You will never walk alone if you have buddies like these guys. Even though you had not planned well enough and had relied mostly on knowledge which you thought was current, these guys will walk with you.
I had planned to trek up to the summit via the Durian Loop, past the Murnane Reservoir onto the Pipeline then strike uphill from there to reach the summit. However NParks closed the Kampong Trail and Durian Loop for major work from 6th December 2018 to 31st May 2020.
So we went up the via the South View Path. And so we made it up, made it down, saw some caves, ate and celebrated a camaraderie forged in the army in the 1980s.
Lesson learnt: Always verify data if it is more than 3 months old.
photo credit: Hashim Esa