Mount Trusmadi 6 - 7 August 2008

I've delayed this entry log because life has been hectic since i came back. On top of that , I caught the bug from my children and it left my weight as how I like it at the moment !! Hahahaha...

TRUSMADI 8669FT / 2642 M
5 August 2008
Wifey made a surprise move by offering to send me to the airport. I was speechless because when it comes to Outdoor activities that I do , I will try as far as possible to trouble her. Thanx Ja ! Dzaeffran was with us as Mak was not keen for us to bring Qaisya to LCCT. As soon as we arrive , the usual suspects were there. The OGKL group ; Ramli , Muzammil , Tok Gajah , Syuk and Amir were the early birds. I was introduced to Nadir ; a seasoned mountaineer and I certainly envy his gear ! Cool giller... :)

The whole 17 of us then checked in and obviously with the recent Air Asia restriction on baggage , somebody had to be sacrificed and it was Syuk ! His bag was witheld and all of us took a bit of his stuff. And in upholding the true OGKL way , we were late ! Ahahahah We rushed through the immigration point and that was how we manage to bring parang and the forbidden stuff on flight!
We arrived in KK at about midnight and straight away , the van ride to TVRC ( Tambunan Village Resort Centre ). We stopped for supper which was a good introduction to Sabah !

6August 2008
We slept cowboy style at the TVRC outdoor hall. We already 1000 m above sea level so it was very cooling and comfy in our sleeping bags. Everybody was up and early as Deeno had planned a ownderful trip for us ! He was the Guide for Trusmadi as he'd been there twice before. After a good Nasi Lemak breakfast , we were on the 4WD to the foothill of Trusmadi. The 2hr ride was hell !! hahahaha.. I guess most of our butts were bursting from pain and NOTE : pakai cycling tights with pads is not a bad idea next time !!


We arrived at 1800m above sea level and everybody was in their high spirits to scale the 2nd tallest mountain in Malaysia ! The whole track to the peak was 7 km. Hehehe but it is the within 1 hour 7km that I do for the runs !! Initially the track was flat for the first 1.5 km till we reach the 4900m mark. After that it was up and up and up and up ! The track was fairly readily available but not as how Kinabalu is which maybe over commercialised. Semput jugak.. hahaha..Gaban or Gabby as how she is known as prepared us Nasi Himpit from home. Guess what ? Hancur bang.. hahahah.. that was a good laugh but luckily we had spare nasi lemak from breakfast ; so it was still funny !
We climbed at our own pace and the group spread out. My speed.. hmm.. About 1 km per hour ? and the speed lessens.. to 0.5 km per hour when it became steep!Tak percaya tengok climb profile !

The original plan was to climb to the mountain top by hook or by crook that day. However , when we reached the cabin site which was also the last water point ; hmmmm... we had a relook and rethink. We surpassed the 2000m height mark and it already felt cold eventhough it was 3pm in the afternoon. Then rain started and the consensus was for us to stay overnight at the cabin.. And it was not a bad decision!!! Dinner was as ever satisfactory and the whole gang slept early as we will start early again..

7 August 2008
We started moving out from the cabin at 230am and my oh my.. sejuknyeeeeee..... We only had 1.4 km to reach the peak but it was A LONG 1.4km! The climb was steep and we moved because it was too cold to stop. At about 3ish , it started to rain heavily. Ya Allaah... Only god knows how cold it was to walk in such condition. I was on Celebrex so my usual cramps did not show itself truely. Alhamdulillah , by 430 am I was at the peak of Malaysia's 2nd highest peak...



SUBHANALLAH.. we watched the sunrise and it felt really great to be up here and witnessing god almighty's gift to us. It was DAMN BLOODY cold but the satisfaction and adrenaline shoved everything off ! MY Admiral shoe which i thought could survive the two mountains gave away its life on top of this mountain.. Hancur kasut !! Hahahaha nasib baik boleh ikat-ikat.
We celebrated our achievement on top of Trusmadi till about 7 am and started the descend. Somehow it was not that bad as we were all eager to reach ground zero ASAP so that we can relax longer. By 1pm , we were at the foothill and after that the "sakit bontot" time again on the 4WD. We reached TVRC at about 430pm and cleaned ourselves up before the long ride to Ranau for our next climb. Time ni dah letih dah...