Mt Kinabalu - Take 2! Part 1 - The Preclimb
I am writing this article wearing compression socks for recovery from aching muscles after 2 days and 1 night of the famous Mt Kinabalu trek. In this 3-part series, I will be sharing my experience and lessons learned so here’s the first part of the journey.
With a title like that (Take 2), you might be thinking “What happened to the first attempt” and let's start there. In 2011, I made my first attempt at Mount Kinabalu with a group of friends. We took the Masilau trail, which is now closed after the earthquake of 2015 because we wanted a more scenic route. I was carrying what I estimate was more than 10kg of load, which in retrospect was way more than what I could handle then. In addition, one of our teammates wasn't doing so well and we redistributed his load and I ended up with extra weight ( way more than 10kg).
About one-third into the trail, it started to rain. The kind of heavy torrential downpour that makes you wonder if the heavens were punishing you for all the bad things you have done in your life. The rain felt like ice water. The rain was body shivering, teeth chattering, feet numbing, kind of cold. Rushing to seek shelter, we minimize our rest stops because we wanted suffering to end. Imagine mixing fatigue, cold, frustration, and regret, all into a pot and chugging that soup of emotions all at one go. That was what I felt.
Amid all the hurry-scurry, I stepped into a puddle of water which ended up being a deeper pothole than I thought, and 'crack' went my ankle. I tried taking a few steps and because I could, I suspected it was a sprain and not a fracture. Later I found a complete tear of my anterior tibiofibular ligament, a partial tear of my calcaneofibular ligament, and tears of my deep deltoid ligaments on my left ankle. However, the more I walked the more my pain intensified. Eventually, I needed a walking stick to hobble to the rest stop at Panalaban. Needless to say, I did not make it up to the summit and hence leading to this second attempt.
The Training
I was determined not to fail this second attempt so training began in December. Just like training for any sport, training for trekking needed to be specific. It needs to cause adaptations so that you can adjust to the environment and task that you will be subjecting the body to. Especially for most of us who live in cities and do not have the fortune of living with mountains in our backyards, training becomes even more important as the 'city body' was not designed to survive the mountains. We have the luxury of escalators and lifts to take us up or down any elevation, we do not carry heavy loads on our backs regularly and we have the comfort of controlled temperature with the click of the remote. The largest performance determinant of trekking is endurance. Endurance of lower limb muscles for locomotion. Training in this aspect would involve stairs training. Lots and lots of stairs, both going up and coming down. Your eventual load should be at least the amount of weight you would be carrying during the trek. Beginning unloaded, and adding load on the back eventually. To prevent over-training and overuse during training, your training protocol has to be gradual and progressive. Any sudden overload may lead to injuries which would hamper your chances of success. Besides endurance, having a history of my ankle sprain, besides the rehabilitation I did previously for my ankle, I added more specific proprioceptive and balance work to my routine which included stepping over rocks at this hill park near my place. The rocks come in different shapes and sizes which is perfect for training in a real-world setting. The best place to train which encompasses all the elements of trekking performance in Singapore would be Bukit Timah Hill. Needless to say, it is the playground for many trekkers and trail runners. It is however more inconvenient and I could only hit the hill during the weekends. During the last training session, the weather turned for the worse and it was pouring cats and dogs. It was important that training continued as it represents what is likely to happen in the mountains, not only as a form of physical training to practice trekking in muddy and slippery conditions but also to build mental and emotional resilience to maintain a state of mind when the weather is not on your side. As the quote 'happy when the sun shines, smile when it rains' from the Code of good camper suggests, we should always maintain a positive mindset in good times and in bad.
The logistical preparations
Lots of preparation comes before a trek. The attire will depend on the weather and terrain to protect from the elements. From the research I know the first day involves trekking through the hot and humid tropical jungle, hence clothes should be light, and breathable. Quick dry material clothes would be ideal. As I do not expect volcanic sand or scree during this trek, high-cut boots would not be necessary and thus hiking shoes would be lighter and provide more ankle mobility. For the summit climb which happens before sunrise, the temperature is expected to be single digit hence winter attire is required. This includes base, mid and outer layers for the top, base, and soft shell material for bottoms, gloves, wool socks, beanie, and a neck warmer. As for shoe material, my shoes were made of Gore-tex which resisted water, essential to keeping your feet dry in case it rains. They are slightly heavier as compared to meshed shoes but worth the extra weight. Even though I train without trekking poles, I always bring them along for my treks as they can offload 20% of your body weight which is huge when you consider the number of hours of walking. Hydration is vital, hence I accounted for the bottle capacity of a total of 1.5L of water and decided to bring a small cachet of sea salt to replace electrolytes. Moving on to nutrition, food was provided for meals along the trek so you only needed to worry about snacks along the trek. My wife's favorites are dried mangoes chocolate and Ribena pastilles whereas I like my mixed nuts. These will not only keep your energy level up but provide great morale boosts. A bag size between 30L and 40L would be the sweet spot between weight and capacity to contain everything mentioned.
Stay tuned for more in Part 2 in the next blog.
