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elkarlo
Joined: 08 Dec 2008
Posts: 240
Location: Maryland
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 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:01 pm Post subject: |
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LOL at it's boring but you should do it anyhow, sounds like Calivin's Dad=)
How long is the climb? I don't see how you can climb all that far in a day. Mt Washington in Maine is like 5,000ft tall, and it takes the better part of a day to climb.
I am planning on going for a climb. I do have a summer break, might as well give it a go.
Oh and hurray on knee problems on the way down. It's not like I don't abuse them enough as it is 
Malaysia? As much as I actually know geography I never thought of Malaysia as a place for climbing. But I do bet it has some beautiful scenery. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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Depending on your level of fitness, it takes around 6-9 hours to climb from the 5th station (the point where the road ends), which is near 2,000m. It gets harder and harder as you go because by 3000m the oxygen is pretty thin. Some people leave in the afternoon and then wait in the crowded mountain huts halfway to the summit until about 2am for the final push- this is a sure way to get stuck in the crowds though. Otherwise you leave the 5th station at 8 or 9pm and just keep walking- sunrise is really early here in July, around 4am, slightly later in August. Then you freeze at the top while waiting for the sunrise, and once you've seen that you go back down- we went down the other side for some variety.
The Malaysian part of the island of Borneo contains Mt. Kinabalu, which is over 4,000m high and the highest mountain in SE Asia- I've wanted to climb it for ages. Really I would like to climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but at 6,000m it may be a bit beyond me (I tend to suffer from the altitude). |
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JL
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 241
Location: Las Vegas, NV USA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| Hoser wrote: |
| ...You may get rained on...Coming down is an absolute killer on the knees. |
| Apsara wrote: |
| It gets harder and harder as you go because by 3000m the oxygen is pretty thin. |
I can vouch for both observations. Unfortunately, I missed the payoff, because the group I was with, wasn't able to summit. So I can't pass judgement on whether or not the glory at the top is worth seeking out. Six years ago, my daughter was going to a neighborhood judo dojo, and during the summer break in early August, the instructors took the kids to a three day training camp at the foot of Mt. Fuji. As hot as Tokyo was at that time, the camp, let alone the ascent, itself, was damp and chilly. I imagine that the rest of the year, it can only be colder. Yet, a lot of folks make the ascent for New Year's daybreak, and swear by the experience. So who knows? Anyway, on the last day of the camp, we attempted to take the kids up the mountain. We started from, I guess, what was the fifth station Apsara described. But, yes, it was raining. Except that, when on a mountain, you often find yourself in the rain clouds. The fog was as thick as pea soup. (Below, see two photos I snapped, appropriately entitled "Pea Soup.") The trail, at least the one we were on, is of black lava ash, which moderates the descent's pounding on the knees, somewhat ( but only "somewhat"). In turn though, it makes the ascent all that much harder. With each step, you waste a lot of energy sinking into the soft ash. I was in fair, if not great, shape at the time. But sinking into the ash, along with the gradually thinning air, was pooping me out a little bit. After a while, I did learn to walk on the edge, or just off the trail, where the ground was slightly firmer. I recommend this to anyone intending to climb the mountain. Most of the kids started falling by the wayside, though. And we finally had to give up and start back down. I don't regret our time on the trek. But I don't particularly regret that we bagged it without summiting, either. As you'll see in the photos, the "view" on that day consisted of what you could see up to about 20 feet before you, but no more.
I think that to truly enjoy doing something like this, A) you need to confirm at the last moment that the weather will be cooperative. And B), you should ask yourself whether or not you are the type of person who can appreciate this type of experience. One person will find it breathtaking; another will just be out of breath.
http://community.post-gazette.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.ImageFileViewer/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles.00.00.00.33.10/Pea-Soup-on-Fuji.jpg_2D00_600x450.jpg
http://community.post-gazette.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/600x450/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.33.10/More-Pea-Soup.jpg |
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JL
Joined: 26 Oct 2008
Posts: 241
Location: Las Vegas, NV USA
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
| ...Mt. Kinabalu, which is over 4,000m high and the highest mountain in SE Asia- I've wanted to climb it for ages. Really I would like to climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania... |
All I can say is, YOWZA!! |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:55 am Post subject: |
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What can I say, I like to get to the top of things!  |
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markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:58 am Post subject: |
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| Just on Fuji, on the mountain behind where I live, Mt Gozaisho, there is a spot where you can observe Fuji. Remember I live in Mie on the other side of Nagoya. Haven't had the right weather to see Fuji but that is one thing I would like to do should I ever have the chance. |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Mt. Gozaisho is really pretty. Climbing it was one of the first things I did when I lived in the Mie. Nice gondola, for not so active people. |
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elkarlo
Joined: 08 Dec 2008
Posts: 240
Location: Maryland
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| Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
Depending on your level of fitness, it takes around 6-9 hours to climb from the 5th station (the point where the road ends), which is near 2,000m. It gets harder and harder as you go because by 3000m the oxygen is pretty thin. Some people leave in the afternoon and then wait in the crowded mountain huts halfway to the summit until about 2am for the final push- this is a sure way to get stuck in the crowds though. Otherwise you leave the 5th station at 8 or 9pm and just keep walking- sunrise is really early here in July, around 4am, slightly later in August. Then you freeze at the top while waiting for the sunrise, and once you've seen that you go back down- we went down the other side for some variety.
The Malaysian part of the island of Borneo contains Mt. Kinabalu, which is over 4,000m high and the highest mountain in SE Asia- I've wanted to climb it for ages. Really I would like to climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but at 6,000m it may be a bit beyond me (I tend to suffer from the altitude). |
It's funny that a Mt is such a tourist trap. Who'd would've imagined? Oh so a lot of people wait around to see the sunrise. My friends actually huddled in a puppy pile on the summit and waited for dawn. That's not my plan.
I never really thought that people went into central Bornea, seems primeval to me. Seems like fun. But you'd better take better pics than JL did, no fog  |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:02 am Post subject: |
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| I wouldn't really call it a tourist trap, since the vast majority of people climbing it on any given night are Japanese- even little kids and old ladies make it to the top so pretty much anyone can do it, it's just a long hard slog. |
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