climbing Mt. Everest

To be on top of the world is a dream for all climbers.

Seven Malaysians did it recently but tragedy struck another group of climbers when one of them succumbed to mountain sickness during their expedition at nearby Kaala Patthar peak ( Kaala Patthar is at 5,665 m while Everest is at 8,848 m ).

Mountain sickness, which is caused by the thinning of the air at high altitude, may sound manageable to us layman but when it progresses, it can cause accumulation of fluids in the lung and swelling of the brain which can be fatal.

By some miracle I made it with my first serious mountain climb when I scaled Mt Kinabalu couple of years back  ( see my ‘mini’ story https://badmoonrisingblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/mt-kinabalu-the-climb/ ). Immediately the day after the climb I told my experienced climber-brother that I was then aiming for Mt Everest.

He laughed at my face and told me not to get too excited. For someone who had climbed almost every mountain there is in this region, he said the Himalayas is not something anybody should take lightly.

It’s a different animal.

Not only you must master the various climbing techniques and getting enough experience from other similar but lower climbs, you must also get your body ready for such extreme altitude change. Being extra fit is a given.

I do hope this euphoria about our young climbers scaling Everest does not wrongly encourage other youngsters to rush signing up for the climb.

Just like everything else, there’s a whole lot of stuff you need to do before you can tell all your friends that you’ve been to the top of the world.

outdoor adventures, Deliverance and the Wrong Turns

If you are into movies and outdoor adventures, you must watch Deliverance.

The movie caused quite a stir when it came out in 1972 and has been quoted in numerous other movies & TV shows when it came to describing terror in the woods.

John Boorman produced and directed the movie based on a novel by James Dickey.

It’s about 4 city guys who decided to go for a weekend river rafting trip in the remote wilderness of Georgia in southern USA. Burt Reynold’s character insisted that his friends join him for the trip because the Cahulawassee River was about to disappear…a dam construction downstream was slowly turning the river into a huge lake.

The other main actor in the movie that most of you may recognize is Jon Voight ( that’s The Champ guy if you’re in your late 40’s and above OR for those younger..he’s Angelina Jolie’s father).

The movie has one of the most cinematic and breathtaking river wilderness scenes. For those outdoor adventure freaks (I’m probably referring to my comrades who never have enough of hanging out at Corezone in PJ), this is exactly the kind of scenery you dream of when you go off exploring.

There’s this famous scene at the outback gas station where Drew was strumming his guitar and the local boy on the porch joined him into an impromptu bluegrass jam with his banjo.

The ” Dueling Banjos ” has become one of the most iconic tunes even until now.

The other day I was watching the TV show Castle and after a remark about a scary wilderness, the Deliverance tune came up.

Then there was this movie called Wrong Turn.

Trust me, it’s gonna scare the hell out of you.

Basically the movie takes the Deliverance theme to the gory extremes…really gory, no kidding. This 2003 movie was a moderate success but it gathered a huge following that the producers came up with 4 more Wrong Turns, the latest one this year called Wrong Turn 5 : Bloodlines.

And yes, I actually watched all of them.

I noticed now that in Malaysia, a lot more of the youngsters in their 20’s are into outdoor adventures. Which is great news. Kids going to air-conditioned malls every weekend is really a crappy way to unwind.

But before you sign up for your next exotic outdoor trip, watch Deliverance and the Wrong Turn series.

You may have second thoughts.

Mt Kinabalu…the Climb

So they say ‘ life begins at 40’.

Well maybe ’40 something’ for me.

You know how we sometime have these little fantasies that we never get to do for so many reasons. In my case it was outdoor adventure. Somehow I always find excuses to postpone my adventure dreams when I was younger.

Not my older brother though. I think he climbed almost every mountain there is in Malaysia.

But then again he’s always been a nut when it comes to nature stuff since he was a kid. His obsession with tortoises, lizards, etc. Well that’s another story.

Having the right like-minded friends help. Last year we had this crazy idea that we should conquer Mt Kinabalu. Crazy because we never did any mountain climbing before…ever.

I’d decided that for everyone’s sake, it’s better that I get my brother to join. He’s already done Mt Kinabalu twice before.

But he was already in his 50’s and from what I know, has winded down his outdoor activities.

I asked him whether he wanted to join us. The answer was a quick yes with a sparkle in his eyes.

But then he hesitated. I knew why.

How the heck is he gonna get this one cleared by his home minister, i.e. his wife.

So I threw in a candy…all expenses paid! Just pack your bags and come.

And I really don’t know how my dear sister-in-law gave in, maybe my brother went down on his knees.

But she did give her clearance letter in the end. Grudgingly I guessed.

Our climbing group was advised to get physically prepared for the climb. Run up Batu Caves was one suggestion.

It remained a suggestion. Because we actually did nothing.

The day finally came. My brother was giving us tips about the climb but honestly, looking up at the ginormous mountain from our chalet, I didn’t hear a thing he said.

He might as well be that ‘Pingu’ character that my kids are obsessed with…everything he said sounded like gibberish. I was actually asking myself…’What in the world am I doing here???’.

We set out our climb at 8.30 a.m. after breakfast. I couldn’t really eat that much because of what lies ahead. We had a guide but chose not to hire any porter..we were not those spoilt rich so-called ‘climbers’ who get porters to carry everything for them.

It wasn’t even 1 km through the track when a member of our team decided the backpack was too heavy. So our guide had to carry it.

So much for not ‘spoilt’.

Somewhere along the way we stopped for a snack break. The tour agent had supplied us with snack packs comprise the standard mountain climb food..the obligatory banana, apple and sandwich.

Too tired to eat. Took one bite of the sandwich, gobbled the banana and kept the apple in my pocket.

Noticed some in the group didn’t even eat. Water was all they need. They gave away their snack packs to this group of student climbers.

Two hours later and we were still nowhere near Laban Rata; the place to stop for the night before the final assault. One member of our group decided to abandon us and moved ahead.

So much for ‘all for one’. But seriously you can’t blame him. He was the fitter one (actually he’s ‘fitter’  ONLY because he was like 10 years younger than us).

We were like zombies dragging ourselves up the mountain because we really didn’t have a choice.

Can’t abandon the climb. The horror of being mocked back home.

That mocking can have a life on its own, could go on for at least 3 years or so.

Stopped for another rest break. By that time all of us were kinda hungry. Remembered I still had an apple. Looking away, quietly I took out the apple from my pocket and took a bite.

Kruppp !!! Oh the hell I got after that for trying to hide that apple all for myself.

We reached Laban Rata at 3.30 p.m. Seven hours…not really an impressive time. But not humiliating either. My only consolation was that my champion brother was never ahead of me.

Now upon reflection, maybe he took pity on me and paced himself.

At Laban Rata cafeteria there was this ‘maggie’ incident that I have to tell.

Too exhausted beyond words, I was in no mood to eat. My food was water, barrels of it. My friend, being polite, offered me to share a steaming hot maggie soup. At Laban Rata cafe, ordering food takes eternity. The Chef seems to do his cooking in super slo-mo.Though I refused my friend’s maggie initially, I took a sip. Suddenly it tasted extremely delicious (blame the mountain air) and I finished it within seconds. When the friend thought the maggie soup was cool enough to eat…it was all gone !

Trust me, that story is still doing its rounds every time our group meet up.

After a bit of sleep in our lodge, it was time to get ready for the final ascend to the peak. The time was 1 a.m. and our group was still tired and sleepy. Had a cup of really bad coffee, got our full attire on and we were set to go.

When I was about to leave our room I noticed this familiar looking pants hanging at the back of the door.

Oh my god…I had on all the gears, thick jacket, gloves, boots strapped up and all but my PANTS!

I looked down and noticed I only had my cowboy-type thermal underpants on. Again, I blame the mountain air.

Climbing up the mountain in the wee hours of the morning wasn’t exactly a peach.Yes I was climbing but I think was also asleep at the same time.

We reached this steep mountain face where we had to go around horizontally to the other side to proceed. You only have the ropes anchored to the rock to hold on.

Make a mistake and you’ll end up thousands of feet below in Ranau town. Wait a minute…hey, this part of the climb was not in the brochure!!!

We somehow made it. But that was not it.

Next was a vertical climb up the rock face.

Sheer torture.

The second I reached the top of the surface I simply lie down flat, totally exhausted. It was as if I had already reached the summit.

Could hear sniggers from the other climbers.

After what seemed an endless trek up the rocky mountain, we finally reached the summit at dawn.

I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t quite described the feeling.

And I remembered this brochure when I toured the World Trade Center in New York in the 80’s. The towers were the tallest in the world then.

The brochure had these words on the front…” The closest some of us will ever get to heaven“.

They should have that brochure printed out here.

It felt like it.

I actually conquered Mt Kinabalu.