This morning I watched the sunrise at the top of Mount Kinabalu again. This second time seemed a lot harder than the first – probably because I hadn’t warmed up trekking the Crocker Range for a week like I did the last time. I had sore knees, and my head was spinning a bit. It was quite an ‘interesting’ trip with two of the leaders turning back as one was ill, then we had to arrange someone to be stretchered down 6km from 11000 feet along a really rocky and ‘steppy’ path, with a suspected ankle injury. All in all it was a hard, but enjoyable end to the expedition. Almost everyone made it to the summit and I was almost in tears looking down to the mountain’s shadow cast by the rising sun (I missed this the last time as I had my camera pointed towards the sun and never looked over the back). I summitted a bit later than the last time as I waited at the checkpoint for the tail end of the group, but this just meant I saw the sun rise from a different angle.
After a very sleepy trip back to KK in the land rover I was straight back into the office and doing final prep for the end of expedition. I can’t beleive that 3 months have passed, and tomorrow all the project teams arrive back in KK for the final expedition wash up and the end of expedition parties.
On Sunday I’ll be showing my slideshow at the closing ceremony in front of all the participants and some guests from the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and everyone will get a copy of the expedition CD. I’m looking forward to seeing the reactions when it’s shown on the big screen with the ‘funky?’ soundtrack I’ve put onto it. It’s taken me far too long to put it together but also very enjoyable realising everything that’s happened across the project sites. As ever I’ve got last minute additions from two projects to put in.
Anyway, gotta go and pack for the next few days…..