Mount Kinabalu was a daily site from my bedroom window when I was child. It was off in the distance, but definitely a presence. My dad, the anthropologist, had us living in the Ranau District of Sabah in North Borneo, now part of Malaysia.
He was a bit of an adventurer as you might surmise. I mean, who takes their family off into the wilds of Borneo in the early 60’s. My dad, that’s who.
I guess looking at that mountain every day was a bit much for him and he decided it was something he just had to climb. He signed my mom up for the journey (she being a bit of an adventurer herself). By the way, “signing up” in those days did not mean engaging a tour company. It meant organizing a climb pretty much on your own. As I understand it, and from the photos I’ve seen, Mount Kinabalu doesn’t require Everest or Matterhorn mountaineering skills…just legs, stamina, a decided lack of fear (or a healthy one perhaps), and local guidance.
Off they went. They came back to (or I’d be writing this from a village in Ranau with Malaysian citizenship no doubt – and in Malay instead of English to boot – yes, I spoke it at age 5…like a 5 year old).
Here’s a set of shots which I described on FB as:
More scanned shots…probably the last for the day. As I’m sure you all know, Kinabalu is a mountain in the Sabah state of Malaysia. We could see the peak from our home in Ranau when I was a kid and my mom and dad climbed it. I was probably 5 at the time so I was left out. I may have to go back. Here’s a set of photos from Kinabalu and one from a plane of a village. I do not know if my father took these shots as I do not recognize anything or anyone in the photos and because the slides are labeled “KODACHROME DUPLICATE, Made by Kodak (Malaysia) Limited.” He may have had these copied from someone else’s set (contact me if these are yours or your family’s…love to hear the story), purchased them (was that a thing in 1963?), or they may, in fact, be his…no clue.
