Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu, rising over 4,000 metres above the rainforests of Sabah on the island of Borneo, is the highest peak between the Himalayas and New Guinea and the centrepiece of a UNESCO national park of extraordinary biodiversity. Its jagged granite summit plateau, often above the clouds, is reached on a popular and achievable, if strenuous, two-day climb, usually broken by an overnight at a mountain rest house before a pre-dawn push to catch the sunrise from the top.

History

The British colonial administrator Hugh Low made the first recorded ascent to the summit plateau in March 1851 with the Dusun guide Lemaing of Kampung Kiau, but judged the highest peak inaccessible to any but winged animals; he climbed again twice in 1858 with Spenser St. John, the British consul in Brunei, and the zoologist John Whitehead finally reached the top in 1888. The botanist Lilian Gibbs became the first woman and the first botanist to reach the summit, in February 1910, and E. J. H. Corner led two Royal Society expeditions in 1961 and 1964, the year Kinabalu National Park was created. The park became a natural World Heritage Site in 2000, a satellite survey of 1997 put the summit, Low's Peak, at 4,095 metres, six less than the old figure, and on 5 June 2015 an earthquake and the landslide that followed killed eighteen people, among them hikers and mountain guides (Wikipedia, Mount Kinabalu).

What's there

• The summit - the dramatic granite peak, reached at sunrise.
• The two-day climb - the ascent through changing forest zones.
• The national park - the rich biodiversity and rare pitcher plants.
• The via ferrata - one of the world's highest via ferratas near the summit.

When to go

The drier months, roughly March to September, are the best and safest for the climb, avoiding the wettest period; even so, the summit is cold and the weather can turn, and cloud often builds by mid-morning, so the pre-dawn summit push aims to beat it.

Things to know

The climb requires a permit and a licensed guide, both of which are limited and book up well in advance, so plan ahead. It is a strenuous two-day trek, and the high altitude and cold at the summit affect some, though it needs no technical skill. Cloud and rain can obscure the summit views. It is a rewarding but genuinely demanding climb.

Nearby

Kota Kinabalu, the Sepilok orangutans and the diving of Sabah are within reach.

Key facts