Mount Kinabalu Terrain

I receive many questions on the condition of the Mt K trail, whether it involves rock climbing, thick vegetation, leech, mosquito etc etc...

I hope the pictures below will provide some answers...

I have never hike the Mesilau Trail before, so I will not be able to give a very accurate description.

Some answers below:-

No leech,
No mosquito
No thick vegetation
No need rock climbing skills - the trek is classified as non technical in Rock Climbing terms
You will not get lost.. everything is well marked... unless you deliberately wonder off the main trail

I would guess that the terrain looks a bit like this for a large part of Mesilau Trail..

 


This is the most common type of terrain - 3 to 4 km along the timpohon trail

 


This is the most common sight along Timpohon trail - (we will descend via Timpohon Trail)
Wooden steps, with handrails, not much difference compared to walking up Batu Caves, all the way from Timpohon gate to Layang Layang Checkpoint, it is somewhat like that.



You will encounter this type of terrain about 2 km to Laban Rata, rather steep, and involves a lot of fancy footwork & balancing.. you training in actual dirt trail will pay off here...



This is the so called "Rope Section" - steepest part of your climb.. trust me.. it looks more difficult than it actually is.. you actually can walk up this "Rope Section" hands free.. the rope is just to give you a sense of security
This section is about 0.8 KM after Laban Rata



After Sayat Sayat hut at 7.2 km, you will be hiking along this kind of terrain. This is known as summit plateau, (The top of Mt Kinabalu looks quite flat in picutre!!) . HOWEVER....the word plateau is really misleading... the slope of the terrain here is about 10-15% !! Try doing a brisk walk of 10% on a treadmill !! At 3900 meter, O2 content is 75% of that at sea level.





This is the terrain, just before the summit..

by now, thin air and lack of sleep and exhaustion will be your major concern..  

View from the summit

This guy is Kilian Jornet, winner of 2009 Mt Kinabalu Climbathon, up and down in 2hr40 min.. he wore a sleeveless T shirt, shorts and trail running shoes...





Kiara Park.