A group of 24 Malaysians and foreginers yesterday became the first to climb Mount Kinabalu since the mountain was struck by the Sabah Quake on June 5.
Local authorities saw fit to reopen the trail to Mt Kinabalu’s Laban Rata point, despite a mild aftershock at 1.25pm.
Of the 24 climbers who made the ascent yesterday, 15 were allowed to stay overnight at the Laban Rata rest house, which sits at 3,272 metres above sea level.
“We were getting an overwhelming response on the reopening of the route but it looks like it will take some time for confidence to come back,” Sabah Parks chairperson Dr Zainal Adlin Mahamood told The Star Online‘s Muguntan Vanar.
“I believe that soon, through word-of-mouth from climbers who made the trek up, more will start climbing.”
Zainal added that the number of climbers allowed to acend the mountain has been limited to 100 at a time, compared to more than 150 before the earthquake.
Sabah Parks is working with foreign mountaineering experts to determine a new climbing route to the summit of Mt Kinablu. amidst concerns that more rocks could come loose in future.
As a result of the June 5 Sabah Quake, 18 people, including Singaporean schoolchildren, were killed on Mt Kinabalu’s western slopes.
