Mountaineer goes missing in Mt. Maculot
Another mountaineer has gone missing. Victor Joel Ayson went on a solo dayhike up Mount Maculot on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013. It was 2:30 AM when he left his bag at Mang Manuel’s store. He successfully reached the Rockies campsite because he was seen buying a bottle of mineral water at the campsite store (which mountaineers fondly call 7-11) around 9:00 AM. After not being in contact until Monday, his friends and family started getting alarmed. Search and rescue operations have been organized since Monday night but all were unsuccessful in finding him. According to Mang Manuel, an experienced Mt. Maculot guide and owner of the Mountaineer’s Stop Over & Store in Barangay Tico, there have really been instances when even the locals would get lost in Mt. Maculot due to engkanto or the entities that we do not see with our naked eyes. I have personally traversed the said mountain twice and has done four solo climbs of the Rockies campsite, and I must say I believe in wh...