With the summit tucked safely in the back pockets of our muddy, hacking trousers, we set off early through the tragically logged area at the base of Batu Lawi before beginning the brutal ascent up through the valley to the logging roads in the searing heat.
Guide Wan and Victorian explorer Captain Bob Davies set a blistering pace at the front with a determined Cat just behind, a more relaxed Theo, Sam and Sarah holding the middle positions while Oz and Rian generally chatted, smoked and took a lot of photos at the back.
Once ‘death valley’- the final ascent back up to the logging road - had been nailed, we set off apace along the logging roads towards the shelter and the edge of the jungle where we had spent the second night. While summiting the mountain however, some cheeky blighter had sneaked in an added three or four extra miles into the logging road (or so it seemed).
Un-phased, the group raced ahead with poor Rian and Oz claiming to take a more leisurely pace, but actually feeling every rock and pebble through the souls of their ‘Kelabit Reeboks’ (essentially rubber plimsolls worn due to their boots disintegrating).
We reached the shelter before lunch and decided that with heavy thunder clouds sweeping in and a confidence in our now established pace, we spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon resting, repairing and swapping war stories in the now beloved shelter.
