For those who don't know, Mt Kinabalu at 14,093 feet is the highest mountain in SE Asia. It is situated in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. Every year, there is the Climbathon - a race to the summit and back again. The front-runners do this in under three hours. It takes the rest of us two days. The climb starts at the National Park Headquarters at around 6,000 feet. The first day covers about 6 km horizontally and 4,000 feet vertically. Most people complete this by early to mid-afternoon. The thing to do the next day is to get up around 3:00 am in order to walk the remaining 2 km and 4,000 feet to the summit in time for sunrise. Then you've got the rest of the day to descend all the way to the bottom.
On Wednesday October 7, the day after the full moon, about a dozen hashers were amongst the 50 or so people at Laban Rata having completed the first day's climb. It was early afternoon and there's not a lot to do on the side of the mountain. A few hardy souls decided that the best thing to do would be to set a run. Anybody wearing a hash T-shirt was asked and a few virgins expressed interest. Before anybody knew what was happening, there were about twenty starters and the Mt Kinabalu Full Moon Hash was born.
Of course there was a snag; the appointed time came around and it was pouring with rain. All of the virgins wimped out and so did most of the hashers. There were enough half-minds still interested though so the hare set off with a roll of toilet paper for marking trail and a five-minute head start. The hare was kind, setting a very short run - the pack were back home in ten minutes. Although it was short, it was a magnificent run. There was something in it for everybody; there were hills, there was shiggy, there was bush, there were creek crossings but most of all, there was rain, rain and more rain.
Comments on the run:-
We all chipped in some money and bought some very expensive beers for the circle. Yours truly was appointed GM by the pack. Down-downs were given to all visitors. Grommit from East Grinstead H3 and Rowdy from Guildford H3, Shergar from Barnes H3 and The Grocer from Dorset. Ricochet of Dublin H3 and Centsless of Lakeside H3. By now everybody had had a drink except for the Hare which was quickly rectified.
Rowdy, Centsless and The Grocer drank for being in disguise and not wearing any hash gear. Ricochet and Grommit were showing disrespect by wearing hats in the circle so were suitably punished. Somebody realised that the GM hadn't had a drink for being GM yet so he was awarded one. The Grocer was acting Grog Master and spilling beers all over the place so was given a down-down to settle his nerves. Winger from Ottawa was also there but he didn't run. He got a drink for stealing an Interhash Ball-Breaker T-shirt which he was wearing - he couldn't have earned the shirt as he was too much of a wimp to run with us in the rain. Grommit was picking up all of the toilet paper as he ran (MKFMH3 doesn't like to litter) so drank for his efforts. Rowdy got the last down-down for contributing most of the money to hash cash so we could buy the beer.
On-on to Tassie 2000
The Boomerang
GM, On-Sec and Inaugural
Hare, Mt Kinabalu Full Moon H3
Also of Lakeside H3, Melbourne,
Oz
Another View. This one from Gromit.
This was the run the rest of EG missed, and is the second Hash of which your scribe is a founder member. A Hash focussed on the right priorities, a run of only 10 minutes followed by an On On and down downs of an hour or so.
The day started at 08.35 at the Timpohon Gate at the foot of Mount Kinabalu with your scribe in the company of two Wessex Hashers, Tom Sainsbury (Grocer), and Peter Williamson. We had met the previous day while on forest trails. It was not until some time later they admitted they were both "ball breaker" hashers, of the group that got back at 01.00 hours; was this really the right sort of company? The starting point is at 1885 metres. The route up followed a path where stones and tree roots formed natural steps, and it was up! Over the whole climb to the "rest houses", there was not more than about 200m of flat. On the steepest sections there were wooden step-ladders fixed. We were breathing heavily, not sure at first whether this was just in response to the climbing or the altitude. But it was very hard going, and we stopped at all the shelters at 1km intervals; towards the top of the first leg, as the air thinned we needed extra stops. It was also humid, with occasional light rain. Water was not a problem, though, as we soon found that there was good water at each shelter, so no need to carry it.
Also at each shelter was a notice giving information on the locality, thus we learnt that Mount Kinabalu is the world's youngest granite pluton, of only 1,000,000 years old, and that it is still rising by 5 mm per annum. Pheww! If we had been 5 years later that would have been a whole 25 mm extra to climb.
After 4 hours 20 minutes, and only 5.8 km (horizontally) we reached 3,225 metres to find the Laban Rata Rest House. My packed lunch had already been eaten (on the basis that it would be of greater use in my stomach than by adding weight in my pack), but a second lunch was now in order. Although the food is carried up by porters, they somehow produce food of a quality that would put most of our motorway service stations to shame, for approx £2.50 for a lunch with soup. They also had such useful items on sale as chocolate, batteries, Carlesburg, etc., all carried up by the porters. They are prohibited from carrying in excess of 25 kg , well, my total holiday packing in an 80-litre pack had weighed in at 17 kg, so they have a point.
After lunch, The Boomerang, alias Jon Miller of Lakeside Hash, Melbourne bounced up and suggested a hash. Our scepticism was greeted with the response that it would only be about 10 minutes, with small down downs (no-one wanted to start the climb at 03.00 hours next morning with a hangover which could develop into altitude sickness).
"The run will be laid with tissue paper, false trails will be half a piece."
"We're not having false trails are we?"
"There will be very few false trails."
The run itself was about 10 minutes around the rest houses, with one check, in the rain.
The MKFMH3 believes it has established several new Hash records:
Your scribe, now hash name Gromit, received down downs for: picking up the tissue paper (I was near the back), disrespect to the circle (not removing my EGH3 hat) and just being form EG. The hashers numbered about eight, including The Boomerang, his wife, Centsless, Tom Sainsbury, two from Dublin and the bloke from Guildford.
We tried to get some sleep in our clothes inside the sleeping bags provided at the un-heated Gunting Rest House, and got up at 02.30, to prepare to leave at 03.00, with the intention of seeing the sunrise at the top. At this location, the temperature was about 12 degrees Celsius and the atmospheric pressure about 690 mb.
Setting off only 4 minutes late, from Gunting at 3280 metres, the trail rose steeply, over timber step ladders, through dwarf forest. We used head torches, but as it was full moon, some light pierced the blanket of cloud.
Eventually the forest stopped abruptly and gave way to the steeply sloping granite Panar Laban rock face. Fortunately, the rough surface texture of the granite gave an excellent grip, even in the wet. Almost immediately was the first of several steep sections, with a rope fixed, to enable us to haul ourselves up on it. We found these sections a brief respite, as our arms could do some of the work and relieve our legs. In the dark and cloud cover, we could not see far, but perhaps that was a good thing. We all found the air very thin, but Peter Williamson, who had climbed at altitude in Pakistan, and was training for a mountain marathon, began to pull ahead. Tom and your scribe took it slowly, watched over by our guide, Suin, a local Dasun.
The first sections were very steep. About two thirds of the way up, Tom became dizzy, but he persevered and Tom, Suin and your scribe went up together, Peter Williamson being slightly ahead. At about this point it also became really cold, a warm hat and gloves were in order, as hands were also becoming raw from the ropes. Further up, we traversed, with an easier gradient, though the breathlessness increased. Consider this, we walked for 2 hours 28 minutes, climbing 821 metres, and at the top the pressure was only about 600 mb, ie. Our lungs, despite the demands made by our bodies, were receiving only 60% of the normal oxygen.
We eventually reached the top at 05.32 hours. It was 5 degrees Celsius and windy, in effect, bloody cold. This was the highest, Low's Peak, 4101 metres. Donned fleece, munched Kendall Mint Cake. We could not see into Low's Gully, but speculated on the rashness of the British Army expedition of 1993. Amongst other errors, such as taking no radios, they had expected the two Hong Kong soldiers, who had never absailed before, to take on an absail of several hundred metres.
It was still pretty cloudy and though it was getting lighter, there would be no sighting of the sunrise, so at about 05.45 we started back down. On the descent, we could see oceans of clouds below, but the cloud around the peaks began to clear occasionally. This enabled us to take some "atmospheric" photographs of South Peak and "Donkey's Ears", rising above the clouds. Descent was easy, no breathing problems and superb views. We met about half a dozen disabled people climbing on crutches. Who was it who said that disability was a matter of other people's perception?
Back at Gunting at 07.30, collected kit and then to Laban Rata for breakfast.
Setting off again at 09.00, we met a lanky yank from Denver Hash, Colorado, who had run most of the way up. Later at about 14.30, I saw him again at the bottom, he took about 6 hours for the whole escapade.
We made a slight detour on the descent to visit Paka Cave, really just a large overhanging rock, which in the past had been used as a camp for expeditions, including that of Sir Hugh Lowe, in 1851. They had undertaken this trek without the steps and ropes we had, and had taken four days to reach the summit.
We rejoined the main path and followed it down, in the heavy rain it seemed interminable. Something else interminable was the chat of the Dublin hasher, who had found a woman and was chatting her up as if strolling along the banks of the Liffey. "Two a.m." (alias Mike from Aberdeen H3) passed on the way up, but in the rain we missed each other.
Back at the Timpohon Gate at 11.53, we marvelled at the notice giving details of last years' Climbathon. The Brits had the first three men's places, and the first women's. The best men's time was 2 hours 47 minutes and 37 seconds, by Ian Holmes. In fact, he improved on this in the event on 4 October 1998, setting a new record. We were just glad to have made it.
The MKFMH3 do not anticipate hashing on a regular basis, though we did report our inaugural run to some Brecon Beacons (Sheep shagger) Hashers who were on the way up, so they may have started an offshoot branch on 9 October. To become a visiting member of the MKFMH3, you climb the mountain at full moon and do a Hash.
Gromit (Peter Wallace)
East Grinstead Hash House Harriers, UK