Bukit Tabur is the world’s largest quartz ridge. There is a west and east side that you are able to climb. Throughout the course there are ropes, which help you get through the course because it’s so steep. Its rock climbing without being hooked up to anything, just you and the rope. The course takes about 1.5 hours to climb if you are an advanced hiker (of which I am not… haha). Crystal stone is what the mountain is pretty much made of… and I got to climb it!
Jordan and I wanted to go hiking on Saturday so she did some research and we found this beautiful spot with beautiful scenery once you make it to the top. The pictures looked incredible, so we decided that’s where we wanted to go on our off day. We hopped on the monorail and then had to find a taxi. But every taxi we talked to wouldn’t take us there they kept saying, “To dangerous!” Jordan and I looked at each other and said, “We have to at least go check it out as we are so close”. We were determined that this was going to be incredible. We went not realizing what we really signed up for.
As the taxi dropped us off at the exit of the west side of the ridge a man and 3 ladies came down as they just finished. We asked for directions on how to get to the entrance and asked how hard the hike was. The 3 ladies said, “Very hard!! But it was our first time.” The man said, “Super easy, I am going to walk the east side of the ridge now. Would you like to join me?” I guess he could read us like a book. We had no idea what we were doing so we decided to join him. This gentleman’s name was Ben he was in his 50s and in super good shape. He climbs this ridge every Saturday.
As we made it to the entrance we looked up at the trail, roots were formed like stairs but these stair like roots were up to the height of my knees. Within 15 mins we were already tired. Ben said, “It’s okay we can take lots of breaks we are here to enjoy the scenery so lets go slow”. We would stop take some pictures then continue to climb. We came across our first minor rock hill that was about 8ft tall and there was a rope from the top to the bottom with knots in the rope for some grip. Ben said, “Take the rope and find spots in the rocks to put your feet. Take your time and climb up.” There was a lot of debating before we actually decided to climb. At this point we wanted to turn around. We knew there was going to be 3 more ropes to climb and that’s it, we would then make it to the top. So we thought we could handle that. Every time we made it past one rope we would celebrate and tell each other we are awesome and we are “conquering mountains”. As we continued hiking Ben would pick up these beautiful crystal rocks that were so clear that you could see through them. He would find more and more and would give them to us. He found wild berries in the bush and we would eat these tiny berries that tasted so good. Ben showed us leaves that the village would pick and use as sandpaper because it was cheaper and worked just as good as the real sandpaper. Along this hiking journey we were experiencing all these new things along the trail that we would have never be able to experience without climbing this mountain.
We then made it to the tallest part of the mountain that we needed to climb. It was so steep but had a rope from top to bottom to hold onto. We had a choice though we could either go up this part or we could take the exit right now and go down the hill. It was our choice. Ben never told us we had to go up this hill. He never pushed us to go. He said, “You can go down this exit if you don’t think you can climb the rest but I believe you will be able to do it!” Jordan and I knew we couldn’t turn around after we have made it so far. Even though it was super high and I would have never been able to see myself do something like this in my life before this very moment. The only thought that went through my mind wasn’t fear, it wasn’t if I fall I could injure myself, it was, if only my mom knew what I was doing right now I would probably not be doing this haha. At this moment I wasn’t scared at all I just kept going because I knew the top was going to be incredibly beautiful and worth every piece of sweat falling off my face. We knew when we got to the top though it was going to be beyond breath taking! Ben had hiked the west and east side of the ridge every Saturday he was experienced and knew what he was doing so we just kept trusting him! Every step up that mountain Ben told us where to put our feet. He guided us and made us feel safe in that moment. He made us feel like we were the most incredible people ever and that we could conquer anything after we conquered this mountain!
When we made it to the top we were sweating uncontrollably, and were so dirty. It was incredibly hard my arms were shaking my legs were trembling but it was the most fulfilling thing. Why? Because I conquered a mountain!
To be continued…
