| U/TREK
INDUCTS BATCH 2003 (1ST BATCH) IN MT. GUITING-GUITING
By Judith Palero
After all this time of wanting to scale Mt. Guiting-Guiting,
we, at last, did it. Or let me say scaled half of it.
It's been part of the club's tradition that we do our first
induction climb on the month of June which usually gives us
limited new choices of above 5,000-feet mountains to climb.
It is during this time that the start of the wet season begins.
Something to be considered seriously.
I had apprehension to push the climb when a big typhoon hit
Luzon area by the last week of May. I was already considering
Plan B, as in Banahaw, taking the regular trail at that. Ugh!
Not again! Not this time anyway. Mt. Guiting-Guiting it shall
be.
Good thing, the officers of the climb, John & Rory, did
not faltered. And it seemed that the climbing spirit of all
the members who participated was just unwavering. And we were
having good signs. The weather was getting better. And all
seemed good to go.
From the original 35 or so climbers who signed up and showed
their intent, 29 pushed through, 20 members with 9 inductees.
The male to female ratio was even fair at 15 to 14.
Packing for this trip was a big challenge. I had never lugged
6-8 liters of water in my entire climbing career. That was
not physically possible for me. But, there seemed to be no
other choice since the mountain offers very limited source
of water at high elevation. And so, we stuffed our packs the
best way we could. Hoping we could still lift it off the ground,
much less carry it in our backs up the mountain.
John, Rory & Jerick met very early Thursday morning to
go to Batangas Pier to secure ferry tickets for the entire
group. The rest of the pack assembled at Buendia by noon.
We were able to re-group at Batangas Pier with enough time
to spare before we boarded the ferry "Princess Colleen"
bound to Romblon Island. It was just the day before our departure
when we found out that Viva Shipping Line, the ferry that
go directly to Sibuyan Island, cancelled its regular trip.
So we had to take the other ferry to Romblon Island and then
travel by pump boat to Sibuyan Island.
The almost 12-hour ferry ride was very relaxing. Some of
us opted to rest while the others hanged out. We were billeted
at the open upper deck with simple but comfortable double
bunk beds. The weather was great. Calm sea clear sky with
the full moon casting glistening silver sheet on the ocean's
surface. There was a 1-hour stop over in Odiongan Port in
Tablas Island by dawn. We already made arrangement with one
of the passenger in the ferry for a pump boat ride to Sibuyan,
so we had a fast transition when we docked in Romblon.
The strait was unbelievably calm. The sea, like a glass top
reflecting the still cool morning sun. In the distance, the
silhouette of Mt. Guiting-Guiting hovers enticingly. We did
not mind the 1.5-hour cruise. We enjoyed watching several
small flying fishes dart out and glide along the waters' surface.
Then, just a few meters from our boat, a dorsal fin protruded,
followed by a shine of a hunch dolphin's back. Yahoo! We had
at least four sightings of wild dolphins in the area. A special
treats for most of us.
Pog (Jhede's good friend whom John made prior arrangement
with in Manila) and Pog's cousin, who will be climbing with
the group plus Toto (VP of the Guide Association in Mt. Guiting-Guiting)
was already waiting for us at Magdiwang Port. We were then
brought to the center of the town to have breakfast and load
up on supplies, then proceeded to the house of Manong Lee
in Brgy. Tampayan. We repacked our stuff here while John,
Toto & I went to the NIPAP headquarter to register the
group. Unfortunately, that ate up a lot of time.
We started our trek around 11am already, following the concrete
road to the interior of the barrio and then took an uphill
dirt trail that brought us on a plateau. That was an open
field with views of green rolling hills. It was around here
when I decided to hire a porter to carry my pack. He was Manong
Fil, 54-year old, and the oldest member of the 17-men guide
association in Mt. Guiting-Guiting. I feared that I will be
having a hard time in this climb and I did not wanted to burden
the whole group by being a liability (which I usually am during
major climbs) since everybody was weigh down already.
After 1-hour of trekking, we reached 'Malamig' river and
load up on water. EL decided that the group had their lunch
at this area to maximize the availability of water. After
1 hour we resumed our trek. We treaded on relatively easy
trail up the forest line until it started to incline to 20-50
degrees. We reached Camp 1 after another hour. We had a good
10-15 minutes rest at this spot. The heavy load tired out
most of us. We re-group again at Camp 2 after more than 1.5
hours of trekking. The trail to get there was exhausting plus
again the torment of the load burying the climbers down to
the ground. We had a long rest here until the guide pushed
us to continue since we were still a long way out. With our
pacing, we were told that we would be night trekking.
The trail to Camp 3 was not very difficult but very long.
I fell behind from the lead group and was trekking by myself
for quite a time until Angie caught up with me. I kept on
stopping because I was extremely sleepy making me a bit disoriented.
She told me that I was experiencing symptoms of fatigue. Which
I learned later on was happening to other climbers as well.
Soon enough, we saw the last ray of the sinking sun in the
horizon when we were still a few meters below Camp 3. The
darkness brought in cold air making the clinging sweats in
our body chilly. That worsened my condition, I was cold. By
the time I reached Camp 3, all I wanted to do was go to sleep.
Of course, they did not let me do that. They made me change
my shirt, put on a jacket, contained my body heat and take
in hot fluids. I was even beginning to be annoyingly difficult.
I was told that I was having 1st stage hypothermia. Interesting,
I never had that before. And to think that all I had to do
was slept through it.
I was not aware of what was going on with the rest of the
group even. When I recovered, we pushed on. I asked Manong
Fil to buddy with me since he did not have a flashlight and
I did not wanted to look for a trail in the dark. We passed
by Bulod's spring, and there was very little water indeed.
Toto on the other hand, climbed up the walls and took out
from his hidden places 11 1.5 bottles of water. And who said
there was no water source. The amazing thing was, he carried
10 of it, I think.
The next rest stop was at the big tree in the bottom of the
steep assault to Mayo's campsite. The view from this place
was the left side of the drop wall below Mayo's peak. Under
the diffused moonlight, it was spectacular, scary but spectacular.
At this point, our destination seemed so near. To get there
though we still had to scale an open perpendicular wall. The
darkness of the night made this terrifying feat easy, had
to do four-wheel drive most of the way. And a long way that
was. I even slept twice along that trail. (I was still sleepy,
what can I say.)
Not long, we hit flat land. Most of the climbers who had
gone ahead had already settled in. Tents were up, dinner brewing,
and the body, recovering. Last man got in at 9pm. The announcement
that the wake up call was at 4am for the next day's summit
assault prompted most of us to get the much-needed sleep our
body was craving for.
But not us, Rory, George and I went up Mayo's Peak. The evening
sky was gray with heavy clouds. The full moon peaking occasionally
through it. Though the mountain beyond was dark, its jagged
feature was so define. Though we only had a dim glimpse of
the sheer drop of its slopes, its intensity was resounding
back at us. On a clear day, the summit peak might have been
intimidating. But with the shadows blanketing the scene, it
became enchanting. And it will remain a mystery for us until
daybreak. Or will it?
We head back to camp around midnight. By 2am, it started
to rain. It did not let up the whole morning. Clouds enveloped
the campsite all that time which inspired some of us to snoozed
back to sleep. EL was already up and about checking the condition
of our possible assault. Eventually, it was decided that an
assault attempt would be very dangerous for the group. Visibility
was limited to a few meters only due to lingering clouds,
the rocks would be wet and slippery, and the climbers would
be exposed to wind chill and rain, too risky to even consider.
It was agreed that all members of the expedition would go
down after the induction rites.
After a lazy breakfast, we inducted 9 new members to the
club at a campsite just below Mayo's peak. You know how it
is.
Up in Mayo's peak, the silhouettes of the higher mountain
ranges that captivated me the night before was gone all together.
Hidden from view by drawn curtains of white clouds. It saddened
me that our group who have come a long way and suffered so
much was barred beyond that point, not even the view of what
could have been. I felt the heavy hearts of our members as
they turned their back away. Relenting to the unfulfilled
quest.
There were greater forces at play at that time. Powers that
we had to concede to. Maybe some other time we will be back
to try again.
We head down around 11:30am, all the new members were left
at the end of the pack. Pacing was at his owned prerogative.
Climbers started arriving at Manong Lee's house between 5
to 7:30 that evening. It was only when we reached the barrio
that we learned that the whole province of Romblon was under
Signal No.1 due to typhoon Egay. The whole town of Magdiwang
was even worried about the mountaineers who were caught by
the storm in the mountain.
Though the hospitality of Manong Lee and his family is well
known in the mountaineering society, experiencing it for our
selves was overwhelming. We were all over his house, in the
sala, in their beds, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the
kubo, every where. And they didn't seem to mind. I hope that
he had fun bantering with some us as well.
The continuous rain that evening and the news of a typhoon
some how dampened the spirit of most of us since we were hoping
to travel back to Manila the next day to be able to report
for work by Monday. Early Sunday morning, John & I head
to Magdiwang port to check with the Coast Guard for our possible
sail out to Romblon Island to catch the ferry back to Batangas
Pier leaving 11am that day. The Coast Guard office told us
that all sea faring vessels were suspended from going out
to sea.
That was the time when I called Arth to inform him of our
current predicament. We then went back to inform the group
of our situation. Told them to contact their family and work
for they might be worrying already.
And so, we were stranded for another day and there was nothing
much to do. Some of us slept again, others played cards, there
were those who went exploring and the rest just do their own
thing to pass the time. After lunch, we were bored. We decided
to hire a passenger jeep and went to see Lambingan Falls.
It's a low tiered falls featured in Lakbay TV. The guys had
fun diving and swimming around. Then, we went to the beach.
This was just after the main bridge going in to Magdiwang
town. The unique feature of the place was the big pine trees
growing along its coast. It has a wide long stretch of fine
yellowish sand. A perfect place for our hardcore 'patintero'
game. Now that's a fun way to spend our time.
We left Brgy. Tampayan around 10am Monday morning bound to
Cajidiocan port, 1.5 hours away from Magdiwang. We had to
leave early in lieu of the high tide that floods some portion
of the dirt road that snakes around the coast between these
two towns. The coastline scenery was breathtaking. Lush mangrove
forests abound.
We were all aboard "Mary the Queen" vessel of MBRS
Shipping Lines by 3pm. It was a big old passenger cruiser
that came from Iloilo, big enough to be allowed to sail out
in still rough waters. As the morning break, we approached
Manila bay. We docked safely at Pier 8 of North Harbor around
6am Tuesday.
After all the stress in planning the climb, that's how it's
been. Unfortunately, we were not able to attain what we had
set out to do. We had accomplished a breakthrough though;
we brought U/TREK back to Mt. Guiting-Guiting. And, we shall
be back again.
/judith-june 2003
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