Gunung Nuang

Gunung Nuang (1493m/4898ft), located at the end of the Ulu Langat road in Pangsun, is the tallest mountain peak in Selangor and is touted as a "more difficult" climb by many. Being the masochist that I am, I attempted Nuang with Dr James & gang yesterday.

Since this is my first time attempting Nuang, I did some research online, and found this: average 6hrs up, 5hrs down, totalling 11hrs! Dumbfounded, I packed two 1.5L drinking water, one 500mL drinking water, 2 cans of 100Plus, 2 Powerbars, 2 Powergels, 2 cans of Tuna in water, 2 buns from BreadStory, and some crackers. I was prepared to get stranded and spend a night in the mountain in case of calamities, LOL!

The wooden arch into Gunung Nuang

The initial plan by Jimbo & Co. was to start climbing latest by 06oohrs. Me, Wong (a friend of Jimbo's), and Raj (IMU Semester 8) were the earliest to reach at 0540hrs. The gang eventually arrived at about 0700hrs -_-

Group pic before climb - click to enlarge!

The actual climb started at 0730hrs. The initial climb was more like a walk, relatively smooth uphill and downhill track still accessible by motorbikes.

The initial track

The track took us to the first camp of the trail - Kem Lolo. Me and another IMU junior by the name of Ong reached here first, taking roughly 1hr and 15mins. Ong attacked the trail like a 100m sprinter - very fast. I had to increase my pace to catch up with him!

The first pit-stop

Ong wanted to go on, but I decided to stop and munch a PowerBar and gulp a packet of PowerGel. Afterall it's just 1hr 15mins of a 6hr-long climb, I thought! He must be cursing at my sissy-ness, and walked up to a nearby stream to snap some photos. Soon enough part of the group arrived.

The relatively shallow river (1st river crossing) at Kem Lolo

The grueling journey starts after Kem Lolo. All the notorious river crossings, muddy and steep terrain, and the slimy leeches are found from here upwards. All in all, there were 5 river crossings on the way up. The first 2 were shallow and I managed to hop around the stones to get over. The water level for the remaining 3 were knee-deep, it's impossible to get through without soaking our boots. I took off my footwear and waded through the strong stream current.

A millipede - Taken at Kem Pacat

I helped a number of trekkers at the river crossings - some old aunties and uncles who didn't want to wet their shoes, and some youngsters too. From the last river crossing, I increased my pace to catch up with our team leader, Ong, and together we reached the second camp, Kem Pacat, in about 1hr 30mins from Kem Lolo. We were the first climbers of the day to reach Kem Pacat! Downing a can of 100Plus and another packet of PowerGel, we continued our climb. Kem Pacat is the last stop before the summit. The climb from here averages about 2 hours.

Thirty-minutes from Kem Pacat, my team leader Ong screamed "buey-tahan" due to debilitating leg cramps and stopped abruptly, leaving yours truly to continue climbing alone. He didn't really scream la, only soft grumbles of "aiyoh aiyoh" only. Climbing further, I reached these confusing signages which says "To Summit Trail Gunung Nuang" and "Puncak Pengasih".

I thought summit is near, time-check: 1056hrs at this point. Meaning the climb so far was 3hrs 26mins. The metal tent of the summit wasn't in sight, so naturally I followed the sign pointing left to Gunung Nuang's Summit Trail.

The first few minutes of trekking from the signages were flat, but thereafter the terrain was a steep downhill descend! Sensing something was wrong, I stopped twice to check the images from my digital camera taken from the signage. 20mins into trekking the descending track, I decided to climb back up. Maybe "Puncak Pengasih" was the summit, I thought! Then I saw Wong near the signage, obviously confused as well. I told him, "It's all downhill from here, no way this is the way to the summit!". And together we turned, only to find a Chinese uncle in his 50's telling me "All your effort was wasted. We need to descend a little to get to the summit! Didn't anybody tell you this?!". I later learned this fit uncle was Mr. T.S. Loh, the very fit guy that Jimbo mentioned earlier. And about 40mins later, we reached the summit!

With T.S. Loh, the ultra-fit uncle (he started his climb at 8am+)!

Time-check at summit: 1155hrs (4hrs 25mins from base)

Time lost due to track uncertainties: roughly 30mins. Means I could actually summit this notorious Gunung Nuang in less than 4hrs! Wow!

View from the summit - Genting Highland was obscured by thick mists.

The last can of 100Plus went down into the tummy with a bun and plenty of drinking water! After a 30mins rest at the summit, T.S. Loh decided to descend, and I followed suit. I admitted I hate descending a mountain, I prefer climbing! The journey down was uneventful, but took longer than climbing up due to yours truly taking his own sweet time dipping at the river and rinsing the dirts and muds off his Timberland boots! :-)

An exotic plant?

Nope, the photo above shows the foot-end of my walking stick which I found abandoned by previous climbers in the nearby bushes last minute just before the climb. That's the amount of thrashing and thrusting suffered by the stick. I'm not sure if those fancy-aluminum-retractable walking sticks are as good as this al-naturale wooden walking stick, but I prefer the latter.

This is part of Dr. James' SMS to me after the climb:

"... I heard you were first to summit. Well done. "

Yes, I AM the best!

They blogged about the climb too:
1. Jimbo
2. OYY