Gunung Mulu - Day 3

After a fretful night's sleep I woke up at 5:30 am wondering how the day will pan out. Lucy, our guide, explained to us after dinner the previous night what to expect when walking up to view the pinnacles. Statistically speaking the pinnacles walk is only 2.4km long but it rises to a height of about 1,200m. In reality walking up the pinnacles path was like walking up Snowdon or Ben Nevis in a Swedish sauna, only it's a lot steeper! For the first 1000m or so the path angle is about 45°, shortly after this the steepness of the path angle increases to 60°, 80°, and finally about 90° in some places. The really steep bits were the last 400 odd metres or so and the climb is assisted by ropes and ladders.

Dad at the start of the walk.

So after breakfast we set off to conquer the pinnacles walk. In my group there was me and my dad, and a lovely dutch couple, Ronald and Mavis, along with Lucy of course. The first 200m were nice and flat before we encountered our first rope-assisted ascent (although got to admit I didn't think it really needed a rope). After that it was just sheer determination and strength of mind to keep placing one foot in front of the other. Now, I know this is not very lady-like to say but I have never sweated so much in my entire life! I just kept myself focused and made sure I kept a steady pace upwards. The checkpoint was half-way at 1,200m. If we didn't reach this checkpoint by 11am we would have to turn back as we would not have made it up to the top and back before dark. Luckily dad and I reached this point by about 8:45am or so. By now I had warmed up properly (my muscles that is) and felt quite strong and confident about the rest of the climb.

At the half-way mark.

 At the 2km mark the first of the ladders appeared. Got to say that this was easily my favourite bit. Most of this last section was essentially moderate to hard scrambling, if you didn't use the ropes that is. Being an avid climber I decided to use to minimise rope and ladder use. At 9:50am I finally reached the top and was greeted by the amazing view of the pinnacles. It took me 3 hours to climb to the top and as the average was 4 hours I felt I had done fairly well. Dad, on the other hand, took him about half hour more to reach the top because, wait for it, he had to sew his shoes back together! Yup, ya heard me right! Back in Miri, before we flew to Mulu, at the supermarket dad commented that he had to buy some glue for his shoes. OK, I thought, it's probably just a small bit that's come undone. Nope, practically the soles of both shoes were almost off. When we got to the resort in Miri dad realised that the glue did not hold on his shoes. So what does he do, he gets some of his kite surfing line and sews the soles together! You would think that he has no money to spend.

  

 Once we reached the top all I could do is stare and say wow! The pinnacles are spectacular. The pinnacles are a collection of approximately 45m high limestone needles that cling to the side of Gunung Api (Fire Mountain). They are formed by the erosion of surrounding ground leaving behind these hard limestone features. They were definitely worth the climb.




The Pinnacles.

 Posing for photos.

 

 The whole group.

Alas this is not the end of the story. Going up was tough, coming down was even tougher! It wasn't the first 400m, descending down the ladders that was tough. Nor was it the next 1000m, although it wasn't a walk in the park. Nope, it was the final 1000m that really did me in. The stairmaster has nothing on the pinnacle trek, it was hot, tedious, painful on the knees, and by the end of it I had the wobbliest legs around. When I got to the camp it took all my willpower not to just walk straight into the river and cool off, clothes, bag and all! However I'm still pleased to say it took me 3 hours to walk down when the average is again 4 hours. I must admit I was so pleased that not only where my fitness fears unfounded but I did much better than I thought I would. As for dad's shoes, they now have a final resting place at Camp 5!