SAGOY AFTER THREE: Mt. Kanlaon Adventure

SAGOY AFTER THREE

Arch. Aldrin Luzares aka bong revillah

SOC Vice President

5:00 am, we woke up on an ironic day. On the east, the sun had just started to rise, slowly peeking its way up from the distant horizon. Yet on the west, the moon was still on its high. As if it wanted to witness the splendid eccentricity of that day. It was summer then, but the absence of warmth brought us to cover ourselves thick.

At a young age I remember myself looking up. Playfully observing and appreciating the imaginative configuration of the clouds. But on that day, my feet led my eyes to a new and different perspective. I WAS HIGH! I was literally high. Clouds were now beneath our feet. And if only Kinton cloud was true, I could have found myself already enjoying it then.

That morning really had me overwhelmed. Too amazed and excited by what we had witnessed. It was like things were way out of the usual order, yet it was extraordinarily magnificent. Perhaps, that was the beauty of irony we had just witnessed.

But the excitement was far from over, for right ahead of us was no more a dream. For on that day we were summiting Mt. Kanlaon.

The Idea of climbing the still volcano started way before, when we were still starting our fun driven career as climbers. It was only until late last January when we decided to take on another level of adventure, to which Mt. Kanlaon was the top prospect destination. But of course, being known as frustrated mountaineers, the thought of tackling Mt. Kanlaon was a great challenge for me then. More than anything else, the budget worried me the most.

Before Mt. Kanlaon, we only had one major climb. Most of the climbs we had were within the Cebu province only.  But the group was too enthusiastic about conquering Mt. Kanlaon. So, preparations were made. To make sure everything was perfect, we held our meetings in not so proper places. Tsk tsk! Anyhow, that’s the way things work for the group.

Climbing Mt. Kanlaon was not a one affair deal. In order to condition ourselves before attempting Mt. Kanlaon, we decided to climb the unforgivably scorching Mt. Lanaya one month before the scheduled Mt. Kanlaon Climb. There were only 5 of us who joined the pre climb event. I was a bit worried for the others who were not able to join, but I was more so worried for us making to the base camp then. But anyway, that pre climb was successful but too punishing though.

            The Mt. Kanlaon adventure was scheduled for three days. Together in that event were Pawlo Kuntis, Bitter Ocampo, Erik Furotusok, roDEREK sikwati, Jan Farats, Jan Rigalo, Betch Tamayo, Janis Gibilin, Bitter Ocampoy’s 3 friends: Sherbie, Cyril & Dexter; and of course yours truly, the senator.  

            The first day started out to be an exceptional travel here to there experience. The Cebu to Toledo trip was probably the most lifeless and most dragging trip I had in my life. But it was helpful though since most of us didn’t have a proper rest the night before. We arrived at Toledo City heading straight to a friend’s house where we were offered coffee and a help for securing tickets for the ship that would take us to San Carlos City.

at toledo city...

            When we arrived at San Carlos City, we were walking our way to find a ride to the Bus terminal when suddenly: an enchanting voice broke out through the distance. It was probably from a mystic fairy descending from the mountains, thrilled by our presence and mystically chanting: “SIR! SABAW MO SIR! INIT PA SIR!”.  I felt like I was in a deep trance that time. The next thing I knew, my stomach was already full.

            So we headed on and rode a tricycle to San Carlos City bus terminal. We took a bus that transported us to Canlaon City. Along the way, we saw nothing but vast sea of sugarcane. And as usual, bus stopped to pick up and drop passengers off. Minutes later, Pawlo Kuntis and Erik Furotusok grabbed one of two standing passengers, the other one was held tightly by Jan Farats. My hair stood up turning into bright gold and my hands were on fire, ready to strike my Kame Hame Wave. To cut the story short, we arrived at Canlaon City unharmed and still filled with excitement.

There, we were greeted by our contact person who arranged our guided climb. Very quickly, we drop by the market to make last minute buys. Then we headed directly to the jump-off point via habal-habal. When we arrived at the jump-off point, our 2 guides, David and Goliath was already waiting for us with big smiles. And from then on, the inevitable high level walk-in-the-park started. (By the way the Kame Hame Wave part never really happened).

start ascent to Davids Place

Our first goal that day was to make it to Makawiwili before sundown. But things didn’t go quite well as planned. When we were starting our way up, David went ahead of us since he was still going to pack his things up. Goliath, who was yet then our lone guide, humbly led us to his far far away kingdom called “UNAHAN”. Then, usual things started happening. Sweat slowly began pouring out from our celebrity bodies. But eventually we managed to keep our composure and reached Goliath’s place where we had a short rest, few adjustments and offered a long distance prayer courtesy of our fellow sagoy, Sincha Plaster.

From there we started our climb to David’s place where we planned to have our lunch. The climb was too exhausting that exchange of bags was done just to lighten up the carried weight of the others.

Past noon when we arrived at David’s place. The two guides then started preparing our lunch. It was embarrassing for us not to help. But then, David and Goliath refused the help we offered. Maybe it was part of their service we were not aware of. So then, we took the time to rest, enjoy the view of the luscious green mountains, took some pictures, and shared small talks. The place itself was already a good place to set up a camp for the night. But we were still stuck to the idea of getting to Makawiwili.

at davids place while waiting for our special lunch ;)

SOC and FRIENDS

The small talks ended up to be a once upon a time stories. So long, that we were not already aware of the time passing by quickly. For more than an hour, we shared “MMK” moments of our lives. When we were done eating and laughing, we continued the trek. But this time, we were no longer planning to push ourselves to Makawiwili since we were already short of time. Instead, we would be camping out the night at Banko banko.

We reached our camp site 30 minutes past five.  The trail to the campsite was still manageable and the views were comparably similar to that in Mt. Talinis. We took a short time rest, just to catch our breath, and then started setting up the camp. Again, the guides offered themselves to do the cooking while the rest of us continued preparing our sleeping hotels.

scary night at bangko bangko pitching tents

Night came and we were ready to grab our dinner. The Sagoy Camp dinner is not your typical camping dinner. We were used to dine at camps with the most mouth watering food we can think of. It could be Sinigang na baboy, Sinugbang Pork belly, Pansit, or Guinisang Baboy. And at that time, courtesy of Sherbie, we were filling up our appetite with a fat tasty HUMBA. How about that for a mountain high dinner?

Lights out was never called until our most protected and priced power ups were served. A bottle or two of Vitamin E was just enough to keep ourselves going for the day ahead. It’s a sagoy tradition I honestly thought not worthy of keeping then. But then again, traditions made us who we are. And if I’m not embracing these traditions, then maybe a sagoy part of me might still be missing.

Once again stories were told, memories and laughter were shared. But it was now time to say our goodnight to the departing remarkable first day.

              Daybreak finally came to light. I got out from the tent and I closely observed the surrounding area. Trees were still around, I can still hear recognizable sounds, and I can still breathe through my nose and mouth. Perfect! We were still on Earth. Everybody was up and we were all busy harvesting our own personal overnight made crystal tears.

            The objective then was to reach the shoulder of the volcano, where we were going to set up our second night camp. That day was filled with lots of surprises. Some were breath-taking and some were not appealing at all.

            After taking our humble breakfast and packing up our things, it was now time to hit the trail. But a sad decision had to be made that day. The group had to be divided into two. There were two routes to the shoulder, one was a direct route from Makawiwili, and the other was longer and may not be a desirable option to take for those who suffered early injuries. The Alpha team would take the longer route and would be guided by Goliath, while the Bravo team taking on the direct route would be guided by David. The plan then was to make it to Makawiwili and from there Bravo team would directly proceed to the shoulder, while Alpha team would take the route passing by PMS, Pagatpat and Margaha Valley. And from the shoulder, bravo team would be meeting our team at Margaha valley.

             Alpha team was composed of Pawlo Kuntis, roDEREK Sikwati, Bitter Ocampoy and his three friends: Sherbie, Cyril and Dexter; Betch Tamayo, and the Author. Since we were taking the longer route, we headed out first. Bravo team, composed of Jan Farats, Janis Gibilin, Erik Furotusok, and Jan Regalo, was not far behind. At that time the two groups were still on a same direction. We were all heading to Makawiwili.

            Passing by Kutitap, we filled our dinking bottles with water. The place was large enough and was a good optional place for setting up a camp. We grabbed our water from a source a couple of meters or more from the camping ground. In order to get to the small water basin, we had to pass by a narrow passage. The cliffs on both sides were thickly covered with curtains of moss and vines dropping down. Spots of sunlight penetrated through the canopies and sparkled the undergrowth below. Mystically creepy it was, I wondered to myself: Could that be the place where the enchanted “SABAW-INIT FAIRY” was holding her throne? We never knew.

like our ancestors this is SOC method of filtering germ free water lol

            Any way, the water we got from the source had an undesirable after taste. But it was unwillingly acceptable when left with no other choice. But good thing though, Jan Farats brought a hydro-decontaminating, cow-mammary- mimicking, state-of-the-art, manually operated machine. (Water filter in short)  After filtering the water, the after taste was still there; but at least the water was then safer to drink.

Leaving behind the Bravo team once more, we were now making our way to the view deck, Makawiwili. The term Makawiwili simply describes a feeling of desirably holding on to something you already fell in love with. Imagining then was all I did every time a word was spoken about the place.

For less than an hour of trek and climb, we finally arrived at what supposed to be our first camp site. Tiring it was for me, but the excitement drove me to push myself up the top of Makawiwili. And there it was, lo and behold, my first glance at the impressive volcano.  As it stood still in front of the silent deep blue sky, clouds of white gently wave its way softly altering the scenic display of the great peak.  Indeed, Makawiwili modestly held-on true to its name.

at makawilili peak..... first seen the beauty of the mother earth  "kanlaon"

With still a long way to go before reaching the shoulder, we now decided to proceed our way. We were now heading to the PMS, a place defined boldly by Pawlo Kuntis as “PRE MARITAL SEX”. PMS was actually the abbreviation for the Philippine Mountaineering Society, who discovered the place.

We arrived at the PMS just in time for lunch. Getting there was quite a nasty surprise for us, as several biological landmines were planted along the trail. When we got to the PMS, we met other mountaineers who were making their way down the mountains opposite to the direction we were heading. Two of those friendly mountaineers were ladies, yet to our surprise, they carried larger backpacks than we did.  

at PMS the garden of eden

After we were done with our lunch, we proceeded to Margaha valley, passing by Pagatpat.  Pagatpat was another camping site surrounded by trees that are normally found on lowlands. The trail to Pagatpat was for me the most challenging part of the whole adventure. It was a steep climb on rocks between moistly dense forests.

mossy forest at pagatpat

  More than an hour after: we found ourselves trailing by the side of a mountain, heading down towards a clearing below. It was a large barren land with most plants growing only along the perimeter. The Margaha valley, is a depressed land that is seasonally filled with water during rainy days and is ultimately dry during summer.

 look at their faces "lol" when they first seen margaha!

At that moment we were drawing ourselves close to the shoulder as we could clearly see the camp site above us beside the towering peak. We were expecting the other team to be at the valley waiting for us. But we arrived at the valley with no signs of them. Until one of us saw tiny moving objects heading towards the shoulder. Confidently, we thought those were our friends. So we decided to wait for them to come down to the Valley. While waiting for them, a cup of hot coffee helped set the mood while we were enjoying the 360 degree view displayed before our eyes. Moments later the other team started their way down from the shoulder.

vast plain in margaha valley

have a break... kape kape mode

waiting for the other team BRAVO to arrive..   laugh trip , higda higda, pahuway mode....

Sundown was closing in; we decided to make our way to the shoulder all together. We started setting our camp 10 minutes past five. The wind was then getting colder, so we had to suit on our covers. We were then located very next to the summit. But we spared the glory of conquering the top for the following day.

is it cold?

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dinner for today

sizzling buwad with sweet lamas!

Daylight came to a close and darkness slowly swallowed the day. Dinner was ready and we all had our share of meal. And once again, glasses of drink were passed on from one to the other. Stories were told, memories and laughter were shared. Everyone was ready for the next big day ahead. For then, a new story would we made and new memories would be mold.

This story was written after our successful climb at Mt. Kanlaon. But this story was not only meant to share the moments we had on that mountain. It was written to celebrate the three years of our humble existence as mountaineers. And that, the adventure we had in Mt. Kanlaon would simply describe the real sense of being the adventurers we were, a true “FRU Mountaineers”: always late, demandingly picky of camping foods, butthole honkers, “rest now-walk later” hikers, who’s got the biggest bag contenders, and “camera shy?”

Imperfect and immature they may sound, but those were the reasons why climbing mountains became unforgettable for us. And that, those were the reasons why there were stories to be told and memories to be shared and laughed about. And hey! A bottle or more of vitamin E was not that bad at all.

some memorable pics....

beautiful sunrise with beautiful SOC

imagine fogs underneath your ground

shoulder [campsite] to the summit of Mt kanlaon

SOC rocks Vibram rocks

SOC  ladies

same shoes [merrel] same trekking pole [blackdiamond]

On the third day of our Mt. Kanlaon adventure, we did manage to get our feet to the top of the great volcano. Tied to that moment were sweat, pain and injuries. Certainly exhausting it was, but the glory of realizing a dream was already enough to put a smile on our worn-out faces. On that same day we were able to get back to the Island of Cebu and eventually made it to our homes safe.

i love you goodbye kanlaon!

A walk in the clouds - stairway to heaven

sea of clouds =)))

The last day of our Mt. Kanlaon adventure would probably conclude the three years of our living dreams and hopeful adventures. But things remained the same. As we were leaving behind a history, the future of the “FRU” was already being laid before us. Fuzzy it still maybe, but a new height might be coming our way soon.

Mt. Pulag perhaps?





complete pictures next....