Team Success Conquers Mt. Kinabalu

26 May 2010

HMAS Success (CMDR Tony Rayner) has topped off its recent trip to Kota Kinabalu with a brave group of 16 crew members conquering the impressive Mt. Kinabalu. At a height of 4095 metres, it is one of the highest mountains in South East Asia.

The intrepid group headed off with the local tour guide by bus and travelled to Timpohon Gate, the base camp for their adventure at 1866 metres. From all accounts the first few kilometres just flew by as the group split in two with POPTI Murphy and LSCD Allchurch leading the charge in the first group and the CO and Marine Engineering Officer ensuring no-one fell behind in the second group.

The first day of the climb took the group a gruelling four and a half hours to cover the 6 kilometres of track but only climbing 2700 metres in altitude. Legs were burning and sweat flowing when finally the overnight base camp was sighted and a large sigh of relief was felt by Team Success. That relief was only short lived when people realised that another 100 stairs stood between them and their bed for the night! After watching an electrical storm roll in, well below them on the mountain, the team turned in for the night very exhausted and very sore.

The next morning started at 0200 as the summit had to be reached to watch the sun rise over Kota Kinabalu. The team clambered stiffly and painfully out of their beds and rugged up in their warmest clothes to conquer the summit. With headlamps in place the team set out for the final assault.

As the team ascended the mountain the air began to thin and the environment went from bush and boulders to sheer flat sloping rock. With only a rope to hold on to the team forged its way ahead until at 0530 in the morning the whole team was standing at Low’s Peak at 4095 metres. The sun pierced through the clouds at 0625 and the Success banner was unfurled to the great delight of other people who had made the trek up the mountain.

From all accounts the view was worth the climb with the surrounding peaks jutting out providing a majestical backdrop to the sunrise. Every member of the team made comment of the sense of achievement they felt for scaling the mountain with CMDR Rayner commenting “It was such a great personal and team achievement to have climbed one of the ‘seven famous peaks’. It was a significant physical challenge and is something everyone was very proud to have achieved”.

For new joiner, SMNGX Shannon Ziegelaar, the highlight of the climb was the opportunity to get to know members of the crew from a cross section of all ranks and departments. For POPTI Murphy, it was something that words just couldn’t do justice to. The sense of achievement was worth every little bit of pain that he felt for the next several days.

Even though every member of Team Success went through a different personal experience climbing Mt. Kinabalu, they all felt that they got to know their shipmates a little bit better. The satisfaction of having that shared experience is something they will never forget.