“Sometimes I lay under the moon and thank God I’m breathing, and then I pray, don’t take me soon, cause I am here for a reason. Sometimes in my tears I drown, but I never let it get me down. So when negativity surrounds, I know someday it’ll all turn around” – these are the first lines of the song One Day by Matisyahu. Heard it from the vocalist of Kuyog Hangin Mr. Wilson Bron and Talahib Drummer Darel Roberto when we are on our way to Tagaytay to climb Mount Batulao last February 2010. If you do not know the song, try to have few minutes of listening first before you continue reading -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs&ob=av2e

It was May 12, 2010, I was sitting inside the pre departure area at Batangas Pier, with my colleagues waiting for the boat bound to Sibuyan Island Romblon, to climb the great Mount Guiting Guiting, or also famous of the name G2. The mountain is considered to be one of the most dangerous mountain to climb in the Philippines. Organized by Woxy Sampelo, the climb was made possible by a team of five.

The Team!


The G2 traverse team has pushed having five members namely Wox, Athan, Ryan, Rhuge and Buck(the author). Wox is a plant supervisor working in Qatar while Athan a safety engineer working at Abudhabi. Ryan,a primary school teacher, Rhuge and I are both electrical engineers.

Wox and Athan came home to the Philippines just to make this climb possible. Ryan, Rhuge and I took a more than a week leave from our works.

The climb on the great G2 will take 3 days excluding the travel time. With our ascend on the traverse trail of the mountain of which the jump off is on San Fernando, and descend at the traditional trail, the itinerary follows:

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Day 1(12.05.10/WED): Travel time based on the assumption that all climbers will be coming from Manila. Sibuyan trips with CSGA MV Princess Annavell are on every Saturday and Thursday. You can reserve your ticket with Ailyn* of CSGA

1000 Assembly at Bus Station (Alabang Metropolis)
1030 ETD for Batangas City Port (Bus fare 135-150php)
1400 ETA Batangas City Port

1600 ETD for Sibuyan (Economy ferry fare is 660php)

Day 2(13.05.10/THUR)): Arrival at Sibuyan. This day will be alloted to briefing with the guides and last minute preparations.

1300 ETA Sibuyan; wait for chartered jeep (Jeep rental is 3000php); eat lunch
1400 ETD for Olango
1600 ETA at Olango; ask neighbors where Remy’s house is.
1900 Dinner; socials
2100 Lights out

Day 3(14.05.10/FRI): Ideal start of trek would be 0600 or as soon as the sun lights the path. For lunch, you can have early lunch at Camp1 or late lunch at Camp2. Water load is 3.5-4L per head. Guide/porter fee is 400 php per day. Ratio of climber to guide is 3:1. Trek time is 10.5 hrs

0430 Wake up call (breakfast; prepare packed lunch; break camp)
0600 Start trek
0700 Olango River (fetch water)
1030 Camp m1 (early lunch)
1300 Camp m2 (late lunch)
1700 Camp m3 ( camp; fetch water or take a bath at “Remval Spring”)
1900 dinner; socials
2100 Lights out

Day 4(15.05.10/SAT): At the crash site, you can still see airplane debris. This site also overlooks the MV Princess of the Stars. At Remvaldyly peak, you can also see Sibuyan summit. Please take note that there is no water source at Guiting Guiting summit. You will have to trek to Mabel’s spring to fetch water. Reaching Guiting Guiting summit on or before 1700 is a must as it is not safe to do a night trek at the Blade’s Edge and bivouac is impossible! At the summit, temperature can reach as low as 10 degrees Celsius so you better warm yourself up. Maximum tents the summit can support are only 4 including the guides’. Water load is 4L per head excluding cooking water load of 1.5-2L. Water discipline is a must! You still need water for descent. Trek time is 10.5 hrs

0430 Wake up call (prepare breakfast and lunch; fetch water for summit camp; break camp)
0600 Start trek to rockies
0800 Crash Site
1200 Remvaldyly Peak (lunch)
1230 resume trek (Blade’s Edge)
1700 Guiting Guiting summit
1900 dinner; socials.
2100 lights out

Day 5(16.05.10/SUN): It is highly advisable to save 2L of trail water until Mabel’s Spring or Bulod’s Spring between Mayo’s Peak and Camp 3. Trek time 12.5 hours

0430 Wake up call (prepare breakfast and packed lunch; wait for sunrise; break camp)
0600 Start trek
0730 90 degrees
0830 Mabel’s Spring (fetch water)
1000 Kiss the wall
1100 Knife’s Edge
1300 Mayo’s Peak
1400 Bulod’s Spring (late lunch)
1430 start descent
1500 Camp 3
1630 Camp 2
1700 Camp 1
1730 River
1900 DENR PASU; register and get certificates; dinner.inuman na!

Day 6 (17.05.10/MON): We can go for a sidetrip to Cantingas (10php entrance), to visit the MV Princess of the Stars sipwreck, or to enjoy the beach. Or to simply go home.
1400 ETD for Batangas City Port (Ferry fare 660php)

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It’s already three in the afternoon, the boat to take us to the island has arrived and so we board on. At around four thirty, the boat started to maneuver and had its way. It has nothing but chairs for us to sleep during the trip at the sea. After finishing my dinner at around six thirty, I had closed my eyes thinking what will happen next, and my mind speaking to myself “I will be back”, and so fell asleep.

The Back Traxx!

My passion for climbing started out when I was on my second year of my tertiary study. It was summer of 2001, with my high school friends, we climbed up Mt. Romelo located at Famy, Siniloan Laguna. The mountain having a lot of waterfalls, we really enjoyed the stay. The trip cannot be considered mountaineering yet. All we know is that we are like having a picnic, the only things different are the place of course, and sleeping at the forest. We really found it enjoying, being the reason for coming back, until we are very familiar with the place and decided to move on another mountain. We also joined mountaineering clubs on our schools and community which has helped us exploring the beauty of our country by means of hiking.

Being a student is quite hard for the hobby. Sometimes when we go for a climb, when we got home, not even a single peso is inside my pocket. To participate on climbs, only saving my allowance is the way. But how to when I only had enough? I have an allowance of 100 bucks every day, living in Makati and my school at Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa Manila, it is taking 32 pesos for a back and forth ride. 68 peso left, I’m having a 5 peso rice, and either five pieces of hotdogs for one peso each or an egg for five pesos, making my stomach full for a ten peso lunch all in all. That made me saved around 50 pesos a day, 250 pesos a week, enough for short distance climbs. Once happened that I have to sell my backpack in order to climb Mt. Pulag located at Benguet Mountain Province. I got only one bag that time, so what am I going to use for the climb? O well, I barrowed my bag from the one who bought it. Really a nice one! Haha!

I really had a lot of climbs during that time. Schedule is not a problem. Student life has lots of vacation such as sem breaks, Christmas and summer vacation. Compared to now that we are already working, finding a schedule for such activities is very difficult.

With all those climbs I had before, I am really feeling sad being not able to capture moments and freeze those memories in a piece of paper called photographs. I don’t have any camera, I can’t even afford one. So what to do is just to climb and climb, and so on the top we fly. Luckily I have kept some few photos taken from a friends camera, and so here they are..

Some people say that the best things in life are free. And I say it’s not. We have to work for it, very hard, and even though, some cannot still be afford. Even if you are the richest person in the world, you might still miss 1 percent of all the things you wanted. I am very thankful right now, being very far from what I am before. I guess it is simply because of myself, the people that surround me even though sometimes they really don’t care but they do affect, and most of all the One who sees us all..

Back on the Trail

 

Poot Poot!(Sound of the boat, does it really sounds like? Kindly correct me if not)

It is 1:00 o’clock in the morning, May 13, 2010, as the boat sounded and arrived at Romblon, Romblon, still a more than an hour ride at the sea to Sibuyan Island. At 4:30AM, the boat finally had its way to our destination. Merely 6 in the morning, the silhouette of the great mountain said hello to us. Upon stepping down on the port, a man came to us looking for Wox. To our surprise, the man we were talking to is the father of Mt. Guiting Guiting Traverse Trail, Sir Remi. Together with another group, a jeepney took us to the father’s house by a two hour ride on the rough and dust full road. When I get down from, I looked like the delicacy called “espasol” due to the dust. It was 9:00am, two from our group went to the public market to buy foods that we are going to eat during the climb, while the rest of us are already cooking for lunch. When the two came back, we did eat and socialize with the other group after. The other group call themselves MOVE ON. They had brought rope systems with them and anchor it on a high tree beside Sir Remi’s house, and so we are also able to do an ascend and a rappel. After the drinking session, we went to a nearby river where we found a lot of children and adults. The adults are doing laundry, some of the children are quarreling and others just don’t care. We end up the day bathing in the river and I taking some photographs. Whew, a really nice day. At around nine in the evening, we finally had our last rest on the ground before the climb. Having a short conversation with the father, we did have shaken our hands and had given his last words to me – God bless!

Let the Game Begin

May 14, 2010

My phone alarmed at 3:00AM, woke up and seen the other group already preparing for a 4:00AM start trek. Our itinerary says that we will start trekking by 6:00AM so we still have a lot of time to prepare. I am quite feeling nervous, hadn’t mentioned earlier that I am sick for a week and until this day, I might spoil the climb. At around 4AM, finished my coffee and so my teammates do, the other group left and we prepared ourselves already. By 5AM, finished packing up, we have decided to go. After a short prayer, our team left Sir Remi’s house.

Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3

It is still dark when we left. We have just lighted the paths by means of our headlamps. With us is a guide and a porter named Toto and Paeng. Toto is Sir Remi’s son while paeng is a relative of them. Sir Remi recommended us to have two porters because the climb is very difficult, but we refuse to have. Having one porter is just enough for us, and we think that they are just making out more money. We think that we are strong enough for this kind of activity since we have been doing this for almost a decade.

An hour of trekking leads us to a dry river. A five minute rest was done. The trek is already quite tiring, knowing that I am still sick. And a bad thing happen, the strong men are already missing. Before the rest end up, we have decided to get another porter as what Sir Remi has recommended. Feeling very shy, the other porter named Allan arrived in a few minutes, and so we have resumed our trekking. The two porters are carrying 15 liters of water each, and the guide’s pack is around 30 kilograms. Unbelievable but it is so true that these people are very strong.

The trail after the river already gave painful leg muscles. Almost 99 percent assault going to camp 1, and at 10:00AM, we have reached it not noticing Sir Remi was behind us, to check the status of the other group. The other group consists of 10 members, and they only have 1 guide and porter. After checking, he went back down to have rest and wait for the other climbers at his house on the following day. But as he left, we did shake our hands again, and left his words-God bless.

We had continued walking to camp 2, which the trails are quite scary. Portions of the trails are cliffs of which you will step only on a wood around four inches in diameter. Another hour made me almost dead. It is almost 12 when we had our lunch on trail. Our goal is to reach Camp 3 and pitch our tents for a night sleep. It is already two in the afternoon and I haven’t reached camp 2. The porters said that from camp 2 to 3 will take another 3 hours of trek and it is not advisable to walk at night since trails are very dangerous. So we keep on walking. After few minutes, a bad thing in my life happened. I felt like shitting! In my nine years of doing climbing, I have shitted on the mountain only once because I really don’t feel like doing it there. I will still spend another two days up the mountain so I decided to go, shit. Having a lot of leaves around, it is so cool. O yeah, feels like heaven. Few minutes later, the other porter came back to me and said, “if we don’t reach camp 2 at 3PM, we will not proceed to camp 3”. But how, it is almost 3. He got my pack and walk, so do I, can’t do anything but to. The three of us reached camp 2 by 4PM. But the other two, Ryan and Rhuge proceed to camp 3. Why? They did an overtake with the other group just to have space for us at camp 3. The camp is very small that it can only accommodate 4 tents. Having the other two teammates not around, we decided to proceed to camp 3 though the time is already not advisable. After another hour, I found myself already on a ridge with small grass. Another few minutes, I had my first time seeing a live pitcher plant. Feeling very excited, I have pulled out my camera inside my bag. The plant is so cute, around 4 inches high and 1.5 inches in diameter. I don’t want to miss the opportunity of having a photograph of it, I may not see another after. And then the guide called me and said, “sir it is quite late, you can do picture taking later”. I really feel bad about it, but all I can do is to follow. So he took my bag and walk. As I keep walking, I was surprised, there are lots of pitcher plants around and they are really big. More than a foot tall, almost a size of a large pitcher. Whew, amazing. It is almost 6PM, alone in the trail, winds are blowing so hard, cliffs on left and right. Luckily, I was just around 10 steps away from camp 3. Changed our clothes, eaten dinner, we had our rest at around 8PM. No liquor at all! And even though there is, I don’t think we still want to drink. And so the lights are out!

On the traverse trail of G2, there was an airplane crash site. You can still see the plane wreckages. Another place on the trail was called helipad, a place where the helicopter of the rescuers landed during the crash. At camp 3, you can also see the wrecked ship MV Princess of the Star which was submerged during the stormy season last year 2009.

A Real, Summit Assault!

On the second day of the climb, we woke up around 6AM. Had our breakfast, packed our things, said a little prayer, and so we go for the trek to summit. Right after the camp 3, you will see u cliff inclined around 75 degrees with lots of rocks on its side. A mind crazy making thing, it is the way to summit. Before the summit, we have to pass Remvaldyly peak which was named in honor o f the father of the G2 traverse trail Sir Remi, and his companions. Another scary place to pass through is what they call blades edge. Similar to the knife edge, a ridge with rocks on the top where we had stepped on during trekking. We have been walking for three hours with the clouds under us. By 10AM, we have reached Remvaldyly peak. Had my lunch on the blades edge with Athan at 12 noon, and finally reached the summit at 2PM after doing a 4×4 climb on the rocks of the trail.

The climb was very tiring, so we just had a few shots from our camera, prepared dinner and boom. We are not able to capture the sunset since the summit was covered with thick clouds. Around 5:30PM, the summit was already very quiet. My first time to sleep very early. Knowing the last day will be the hardest, we really need a lot of rest. Our eyes were already closed though the sun is still shining.

Good Morning Sunshine, Hello Deadly Trails..


 

It was a very good morning. 5AM, seeing the sun before its light blows out in the sky. Taken few pictures as I have my coffee. As I look around the mountain, I was confused. How come that such dangerous mountain like this made possible to climb? And when I looked at the sky, I think, maybe the One who created this mountain knew that HE will be having visitors, that is why he made it like this.

Checking the foods that we have, almost nothing. All we had is a can of century tuna and rice for breakfast. Can’t believe that eight of us ate, and we only have very little. Since there are no water sources near the summit, we only had very few water left. The next water source is on a spring after another peak of descend. When all of us are prepared, we walk down and have our descend. The goodness of the morning turned to be deadly when we reached the 90 degree rocks of G2. On a traditional climb of G2, the campers leave their things on a peak and having an assault to the summit bringing only water. For us, who had taken the traverse trail, we have to carry our bags all the time which has made it more difficult to deal with the deadliest parts of the mountain.

An hour after the vertical descend puts us on a water source called Mabel’s Spring. The flow of water seems like tears from an eye, that if you want to have litter, you’ll have to wait for 30 minutes.

Next to that vertical descend was the so called “Kiss the wall”. On the trail of G2, there is a portion of which the path is very narrow around 4 inches and beside a wall of rock. The only way to pass through is to walk in sideways facing the rock as if you are kissing the walls. Looking downwards made me feel very nervous since all I see under me were clouds. A very dangerous trail, that a single mistake will end up our lives.

The trails are becoming steeper and a lot are similar to the kiss the wall. Rocks are very sharp and made my shoes spoiled during trekking causing myself to walk slower, and from this moment, I was not able to take pictures anymore.  It is 11AM and I still have to walk for another ten hours. As I reached the knife edge, the sun started to shine so hot. The guide took my bag so it will be easier and faster for me to walk. So he proceed on going to the other peak called Mayo’s Peak where mountaineers usually camp. Thought the trail will not be so difficult, I let the guide go with my bag with 2 liters of water, I let him go first and I was so wrong. It was 12 noon when I started walking on the top of the knife edge without even a single drop of water with me, I encountered dehydration. My mouth started to become dry as the sun shines so hot above me. Luckily a mountaineer passed and offer me some water. After rehydrating, I proceed on walking and by 1PM, I am back on the earlier situation. This time it is hotter, my mouth is again so dry and I am not sweating meaning I have released a lot water from my body. This time, no one is on the trail. No shades of trees, just the rocks I am stepping on and the sun are with me. With it, I became slower. I really had nothing but myself. To survive with the heat, I am hiding under the rocks, waiting for clouds to cover the sun and provide shade before I walk. When the clouds are gone, the sun is again heating, and I have to stop and look for shades under the rocks. This way continued until 2:30PM, at long last, my trek at the knife edge was finished. Thinking it will only take me around five minutes to Mayo’s Peak, I got no worries but as I walk, it is still far. Thinking I cannot make it anymore, I was already giving up, until I heard a voice “Sir, malapit na, konti na lang kaya mo yan!”. And so I rushed to them with all the strength I have left, and at 3PM, I have reached Mayo’s Peak. I was very exhausted, I haven’t had my lunch and loose plenty of water from my body. At the peak, I found my bag with two liters of water when they took it from me. And so I feel very excited knowing I can drink quite a lot. I took my bag, bite my bladder’s valve, zip and oh, it has no water in it. They told me that the water in my bladder was drank by my teammates.  I asked the porters if they still have water, the other gave me some, very little amount, not even a quarter of an average size drinking glass. I cannot do anything but to drink what’s just left. Taken a five minute rest, I opened my pack to get my lunch. I have tried taking a very late lunch but I couldn’t because of my mouth is so dry that I cannot swallow the food. So, I put it back and take another five minutes before descending. After the rest, my mouth is still dry, telling the porters I still need rest and I need water. One of the porter, Paeng, showed up his last water left. It is very few but he decided to give it to me. I am very thankful that time, and after another minute, my  mouth started to become wet and my mind reacts normally. And so we decided to descend. It is around 3:30PM, after a little bit of walk, we passed through a camp of another group, which offered me water again. Gaining my strength, I have managed to run down the trail taking us only 30 minutes to catch up with my teammates.

On a spring called Bolod’s spring, the group gathered waiting for us. A lot of water is available that you can even take a bath. On that place, I have managed to eat and after a few minutes, we have continued our descend. At around 8:00PM, we reached the river, and by 9:00, finally we are at the DENR station with the protected area superintendent confirmed that all of us were safe, we had our way to where we are going to sleep.

The last Goodbyes

30 minutes from the jump-off of the mountain, a resort awaits us with the staffs cooked plenty of food which we have tell them to and a case full of redhorse beer. We ate, and had our final conversations with our guide and porters. An honorarium of 500 a day for them is I think more than worth for what they did. So we have given them extras. Wox had given them clothing, each of them and he handed over his jacket to Sir Remi’s son to give him to his father. I only have my trekking shirt and pole to give them. And as the warriors leave, we have shaken our hands so tight showing them how thankful we are having them on the trail.

As we continue celebrating, a lot of stories and experiences were told. And we slept, as we drank the last bottles.

It was May 17, 7:00 o’clock in the morning when I woke up, seeing the very beautiful view of the mountain. From the resort, I can still recognize the trails that we’ve passed through. After having our breakfast, we went to the port where we are going to ride the boat going back. At the port, same group is also waiting at the terminal, the MOVE ON guys. As we step down on the tricycle, a lot of big hugs and shake hands were done. Congratulations were given to each other for surviving the best climb that I think almost all of us has ever had. And at 3:00PM, the boat bound to Lucena Quezon has arrived. The boat departed by 5:00PM, still going to the islands Romblon Romblon, Tablas, and Banton to pick up passengers. I really can’t sleep while sitting but maybe because of so much stress during the climb, I have managed to. And by May 18, the boat arrived at Lucena City Quezon. We have taken a bus ride to Manila and at Edsa, Makati, the group split up going back to our own homes. Athan having very painful legs, still has to go over the foot bridge. As I step in our house, all I want to lay down on my old bed. So thankful that I’m alive, I can finally have a good rest. And as soon as my head is on top of my pillow, I sang – Sometimes I lay, under the moon and thank God I’m breathing.

And as I close my eyes, all I can say to myself was -  May 12 to 18, 2010,really a climb of a lifetime.