| U/TREK
VIRGINS CONQUER HALCON
By Christopher Marin
HALCON,
regarded as the toughest mountain to climb and the third highest
mountain in the Philippines with a height of 2,587-meter (8,448
feet). There is so much pride for a mountaineer to conquer
HALCON. As the mountaineers said, a true test of a mountaineer
is taking a step on the summit of this mountain.
Climbing
HALCON will always be an itch to a mountaineer.
For
me, it was been a long dream to take a journey to the top
of that mountain. Even being "in-and-out" of U/TREK
circulation, the true spirit of a mountaineer still resides
in my nerve. And, I am still a true-blooded U/TREK. Proud
to be one!
My
last major climb was PULOG in June 1998. That was five years
ago! And here, I accepted the challenge to scratch that itch
to set-foot on top of HALCON.
I
started to go into "semi-diet" just to shake-off
some extra luggage I accumulated eating sumptuous buffet diners
on hotel lobbies. Then, did some jogging to firm-up some rusty
muscles. But, that was for just three months before the scheduled
climb!
It
is now or never... Arm with 60% determination and 40% physical
fitness, I am ready to conquer HALCON!
We
take pride to be called HALCON VIRGINS, after all we are all
first-timer, and the line-up:
Expedition
Leader - ART
Members:
GUIDO
TIGER JOEL
GEORGE
CHRIS
ABNER
And me...
With guest
ANGEL
DINO
And
we did it! We conquer HALCON! How we did it?
The
key was the spirit of FUN! Since all of us were "virgins"
we were trailblazers. We don't know what time to reach a point
in the IT. We never expect to reach Dulangan River by 5PM
with all our gears set for a nite trek on the first day and
reaching the lunch camp at 10:00AM on the Big Waterfalls (last
water source before the summit) on the second day. And the
classic of all, CHRIS was asking where is the summit at 4:15PM
wherein he was already on the highest elevation of HALCON!
There
were so much FUN that we never thought we were climbing the
toughest mountain. GUIDO was eyeing on his crush in almost
all of our"take-five breath" breaks. ABNER on the
other hand was worried on finding ways to communicate to his
girlfriend for their "month-sary". TIGER stayed
cool all thru-out the climb and always on the look on his
favorite stuff toy, TIGGER! GEORGE hiked as if he is going
to set the record. ME, I was enjoying every step.
The
four-day HALCON adventure could have been worse without this
best U/TREK line-up. Everybody just "jellied" and
performed like an orchestra in concert. I can assure that
we all had a blast of FUN! Lots of FUN!
The
agonies or any mental torture is over. Once more U/TREK proved
that nothing beats the spirit of a true mountaineer, not even
the toughest mountain. A true U/TREK is always willing to
accept the challenge and enjoy the journey.
Else,
let me go over my laundry-list of people who offered anything
that made our HALCON climb safe and safe... THANKS so much,
ARTH,
you are a born mountaineer and a leader. The MISUA SOUP you
prepared on the summit is like having a feast at SHANG PALACE.
You are a leader who sets a good example. You are respected.
To
the other members of this TEAM (GUIDO, TIGER JOEL, GEORGE,
CHRIS and ABNER), although we are all first-timers, we managed
to find a place where we all get connected and focus on single
objective of reaching the summit. The shared laughters keep
us all going. GUIDO was right in saying that "this is
the funniest major climb.
To
our guest, ANGEL, whom we meet on our tune-up CRISTOBAL climb
and DINO, ARTH's high school classmate, you will be part of
our stories.
To
fellow U/TREKs who share HALCON experiences, be it horror
stories, inspirations and guidance.
To
DOC ROSA, for facilitating our pre-climb meeting and for sharing
her most valuable experience, after all DOC knows HALCON from
all angle.
To
the current U/TREK officers, to president JUDITH, for believing
on us and praying for our safe.
And
most, to GOD, for giving us the sound mind and sound body
to reach the summit and get back safely. And for giving us
the best weather during the whole journey.
Did
I miss anything? Of there will always be untold stories!
Cheers,
=toping
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