| Volcan de Malaspina.-- Se halla situado
en 10^ 24' 35' de latitud N. y 129^ 19' 25" de longitud E. a unas 8 millas de distancia de la costa oriental de Negros; ... es uno de los montes mas culminantes y notables de la cordillera central que divide la isla de Negros de N. a S.; visto desde el fronton de Sojoton, S. O. de Negros, aparece terminando --Camilo de Arana (1879) Cuando haya mejorado el tiempo y
|
In 1565 part of the expedition of Miguel Lopez
de Legazpi was returning from the Philippines to New Spain. One of the
smaller vessels, the San Juan under command of Juan de la Isla, was piloted
by Rodrigo de Espinosa whose log of the return voyage has come down to
us. Setting sail from the harbor of "Zubu" (Cebu) and skirting the island
of "Matan" (Mactan) on the first of June, they made for the Pacific, reaching
the open ocean ten days later. Before reaching the ocean they stopped at
one of the islands (which they called "Periols" because it was rocky) for
a fresh supply of water, and there they saw two "lofty volcanoes."
Blair and Robertson, who give a summary of Espinosa's
log in Volume 2, have added a footnote to it in Volume 52. The two "lofty
volcanoes," they tell us, may have been Canlaon and Magaso on the island
of Negros. If this surmise is correct, this must be the earliest recorded
reference to one of our higher and more remarkable mountains. But the footnote
is more than likely incorrect. In the first place, Magaso is not at all
lofty, although it is situated on the slopes of a lofty mountain, one of
the twin horns of the "Cuernos de Negros." Moreover, it seems unlikely
that ships leaving Cebu for the Pacific to the east should stop at Negros
which is to the west. They might of course have done so by rounding the
southern tip of Cebu Island and then sailing northwards along Tanon Passage,
where one gets an impressive view of Canlaon.
In any event, they probably emerged into the
Pacific through the San Bernardino Straits: in which case, the to "lofty
volcanoes" that they saw must have been Bulusan and Mayon, both in the
Bicol Peninsula.
Canlaon in History
Unlike it's more spectacular rivals (Apo and Mayon),
Canlaon did not get much attention in the early literature of the Philippine
Islands. Father Colin (1660) does not mention it, although he speaks of
some of the towns on the Negros coast. Juan Fransisco de San Antonio, whose
Chronicus (1738) were highly valued by mariners because of the detailed
descriptions of routes, islands, capes and bays, is silent on Canlaon although
he mentions three volcanoes by name: Mayon, Taal and Lucban, all in Luzon.
The Diccionario gegrafico of Buzeta and Bravo (1850) mentions Bacolod
with its "espesos bosques". (dense forests) but not the mountain
which is clearly visible from Bacolod. Nor does Canlaon appear in the early
maps. And even Jagor, who traveled extensively in the Philippines and who
has described several Philippine mountains (including Banahao, Makiling,
Mayon, Bulusan, Iriga and Isarog) has nothing to say on Canlaon.
But there were other writers who had heard of
Canlaon, though their descriptions were at second hand and not always accurate.
Father Juan Delgado, S.J., who was thoroughly acquainted with Samar and
Leyte (the introduction to his book is dated from Guiuan, Samar, on 28
September 1751) had to depend on traveler's reports about the western Visayas.
He spoke of a fiery volcano atop a high mountain in Negros, continually
emitting flames and smoke and causing earthquakes and much damage to Negros
and the neighboring islands. The volcano is unnamed.
In the nineteenth century, information became
more detailed and accurate although some of it was conflicting, especially
concerning the mountain's height. Cavada (1876) described the mountain
in some detail, as did the naval captain, Camilo de Arana, whose work was
published by the hydrographic office of the Ministerio de Marina in Madrid
in 1879. Montero y Vidal mentions at in his history (1886). The anatomist
Jose de Lacalle (1886) speaks of the dense forests that covered its slopes,
and tells of a party of Englishmen who attempted to climb to the crater
but died from the exhalations. There is of course nothing unusual about
Britishers roaming about the islands of Negros in the late nineteenth century,
since British influence upon the development of the sugar industry in Negros
was considerable.
Alias Malaspina
In the books and maps of the nineteenth and early
twentieth century, Canlaon does not always appear under that name but under
its other name -- Malaspina -- which was given to it in honor of one of
the most remarkable men who ever sailed the seas. He was a Sicilian nobleman,
Alejandro Malaspina, who rose to the highest ranks in the Spanish navy.
At least four geographical places in the world have been named after him:
a glacier in Alaska, a town in Argentina, a strait in Canada (separating
the island of Texeda, east of Vancouver, from the mainland), and the Philippine
mountain of Canlaon. This explorer, scientist and soldier, who circumnavigated
the world several times, fell prisoner to the British in a naval engagement
(1778). On at least three occasions he sailed through Philippine waters.
He died in 1809 in royal disgrace, deprived of his rank and possessions.
His honor was vindicated long afterwards, in 1885, when the Spanish Hydrographic
Commission published some of his notes under the title: Viaje politico-cientifico
alreador del mundo por las corbetas "Descubierta" y "Atrevida" al mando
de los capitanes de navio D. Alejandro Malaspina y D. Jose Bustamente y
Guerra, desde 1789 a 1794.
It was after this man that Canlaon was renamed.
Two other mountains in Negros were renamed after the Descubierta and the
Atrevida of Malaspina's fleet. But these names, like Malaspina itself,
have fallen into disuse. Even in the nineteenth century, some writers,
who reported that the people knew the mountain as Malaspina, themselves
consistently referred to it as Canlaon. In this regard, the name Malaspina
has suffered a different fate from many other places in Negros -- like
Pontevedra, La Carlota, La Castellana -- which still retain their Spanish
names, although Senator Oscar Ledesma tells me that the people of the locality
still refer to La Carlota by its old native name, Mancas; and it is doubtless
for this reason that the Ledesma plantation near La Carlota is called "Salamanca".
The Mountain
Canlaon is a volcanic mass of irregular shape, crowned
by a conical summit at its southwestern end -- the whole mass sitting on
top of the cordillera that runs along the entire length of Negros Island
from north to south, dividing the island into the provinces of Negros Oriental
and Occidental. Canloan is almost at the center of the island (or more
accurately, a little to the north of the exact center) and is almost equidistant
from the eastern and western coasts.
It's height has been the subject of the most
divergent calculations. Cavada gave it as 7000 feet or 2134 meters. Arana,
however, in his Derotero underestimated the height by almost a thousand
meters: "tiene unos 1,390 metros de altura sobre el mar, estimados."
This discrepancy is estimating the height of the mountain is not hard to
understand. In the first place, the instruments for measuring height were
not always adequate. Moreover, an irregularly shaped mountain like Canlaon
changes in apparent shape according to the point of view from which the
observation is made. The official figures for the height of Canlaon are
those given by the Spanish Hydrographic Office (namely 8192 feet) and by
the Coast and Geodetic Survey which in its map for 1927 gave the height
at 2438 meters.
The Crater
The crater of the volcano is contained within the
rocky cone that protrudes upward from the western end of the southern crest.
The highest point on this cone overlooks the active crater, which is a
deep sulphuric lake, with sheer walls whitish in color. The mouth of the
crater is estimated at 500 meters in diameter.
Besides the active crater, there is an old,
extinct crater which is popularly referred to as the "lagoon", though there
is little water in it. The side walls of this "lagoon" are likewise precipitous
and cannot be descended except at one or two points.
The "lagoon" is probably a "caldera". It is
nearly perfectly circular, like an amphitheatre, with almost perpendicular
walls thickly wooded with fern, laurel and rhododendron, very much like
those on the upper slopes of Mount Apo. Apo too has a caldera or dried-up
lake, except that the floor of the Canlaon caldera is far more firm than
that of Apo, which has several feet of mud and in places real quagmires.
Moreover, the Apo caldera is immense, while that of Canlaon is only a few
hectares in area.
While Canlaon is continually emitting smoke,
it is not in "continual" explosion as the earlier authors believed. Nor
has it been as destructive as Taal or Mayon or Hibok-Hibok. But it's eruptions
have been frequent enough. Father Miguel Saderra Maso S.J. in 1927 listed
eight eruptions (namely, 1866, 1881, 1889, 1893, 1894, 1902, 1904, and
1927). Foreman mentions an interesting detail of the explosion of 1886:
he says that a portion of the crater subsided , accompanied by tremendous
noise and a slight ejection of lava. Foreman of course must have seen a
good deal of Canlaon from the lowlands, as he crossed the island on horseback
from Refugio to Hinigaran, noting the tropical forest around Escalante,
the beautiful orchids clustered around the stately trees, the distant murmur
of mountain torrents, and the beating of tom-toms and hollow logs announcing
the Aetas the unexpected apparition of an Englishman.
The Trails
Canlaon today is no longer inaccessible. The southern
slope had been invaded by clearings and settlements up to a height of some
2,000 feet. On the northern slope at about the same height is the well-furnished
ranch house of the late Mr. Daniel Lacson. But above this height and all
along the western slopes, there remain the tropical jungles, the density
of which can be admired from an airplane but can only be appreciated by
one who has had to hack his way through the undergrowth.
In general there are two ways to the summit
of Canlaon. The easier way is from Masulug, within the territory of Canlaon
town in Negros Oriental. The trail goes straight up the southern slope,
beyond the kaingins into the forest, veering eastward across the
dry bed of the upper Nahunhunan River, and then straight up again until
one emerges beyond the forest-line into a grass-covered slope that gives
access to the top ridge. From this top ridge or southern crest the immense
cone protrudes that contains the active crater. There is no grass upon
this cone. It is all rock and loose stones, broken up on the north side
by gullies which drain into the "laguna" a thousand feet below.
The other trail is up the western slope, precipitous
and densely forested, and guarded by the saddle-like mountain called "Siya-siya"
and by other hills and gorges. The trail starts at Ma-ao and Ara-al above
Carlota. Along the trail is a cave, useful shelter for a night.
Ascents
Not many seemed to climb the mountain before the
twentieth century. In his article on volcanoes and seismic centers in the
Census of 1903, the Jesuit scientist Father Miguel Saderra Maso mentions
only one published report of an "ascent," namely that of a "well known
publicist of the Far East," Mencarini, who claims to have gone to Canlaon
"reaching the wide terrace where the lowest solfataras issue." He took
also some photographs, "but a coming storm prevented further investigation."
It is obvious that Mencarini was nowhere near the summit.
But in the twentieth century, the number of
persons who have gone up to Canlaon has been increasing. From the correspondence
and other papers of Father Miguel Selga S.J., late Director of the Manila
Observatory, we have a record of some of the ascents.
In 1902, Charles S. Banks climbed Canlaon with
a party of American teachers. Echanojauregui, a Spaniard residing in Negros,
walked up to the summit in 1916 and flew over it in 1933, reporting to
Father Selga the changes he had noted in the crater in the seventeen-year
interval. In 1927, the engineer of the La Carlota Sugar Central, Julio
Villazon, went up to the summit by the Ma-ao trail, accompanied by a Mr.
Thompson and 28 others. He has left a description and sketches of the river
system that drains the crater on the western side. The river system, of
course, was important to both the sugar centrals and the planters.
Among the Selga papers is a four-page unsigned
report of a remarkable expedition that bivouacked upon Canlaon for twenty-one
days, from 1 to 22 April 1930. The report is probably that of Frederico
Viaplana who, in a letter to Father Selga on 1 May 1935, refers his 1930
expedition to Canlaon. Viaplana again climbed Canlaon in 1933 and again
in 1935, on each occasion taking barometric and temperature recordings.
Viaplana (if it as he) and his companions arrived at Masulug on Tuesday,
1 April 1930, at 11 a.m. His altimeter registered 1150 feet, the temperature
at mid-day was 29 degrees Centigrade. For the next twenty days he kept
careful record of the altimeter readings and of the temperature several
times a day. They camped for two days upon the southern slope and for seventeen
days in the laguna. They visited the crater on 11 April. The temperature
readings are interesting. The lowest recorded was 2 degrees below zero
Centigrade at 5 a.m. on 12 April.
The Climbing Spree Of 1933
In 1933 a regular climbing spree seems to have centered
upon the mountain. Villazon and Cabarrus went up in January, Father Selga
with a very large party ascended the mountain in March, and in April Viaplana
led an expedition which included five women.
The occasion was the renewed volcanic activity
that began to be noticed on Christmas Eve of 1932 and was intensified in
January 1933, continuing through March and April. Smoke was observed emanating
from the volcano, accompanied by a light rain of ashes. On Sunday, 8 January,
the Najalin River became swollen, its waters the color of ink. Anxious
about the effect that this water might have on it's boilers, the manager
of the La Carlota Central, the Belgian, Mr. P. Verstokt, sent samples of
the water to the Bureau of Science for analysis with instructions to inform
Father Selga. A sample of the volcanic ash was also subsequently submitted
for analysis. At the same time, Verstokt sent Villazon on another reconnaissance
of the mountain. Villazon's party, which left La Carlota on the Ma-ao trail
on 9 January, included the chief of police, a surveyor, ten workers from
the central, and Mr. Jesus Cabarrus who ascended to the summit while Villazon
reconnoitered along the volcano's base. Cabarrus' report is still extant
and are in Father Selga's files. So are the reports of the analysis made
of the water and ashes by the Bureau of Science. The water was found to
be corrosive. But the volcanic ash contained potash, lime, and magnesium,
which had fertilizing values.
Apprised of the increased volcanic activity,
Father Selga wrote to various individuals and officials -- including the
Constabulary -- asking for more detailed information. On the basis of these
reports, he was able to write a reassuring article, allaying fears of a
violent eruption. Then, in response to a suggestion made by Verstokt that
a "representative" of the Weather Bureau should make a personal reconnaissance
of the volcano, Father Selga offered to go down to Negros himself if Verstokt
organized the expedition.
Father Selga's expedition turned out to be the
most massive assault ever hurled upon the offending mountain. There were
sixty-three men in the party. At the head was Modesto Colmenares, 60-year-old
"king of the forest" as Father Selga called him. He brought along 28 "cargadores"
(porters). Other members of the party and their respective retinues were:
Francisco Esteban, president (mayor) of Pulupandan (with 7 men), Enrique
Martin (with 14 men), and ten other gentlemen, namely: Jose Silverio of
Bacolod and Pontevedra, Julio Villazon and Dr. Alexander Gordon of the
La Carlota Sugar Central, Ramon Echecopar of the Iloilo office of Inchausti
and Co., Jose Espinos of La Castellana, Jose and Aquiles Colmenares, Severo
Cadungon, Manuel Digon, and Julio Montealegre. (It was incidentally from
Montealegre's farm in Masulug that our own ascent of April 1961 started.)
The party assembled in Masulug on Sunday, 12
March 1933, and began the ascent on the following day. Diversion was provided
by the Andalusian, Julio Montealegre, who had seen action with the American
Navy during the first World War and who "in moments of distress and affliction
proved to be of valuable assistance in maintaining the spirits of the party
by recalling his glorious deeds during the World War and the fierce attack
of a submarine in the North Sea." The "moments of distress and affliction"
must have been many, for Father Selga was not a thin man and the steep
climb must have required a strong assertion of will over matter.
Doubtless encouraged by the success of this
large expedition, the ladies now began to feel that what many men could
do they could also. Accordingly, a month later, Mr. Federico Viaplana of
Hacienda Caman-ug, La Carlota, who had gone up to Canlaon in 1930, organized
a climbing party which included his wife, four other ladies, six gentlemen
and sixteen porters. They went up by the Masulug trail on 17 April and
returned four days later, having enjoyed better weather than most expeditions
enjoy. Their exploit was recorded in full in La Vanguardia, the article
ending with an invitation to all Negrense ladies to make the climb, on
condition that they had a good guide, a good tent, and that they wore "men's
trousers" -- "porque de otra manera es imposible subir." Viaplana
made another ascent in 1935, with four ladies in the party.
The ladies in the 1933 party were Mrs. Maria
Viaplana and the Misses Carolina, Margiolina and Elena Corteza. The 1935
party included: Mr. and Mrs. Federico Viaplana, Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Ferrer,
Miss Adela Valles, Miss Julita Say, and Willie Ghezzi, Marcelo Concepcion,
Horacio Rodriguez, Jose Espinos, Jose Colmenares, Tito Lobregat, Dr. Robustiano
Ramos, and Adolfo Sierra, with 16 porters. The ascent started on 7 April.
Besides the Colmenares clan, whose assistance
was invaluable in any ascent made from the Masulug side, there was also
another personage whose cooperation in such ventures was indispensable.
Viaplana in his letter to Father Selga of 17 April 1933, refers to him
as "el celebre Leoncio." Father Selga, in his fragmentary report
of his 1933 climb, has a more picturesque description of the man, though
he does not always get his name correctly. Father Selga says (if we may
so translate his impeccable Spanish):
It is evident that Florencio and Leoncio are the
same person since Selga interchanges the names. It is unfortunate that
we do not possess a compete copy of Father Selga's report (if it was ever
completed). The extant copy consists of a few fragments, mostly about the
start of the ascent, and an interesting list of flora encountered on Canlaon.
According to Viaplana (in a letter to Selga, 17 April 1935), Leoncio assured
him that between 1933 and 1935, no one climbed the mountain from the Masulug
side.
In recent years the number of those who have
gone up to Canlaon must be rather large. Some have gone up to hunt, others
for the fun of the climb. Not a few are said to have gone up to fulfill
a religious urge, for there is a local superstition that climbing Canlaon,
especially in Holy Week, possesses some spiritual efficacy.
The Ascent of April 1961
On the way back from a preaching engagement in Mindanao
during Holy Week, I stopped over in Bacolod on Easter Monday where the
rest of the climbing party were to assemble. Jimmy Gaston was already there.
Benjie Ledesma arrived by plane from Manila the following morning , and
Tony Mapa arrived by plane in the afternoon. Basilio Manalo was waiting
in the interior in their home in Hacienda "Canticvil" in La Castellana.
Dean Alejandro Roces, who was to have been the sixth member of the party,
could not get away from Manila. The heavy gear (consisting of tents, knapsacks,
canteens, ropes and gloves) and previously been shipped to Bacolod by air
and sea through the kindness off Senator Oscar Ledesma, and was waiting
in the house of Mr. German Unson in Silay. The necessary ecclesiastical
faculties and permissions for the Mass on the mountain-top were graciously
granted by Monsignor Antonio Fortich, pastor of Bacolod and vicar general,
acting for the bishop in his absence. It gives me great pleasure to add,
as I go over the manuscript of this volume in 1967, that Monsignor Fortich
has since become the Bishop of Bacolod.
On the evening of Tuesday, 4 April, we proceeded
to the interior, to the Hacienda "Salamanca" of the Ledesma's in La Carlota.
That hacienda and the house of Mr. Luis de la Rama in Bacolod served as
headquarters until the actual climb.
An unfortunate accident almost deprived us of
the company of Tony Mapa. No sooner had he arrived in Bacolod on the afternoon
of the 4th than a long distance telephone call from his father, Mr. Placido
Mapa, informed him that his brother Ramon had had a serious accident and
that he was to return to Manila immediately. Tony immediately informed
us by telephone from Bacolod. He took the first plane to Manila the following
morning ; but finding his brother out of danger, he took the afternoon
plane back to Bacolod, appearing at Salamanca early the following morning
in time for Mass.
Before the climb could be made, a minor strategic
difficulty had to be overcome. A few days before, a young hunter called
Milabo had stumbled upon the wreckage of an American plane, hitherto undiscovered,
and it was natural that the members of our party should desire to go and
see the wreckage and take photographs. The guide and porters that we had
from the Ma-ao haciendas (through the kind offices of Mr. Enrique del Castillo)
were familiar only with the Ma-ao trail, and consequently wanted to go
up that way. On the other hand, Billy Manalo and the men from La Castellana
were in favor of the easier Masulug trail. There was equal pressure brought
to bear upon me from both sides, and though the decision was mine to make,
I could not decide in favor of one side without disappointing the other.
In the end we compromised: we would ascend by Masulug, descend by Ma-ao.
Accordingly, on Thursday, 6 April, we motored
by landrover and jeep across the cordillera to the Masulug River, crossed
the boundary into Negros Oriental to a point one kilometer beyond the bridge.
There we were met by Rudy Montealegre who led us to his farm, situated
at some 2,000 feet above sea level upon the southern slopes of Canlaon.
After lunch the loads were distributed, a group
picture was taken, and the prayer recited that we always say before a journey
and which we were to repeat daily for the next three days. Then we walked
beyond the clearings into the great forest, reaching the dry bed of the
Nahunhunan at four o'clock, where it became apparent that some members
of the party were not in condition and would have to make the remainder
of the climb slowly. Jimmy Gaston was therefore sent ahead, with the guide,
cook, and as many of the porters as possible. The rest of us with three
porters (one was Aurelio from La Carlota, and the other an engaging fellow
with a fine sense of humor, called Pablo) proceeded slowly. We emerged
from the forest into the vast grassland on the upper slopes at dusk. There
the tents were set up, a fire built, supper eaten, the Rosary said together,
the harmonicas played, those who had cramps were massaged. Then we bundled
ourselves in blankets, for it was distressingly cold. Our tent opened south,
and we slept within site of the Southern Cross which seemed very near.
The Summit
The weather was clear the following morning at sunrise
and Tony Mapa was able to get a clear picture of the crater-summit, some
2,500 feet above us. It was our mistake not to have taken advantage of
this clear weather in the very early morning. By the time we had broken
camp and resumed the climb, the fog had descended upon the summit. We gained
the southern crest and found ourselves enveloped in thick fog, with a strong
cold wind blowing like a gale from the northeast. Leaving the packs on
the crest, we climbed the remaining 500 feet up the cone to the crater's
edge.
It was an unpleasant and frustrating climb.
The heavy fog kept one's glasses steaming, until they had to be removed.
One had to hold on to one's walking staff to keep from being knocked off
balance by the strong gusts. There is no ill wind, however, that blows
no one good: the wind came from the northeast, hitting us obliquely in
the back and blowing away from our nostrils whatever noxious fumes might
have come from the crater - for there was a strong scent of sulphur about
the mountain.
Arriving at the summit we peered into the active
crater but saw nothing except the white sheer inner walls leading to a
foggy abyss below.
We had to wait two years, till April of 1963,
when we could revisit Canlaon in clear and bright weather and see what
there is to see of the volcanic crater and its fiery depths. But in 1961
the weather was miserable. It had been our hope to say Mass somewhere on
the edge of the crater itself. In the dense fog and strong wind, this was
out of the question. There was nothing to do but go down cautiously against
the wind and return to the southern crest. There, near the base of the
crater peak, we found a relatively sheltered spot behind the historic rock
upon which former climbers had chiseled or painted their names.
This rock is historic and is prominently mentioned
in some of the unpublished correspondence concerning Canlaon. Viaplana,
describing his ascent of 1935 in a letter to Selga, uses the rock as a
point of reference: "llegamos a la roca grande del crater a las 4:30
p.m." (We arrived at the great rock of the crater at 4:30 p.m.). In
a subsequent letter he again mentions the rock: "La piedra grande sigue
igual, con la diferencia de que marcamos mas nombres en ella. Algunos con
sinceles y otros con pintura negra." (The great rock remains unchanged,
except that we have inscribed more names upon it. Some carved their names
on it, while others used black paint.)
It was in the shelter of that rock , at mid-morning
of Easter Friday, 7 April 1961, that we offered the first Mass upon Canlaon.
Benjie Ledesma and Tony Mapa served it, the one holding the missal (For
it had to be held), the other handling the cruets. Billy Manalo, Jimmy
Gaston and the men, unprotected by the shelter of the rock, bravely stood
(and knelt) reverently in the strong wind.
The Laguna
From the southern crest to the laguna or caldera
is a sharp descent of another 500 feet, rendered easy by the rhododendron
to which one could cling. The laguna is a beautiful ampitheatre, completely
cut off from the outside world by steep walls 400 or 500 feet high. But
alas, it was not protected from the sky, nor from the wind that kept blowing
as if it would penetrate our bones, nor from the fog that would lift momentarily
and then come swirling down and cancel visibility. At midday the men were
shivering. At this point three of the cargadores asked to be allowed to
go home. They could not stand the cold and had to be paid off and dismissed.
Two others made a similar request but were persuaded to stay. We were afraid
there would be a general exodus of cargadores, leaving us helpless on the
mountain top. Moreover, we ourselves found the cold difficult to bear.
It had been our intention to camp in the laguna for the night. After much
discussion it was decided to break camp immediately and begin the descent,
even though it was already mid-afternoon.
Precipitate Descent
As previously agreed, the descent was to be on the
Ma-ao side. We ran immediately into trouble, for our guides had difficulty
finding the way. Our progress was thus several times held up, and much
precious daylight was lost before the actual descent. We first had to emerge
from the laguna back to the southern crest, and then skirt the base of
the crater along the north side, crossing some eighteen gullies which (fortunately
for us) were dry at this time of year. It was three o'clock by the time
we gained the western crest. With Pidik, the guide, hacking his way, we
left the tall cogon and plunged into thick jungle.
The descent was a nightmare. Some managed to
make the descent erect. Others, including the author, preferred the easier
technique of sliding down on ones back, fifteen to thirty feet at a time.
Darkness caught us in the jungle, and the tricky descent had to be negotiated
with only three flashlights to relieve the darkness. This was of course
a violation of all hiking procedures but the alternative would have been
to spend the afternoon and the night on the mountain-top in that unbearable
cold. To add to our discomfort it began to rain. At long last we found
ourselves in the rocky bed of a dried-up river, probably the Najalin. There
we stretched canvas across two logs, ate supper, crawled in, said our Rosary
and went to sleep.
The weather had cleared the following morning
and Mass was said in the ravine. The descent was resumed until we emerged
from the forest through the river gorge below Siyasiya, and found ourselves
upon the great plateau to the west of Canlaon. There we came upon the spring
(Gintubdan) which is the source of one of the rivulets that irrigate the
vast sugarlands below. We bathed in the cold clear water, changed our clothes
and had lunch, and then resumed the walk to Ara-al where the jeep and the
landrover came to meet us. There, one last picture of the group was taken.
Then, with the mountain behind us and the great lowlands and the sea over
a thousand feet below, we motored down a dirt road (called Quezon Highway!)
back to Hacienda Salamanca, where Jimmy Gaston, Tony Mapa and Benjie Ledesma
amazed everybody by challenging the local players to a game of basketball.
That night, after the guides and porters had
been deposited safely in their homes, Billy Manalo drove off to Canticvil,
while the remaining four of us drove back to Bacolod. The following morning
we left Bacolod, but we returned two years later to climb Canlaon once
more. And this time, we said Mass atop Canlaon in beautiful weather, and
with a larger climbing party in attendance, which included Antonio Mapa,
Benjamin Ledesma, Ramon Mapa, Arturo Ledesma, Rafael Evangelista, Antonio
Paro, and the two Lacson brothers -- Bart and "Bitay" (Daniel, Jr.) --
the hospitality of whose ranch in Canlaon we had enjoyed previous to the
climb.