The climb is on....

We had the first meeting of climbers for the 4-8 April 2008 Mount Kinabalu climb and the response was great. 10 people came and together with the others who have made the commitment, we now have about 43 climbers committed. There are more who will decide shortly and the 50 places is expected to be all taken up by next week.

This is a record of sorts - usually the full climb places will only be taken up about a month before the climb. We are still 3 months before the climb and the time for preparation is more than enough.

Somehow I feel that the climb will be a great one. The last climb we did in August 2007 was a fantastic one. The comments were really complimentary and although there some small glitches, everything generally went well. We would like to make this climb equally fruitful and rewarding. The whole purpose is to get all 50 people right up to the peak

At the meeting yesterday, I made this appeal to all those present. Help me to help you to reach the summit. There was whole-hearted agreement. Mount Kinabalu will always be a personal mountain to ascend for each climber. On the trail, every effort will be personal. When you suffer in some pain, only you will know what you are going through.

The whole climb was detailed at the meeting and each stage of the journey was shared. What to bring, what to wear, what to do and what to prepare were all covered. Those of you who are reading this blog should find the same answers if you read down to the key parts.

What was highlighted was the training schedule. I said that there is much time but time as we know passes by so quickly. For those who do not need the exhortation to train, time will fly by and then the climb would have descended on us. Don't wait and say, "I have three more months..." Start now to train and you will be in fine condition to overcome every difficulty that will arise.

My challenge to the climbers is that they should prepare and condition themselves well. So I left them with two clear exercises that they should do (if possible, everyday) - 1...the step exercise (see earlier blog posts below) 2...the stomach exercises that should strengthen your back. This is training that you can do in th comfort of your house.

the other training is to atttend the training that we will call for. It is at these sessions that we will continue to share with climbers additional things about the mountain climb.

I ended by sharing with them 2 stories about past climbs.

Usually a husband and wife who makes the climb end up really loving and caring. They will wait for each other, encourage each other and help each other up. However there are exceptions. There was this seemingly loving couple who were Indians and friends of mine (I hope they don't read this) - the husband was huge and he had not trained for the climb. The wife was obviously fit and she was abounding with energy.

Right from the start she was ahead and he struggled to keep up with her. At the first shelter, I saw the first signs of problems. She seemed impatient as she waited for him to come up. As he huffed and puffed his way to that shelter, she looked at him and said, "Darhling, you arr too selow. You shudd da lissened to me and terrained with me." There was no response from the husband as he was too tired to talk.

Then at the second shelter, she waited much longer and it was only 10 minutes later that he struggled up. When he reached that shelter, she was rather irritated. She said,"Don you know that you rarrr a nudesens. You rarrr zlowing everybody and I yam tirrred of you. Your problam is you neffer neffer lisssened to me. You rarrr uzelesss!" And she walked on.

At the third shelter, it became more interesting. He took longer to come up and when he did arrive, their historical issues all came up. "I shouud not have marrried you. Why I borderrr with you, I can neffer anderstand. You are derrribal. I haf enouf of you!"

At Layang Layang where lunch is taken, the whole problem came apart when after he had recovered some energy, he shouted at her and told her to "shaaaddapp!"

After that they walked a mile apart and I understood they did not speak to each for a week afterwards. Talk about love and closeness. So husbands and wives who are climbing on this trip together, remember this story and try not to walk that same path. I still laugh aloud when I recall what happened.

the second story covers people who come expecting all the facilities to be there. One of my Senior Managers in the Bank that I worked for climbed with me. On the second morning, just as we reached that part that had a cliff on the right and another cliff downwards on the left, she turned to me and said,"Mr Ong, I have a bad stomach-ache. Are there toilet facilities that I could use as I can't stand it anymore.

I then looked up at the star-lit skies, looked right at the straight-up cliff, looked left at the sheer vertical drop into hundreds of feet and wondered how I am going to find a place for her to "unload". "Toilet", I said. "We will be lucky to find a place for you to squat. And that was what I did. finally I found a ledge that protruded out and I called her to that spot and asked her to do it there.

Then she said, "Can you please fgo a little further?" Which was what I did. After long moments of silence, she said,"I can't do it, Mr Ong." I said "What?" I was incredulous. Just a while ago she said that it was all coming out. Now she says that it cannot come out. I couldn't understand. "Why?" I said.

In a sheepish voice, she said that there were little prickly things poking at her bottom. So at 3-30 in the morning, I told her to wear back her four layers of bottoms and there I was; "Plucking grass and clearing the spots of weeds for her." I told her I don't even do this for my mother.

Then she went back to the spot and in no time at all, I heard some really loud explosive sounds and everything came out. "Full of shit, eh," I said.


More next posting!



Tee Chee Keong
Wong Huey Min
Lee Choy Cheng
Cheng Wai Cheong
Ho Kim Faa
Chee Yan Soon
Leny Painan
Chia Eng Huat
Julius Cheah
Grace Ngoo