Guides - Lessons from a Novice 

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Two Mountains

I wanted so much to go mountaineering. In fact, I started lifting weights and working out May of last year in preparation for mountain climbing. I said, "There's so much to see, so much to learn". 

After Mt. Makulot and Mt. Arayat, I think I saw and learned enough. I think I'll quit the mountains. 

Not that it's anybody's fault, just that I think I shouldn't climb any more. The demands on the body are very high. And though I hate to admit it, I fear for injuries which could take a while to heal at my age. 

I have fond memories, though. The view, the clouds, the cold mountain breeze. And I learned more than I had ever expected. 

Some of the little details I will always fondly associate with mountain climbing: 

  1. Margarine for all fried food. Cholesterol rather than cooking oil messing up everything in your backpack. 
  2. Fruit cocktail is a must for minor climbs. It's a luxury you don't get during major climbs. By that time you'll be sick of it. 
  3. Taking care to care for borrowed camping equipment is the unspoken law. And every now and then you're reminded who borrowed what from whom. 
  4. Up there, you leave everything the way you found it. No trash, no disturbance. Anything you have to leave behind should be biodegradable. Leftover food is tossed for the birds and other animals. 
  5. Trekking puts a strain on the physical and the psychological. You have to be prepared for both. 
  6. When they tell you to bring 6 liters of water, bring 5. If 2 measures of rice, bring 1. If ulam for 5, bring for 4. Those guys are too nervous. You end up with a lot of leftover food and surplus water you wish you hadn't brought up in the first place. Unless heavy load is your cup of tea. But then, who doesn't want to be prepared for the unexpected? 
  7. It's every man for himself. The veteran mountaineers will have little patience for the ladies. They will give the impression that if a female joins a climb she can take care of herself. Being a gentleman is the exception rather than the rule. 
  8. Be ready for anything. Heat, cold, wind, rain, dust. Steep, slippery, rocky. Dry, wet. Brightness, darkness. Insects, snakes, carabaos. Thorns, moss, falling branches, loose rocks. Injury, sickness, hunger, thirst. Delays, getting lost, meeting strangers. 
  9. There is always a reward. The view from the mountaintop. The most delicious halo-halo in Pampanga. A bottle of cold Coke at the jump-off point. Looking up to the mountain and saying, "I was there!". Coming home safe and sound. An inch of new leg muscle. Camaraderie with newfound friends. 
 10. There are at least 5 new things you learn from every climb, making the next climb just a bit easier (maybe because you feel a little more 'armed' and confident). 
 11. They always remind you to never underestimate a mountain. It always offers surprises and unexpected encounters. Nature has a way of constantly changing the combination of its forces. 
 12. Mountaineering lets you experience nature at its extremes. Intense heat, strong winds, heavy moisture, sudden rain. You try to go down fast to beat the noonday sun only to end up getting caught in very heavy downpour. Predicting the weather is impossible. One can only be prepared for anything. 
 13. Learning about the folklore of the mountain is an advantage. But if we had known about the folklore in Cuenca, we wouldn't have experienced night trekking. 
 14. From the 2 mountains, I experienced, for the first time in my life: 

• backpacking 
• riding a bus with a full pack 
• night trekking 
• cooking with a small stove and cookset 
• pitching a dome tent and breaking camp 
• buying a mountaineering back pack, a dome tent, and trek shoes 
• wearing trek shoes 
• sleeping in a tent (with the guys) 
• watching clouds roll across the mountain and up across our camp 
• looking down at the towns and rivers and lakes and small mountains 
• standing on a rock at the edge of a cliff (and having a pictorial there) 
• presenting, cracking jokes to senior mounatineers and the rest of the group, in the middle of the night, under the rain 
• getting all drenched by a heavy downpour, during the last leg of the trek 
• running away from an angry carabao 
• hearing birds sing different tunes 
• hearing the forest leaves rustling in the wind like the sound of heavy rain 
• waking up to very strong winds rushing across the campsite almost lifting the tents off the ground 
• trekking through live cogon, dead cogon, burned cogon, barren forest, dense forest, dry trail, moist trail, rocky trail, pebble trail, rock wall, with inclines from 1º to 90º 
• eating the best halo-halo in Pampanga, after enjoying their spicy hot bianda specialty dish (sauteed chopped chicken meat and innard pieces, chopped cabbage, traces of scrambled egg, and a few pieces of siling labuyo) 
• climbing to the summit of Mt. Arayat, 4900 feet (1100 meters?) (I haven't gotten the height of the campsite of Mt. Makulot) 
• knowing that I can do it. 

• Start Young
• Expect the Unexpected
• Mt. Pulag Chronicles

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