Trust In Sabah Parks, State Government Convinces Climbers Mount Kinabalu Safe

By Nur Adika Bujang KUNDASANG (Sabah, Malaysia) March 12 (Bernama) -- Trust in the Sabah Parks and the state government's priority and attention given to the safety of mountaineers were sufficient to convince four local avid cyclists that it was safe to conquer Mount Kinabalu following Thursday's earthquake. Rizin Kusop, 45, of Kota Kinabalu-based De Sulap Cycling Team said they had wanted to cancel their scheduled hike Saturday, but when they learnt the mountain was safe to climb, they went ahead with their plan. "Of course, naturally, we were quite worried whether there might be aftershocks during our climb. "But we believed we could climb the mountain and we have proven that we have safely reached the summit and returned," he told Bernama when met after concluding his climb at Timpohon Gate, the starting point of the climb here Sunday. Rizin, who has now conquered the mountain five times, was joined by team mates Juslee Dousin, 46, who has climbed the mountain four times, and first-timers Dilly Eduin, 45 and Lehenry Kaunsir, 46. He said climbing Mount Kinabalu was part of the cycling team’s initiative to stay fit and be prepared to face any cycling race they participate in. Dilly said he was impressed with the safety measures which Sabah Parks had put in place, especially with the presence of Mountain Search and Rescue (Mosar) personnel along the hiking route, which gave him the assurance that he was in safe hands. German businessman Luethje Wilhelm, 30, who flew from Hong Kong with several friends on the night of the earthquake, had no idea of the incident, nor of the suspension. "We only found out about it (earthquake) later that night when we arrived in KK (Kota Kinabalu). But we still hoped to climb the mountain and we checked with our agents and they said Saturday (yesterday) was fine," he said. He and his compatriot friend, Markus Georg, 30 described their experience in scaling the mountain as fun and that the mountain guides were great in assisting them. On Thursday, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun announced that all hiking activities on the mountain were temporarily suspended following the 5.2-magnitude earthquake which struck Ranau at 9.06pm. However, the suspension was lifted Saturday after a 47-member team assessing the aftermath on the mountain found no major damage along the summit trail. -- BERNAMA