Back from the North - Pulag adventure

i've been gone for almost two weeks. no sooner had i returned from an induction climb to Mt. Pulag, I headed back to the Baguio area to give a debate seminar. I had no real reason to go, except that I owed a good friend a Baguio adventure. We were calling it a promise that was three years old.

Many things to say about the LM (Loyola Mountaineers) induction climb. I was team leader to the applicants, to a certain extent. For the most part it was Jason who led the entire team for the 4+ days in the mountain, but I had to handle the group for an entire saturday, the day applicants were 'left behind' by the members to find our own way to the camp by the summit. This meant having to figure out the pace, rest stops, and other such issues for 19 people. It wasn't easy. One can imagine that it is difficult enough to calibrate pace and rest for a group of 5 people (normal group size for AMCI), but I had to figure this out for 19. Days later in the post-climb I got a few comments about how things were much too fast, etc. Well, I explained, I could only try to reach the happy medium. Figuring out optimal rest stops for 19 is like coordinating monetary policy for the EU. Someone's gonna bitch.

Til now, LM training climbs had sorta been easy. This isn't a criticism, it's just an observation, from my point of view (w/c I don't trumpet much anyway). I chalk it up to the (proper) conservatism that the org has maintained in terms of deciding what applicants can handle. Members can easily do harder climbs when it's just them.

This induction wasn't easy-LM anymore. I'd even call it an AMCI level TC. It was the first time that I did 4 night-treks in a row. I hadn't even done 1 night trek up to this point. Previous (AMCI) climbs, I'd always been in a sub-group that was a little obssessed with getting to the camp quick, before darkness set in. (I call it Sir Manny Torralba style). Now, for various reasons, like a jeep breaking down, or setting off late in the morning, we had to do night treks. The saturday evening night-trek was through the open grasslands of Pulag. It was nearly 3 hours of being hit with wind and cold, while trekking on a trail one could barely see because of failing headlamps and flashlights. We were so happy when we saw the lights of the rescue party -- 30 mins away from the camp. The members thought we were 'dead'. I was very proud of the team. We had decided to do this 3 hour crap fest rather than settle down in another camp. We're all crazy bastards as one of the applicants said. Later we found out that arriving that late in camp, and trekking that long was some sort of LM record.

We had induction rites the following morning. (Hush-hush about the details, of course). I can say though that Pulag gave us a small window to see the summit in its glorious version. Running up to the peak, i saw the sun come out and wash the side of the mountain in golden light. The famous 'sea of clouds' was on display for a few brief minutes. This was the 'best' peak so far that I had been to.

The rest of the climb was uneventful after that tough Saturday. We scuttled plans to climb down via the steep Akiki route and decided to do (easier) Ambangeg. Later, after the 3 hour (vomitous) ride back to Baguio was done, we were conducting the Post-climb. Naturally, got a lot of comments, queries, being TL for the group. It was humbling, 'coz everything I did was put under scrutiny, and commented on. Realized that the work of TLs was a lot tougher than I had imagined. All the more respect I have for the members of this org. You can't just take care of yourself, with this role. You got to take care of everybody. You have authority and respect, but also the weight of a lot on your shoulders. No regrets doing this job though, and I thought the applicants were pretty happy. The comments during the post-climb were straightforward, but also constructive and fair.

Thanks to the prodding of Jaja, we didnt take the first bus home after the climb. There was time for hanging out and kalokohan around Baguio. Everyone had the mountain high. A highlight was when were all eating at Oh My Gulay. We were tasting each other vegetarian fare like mountaineers -- standing over plates, and relentlessly attacking with out forks. It was a nice atmosphere. We all did some shopping before heading to the bus home.

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Shout outs (yuck, can we think of a better term?) to Batch 16 who survived the Pulag ordeal / induction climb / adventure. We got through the never-ending (yet surreal) Mossy Forest. Not to mention our bizarre eating habits (feast and famine, crap and tasty stuff). Pretty thankful for my team (group 1) who put up with a lot of Analness in my part -- I hated the way they entered the tent with their wet jackets. UGH. They're tough though. I'm referring to (Tiger) Mancy, Mons, Carlo Carlos, and Mickey Lu.