[2][3][4] Low's Peak can be climbed by a person in good physical condition and there is no need for mountaineering equipment at any point on the main route, but climbers must be accompanied by accredited guides at all times due to national park regulations and may experience altitude sickness.

The present landform is considered to be a mid-Pliocene peneplain, arched and deeply dissected, through which the Kinabalu granodiorite body has risen in isostatic adjustment.

[11] Mount Kinabalu along with other upland areas of the Crocker Mountains is known worldwide for its biodiversity with plants of Himalayan, Australasian, and Indomalayan origin.

A recent botanical survey of the mountain estimated a staggering 5,000 to 6,000 plant species (excluding mosses and liverworts but including ferns).

Typical trees include species of the plant families Fagaceae and Lauraceae, with conifers increasingly abundant at higher elevations.

Carnivorous plants, including species of Nepenthes, Drosera, and Utricularia, are most diverse between 2200 and 2550 meters elevation, in areas with high rainfall and a stunted, open tree canopy.

Mount Kinabalu's above-average biodiversity in plant life is due to a combination of several unique factors: its setting in one of the richest plant regions of the world (the tropical biogeographical region known as western Malesia which comprises the island of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and the island of Borneo), the fact that the mountain covers a wide climatic range from near sea level to freezing ground conditions near the summit, the jagged terrain and diversity of rocks and soils, the high levels of rainfall (averaging about 2,700 mm (110 in) a year at park HQ), and the climatic instability caused by periods of glaciation and catastrophic droughts which result in evolution and speciation.

[23] There are some 326 species of birds in Kinabalu Park, including the spectacular rhinoceros hornbill, mountain serpent-eagle, Dulit frogmouth, eyebrowed jungle flycatcher, and bare-headed laughingthrush.

The mountain is home to some 100 mammalian species mostly living high in the trees, including one of the great apes, the Bornean orangutan (though sightings of these are uncommon; estimates of its numbers in the park range from 25 to 120).

[1] Other mammals include three kinds of deer, the Malayan weasel (Mustela nudipes), Oriental small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinerea), and leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis).

However, others of its endemics, such as the Bornean ferret-badger (Melogale everetti) and Rattus baluensis, have also recently been recorded in the nearby Mount Tambuyukon.

[27] [17] British colonial administrator Hugh Low made the first recorded ascent of Mount Kinabalu's summit plateau in March 1851 with local Dusun guide Lemaing of Kampung Kiau.

[30] Six days before the earthquake, a group of ten western tourists (comprising six men and four women from Canada, Germany, Netherlands and the United Kingdom) had stripped naked and urinated while on the mountain's summit.

[31] Local people were deeply offended, and many who considered Kinabalu to be a sacred place believed that the act had angered the mountain spirits.

[33] Following the incident, some of the tourists and their families expressed their apologies to all involved parties, and the government of the United Kingdom began to review its travel advice for Malaysia.

There are two main starting points for the climb: the Timpohon Gate (located 5.5 km (3.4 mi) from Kinabalu Park Headquarters, at an altitude of 1,866 m (6,122 ft)),[36] and the Mesilau Nature Resort.

Due to the limited number of beds at the mountain huts, only 130 people are allowed to climb Mount Kinabalu per day.

[38] A book about the 31-day fight for survival entitled Descent into Chaos was published in 1996 and a film drama The Place of the Dead was released in 1997.

The first successful complete descent of Low's Gully was achieved by a 27 strong joint Malaysian-British team led by mountaineer and former British Army officer Pat Gunson in 1998.

The most plausible origin of the word "Kinabalu" is believed to be derived from the Dusun phrase 'Aki Nabalu,' signifying "the revered place of the dead" [citation needed] .

[42] Due to the lingual influence among the Kadazan Dusun of Sabah, the pronunciation for the word "cina" (chee-na) was changed to "Kina" (kee-na).

[43] An earlier book by Spenser St. John published in 1863 mentioned the Kina Balu (Chinese widow) as a reference to the mountain.