Gunung Pulai (Baling)

Gunung Pulai near Baling, Kedah — not the busier Johor hill of the same name — is one of the steepest things we have ever measured. Three kilometres that took a full six hours: it climbs almost straight up, +472 m in barely a kilometre and a half, then gives it back down a 38% average gradient. Ropes-and-roots territory. Every number is off the watch.

Distance means nothing

Pulai is the technical extreme of the block. The descent is a single continuous drop of 548 m at a 38% average gradient — by far the steepest we have logged — and the whole thing is 3 km at roughly 0.5 km/h. This is pure steep-ground handling: hauling up on roots and easing down slopes where a slip has consequences. Fitness barely enters into it; it is all terrain and care.

It is the counterpoint to the gentle long days — see the whole spread on the measured training journey.

What to expect

• 3 km, six hours. The slowest hike we have logged — about 0.5 km/h. Read the time, not the distance.
• Near-vertical. A 38% average descent gradient, +472 m gained in barely a kilometre and a half. Expect ropes, roots and hands-on scrambling.
• Not a fitness day. A 136 bpm average — the effort is in the terrain and the care, not the pace.
• Not the Johor one. This is Gunung Pulai in Baling, Kedah — a far harder, wilder hill than its better-known Johor namesake.

More measured trails

One of the Malaysian hills we train on for the big treks — measured first-hand, same standard as the rest of the site. See all the measured trails, how we measure, and the full training journey.