Kinabalu Climb - 10th Thoroughbred 20 years of friendship (part 1)

Background

3 Jan 2009 marked 20 years I knew most of my batchmates from RMC. On the same date 20 years ago, we registered ourselves, not fully knowing what to expect, into The Royal Military College, our home for the next 5 years of our lives. Should I say here, 5 wonderful years of our lives. From that moment on, we were strangers no more. We have become more than friends, we are family.

To strengthen this bond, Itik and Mantat came up with the boldest idea early this year- "Apa kata kita panjat Gunung Kinabalu to celebrate this?" My first reaction - Gile ke budak2 ni? I fully knew the pain and tribulation of climbing a mountain having had the opportunity to climb Gunung Tahan with some of the boys. This was back in 1992 when we were in form 4. And I can tell you it was not that pleasant of an experience. And this was when we were at the peak of our fitness level.

But I guess, the feeling of doing this kind of activity again, only with the boys, was a good enough reason for me to sign up. And I do agree with Itik and Mantat, what better ways to celebrate our friendship than doing silly things, yeah, its kinda silly considering the fitness level of most of the boys now. Well, boys will always be boys.

Preparation

Mantat and Capoi were the ones who were practically doing the actual planning and organising. Stuffs like sending emails and sms communications, budget, itinerary, and etc were mostly done by them. We did have few meetings, well basically more of a TTS at Rasta Taman Tun to sort things out and do some discussions.

Itik organised few futsal sessions just to get back the boys in shape in a fun way. I also lent my experience by conducting fitnes sessions (running and climbing stairs). Some of them also had few ping pong sessions, dont ask me how it can help in climbing a mountain, it works for them

All the while from the moment the idea was mooted until the climbing day, the list of participants keep on fluctuating. In the end, only 11 confirmed to climb, they were;

1. Razlim Rashid - JUO C (Capoi the Sherpa, 6 time reached the summit)
2. Ahmad Razman Zaki - SP C (Mantat, PowerBar Man)
3. Khairul Nizam Tajul Hasnan - SP C (Ayun, blackberry Man)
4. Khairul Anuar Abdul Wahab - SP D (K-Own, Futsal Owner)
5. Rafiee Kamarudin - JUO D (Pelat, Org kuat Pekan, reached summit in form 4)
6. Farouk Abd Khalid - SP D (Farouk, Got Streamyx problem, call him)
7. Tuan Azmil Abdullah - SP E ( Bedul, Official pembaca Doa)
8. Mior Arif Iskandar - JUO F (Jabir, IronMan wannabe)
9. Romizan Hanifah - SUO G (Itik the Sweeper, with Golden(MAS) wings)
10. Eikma Izzat Ripin - SP G (Izzat, Towkay Minyak "we are drivers too")
11. Idi Kadiron Mat Isa - SP H (Mataron, can sell anything under the sun)
    

For equipments, Capoi gave us a list of stuffs to bring. I took the opportunity to get my stuff during my biz trip to the States. The others were being advised by Mantat on what and where to get those stuffs. Most of them bought Salomon trekking shoes, damn good. Benda2 yg susah nak cari mcm headlamp, Capoi beli murah je dekat uptown Danau Kota.

For food and supplements, we were fully sponsored by Mantat with his PowerBar products. We got everything, from PowerBar bars, to carbo gels, to recovery drinks and etc. Semua Mantat sponsor.

Flight ticket masing2 beli sendiri. MAS ada Air Asia pun ada, in the range of 170-450 for return flights, we purchased early.

>>to be continued.