I was up on Bukit Tabur again last Sunday, committing to a more challenging climb. At one time, I could feel fear overwhelming rationality. My feet were clearly shaking uncontrollably, for fear of slipping down the rocky trail. At one time, I was hanging by a rock with a crevasse approximately 30 meters down. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think and I was trying to get a grip on myself, figuratively and literally. I am just glad I didn’t go there alone, as I had planned to. Without partners, I think I could have been in a dangerous situation, especially when it was raining, along the jagged trail on top of the ridge.
I haven’t felt such fear for a very long time. But I made it. Shaken but I made it nonetheless.
Despite that experience, pictures like this…
…made it worth my while. The adrenaline felt good after all been said and done. The Monday after however was a very painful day. My muscle was twitching so hard that I could not concentrate at work.
If you’re wondering, this is a picture of a colony of mosses on top of Bukit Tabur. Bukit Tabur is part of the Klang Gates Ridge, possibly the longest quartz ridge in the world, according to WWF Malaysia.
