Roaring Forties

 

 

 

Care to climb a top ten highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia at relative ease?

No	Top Ten Highest Mountains	Feet	Meters	Location	State
1	Gunung Tahan	7,185	2,190	Tahan Range	Pahang
2	Gunung Korbu	7,162	2,183	Ulu Kinta	Perak
3	Gunung Yong Belar	7,156	2,181	Titiwangsa Range	Pahang
4	Gunung Gayong	7,129	2,173	Ulu Kinta	Perak
5	Gunung Chamah	7,122	2,171	Gua Musang	Kelantan
6	Gunung Yong Yap	7,113	2,168	Ulu Kelantan	Kelantan
7	Gunung Ulu Sepat	7,089	2,161	Temenggor	Kelantan
8	Gunung Batu Putih	6,993	2,131	Kg. Woh, Tapah	Perak
9	Gunung Irau	6,923	2,110	Brinchang, CH	Pahang
10	Gunung Benom	6,913	2,107	Jerantut	Pahang

Gunung Irau is undisputedly the most accessible and the easiest to climb amongst all of Peninsular Malaysia’s top ten highest mountains. It is the ninth highest standing at a height of 6,923 feet or 2,110 meters, a mere 262 feet or 80 meters lower than Gunung Tahan, the highest of them all. But in comparison to Gunung Tahan, climbing Gunung Irau is a walk in the park due to two reasons. 

Firstly, the track starts at the Gunung Brinchang trunk road which is the highest paved road in Peninsular Malaysia. This means that you do not start at sea level or in the lowlands but at a relative high altitude of about 6,000 feet.

Secondly, a return trip from the starting point to the peak can be done comfortably within 7 hours which means that there is no need for heavy overnight packs. Comparatively, all of the other ten highest mountains require trekking over longer distances, climbing much higher elevation and involve overnight camping unless you are a  physical extreme junkie where in one case, I know a lady who managed Gunung Korbu in an 18 hours return trip marathon instead of a  4 days normal trek. 

My first attempt at Gunung Irau was in August 15. Mei & I left K.L. 3.30 in the morning to meet up with our friends who had put up the night at the Kwan Tee Temple in Kg Raja.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stories of hearing a lady sobbing into the night prompted us to forgo our sleep and took the wee hours drive instead. We managed to reach on time at 6.30 am for the rendezvous. There were a total of nineteen of us. Break fast came next and promptly at 7.30 am we started driving to the starting point of the track. Unfortunately, our leader’s GPS took us to Brinchang town instead. We were delayed for about 30 minutes when Ee who has been to Irau before, took over the lead and directed us to the correct road and we were soon going past the Pallas tea plantation heading towards Gunung Brinchang. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could hear a light air craft hovering above us and the next thing we knew, we were bombarded with white coloured pallets. For a moment we were stunned. It felt like we were attacked by a WWII Zero. The white pellets fell from the sky like rain hitting our car, the road and the surrounding tea plants. Then we realised that the pellets were fertiliser which is been sowed by the plane. What an interesting start to the trip?

We continued our drive up the mountain until we come across a hut with a wooden staircase. This is the starting point for Gunung Irau. We promptly parked our cars but with the new digital photographing culture, we lost another good 30 minutes as everyone wanted get their pictures taken.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally started 9.45 am. Being big group, there was a queue at the starting point. Mei & I pushed ahead as we did not want to be stuck with the stragglers. The starting point is a series of wooden stair case leading to a wooden broad-walk which ran about 200 meters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was very scenic and we could see the mountain ranges though the trees. At the end of the boardwalk, we started descending. This intrigued me as I thought we were supposed to be climbing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The descend took a good 30 minutes before we started climbing again. The terrain consist purely of roots and mud. It was a lot scrambling using all fours. The climb was longer than the descend and just when we thought it was never ending, we reached a summit just before noon. It was a beautiful spacious summit. We were pre-warned that it was a false summit so we knew we still have some ground to cover. Janice & Justin caught up with us 5 minutes later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After a short rest, the four of us set out for the Irau summit together.

 Again we have to descend and as it was already past noon, we hurried as the turn back time was 2.00 pm.  After 20 minutes, we started the climb again. It was a good 30 minutes to finally reach the summit at about 1.00 pm. Yes, we reached the ninth highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia. 

We managed to rest a good 20 minutes before the second group arrived. All in nine of us made it to the summit. The rest were either too busy taking pictures of the scenic track or they were stopped at the false summit by Mr. Liau, our organizer who insisted a turn back time of 2.00 pm at the summit or 1.30 pm at the false summit. This was to ensure that everyone has enough time to get out before night fall.

I was pleasantly surprised that the track wasn’t too tough but it was very interesting especially the mossy forest which we have to trek through. The terrain was very challenging and muddy. It involved a lot of scrambling and climbing over trees and roots. 

 

We left the summit at 1.45 pm and backtracked the same way back. Normally, the return trip is faster for the other mountains as it would be mainly descent but the Gunung Irau trek is shaped like a “W” where we have to descend and then climb to the false peak before descending again and climb the final stretch to reach the starting point. We couldn’t really improved on our returning time. As a matter of fact, I was tired out at the final ascent stretch and was relatively slower.  Nevertheless, we made it out before 5.00 pm and it was a truly great trek. It was most enjoyable!

Continuation from Vietnam – Trekking in Sapa 

Day 5 (21 Nov 06)

We (May, Eli, Avi & I) assembled at 8.30 am in the lobby of the Mountain View Hotel. Dinh were waiting for us with 3 other riders.

We then proceed for the Tram Ton Pass. The ride was really cold as the temperature was about 20 degrees but in a moving bike, it was much colder. I was the only one in the group wearing shorts so I was literally shivering on the bike. Thanks to Ben’s recommendation the night before, I managed to buy myself an excellent thick black pullover for a bargain of US$ 9. That kept me warm. Otherwise I would have been frozen.

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Continuation from Vietnam – Hanoi & Sapa

Day 4 (20 Nov 06)

 

Was woken up by strong winds at 5.00 a.m. It pounded the windows like a slow rhythmic Michael Jordan’s dribble. Rain then started to pour at 5.45 a.m. All my plans of catching some sunrise went up in flames. It was back to Uncle Chao for me.

Breakfast at 7.30 am. Met a French couple whom we saw the previous night in the restaurant. They were traveling with 3 beautiful girls, one of them, a toddler of probably a year old. Advised us that they have been traveling for a month. It is amazing to see the way these Europeans travel. They are so different from Asian parents who will forgo travel and remain grounded because of their kids.

The rain stopped but the mist kept drifting in and out with the mountains’ playing peek a boo

Assembled at 9.00 am. Had two Israeli couples joining us; Eli and Avi, David and Hadas. It was actually quite exciting as it our first time meeting Israelis up front. For them, it was also their first time encounter with Malaysians. They were both younger and looked much fitter than me. I always had this phobia of holding the crowd back if I were to join a trek and that looked liked happening.

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I have been to Vietnam numerous times on official matters but only twice for pleasure. Made my second pleasure trip there during the Christmas period last year. It was actually a continuation where May & I left off from our first trip there where we covered Hanoi and the northern part of Vietnam. This time round, we did Central Vietnam.

It would only be appropriate to chronicle the adventures from our first trip before proceeding to the highlights of the latest trip. 

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