A 6.0 magnitude earthquake on 5 June 2015 destroyed part of the old summit trails on Mt. Kinabalu. On 1 Dec 2015, a new summit trail named Ranau Trail is open and becomes the Standard trail to climb Mt. Kinabalu until now, and I had covered this trail in detail in my article “How to Climb Mount Kinabalu and How Much it Cost?”.
Ranau and Kota Belud Trails (Click to Zoom In). Both start from Panalaban and meet at Sayat-Sayat (checkpoint 1.6 Kilometres before the summit)
Kota Belud Trail
The second new trail called Kota Belud Trail is open on 9 Dec 2016. I had climbed it three months ago (with special permit by Sabah Parks, as it wasn’t open to public that time), and this post will give you an overall of this new trail.
1. Kota Belud Trail is 170 Metres longer than Ranau (Standard) Trail
The one-way distance (from Timpohon Gate starting point to the Summit) of Kota Belud Trail is 8.97 KM, while Ranau Trail is 8.8 KM. The starting point of Kota Belud Trail is next to Gunting Lagadan Hut and Panar Laban Hut, while Ranau Trail is started behind the Pendant Hut.
Ranau Trail is less challenging than the old trail
Kota Belud trail doesn’t start at Kota Belud town, and Ranau Trail doesn’t start from Ranau town too. You can see these districts from the trails on mountain hence their names. Both trails start at Laban Rata and end at Sayat-Sayat checkpoint.
Descending via Ranau Trail
Though Kota Belud Trail is more challenging, the experience is more thrilling.
2. Kota Belud Trail is more Challenging than Ranau Trail
Ranau Trail is more tourist-friendly and safer because there are a lot of staircase and climbing aid. Kota Belud Trail is quite “raw” with limited support, so it is meant for adventurers who want to do real climbing. You need to be quite fit, and more upper body strength is required for climbing at the steep section.
Staircase on Ranau Trail
The most difficult part of Ranau Trail is still quite easy to climb
Rock climbing section on Kota Belud Trail
3. Kota Belud Trail is more Rocky
Most of the time you will walk on rock face and rocky ground, while Ranau Trail is flanked by dense vegetation most of the time.
Granite rock trail of Kota Belud Trail
Nice open view at Kota Belud Trail. You can see Aki Point platform far behind
Nature path of Ranau Trail
4. Both trails start at Panalaban (then Laban Rata) and meet at Sayat-Sayat
Sayat-Sayat is a checkpoint 1.6 KM before the summit. The following routes are unchanged (before and after the earthquake):
- Timpohon Gate (Starting Point) → Panalaban (Laban Rata, the location of midway accommodation): 6 KM
- Sayat-Sayat Checkpoint → Summit: 1.6 KM
Kota Belud Trail ends at Sayat-Sayat (see green building in photo), where it meets Ranau Trail too.
5. Both trails have very different scenery
Climbing via Ranau Trail is like walking in a garden because climbers will see many flora along the way. On Kota Belud Trail, you climb on bare rock face most of the time, but the panoramic view of the landscape is magnificent!
Panoramic view from Kota Belud Trail. You can see Laban Rata Resthouse from there.
Ranau Trail is flanked by dense vegetation
Aki Point on Ranau Trail
Ranau Trail: See the man in red?
Below is a table to summarize the differences between these two summit trails:
| Ranau Trail (Standard) | Kota Belud Trail | |
| Distance (one way) | 8.8 KM | 8.97 KM |
| Difficulty | Easy. Many staircases. Relatively less steep | Steep and challenging. Limited climbing aid. |
| Features | Dense and rich variety of summit vegetation along the trail | Route on rock face and rocky ground. Beautiful panoramic view. |
You know what. You can get better idea by watching the following video of Kota Belud trail. It shows our climb from the starting point to the summit. You can jump to 3:27 to see Kota Belud Trail:
The following is a photo walk-through of Kota Belud trail in chronological order:
Starting point of Kota Belud Trail
Kota Belud Trail is more challenging than Ranau Trail
The “waterfall section” not far from the starting point
Nice view at Kota Belud Trail
Beginning section of the Kota Belud Trail
Climbing along the slope of Kota Belud Trail
Resting on the rockface
Wide and long rockface section of Kota Belud Trail
Staircase on Kota Belud Trail
Starting point of the steepest rock climbing section
This is the most challenging part of Kota Belud Trail.
Steep slope of Kota Belud Trail. It’s no joke if you fall from there.
The most difficult part is almost over
Reaching the Sayat-Sayat Checkpoint (green building at the left). At the right are climbers on Ranau Trail.
Both Kota Belud and Ranau trails end and meet at Sayat-Sayat Checkpoint.
Relax after overcoming the hardest part
Walking on the rockface (about 1.5 KM before the summit)
Group photo in front of Wishing Pond at the foot of Low’s Peak
On the way to the summit of Mt. Kinabalu
Happy lady climbers on the summit
Group photo on top of Mount Kinabalu
At the moment, I’m not sure if we will need special permit or requirement to climb Mt. Kinabalu via Kota Belud Trail. If this trail is open to public, you can get the most fun by ascending via Kota Belud Trail and descending via Ranau Trail. I’ll update this post when I get the latest information.
Photos taken on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo
wow! the new trails was being named after districts in Sabah, such as Ranau and Kota Belud. Awesome!