Mt Kanlaon, The Final Climb

Date: Sept 16-18, 2012

Location: Wasay-Gintubdan Trail

Buddies: Levs and Chummy 

Day 0, Sep 15, 2012

     Our 2P913 9AM flight to Bacolod via Airphil was rescheduled to 2PM, which means I have ample time for packing. Levs and I arrived at past noon and waited for Chummy who arrived 10 minutes before the

check in counter closes. At around 3 pm, we arrived at Bacolod-Silay Airport. I texted my father and told him to fetch us at SM instead. Boarding one of the many vans parked at the front of the airport, we dropped at the Manokan country which is near SM Bacolod and had a well-deserved lunch at Lion's Park. My parents arrived later and we then proceeded to SM to do the grocery for our food and climbing supplies. After a sumptuous dinner, we then called it a day.

Day 1, Sep 16, 2012

     We have planned for a 4D-3N traverse trek but due to conflict of schedule we just reduced it to 3D-2N. I told Chummy and Levs that along with my climbing group, MFPI Grupo Trese, we were able to do a 3D-2N trek sometime in 2007.

I presented them that pacing would have to be a bit faster than normal if we are to plan the 3D-2N climb. So we all agreed to just give it a shot. We don't want to do "rat-rat" pacing because we wanted to appreciate more what Kanlaon have --- a magnificient view and rich biodiversity. So at past 5 AM, we boarded one of the Mambucal-bound minibus in front of our subdivision. At around 6AM, we arrived at the entrance of Mambucal resort and met two of our guides -- one of those was familiar as he was one of the guides we had back at 2007 -- Paulo. Paulo then greeted us and told us that we just need to rearrange our packs (some of our loads -- especially the food has to be distributed) so we unload some of what we brought in. At past 8AM, we started the trek from outside of the entrance of Mambucal Resort. We had an average pacing as the trail was paved and had to pass through the tiny communities around the area. After around half an hour, we then

entered a somewhat familiar sight to me --- a Twilight-inspired scenery --- tall and slim trees (dipterocarp trees I believe) separated by just a meter or so coupled with an eerie sound of crickets and different flying faunas. The trail was gradual & slightly manageable, giving us time to take pictures and keep an average pacing. After barely an hour, the trail slowly becomes slightly steep as we made  our way to the thick forest. We then took our lunch when we reached the main highway that divides the lower and upper portions of the forest. The highway, which provided access to the geothermal plant and other forest operations was a new sight to me. I couldn't remember seeing it way back in 2007, which our guide confirmed to me. I am not sure if I was happy at the sight but definitely the trail was significantly altered.

After a little rest, we then continued our trek up until the upper portion of the forest. We arrived at the river area at around 4pm and our guide told us we have 2 options -- to set out an e-camp as this was the nearest watersource we have before the next camp OR we continue with the climb but we will be reaching the next camp at past 7pm and there will be no watersource near the area. We had a slight downpour before we reached the river so we knew that the trail up would be steep and trekking at nighttime can be difficult. Although it was a bit early to camp out, we decided to take option 1. I had a little hunch that we might have difficulty following our original IT if the rain continues to pour and with the pacing, there might be possibilities of aborting the summit climb. Although too early to tell, the group wanted to pursue the original IT so we planned to leave early the next day to make up for the time. After setting the camp, we then decided to take a dip on the river -- a slightly chilling one but nevertheless refreshing. Dipping on mountain waters have always been WAY too different from the city waters. The former's refreshing appeal cannot surpass any man-made water structures ever created. At around 6pm, we then prepared our dinner and cooked our breakfast the next day to save much needed time in preparation.

We doze off at an early time -- sometime around 9pm amidst the soothing sounds of the raging river and the not-so-sleep-inviting chirping of insects & birds.

Day 2, Sep 17, 2012

     We woke up at past 5am and prepared for our breakfast. Not much work needed as we already cooked some the other night. After half past 6, we already started to do break camp and continued the trek around 7 in the morning. The pacing again was a little slow as the trail becomes moist and muddy. We started to enter the exciting part of the forest -- the rainforest area where one can find various flora and fauna sprawling

along the trail. This was also the trail that would give us an initial glimpse of the vastness of the forest and the start of a heavy steep terrain leading to the famed Hardin sang Balo (Widow's garden). As we were making our way to the steep terrain, rain started to pour and drain us down. We decided to stop at the middle of the slope and took our lunch. [We tried to maintain a close proximity to each other to avoid mishaps and to gauge our pacing] It was still raining heavily and we had to endure a chilling lunch. After all, what we need at that time was sustenance. Albeit the refreshing feeling, the rain slowed us down and made us endure the gruelling & slippery trail up. We we're partially soaked up so we knew we can't rest for so long as we could risk having hypothermia. After less than an hour of lunch and rest, we then proceeded to the next camp, in what seems to be a punishing 3 hour ordeal. When we reached the big camp (which was once the old NPA camp), we discussed the option of camping out in the area or to a small place nearest the Hardin sang Balo or to continue the trek but might pushed us to the limits and possibly reached PMS Lagoon (the next big camp) at roughly around 8 or 9PM. The latter option was automatically dismissed. It was way out dangerous and scary. We decided to camp on the bigger site, which I remember correctly was the same camp we had on our first night way back on our 2007 Kanlaon climb. From there, I knew we won't make it to our planned itinerary but there were no discussions yet -- all we need at that time was to settle down and rest. After setting up the camp, we headed down to the river and revelled in yet another refreshing dip of nature's bounty.

We prepared dinner early and our guide Paulo told me that we need to discuss our plans for the next day. So after a well-deserved dinner, Paulo and a senior guide/porter, recommended that we abort the summit climb. First, he asked us of our scheduled trip back to Manila and reasoned out that we won't make it to our trip back to Manila if we had to continue the trek. He enumerated 3 major reasons: weather, difficulty of the remaining terrain and the group's pacing. We we're silent at first. For me, the reasons were all valid and the way we all felt were like silent frustration. I know that Levs was personally excited for this trail as I always told him the Wasay trail was simply breathtaking & I knew how he felt. Chummy, having known her physical abilities, can withstand the weather condition and the strenuous demands of the remaining trek. But as per our assessment, our pacing were not enough to make our target IT possible. With a "heavy" heart coupled with sour-graping and sweet-lemoning, we all decided to abort the summit trek and start the descent the next day. To lessen frustration, we resolved to forgo the Hardin Sang Balo view as this was really the highlight of our trek aside of course from the summit itself. So after the much-needed discussion, we started heading to our tent for what will be our last night on the whole expedition.

Day 3, Sep 18, 2012

     Breakfast was a little bit late as we are not in a hurry anymore. Hardin sang Balo was just 15 minutes away from the camp so the trek wouldn't require much from us. After past 7am, we then headed to the

much-awaited and much-talked about Hardin sang Balo. Reminiscent of the "Lord of the Rings", "Twilight" and some fantasy Hollywood movie, Hardin sang Balo is a sight that cannot be found anywhere else in the Philippines, on any mountain that is. Greeted by quick sands and mossy forest trees, one would be rewarded with an amazing array of bonzai trees lying and sprouting below what seems to be a caldera. The big opening was a welcome respite to the gloomy trail we had earlier. It was like a light shining on top of us and allowing us to see the beauty before us. The bonzai trees were all immersed with rain water, preventing us to lay down and walk on it (which is what we did on my first Kanlaon trek, it was summer and the trees were dry that we literally slept on it, climbed some of it and run around like toddlers). Never dampened by the

condition, we managed to climb through some of the bonzai trees near the area and took exciting photos that somehow made our day complete. Seeing Hardin sang Balo for the second time was an invigorating feeling -- just what I needed.  After almost an hour, we then headed back to the camp. When we reached the camp, we took our brunch and prepare for our descent. We left the camp at around half past 10AM and confident that we can make it to the jump off before the sun sets, only to realize that we are to go through the same slippery & muddy trail again. We managed to have our pacing a lot better than yesterday and reached past the highway dividing the upper and lower slopes at around 2PM. We stopped for a late lunch at past 2PM amidst the heavy rain and chilly weather. I was getting worried if we actually can make it down before getting dark but we all got ourselves ready for the night trek. At half past 5, the sun started to set in and the sky finally had its tears all dried up. Donning on our headlamp, we continued the trek down but this time the pacing was extremely slow -- my knees were aching bad and Chummy had her feet hurt as well. Two injuries ---

not a very good sight to an already gloomy ordeal. Taking slow baby steps and armed with a "Slowly but surely" mantra, we managed to continue on with the trek down. When we got past on the dipterocarp trees, I had one of the biggest sigh of my life -- a sign that we are near the jump off. The pain in my knees were just overwhelming and moving on for the last stretch was like pinching on an open wound. As we waited for Chummy and the porter, I contemplated on having Mt Kanlaon as my last climb, not because of the ordeal we had but because I realized I had more than enough mountain climbing experience. For 9 years & more than 40 climbs, I knew my body was giving me the right signal to let go. And there is nothing more fitting than ending it on the most beautiful mountain in the Philippines & a nice hot dip in one of the Sulphur Springs in Mambucal Resort.