| MOUNT CRISTOBAL
LOCATION: Quezon & Laguna Province
ELEVATION: 1500 meters above sea level
LEVEL: Minor Climb, Level III, Moderate-Difficult
JUMP OFF POINTS: Dolores Quezon, Nagcarlan
Laguna
INFORMATION:
Mt. Cristobal was long known within the mountaineering community
as the "spooky mountain." It was always referred
to as Banahaw's alter ego meaning that if Banahaw is the power
mountain with lots of positive energy, Cristobal supposed
to be the opposite- a mountain with negative energies. Lot's
of stories circulates that tends to prove this but we are
not just sure if they are fabrics of a mountaineer's adventurous
imaginations bolstered by a pre-conditioned mind that this
place is supposed to be a "horror mountain." Everytime
we climb the place, one member will claim of hearing strange
sounds at night but the only thing I can remember spooky was
during one time we climbed wherein we saw a dead man in the
summit. A check at the local police station revealed a mysterious
murder scene that happened in the mountains. What a place
to do such a thing ! It's a bit funny that such a mountain
named after a saint would be notorious as a haunting place.
Banahaw was once actually called Monte Cristobal.
Cristobal is part of the volcanic Mt. Banahaw but unlike
Lukban de Banahaw, which lies on the slope of Banahaw itself,
Cristobal seems to be a different mountain of it's own. Along
the slopes of Cristobal,a wide flat area can be seen whcih
was actually a test site of a proposed geothermal plant that
didn't pushed through. Another controversial project that
was proposed was the creation of a Hi-way that will link Dolores
to Nagcarlan passing in-between Mts. Cristobal and Banahaw.
The project didn't materialized since residents and environmentalist
opposed the idea.
LEGENDS:
Being a "Spooky Mountain," Mt. Cristobal has a
lot of legends, urban legends that is, since most of them
are recent stories created by the city hikers which have circulated
back within the city limits. One of the popular myth about
the mountain is that a creature that the locals calls the
"Tumao" roams around it's premises. The Tumao is
actually similar tot he bigfoot of western legends. The best
activity to do while you are camping on its peak is to do
some night trekking especially whent he fog sets in and test
the limits of your bravery. Imagine the swamp, mossy crater
and dense jungle. the sun sets early in the campsite since
you are inside a crater. Better watch "The Blair Witch
Project" before hiking Cristobal.
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