Of Friday Night Climbs

Fridays oh fridays..thank god its friday..alright enough about the pun on fridays. Firdays for most ppl would be relaxation, as students end their gruelling week of studying, adults with their gruelling working hours during the weekdays. so when friday comes everyone is in a bouyant mood, ppl going home earlier hence the massive jam in the highways. Everyone is happy as they usher in the weekend.

Fridays for me on the other hand is very normal. during holidays, the usual mamak till late night, pool at AC or even the movies. but little did i noe when i entered IMU, Infinity Milers to be exact would i anticipate a FRIDAY NIGHT CLIMB. yes i am dead serious. hiking at NIGHT!! woohoo!! sound intruiging? intimidating, even ironic.
Nonetheless its all in the spirit of training for our next major hike. it's already marked down on my calender. Nov 7 to 10. its at tapah near kuala woh. and we would be scaling 2 peaks of Gunung Batu Putih. hence, training for night hiking is crucial.

so of we went in typical Infinity Milers fashion, a convoy of 11 cars as 36 ppl turned up for the hike. journey there was fairly jam free only when we reached jln gasing the roads for jammed infamously. anyhow, b4 even starting to hike, our convoy was broken into 4 groups due to the massive jam. the last 2 grps got lost whereas the 2nd grp with me, YH, and a few other cars taking a slight detour into Raju's to call our prez Ray Mun for direction. So what seemed to be a scheduled 7pm hike ended up to be an 8.45pm one. without much delays, we did our warmup and another pep-talk from our prez.

of we went into bukit gasing, the pitch black darkness of the forest. In single file we hiked with our head and hand held torches. the hike would have been easier if not for the muddy trial due to extensive rain and the darkness. after 1 hr 15 mins, we reached an opening where we could see a resevior and the huge night sight of PJ and KL. spirits were high as we thought we completed the climb in fairly easy fashion. up next was a road trial which led us to a village. and we asked the pakcik for direction, he directed us back into the jungle. haihz..we were like OH NO!! but in keeping up with IM's 3 C's which is NO COMPLAINING, NO COMPARING and NO COMPETING, off we were back into the jungle. and thank God we manage to get back to our cars by 11.30pm. any later than that and we would be in a slight fix.

the hike was one of my best to date, but i know Gunung Batu Putih would be tougher for sure. hence, more training will follow as I train my upper body strength and endurance. so that was how my last friday went..fairly unconventional but nonetheless priceless in it's own way. we ended our day with mamak at SS2 murni as we were only surviving on our lunch earlier.

Ciaoz..next up, my conquer of klang and mizuno wave run and of course the hike to Gunung Batu Putih peak, the 8th highest mountain in peninsula malaysia.