping will make it more difficult for him to pick up speed again, so he didn’t stop at all, he just prod on and on and on’.
In total, we counted that my husband had walked a staggering non-stop 16 hours! From 2:30am in the morning, until 6:00pm that evening, he hardly had a rest except to take the group photo with us at the peak and the 10-15 minutes lunch break.
That night, as we were having a well-deserved dinner, I asked him what gave him the strong will power to make it to the peak instead of giving up half-way through like so many did when he was finding it so tough, his reply was, ‘my thought was my wife is up there, waiting for me to take photo, so I pushed myself to make it up there.’ Aw… shucks…. ^_^
Pic on right: My girl and my husband with his knee braces and walking stick
Pic on left: A well-earned shot with the peak of Mt Kinabalu in the background
Note: Luckily no shots was taken of him upon arrival at base camp as he would have otherwise killed me!
VL
March 2009
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