Mt. Banahaw still closed / Mt. Cristobal still open

This morning I spoke with Ms. Sally Pangan, Park Superintendent (DENR PASU) upon whose jurisdiction Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Cristobal falls under. We discussed the status of the mountains, the prospects for reopening. Here is the gist of our conversation:

The five-year closure order of Mt. Banahaw was enacted in 2004. Doesn't that mean that we can expect a Banahaw reopening this year?
No. The reckoning is different...this year would just be the fifth year of the order. We will reopen after the five years, that means we can only do so in 2010. Prior to that, feasibility studies will be done and the carrying capacity of the mountain will have to be determined.

But between then and now, your office issued permits to climb. In fact, the current knowledge of many mountaineers is by going to Pagbilao, they can get a permit.
Yes, we issued permits for clean-up climbs up Banahaw. You see, some areas along the Cristalino trail still had a lot of garbage, covered very thinly by soil. We have determined these to antedate the closure order. Of course, the climbers went to the summit na rin; from Kapatagan it is quite close anyway.

So, no permits will be issued for now?
Yes. My superiors told me na wag na muna, especially with the studies under way.

What is the extent of the closure order?
Cristalino and Tatlong Tangke trails are closed; so is the trail from Sariaya, what is known as "Ilalim". Moreover, last year, a moratorium was passed that includes the Tayabas trail. For this naman, the reason is different: it is due to treasure hunting activity in the area.

What about Mt. Cristobal?
Cristobal is wide open. But we would like climbers to coordinate with us pa rin sana. Look at what happened last year, there were those who got lost and we had no idea how to help them, not knowing their background and itinerary.

Thank you very much. Please let us know if there are updates.
Yes, I will coordinate with you through email or text if there are changes in the status. Thank you!

The updates we got from this conversation will be reflected in the "Closed mountains" bulletin and the Mt. Banahaw page in PinoyMountaineer.com

What is PinoyMountaineer?

This short note is just to clarify some misconceptions about the blog.

First of all, it is not a mountaineering club or an organization. PinoyMountaineer is a website. This is PinoyMountaineer. Authored by Gideon Lasco, Founded in 2007 with the help of Ivan Henares of Ivan About Town, and Contributed to by mountaineers from all over (including you through your climbs and comments). The objective of this blog as to create a portal for Philippine mountaineers to have hiking information, updated news, and all things related to hiking.

So please don't refer to a "Pinoy Mountaineer Group" or "PinoyMountaineers" (in the plural). Such are non-existent :D PinoyMountaineer also does not pertain to the blogger, but the blog ^^

Climb of the Month: Mt. Balingkilat-Anawangin Cove Traverse

BLOGGER'S NOTE: Starting January 2009, PinoyMountaineer will feature exploration climbs from various mountaineering clubs as "Climbs of the Month". If you have done a climb - or if you know of a climb that deserves to be cited and featured as such, then please do email us at info@pinoymountaineer.com.

On December 27-29, 2008 the San Beda Mountaineering Society (SBMS) successfully performed the first-ever recorded traverse from Mt. Balingkilat to Anawangin Cove. This major feat, which comes after the recent interest in Zambales mountains spurred by YABAG and other mountaineering groups, connects two of the popular destinations in the province and makes Zambales an even more exciting hotspot for Philippine mountaineering. Moreover, Anawangin Cove would serve for Mt. Balingkilat what Silanguin Cove has done for Mt. Cinco Picos - these two, almost parallel trails combining land and water elements to create great outdoor adventures in the region.

For their first day, they followed the regular trail up Mt. Balingkilat. The real adventure began on the next day, when they spent the entire day traversing from Balingkilat to Anawangin Cove, passing by an open ridge on a northwest direction. Based on topographic maps, the San Beda trail is 8-9 kms. Although the Balingkilat summit is the highest point in the climb, the trail passes by some peaks of the range, such the Pointed Peak itself (in distinction to the summit of Balingkilat) and St. Benedict's Peak. Throughout, the climb looked very scenic -- the SBMS guys were also blessed with cloudy skies (a cloudless sky and a fierce sun would have doubtless been scorching). The traverse trail lasted 7 hours, and the group finally reached Anawangin Cove at around 3 PM on December 28. The rest, I'm sure, was a euphoric campout at the Cove, and then the boat ride to Pundaquit.

This will doubtless spawn a lot of possibilities. Perhaps an option that will emerge for future climbers is a two-day IT which will mean a quick-in quick-out from the Cove (although late afternoon waters may not be conducive to such plans on certain seasons). Then, for the fatigue-addicts, a pure land trip by continuing the hike up Mt. Pundaquit from the Cove. Watch out for the itinerary of this trek which will come out very soon in PinoyMountaineer.

Provisionally, this major climb is assigned a difficulty rating of 6/9 and will be entered into our registry as "Mt. Balingkilat/Traverse to Anawangin Cove (1,100+)". For the novelty and creativity of coming up with this traverse, and for the excellent documentation, this climb is the Climb of the Month for January 2009.

Congratulations to the SBMS team which consisted of: John Buno, Lendl Layug, JR Yu, my good friend Coby Sarreal, Jose Victor Benedicto, Mike Arbues, Ace Borja, and John Vergara. Information and pictures courtesy of John Buno. Check out his Multiply site for their account of the climb.

ERRATUM: I think the "Balingkilat Pk." I drew in the illustrated map actually refers to the Pointed Peak, and the summit itself lies more southern in the map. Yet for illustrative purposes it will suffice until I revise it for the traverse article.

PS: The SBMS logo looks very cool on a black background - reminds me of Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke ^^

Boulder Face #1: Backpacking Sulop Mountain Ranges

On December 20-21, 2008; the Local Government Unit of Sulop, Davao del Sur, (a small town southwest of Davao del Sur province) in coordination with the Mountaineering Federation of Southern Mindanao (MFSM) and the Regional Office of Department of Tourism XI; has initiated the baptismal climb to Sulop Range via sitio Kiblagon traversing Sitio San Pedro and Barangay Waterfall rivers and crests. It was a climb of diverse features including river trekking, falls hopping, mountain trail assault (740 masl), rappelling and community engagement; being part of the LGU’s effort to uphold ecotourism development in this part of the province.

Dubbed as Duaw Sulop…Baktas ta Bay (Visit Sulop…Let’s all trek guys), the event had enabled local backpackers to discover new and distinct sites and adventure activities.

Although Sulop town does not have a fixed rate for trekking activities as it is still in the process of drafting its trekking documents, they welcome walk-in individuals and groups who want to explore this scenery all year round. For climb queries, contact MS. WILMA BANUGBANUG, the Tourism Officer (09283860815) and MR. CYRUS MONTEJO (09204349093), president of a local mountaineering group called Cliffhanger Mountaineers.

This corner recommends Sulop to Mindanao side trippers who want to see distinct ranges of visions and to those who want to commune with nature and local Tagacaolo tribes.

SULOP MOUNTAIN RANGE PICTURES

Tumandaw Falls cascades along a large rock.


Kiblagon Falls also cascades along a rock formation


The twin branches of Alog Falls are tall, with a verdant setting.

Boulder Face is the monthly column of Julius Paner, Mindanao correspondent for PinoyMountaineer.com

Blogging matters #2: MikeB's mountaineering experiences

The power of the Internet as a means to share and get information has a great impact for hobbies and interests that would otherwise have no other means of sharing, being too small for mass media. For mountaineering, we have seen this in the past decade. As an early teen, I would always access Long Henson's itineraries in the MMS website -- checking out those mountains which at that time seemed unreachable. When PinoyMountaineer was launched in 2007, it followed the same tradition - this time, as Long Henson himself told me, harnessing the advances in cyberspaces such as the ability of readers to comment and thereby transform a unilateral itinerary into a shared endeavor to which everybody can contribute.

Yet the diversity of information - coming from separate perspectives - is an even better state that we are hoping for. Blogs focusing on regions -- such as Mindanao, the Visayas, the Cordilleras, etc - would have the unique ability to furnish a more in-depth and updated picture when describing mountains and detailing itineraries.

The epitome of a regional mountaineering blog -- but of course its blogger also has posts and guides about other places - is MikeB's website, Mikeb: Welcome to Mountaineering Experience. Based in Zambales and a member of the YABAG Mountaineering Club, he has detailed information about the mountains in the province such as Cinco Picos, Balingkilat, Tapulao, Anawangin. And aside from these usual climbs, he has described other treks in the province. Some information from PinoyMountaineer's own entries about these mountains, are doubtless derived from his infos, or from his hiking club.

We commend MikeB for his wonderful and informative site and encourage other mountaineers to form blogs from their respective regions/provinces. Check out his site if you are planning to any of those Zambales mountains. Starting this year, whenever available, regional blogs will be featured in the regional pages in PinoyMountaineer.