On 18 July 2009, a normal Saturday where one would normally just spend time staying at home or hanging out in town, ten ESP students set out to challenge their physical limits by climbing Mount Ophir, also known as Gunung Ledang in Johor, Malaysia. Mount Ophir is the tallest peak in Johor, standing at 1,276m above sea level.
The planning stages for the trip included online reconnaissance, stocking up of necessities, and fitness conditioning. Even though Mount Ophir is the most climbed mountain in Malaysia, it has one of the higher climbing fatalities in the region of South-East Asia – or so we found out. Credit went most to Ben and Martin for organizing the trip and conducting training regimes to whip up our fitness level.
On the day of the trip – 17 July 2009, Friday, we went straight to grab our stuff after our work and made a beeline for the Singapore-Malaysia customs. We encountered some hiccups along the journey, such as being late for the last bus at Larkin bus terminal to Segamat, and had to settle for two private taxis to ferry us instead – which was way more expensive even though 10 of us were cramped in those two taxis. When we reached Tangkak town centre which is 17km away from Gunung Ledang, it was already past 12 midnight. Fortunately we were able to settle for an inn we found along the roadside where we spent the night to replenish our energy for the arduous climb.
In the morning, after grabbing some water from a convenience store, we boarded a bus from a bus terminal which took us to our destination. At 10.10 a.m., we began our ascent with a 19 year old guide who looked no older than a 14 year old. We learnt that there were eight checkpoints that marked the climbing trail, but after we reached our first checkpoint, most of us were already out of breath. By the next checkpoint, we were all sweating buckets. Our dear guide astonishingly, didn’t break a single drop of sweat at all! In fact, he didn’t seem to have consumed any water at all and just took naps whenever we reached a checkpoint! We completed the first half of the journey fairly fast. After moving out from checkpoint 3, our group skipped checkpoint 4 and went straight on to checkpoint 5. It was around 15 minutes past 12. There we had our lunch break and there was a small river where we could replenish our water supplies. The water was simply refreshing and cooling as some took the chance to refill their almost empty bottles while some took the chance to wash up. It was an eye opening experience for some as some were more comfortable with cooking with the usual pots, pans and gas stoves instead of a mess tin and solid fuel. Some opted the more convenient way out of eating bread and tuna. Whichever it is, it was a completely different lunch experience. We spent about half an hour there, and feeling more energetic, we proceeded on to our sixth checkpoint.
However it seemed that the ‘honeymoon’ phase of our journey was over. While the first half of the journey consisted of proper steps and gentle slopes, the second half welcomed us with steep rocky slopes, adorned with ropes and ladders. The backpacks we were carrying seemed to increase in weight as we began to utilize all four of our limbs to make our way up. A few in the team started to experience cramps and injuries. This part of the climb became a real test of our strength, stamina, endurance and a display of camaraderie. Some started to carry extra loads for others, while a few shared their water among those who were more dehydrated. One especially memorable part of the climb was between checkpoints 6 and 7, where we had to surmount two extremely steep slopes, from about 70 to 80 degrees gradient and about 100 metres in height. With no other safety gear and only with our arms and legs and ropes, we slowly made our way up. For those in our team that had acrophobia (fear of heights), the task was twice as daunting.
Despite being afraid of heights, the courage that howard possessed overcome one of his greatest fear and conquered the slope. For others the main challenge was the fatigue that was felt halfway during the climb – you found it hard to either ascent or retreat. But worst of all, your life depended on that rope and even as you were hanging on and remaining at your position you felt your energy sucked out – it was a race against time and an either do or die climb. It was a point of no return.
As time ticks by, it was nearing dawn. We were also in a race against time to reach the summit as we knew a night trek would be disastrous. The last leg of the climb was from checkpoint 7 to our final destination – The Summit. Everybody was struggling to even make a step towards success. Things got worse as the final 50m was a series of rocks that we had to climb. With all our might and remaining strength, finally at 4.45pm, the 10 ESP students managed to reach the summit – our ultimate goal. The atmosphere took a 360 degrees turn as the tired and demoralized look in many turned to ecstatic faces. Some screamed for joy at the sight of the breath-taking view at the summit, while some immediately took out their cameras to record down this memorable moment. We took our time to savour and reap the success of our efforts as sense of achievements starts setting into many hearts. It would have left a deep engraving in some of our hearts and we left a story to tell – the Gunung Ledang Experience. And at 1735h, we finally made our way down to the base camp where we left off 7 hours ago.
The task of climbing down was no mean feat as well as we were already struggling with sore feet and fatigue. The night trek just made the journey down worse as we could hardly see where we were going. Slips were common sights as the terain was slippery. As darkness sets in, light sticks were lit, head lamps were switched on in a pitch dark forest. We were starting to sing songs to boost our morale and also as a way to celebrate our triumph of Gunung Ledang. And at around 2300h, we made it to the base camp. We settled our administrative matters with the rangers before setting up the tents to rest for the night.
The next day saw us leaving Gunung Ledang with great memories as we left for Segamat to take a bus back to Johor Larkin. As many haven’t even had their dinners the previous night, Segamat saw 10 hungry visitors ready to prey for food. We had lunch before making our way back to Johor (Larkin) where we took a cab to Taman Sri Tebrau Market for a celebratory dinner to make up to our gastronomical deficiencies for the past few days. After dinner, it was back to Singapore for a well-deserved rest as all of us had to work the next day.
From,
Daren Siow
ESP Year 2
