MT NUANG ATTEMPT BY LIMFANG HAU @ PM 23 ON 23/7/2005

MT NUANG ATTEMPT BY LIMFANG HAU @ PM 23

This was my first attempt on Mt Nuang and I survived. Before that, I had climbed Mt. Kinabalu, Mt Brinchang and Mt Beremban sometimes back in 1995 and 1996. Mt Nuang is the highest mountain in Selangor with an altitude of 1,493 metres.

Started my journey from Petaling Jaya at 6.45 am and reached Pangsun at 7.30 am. I had prepared some of the basic staffs for jungle trekking i.e. solid fuel, lighter, three water bottles, chocolates, 3 packets of Power Gel and extra clothing for changing. As a precautionary measure, I reported myself at the police station at Pangsun, Mile 18, Hulu Langat.

The climbing journey started at 7.50 am. Most of the time, I was alone in the jungle trail. I had a map from Tey and I used this map to guide me throughout the journey. Most of the trail is an uphill trail. I nearly got lost in the jungle trail. When I was planning to cross the second river, I found myself heading to a direction with rocks and water flowing. I knew that this was not the right route. I decided to retreat to my original point and started to think of how I should proceed. Then, I decided to try another route which is quite rocky but I knew that this was not a right track. I retreated to my original destination. At this time, I wanted to give up but I told myself to look for the correct trail for the last time. Finally, I managed to find the trail and it was covered with wild grasses and plants and was not clearly visible. Then, I decided to proceed myself to the small dam.

After more than 1.5 hours of trekking, I found the small dam and I knew that I was on the correct trail. I continued my journey to the first campsite and after one hour of trekking, I found the first campsite and I asked some help from the campers. After one hour of trekking I found a flat surface called Pacat. This is the second campsite where there was no water supply. I met some of the experienced climbers. Later, I continued my journey to the summit. The journey took me 1.5 hours. Along the journey, I note that that the trail was quite steep at certain point and it was quite slippery. Any wrong moves may cost you a life. I had to climb the rocks at certain point with extra caution. There were mists along the journey to the summit. It was quite cooling and there were no mosquitoes as compared to the lower altitude. According to one of the experienced climber by the name of Tham, if you took the wrong way you may end up in Pahang. I was advised to follow the mark on the trail left my climbers closely in order to avoid getting lost. I note that if you are walking to a trail without any mark, just look out for any rubbish along the trail. If you spotted some, this indicates that you are on the correct trail. At certain point I realised that I was heading towards the wrong trail. Luckily, I met the climbers and I informed the about it. They also realised that they were on the wrong trail since there was not any signs or rubbish along the trail. We decided to retreat to our original point and we found the correct trail.

At 1.10 am I reached the summit of Mt Nuang. I rested on the summit for half and hour before coming down to Pacat. The view on the summit was quite magnificent. I did not manage to see the view clearly as it was covered with mist. The weather on the summit was quite cooling. At 1.40 pm, I decided to descend from the summit with the climbers. The descend was quite difficult as I had to descend at a very slow pace due to the steepness of the trail. Any wrong moves may be fatal. The journey was quite torturing as I felt some pains on my toes when descending from the summit. I slipped down for more than 10 times due to the slippery trail. I was lucky as I had walking stick to help me to stabilise myself. At 4 pm, I reached Pacat. I realised that I was the last one as I could not follow the pace of other climbers when descending. Then, I continued my slow journey towards the first campsite. From the first campsite, I took the wrong route when descending and I was alerted by the campers. Then, I proceeded with the correct route. The descend continued until I reached the starting point at the car park. Along the way, I felt my legs were getting tired and I my body was numb. This is a sign of lack of salt in my body. I decided to take one packet of Power Gel. After that, I my body condition was back to normal. I arrived at the car park at 6.55 pm. Overall the whole journey took me 11.25 hours with 5.5 hours to the summit, 30 minutes resting on the summit and 5.25 hours descending from the summit.

I would like to thank Tey for providing a useful map to me for climbing and to those who provided me with some useful information on Mt Nuang. The reason I tried climbing is that I felt bored with running after running for more than one year and I plan to use this mountain climbing as part of my cross training after completing my second marathon in Malacca. I’ll be out of the running scene for two weeks. I need a break from running. I shall be back in August to resume my long distance training run. From what I observed, mountain climbing is different from running a marathon where you will be using different kind of leg and hand muscles whereas in running, you will be using most of your calf and knee muscles. I felt that mountain climbing is difficult than running. It is quite a risky sport as you may be facing the risk of losing your life if you make any wrong moves when ascending or descending the mountain. In running a marathon it is now considered to be quite easy for me as I need to control my pace at the beginning of the run.

Finally, I would like to provide some advice to those who intend to go for mountain climbing. If you are afraid of height do not attempt this activity. If you have no patient do not go for climbing as you cannot rush when climbing. Any wrong moves, you may slip down from the steep and slippery trail. This may cause you a life. Be prepared to get dirty with mud and leaches and wet with water if you are intending to climb Nuang. Based on my personal experience in Nuang, I will never go there myself alone. If I were to go to Nuang again, I’ll go with experienced climbers. Do not underestimate Mt Nuang as it is not an easy mountain to climb.