JP was supposed to be the Team Leader for this climb, but since he was undergone deep brain surgery because of X-linked Parkinsonism Dystonia which manifested during the training season, I volunteered to take his place with the help of our batchmate, Cyrus David which assigned to be the Asst. Team Leader.
Day 0
Our meetup was in Ohayami Terminal in Manila. I can't remember how many are we exactly, but it was around 30, I guess. We departed pass 10:00PM but it supposedly exact 10:00PM but I tried to delay it for some few participants that were late but almost near the meet-up.
So all of the participants are on-boarded and we're ready to go. As we reached the Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya. I felt that the bus stopped for a while. It stopped for like an hour and started to move again but in less than 2 minutes it stopped again. It was like a déjà vu to me as I experienced this on my first climb in Ugo. But this time, we were stucked in Sta. Fe for 4 hours and it was dawn already. We have passed Sta. Fe around 6:00AM and the reason is there was a truck which was flipped.
As we passed the situation, there was another delay happened. In Kiangan, Ifugao, the bus stopped because it was overheated or something is malfunctioning which needed to change a certain part of the engine. We stayed there for 2 hours and I asked the members to gather and discuss the next plan since the itinerary was now delayed.
After our discussion, we decided to push through and will start the ascend early in the morning around 02:00AM. There was a bus came to rescue and brought us to Banaue. We met 2 our participants, one member and one guest which took other bus going to Banaue.
After having our late lunch, we headed to Barlig. We arrived in Barlig around 6:00PM and we talked to our guides and discuss to them our plan. After the discussion, we were allowed to stay in the school's covered court.
So we cooked there and had some couple of booze. Some of us pitched their tents and some of us just lay their sleeping pad. Personally, I just used my sleeping bag and earth pad so I don't have to break tent in the morning.
After having our late lunch, we headed to Barlig. We arrived in Barlig around 6:00PM and we talked to our guides and discuss to them our plan. After the discussion, we were allowed to stay in the school's covered court.
So we cooked there and had some couple of booze. Some of us pitched their tents and some of us just lay their sleeping pad. Personally, I just used my sleeping bag and earth pad so I don't have to break tent in the morning.
Day 1
Around 01:00AM, I started to visit all the participants to wake them up. I immediately fixed my stuff and ate my breakfast. All of us are having a hard time to move since we're still tired from the travel the other day and lack of sleep.
So when our guides already showed up, we started the ascend with a prayer first and then we start to walk in the dark. I volunteered as sweep for this climb again. After 30 minutes of trekking, I saw my batchmate Anika Tarriela having a hard time to climb the stairs. She told me that she doesn't want to continue anymore, but I told her to rest, climb slowly and encourage her to push through. She was trying hardly. Then, we saw Ms. Faith Salonga and told me that she vomited few minutes ago and didn't also want to continue. So I decided to allow them to go back together with Anika. They were accompanied by Sir Joel Salonga, Ms. Faith's husband and a guide.
When I reached the first waiting shed, a member told me that some of the members were thinking of not doing the traverse. So I thought of it while heading to the summit. When I reached the summit around 10:00AM, I was amazed that there was still Sea of Clouds.
Some of the members are telling me that they do not want to do the traverse anymore because of their performance going up. We really need to be fast and strong going to Batad because of time constraints. So I decided to change the original to back trail so we can't surely be safe going down and catch the bus back to Manila on Sunday.
So from morning before lunch to next day we stayed at the summit. We just chill there, did lots of sleep and social activities. In the evening, it rained and some of us that are sleeping outside the bunker had to go inside and it lessen the cold we were feeling.
When the morning comes, it was still raining. We had our breakfast quickly and started to descend, and the rain got more worst. I was kinda drunk last night so I got a hangover while going down and my head was aching. It went away couple of minutes after as I was having a hard time going down due to rain.
Mid way before reaching the exit point, one of the guest was struggling because his leg got cramps. So I need for him because I'm the sweeper. I was patiently waiting for him as he was walking very slowly because of the pain on his legs. We were taking a lot of rest and it took already an hour and there's still 1/4 of the trail remaining. I was expecting that we will be arriving late and his legs situation was getting worst and we can't stand the cold. So I called Ma'am Faith, the secretary of our organization to ask for help and I told her that I need 2 guide to carry our guest. After few minutes,
the guides arrived and carry our guest up to the exit point.
I arrived in the exit point just in time with ETA. It was a successful hike even though we weren't able to do the traverse. We were still blessed that everyone is safe although one of our guests got a leg injury.
Some of the members are telling me that they do not want to do the traverse anymore because of their performance going up. We really need to be fast and strong going to Batad because of time constraints. So I decided to change the original to back trail so we can't surely be safe going down and catch the bus back to Manila on Sunday.
Day 2
So from morning before lunch to next day we stayed at the summit. We just chill there, did lots of sleep and social activities. In the evening, it rained and some of us that are sleeping outside the bunker had to go inside and it lessen the cold we were feeling.
When the morning comes, it was still raining. We had our breakfast quickly and started to descend, and the rain got more worst. I was kinda drunk last night so I got a hangover while going down and my head was aching. It went away couple of minutes after as I was having a hard time going down due to rain.
Mid way before reaching the exit point, one of the guest was struggling because his leg got cramps. So I need for him because I'm the sweeper. I was patiently waiting for him as he was walking very slowly because of the pain on his legs. We were taking a lot of rest and it took already an hour and there's still 1/4 of the trail remaining. I was expecting that we will be arriving late and his legs situation was getting worst and we can't stand the cold. So I called Ma'am Faith, the secretary of our organization to ask for help and I told her that I need 2 guide to carry our guest. After few minutes,
the guides arrived and carry our guest up to the exit point.
I arrived in the exit point just in time with ETA. It was a successful hike even though we weren't able to do the traverse. We were still blessed that everyone is safe although one of our guests got a leg injury.
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