mist-covered mountains remind me of somewhere far-away.
stories of old, far away, another world.
where mountains come alive
where birds sing praises
where trees do laugh
A friend of mine told me that it's his third time to join a three day trek to
Mt. Ugu. I, myself tend not to repeat things I've already done, or go to places I've already been. My reason is because there are a lot of other things to try or many more places to explore, so why re-do, or why re-visit a place? Not unless, for some reason, I felt the first time was not enough, .
So I wondered why people, like my friend, do things over and over again. There were even some who joined the trek 8 times, within the consecutive 8 years this particular activity has been happening! And I never thought that my similarly physically active cousin ever joined the same climb as she never mentioned even the existence of this mountain to me! Not until yesterday anyway when she said she climbed it twice already.... Oh well. Back to the friend I mentioned above, his answer to my question as to why he did it thrice was that it was the best
social-climb he's ever been.
"Social-climb" indeed, it was!
168 people participated. What to expect from such a huge number of mountain climbers? Honestly, at first, I had a bit of a hard time imagining how a big number like that could do a continuous three day walking in mountains. But we did it, without any mishaps. At most, I thought that real mountain-climbs should be limited to 20-30 people, with at least three guides with them. In this particular climb, there was almost no need for guides!
I understood why my friend called it "social climb," it wasn't really the serious mountain climbing I expected and prepared for. The trails were big enough and cleared. There was no Avatar-like (the movie) scenes and actions (to my disappointment :-)). I was expecting a jungle, at least a forest; but the mountains were bare. Some of my friends commented it was like walking in John Hay Park, haha. I haven't seen a single waterfall. I haven't heard or had a glimpse of a single exotic wild bird (which I can still see in my hometown, by the way).
It was a "social climb" because different people, who previously didn't know each other, meet and make new friends. It was a social climb because the climbers see the locals, and the locals get to be exposed to outsiders. It was a social climb because some people can get really loud in the middle of the night while tired fellow climbers were trying to get some sleep and rest; some people drink until they get very drunk and vomit in front of some other people's tents, failing to respect other people's spaces. There was a lack of discipline in some groups (i guess that's what happens when there are too many groups). Not to mention the so-called "mountain climbers" who "dropped" their pet bottles and wrappers along the trails -- an outrageous offense against basic mountaineering rules!
I'm not blaming the organizers of the event as I quickly came to understand that this event was not meant to be the mountain climbing that I know of. It was indeed a "
social mountain climbing," as defined by my friend. And it was my introduction to this kind of mountain climbing.
Mt. Ugu from a distance, in a cloudy afternoon.
the way to the top
All in all, it was good on its own merits. It could have been better, but who am I to say what should be or should not be when I was just another joiner?
I did have some fun.
Though my expectations, as a mountain climber, were not met, it was nonetheless a valuable experience.
photo ops with the village's eldest
sunset; first night camp
learning some Iwak tribe rhythm 
village kids, very curious of city people.
with their shy but curious eyes they watched us from the time we arrived to the first camp site; they were already up early the next morning to continue watching us.
A "social climb" is indeed a unique experience for someone like me who have been taught and trained in the strictest sense of mountain climbing.
In my former mountaineering club, there were many
no-nos. Apart from following the standard mountain climbing rules, among others, additional rules that we observed were:
no drinking, no smoking, no engaging in romantic relationship among members, no bringing of radios/walkman (no mp3s then!)
efficient and economized packing, etc, etc. The mother club of my former mountaineering club was even stricter: all members have to convert to vegetarianism! In my former group, we were not required to be vegetarians but we limited our meat intake.
But in this "social climb," chunks of meat, or "watwat" was the most famous and most anticipated food in the evenings!
"wat wat" cooking in a vat!
wat wat's accompanying riceI was initially a bit disillusioned about the kind of people who joined the climb. I really had been looking forward meeting and sharing with other mountaineers. It's been a long while since I was surrounded by the adventurous and dare-devil aura of my former mountain climbing friends. Turned out that in this climb, the situation was very different from my expectations. But it was not all about my unmet expectations, lest I paint a drab color for this climb, I hasten to mention that I did see some groups of very well disciplined and very capable mountain climbers, the ones I expected to be there. This was enough to stir the spirit of the past, when I was younger and loved taking dangerous stunts... For the record, in this time's climb, I was the first female to reach the summit, hah hah................. :-)
porter boys, (no, we did not employ porters because we did not carry lots of stuff with us)
and no, they were not sleeping. they just did not want their faces to be seen here.Oh, the best part of the climb for me was meeting my group-mates, ever helpful, accommodating, and generous. They carried mine and my friend's borrowed but dysfunctional tent. They generously shared their tent and food with us, because we did not bring our own food!
a little rest and cookie snack
ang aking tropa (my group)
2nd camp night sunset
packing-upSoon, summer will pass and I wonder what's next to do when it's gonna be raining and storming.
April 9-11-'10
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i love guesthouses like this, clean, spacious, airy and artistic.
