Mountain Moments # 1.1 A Starting with a Year End (cont.)

And so we continue with days 2 and 3…….

Day 2:

Clear skies greet us good morning.

      The next day we were welcomed with perfect weather. The sky was clear and it was cold but the rays of the sun were present to warm us. The rays of the sun touching few parts of the camp reminded me of fond memories during my younger climbing days. Back then my brothers and I would run to portions of the camp site were the rays touched the ground. There we would huddle, sit on each others feet and keep warm.

                It was a relief for everyone that the trek for today would be much easier and shorter. The trek of the second day has one of my favourite portions of passing through the Akiki Trail. After an hour of trekking the pine forests ends and the mossy forest begins. I find this fascinating as the difference is clear and dramatic. The trees, the lighting, the colour and the temperature changes completely. From the warm and bright features of the pine forests the mossy forest offers a cool, damph and even eerie environment. The mossy forest is also very beautiful when the sun shines allowing the forest greens to glow radiantly and a bit of sunshine to peek through the little cracks between the thick maze of branches.

The mystical mossy forest.

                A little over an hour we exited the mossy forest and entered the 3^rd ecosystem of Mt. Pulag, the grasslands. It was foggy, wet and windy pushing the group to walk faster and have fewer breaks as not to feel the cold. Once in a while we would pause and silently enjoy the wind howl and sing and the grass and dwarf bamboo sway. At 11:30 AM the first group of our team arrived camp 3 also known as the saddle camp. Just as the previous day the mountain seemed to be pleased with us and gave us a clearing. Enough time for us to see the golden-brown grass dance behind the hills that from a beautiful earthly duet.

The grasslands has its own brand of mysterious feel. On a bright, sunny day the rolling hills covered in brown grass and dwarf bamboo

The Grass Lands.

 is still, barren, quiet and monotonous. It is as time stops. But this is exactly why it is beautiful. One can just stop, forget, gaze and realize how small he is amidst the vastness of mother earth.

                The second half of the group arrived at 12:30 PM. Over lunch, clouds would pass by covering the sun one minute then exposing is the next. It was if the clouds were teasing and playing with us. Exciting us with a glimpse of the summit and the rolling hills but not allowing enough time to take a good photo. I guess the point was for us to look, see, experience and remember things on our own. Sometimes we are too obsessed with capturing a moment that we fail to live it in its full glory.

                After 3:00 PM it started to rain and to get cold. The clouds failed to completely clear and the sun did not show. More climbers arrived at the camp site. Drenched, wet, cold and hungry. For me, one of the hardest things to do in a mountain is to set up camp while it is raining.

                The rain rested a bit around 5:00PM allowing the sun’s brightness to lord for a while. The sun was setting and clouds were not as thick allowing enough light to brighten the place.  Another breath taking sight. The whole sky was brownish and red in colour with the climbers’ and the mountain’s silhouette adding to the breath taking scene. “This was probably as close to Mars as I would get” I thought to myself. The end of day 2.

The day ends.

Day 3:

                I woke up at 3:45 AM. Through the layers of our tent I could see that there was brightness outside. It was the moon shining proudly. I knew instantly that the sky was clear and good view of the sunrise was almost inevitable. I crawled out of my tent and was thankful it was not too cold.  9 deg was the reading on my watch. I was excited and so was everyone who were quick to exit their tents ready for what the day would give. At 5:10 AM we started our trek to the summit. We wanted to get to the summit early to be able to reserve a space with a good view. On our way a few clouds passed by threatening to ruin a view of the sunrise.

                We arrived at the summit at around 5:30. We exchanged congratulations, I thanked everyone and then settled patiently to watch the sunrise. While waiting, we amusedly watched other climbers from the Ambangeg Trail ascend. The lights from their head lights littered the place and were like Christmas lights. At the summit we also met another Trail Adventours team led by Joel Grande and Bani Balaguer who guided a team of Thailanders.

The Akiki group(some of them) proudly poses at the summit.

                Finally, at 6:00 AM the sun began to show. The show was to begin! At first colours were slow to emerge but after around 15 minutes a burst of life. The sky was initially dominated by a sombre blue colour with hints of orange and red. Following a few minutes was an explosion of yellow, orange, red and gold. For me it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have seen on the mountain. Maybe it was the sunrise itself or maybe it was because to see that particular sunrise we have travelled long and hard. Some things are truly sweetest and most beautiful if it is achieved with much effort and difficulty.

Mt. Pulag Sunrise. Initially dominated by darker, more somber colors.

Then an explosion of brightness.

                At around 6:45 we started to descend back to the saddle point. As soon as we arrived we were welcomed by Gui who prepared

Trail to the Summit.

breakfast. The mouth watering smell of freshly cooked tuyo was yet another article of the day to excite us. After breakfast, we broke camp and got ready for our final hours of trekking for the adventure. As with the past 2 days we started with an ascent. We arrived near the summit and at the Ambangeg trail 30 minutes after we began and took it slower than usual. We wanted to enjoy, bask and linger in the moment. For many, this is a rare chance to have the place absent of any other people but ourselves. It was a clear sunny day and the grassland remained an amazement.

                During our descent we were saddened by the emergence of more trails at the grass land. It was also muddier than usual even in the parts were it is not usually muddy even when it rains. I’m quite convinced a regulation of climbers climbing via the Ambangeg Trail should be imposed.

                Our descent was fast and easy and the team did good time. The last person in our team to arrive at the ranger station did so at 12:45. Finally our climb was over and we rejoiced. Rejoicing probably because of the possibility of a rest, a bath and walking the rest of the day in slippers. We boarded our jeep, had lunch at Mam Gina’s place(Her soup was divine), said our formal goodbyes to Mam Mereng and proceeded to Baguio.

                In the faces of everyone were clear expressions of tiredness and exhaustion. Sleepy faces, eyes that were staring absently at the mountain side, we were a tired bunch.  But more than that was a sense of pride and happiness. They should be proud and happy. It was a daring feat, a difficult climb and a long journey. They had conquered the mountain through a path not many would dare go through.  They endured and they conquered. They should be proud and happy. But for me the pride and happiness came not only from conquering the mountain but more so for being given a chance to be one with it, to embrace it and to be blessed in experiencing  the grandness it is and has. End of Day 3.

An almost complete group picture. Congratulations everyone!!

P.S. Watch out for Coby’s account of his year end climb! His was in Mt. Purgatory.

(More picture courtesy of Deb Gundaya and Lester Canapi)

And it reads…

The day’s left overs.

Clouds clear for a while allowing us to see the grass lands.

Happy to be watching a sunrise.

 

Sunrise+sea of clouds+great people= one amazing adventure!!

 

 

 

 

 

Mountain Moments #1 Starting with a Year End

Apologies if our banner title sounds cheesy but it’s the best our simple, free spirited minds could summon. For now “Mountain Moments” it shall be…

First entry..ahhhh..sounds good..Firsts are always special; ironically, our first climbing related entry is an end, a year end climb entry that is.  Two year end climbs we each had.

The last weekend of December was our last climb of the year. As with many of our climb we were not heading for the same mountain.  Guido was to do a climb at the playground of the Gods, Mt. Pulag, via the Akiki Trail. Coby, on the other hand, was to climb the lesser known but similarly beautiful Mt. Purgatory. Both adventures started in Manila on the same night and rode the same bus bound for Baguio.  So there we were, 2 groups, sharing the same passion and love for the mountains both eager and very much excited for what lay ahead. The bus ride was smooth and for the early part was dominated by a lively exchange of stories and insights

Guido’s Adventure

I have climbed Mt. Pulag more than 10 times but always the mountain presents something special and majestic. Climbers do not usually get tired of going back to a mountain; there is depth in how they see its beauty. I guess I share the same sentiments.

For this adventure I was to climb via the Akiki trail, playing the role as team leader for a Trail Adventours assault of the mountain. I was assisted by another Trail Adventours guide, Justin Gui, and were joined by our regulars and friends CY, Lester, Abet, Bea and Jaime. Also joining us and new to the Trail Adventours family were Mary from Peru, Deb, Sir Irwin and Sir Boying. For me, it was a wonderful mix of people. The familiar, the new, the Filipinos, the balikbayan, the Korean who is A Filipino fan, the Peruvian first time visitor, the young and the young at heart. A diverse collection of people bringing their positive and exciting outlook of life equates to one exciting adventure!

The Team minus the guides.

Day 1:

Climbing with 2 bags.

We were at the obscure Akiki Trail Jump-off point by around 10:30 AM. We fixed our packs, got to meet our guides and porters and started with our hike. Our adventure had just barely started when we encountered our first challenge. We were missing a porter! The first and probably the unwise decision was for me and Gui to take turns in carrying the 20kg bag. It was huge as it contained most of our group equipment. Just 15 minutes into the climb I was sweating like hell. The difficulty was not so much the weight but imbalance the huge bag brought. Imagine a 70L pack filled and weighing 20kg hanging by your side. Eventually it was time to swallow one’s pride   and do the smarter thing. With the encouraging of everyone we distributed load. A bottle of water for Mary, 2 cans of butane for CY, the small tent for Gui and so on and so forth. We managed to significantly lighten the load but more importantly it trimmed the size of the extra bag enough for it to be tied on my pack.

The Edet River.

               Less than 2 hours after we began the team reached the Edet River. It was lunch time and the scenery fit perfectly as we munched on our rice, chicken and pork chops. It was cloudy, gloomy and a drizzle had just started but almost everyone was looking deep into the river’s powerful but graceful flow. It seemed to glow amidst the subdued colours of the sky and the mountains. The river was very much alive and mighty.

                After finishing lunch and filling our water bottles we were off to continue our trek. We crossed the famous hanging bridge which has become more flimsy since the last time I crossed it. Of course a picture taking opportunity would not be missed.

  The crossing of the bridge marked the end of the easy part of the climb and the start of the toughest section of the climb. Literally, around 30 steps after crossing the bridge the infamous 70 deg trail starts.. It was my 3^rd climb via the Akiki trail but the steepness will always be a challenge, more so because I had an extra bag hanging awkwardly atop my bag. There was barely a flat spot (if I remember it right there was only 2) and even during rests we were still exerting effort in order to keep our balance and avoid sliding. During climbs like this steady and surely is key. No need for sudden bursts of speed and waste of energy. What will bring you up in one piece and sometimes even faster is a consistent and steady march. Usually I count till 50 and then take a stop and counting 5 to catch my breath. Longer steady walks with less rests seem to be the best strategy for a long and steep climb. Thankfully the difficulty of the trail has its almost immediate rewards.  During our steep ascent we had to merely look behind and us to enjoy  the many beautiful views that seem to be everywhere. Even more beauty is  easier seen by merely realizing where one is. The

The Grass Lands.

pine forest is majestic; the trees tower above, the smell of pine is calming, the wind soothing and the drops of rain touching  our skin seem to energize us. The mountain is like a parent. Providing just enough, giving when it matters, subtle in encouragement for man to continue, to strive and to not give up. Tough love I guess.

At around 5:00 PM we arrived at the Marlboro Country (I still do not get why it is called such) and the mountain seemed pleased as it rewarded us with a clearing and a great sunset. The night was equally beautiful. The stars were bright and plentiful, we had a full moon that seemed bigger than usual. We retired to our tents with everybody tired and exhausted and anxious of the next day. Despite being tired there was no doubt that it was a good day. A very good day.  The end of day 1.

Pine Trees Tower Above us along the Trails.

Sunset as seen from the Marlboro Country

A different view of the sunset from the Marlboro Country Camp Site.

(Pictures courtesy of Deb Gundaya)

And After Years..Finally!

Finally, after years of climbing and travelling, after numerous peaks scaled, adventures and misadventures and after much discussion my brother, Coby, and I(Guido) have finally agreed to set up a blog.

We realized that our over 10 years of climbing has allowed us to see, hear, feel, learn and experience very many amazing things. Things of which we would want to share in the hopes that it would help and benefit others. There is always excitement knowing you have some beautiful, amazing things to share. It is hard and unfair to keep it to one self. It is like the healed woman(or was it a man) who ran to the village proclaiming Jesus’s healing of her despite Jesus’ order to not tell anyone. Some happy, beautiful, grand, awesome, amazing, inspiring, pretty, nice, overwhelming (and  all the other good words in the dictionary) things and experiences just cannot be contained.

Our blog, for now, will be quite straight forward(nothing fancy for now). We will write about our climbs and adventures both recently and from our much younger days, we will share some reflections and advocacies. We also wish to impart practical information and as such will give some tips and tricks we have learned through the years or travelling and hopefully we can also give credible and true reviews of some equipment and products used in mountain climbing. Lastly,we would like this blog to be as interactive as possible. We would love to hear your comments, suggestions, questions and even violent reaction (just no profanity please) so that we can encourage a healthy, lively and united climbing community.

We are hoping we can summon much discipline to be able to write often and keep our blog as updated as possible.

Before our firs climb related post let my brother and I introduce a bit of ourselves and our climbing career.

We have been climbing since 1997(or earlier?) through a forceful invitation from our dad. Together with my 2 elder brothers we had a 2 year active climbing stint. Our dad had gotten addicted to climbing and it felt that we were climbing 1-2 mountains a month most of which were major mountains. After our dad ran out of juice, our climbing career halted for a while but not for long.

One of our very few pictures together.

Coby joined the San Beda Mountaineering Society and had much climbing during his college days. During his those days he proved his mettle and strength climbing regularly and joining many exploratory climbs. He was also an officer in the group.

Guido on the other hand did not join a mountaineering club for his schedule as a varsity athlete did not permit it. But still he was well into traveling, many destinations of which included mountain climbing. He would organize day hikes for friends and classmates as well.

Aside from climbing we are also musicians. Coby plays the saxophone and I play the trumpet. We are both strong lovers of classical music, jazz, blues and funk. But of course we listen to almost all genres. Both still actively perform but Coby us much more active in the music circuit.

So that is us and our humble attempt for a blog for now. We shall see you either online or on an adventure somewhere our legs lead us!