2011 conquering the highest peak in south east asia

Timpohon gate before we started the journey

In front of our bed. I think this is at the 11,000 feet elevation

Reached the top with my birthday's hat

Brother in law

Brother in law and my nephew at the 6th KM

October 2011 - It was another memorable day for me, brother in law and my nephew. We reached the highest peak in South East Asia about 4.30 AM. It was bloody cold and let me repeat again very very cold. If i not mistaken it was about 2C or maybe 3C at the top. Just imagine how the temperature changed from 32C at the bottom to 2C on top. We were lucky because the summit's temperature could reach below zero degree. In fact, in august 2006 when my sisters were up there the temperature was -2C and snow all over. But must be nice right? I bet it was.

We started the journey from Timpohon gate about 9Am together with some of the climbers. Many of them have started their journey as early as 7AM. So basically we were about 2 hours late. But we trained for about a month running up and down hills and sometimes on a flat ground. We managed to overtook most of the climbers even though we were 2 hours late. We took about 3 hours to reach laban rata where the accommodations are. My brother in law was 30 minutes behind me and my nephew was an hour late (he's not fit enough cuz he didn't trained as much as we did. He was busy for exam).

We quickly checked in to our room and get ready for dinner. The dinner started 4PM. Yes very early indeed because we need to get up at 12PM and get ready the next journey which is going to the summit. We were so hungry that night and we ate a lot! Yes a lot because the dinner was buffet style and you can eat as much as you like. After dinner we took many pictures because the view from laban rata was spectacular. Finished everything, we went back to our bed and had a rest. Exactly 12PM we got up and had our breakfast. We started the journey about 2AM. The journey to the summit was very difficult because as you go further the air gets very thin and you can't really push yourself. Every few steps you have to stop. It was very difficult. Fuh!!!!

After about 2 hours hard work me and my brother in law managed to reach the peak at 4.30AM. We came first at the top. It was such a great satisfaction. That was my second time after 2004 and first time for my brother in law. Very bad luck to my nephew he didn't manage to reach the top. He stopped at the 7th KM, another 1.7KM to reach the peak. He was very disappointed.

It was a great experience to three of us although the third person failed to reach the top. For 2012, I am going to conquer the summit again but with a very tight target to reach it in less than 2 hours 30 minutes. It sounds a little bit impossible but I am on my training. If i can't reach the top within my target time then 3 hours should be okay i guess.