Missing mountaineer in Mt. Maculot found dead

Victor Joel Ayson, the mountaineer who went up Mt. Maculot on Easter Sunday and went missing, has been found thirteen days after, on the day of his birthday on April 13, 2013.

Reports say he left his rucksack at the mountaineers’ stop-over owned by Mang Manuel on March 31 at around 2:30 AM. Then he was seen buying a bottle of mineral water in a store up the mountain around 9:00 AM the same day.

Biki, as he was fondly called by family and friends, had just been to a Mt. Guiting-Guiting climb with some of his friends over the Holy Week. They were heading back home on the eve of Easter Sunday, but he had other plans. From the Batangas port, he went to Cuenca, Batangas to do a solo hike of Mt. Maculot.

After going up, however, he never went down to claim his bag at the mountaineer’s stop over.

His girlfriend, family and friends got alarmed as Biki said he’d be back home by noontime Sunday. It could have been possible since a hike up to the Rockies of the said mountain only takes about an hour, and going down to the jump off usually takes less time.

Mang Manuel started receiving calls asking for Biki Monday night. And when the mountaineer still didn’t show up on Tuesday, search and rescue operations were started. Several mountaineering groups volunteered to help. A foreign climber even brought his group along with their gears to search the walls of the Rockies.

After days of unsuccessful operations, however, not even a single lead was found. The family of the lost eventually had to call off the search, but his friends resumed looking for him, hoping to find him alive since his birthday was coming near.

And true enough, on the date of his birth, Victor Joel Ayson showed up in an area at the foot of the Rockies, lifeless.

He was found by Mt. Maculot guides Ramon Puso, Christopher Puso, Eduardo Puso Jr, Richard Puso and Javier Mercado on Saturday morning. The group set off around 6 AM to that area at the foot of the Rockies because someone told them that part has not been searched yet. Upon reaching the area, they noticed a not so pleasant smell. That smell led them to the remains of Victor. They were able to report it around 11 AM that day.

Meanwhile, a hiker who was doing a cleanup climb with his group on Easter Sunday, posted a photo of a lone mountaineer who caught his attention. The person in the photo, believed to be Biki, was sitting at a very dangerous part of the Rockies, a part not frequented by mountaineers without ropes. In this case, the man in the photo doesn’t look like he’s protected.

Facebook uploader Ahrold Fampulme captioned the above photo with: “This photo was taken in mt. Maculot, in rockies to be exact. Kung makikita nyo e may isang lalaki na nasa larawaan kung saan talagang delikado ang pwesto nya. Sya e may kamera na dala duon kasi halos nung nakaakyat na kami a rockies e kita mo yung lalaki. I posted this pic kasi nga dun sa nawawalang lalaki sa mt.maculot na napapabalita.”

He then posted another photo with a better lighting, although the person in it was still not identifiable.

It was captioned with: “Eto mas malinaw na kuha, di ko sure kung sino tong lalaki na to, pero sana makatulong kahit papano sa mga naghahanap dun sa nawawalang lalaki. :) march 31,2013 sunday.”

Now here’s a photo of that portion of the Rockies I found in my memory card, taken last January. I put an arrow to where the man in Ahrold’s photos was sitting.

Meanwhile, Ahrold’s mention of the man in the photo having a camera leads one to believe it was Biki because he loved taking pictures as evident in his Facebook page. Even the silhouette of the head could very well be his, judging by his hairstyle in his recent pics.

And if the man in the photo was indeed Biki, those two taken by Ahrold could be his last pictures before he fell off.

Death is always a sad news, and one as tragic as this gives scare to those who share the same passion as the one that took the person’s life. But then I’m sure Biki is happy, as he spent his last hours doing what he loved best.

My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. And to Biki, happy birthday. May you rest in peace.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

What do Maculot, Romelo and Manabu have in common? - Part 1

I climbed Mt. Maculot every week last December to lose some inches on my tummy. And because not everyone likes to climb the same mountain over and over again, and because I'm really a loner, I climbed those four times alone.

The Rockies campsite is safe to climb alone. (I can almost hear my few more experienced mountaineering friends disagreeing with me.) The trail is wide and there are no forks aside from one early in the trail, but there’s an arrow pointing to the right direction so I really don't see how anyone could get lost.

My first two weeks were bliss. I was literally alone at the campsite aside from a big tuko on the first and a monkey on the second week. I was able to pray (which I do secretly when there are mountaineers around) for the safe climb, lie down on the tables, close my eyes and savor the quiet sounds of wind on the trees and the idea of being alone 300+ meters above sea level.

But was I really alone during those times that I thought I was?

I'm going to fast forward to January 3 because my third and fourth solo climbs on the third and fourth weeks of December were full of happy mountaineers along the trail and at the campsite. They were really friendly, aside from a few shy ones, but I wish I could teach myself how to become a large group type of person.

Going back to that first Thursday of 2013, it was a happy climb for me because after a little more than a year, I was able to climb again with my climb buddy K. He became so busy when he transferred school because he went back to playing the quinta drums and couldn’t find time to climb anymore.

After the holidays, though, he was a little less busy. And even if it was the last mountain we climbed together, we chose Maculot again because (1) I told him I will show him the "dila" part of the Rockies; and (2) we will do the traverse which he hasn't done yet.

I have traversed Maculot in 2010 with Danilo and a kid guide starting from Brgy. Pinagkaisahan to the Rockies down to Brgy. Tico, and I decided to do it the other way around this time. Little did I know that we really couldn’t start at the Brgy. Pinagkaisahan jump off because it is currently closed aside for foreigners. But that's another story.

After taking pictures at the so-called "dila" of the Rockies, K and I set off for the traverse at exactly 9:38 in the morning. K was excited to use for the first time his Casio altimeter watch that his father gifted him with last Christmas.

We occasionally paused to take pictures and/or admire the surroundings. A little over 800 MASL, we again stopped to admire a tree with a bunch of round fruits that looked like grapes. I took a photo of K by the tree and also took pictures of the wet surroundings.

It was raining and oh-so-foggy that day. It was bearable from Brgy. Tico up to the Rockies, but it was wet and muddy after the Rockies campsite onwards.

After taking photos, it’s time to continue walking. “Let’s go,” I told K who was in front of our two-person line. He turned away from me to resume the trek but suddenly turned back again, his gaze searching somewhere behind me.

“May tao sa likod mo,” (Someone’s behind you) he told me in his typical flat tone.

Thinking he meant there were other mountaineers behind us, I turned back as well to search for them at the trail behind. There were none, though, and when I turned back to look at K again, I sensed through his tensed expression that it was something else.

I’m not a mind reader, but the two of us have climbed mountains as a duo long enough to read each other’s thoughts just by the movements of our eyes.

At that point, I was reminded of the “green man” my guide saw was following me during my Mt. Romelo climb, reason why from there, I told K I’ll take the lead (I was the one who knew the trail, anyway). I also knew better than to talk about “what” K saw while we were still in that mountain.

We didn’t stop walking again after that, climbing at least a hundred MASL straight until we reached the summit. We became more quiet, more cautious, and perhaps more aware of what’s around us.

We stopped at the summit for a while. There, we ate our Jollibee cheeseburgers (K is a sucker for burgers, BTW) and took pictures. When my jaw started rattling at 24 degrees centigrade because we were all wet, I decided it’s time to start the descent to Brgy. Pinagkaisahan.

The trail on that other side was as steep as I remembered. However, the rope segments were more difficult going down than how I remembered it going up.

After the second and steeper rope segment before the grotto, we bumped into a Kiwi on his way up. He was being guided by Kuya Jun. I remembered the guide as the one at the registration during my 2010 traverse. He was also the one who gave me the 14-year-old Denver as guide. He remembered me as well and he talked like an old friend, explaining why there was a new fork in the trail near the summit and why they don’t allow mountaineers to start trek at Pinagkaisahan anymore.

I wonder why he gave the mountaineer from New Zealand a special consideration, anyway. And with that, your guess is as good as mine.

The area around the grotto was devoid of trees and the wind was particularly strong. We decided to eat K’s pancit canton there. After taking a lot of pictures, that is.

We completely forgot about what K saw until we were already comfortable eating burgers (again) at McDonald’s in Robinsons Lipa some three hours after.

“Ano’ng nakita mo? Naka-green?” (What did you see? Someone wearing green?) I asked K, thinking it was the same “thing” that followed me in Mt. Romelo on my way to Lansones Falls in 2010.

“Naka-white,” he answered, and I got instant goosebumps upon hearing that.

“Lalaki?” (A man?) I asked again because the one in Romelo was male, but perhaps I was also hoping the Maculot entity wasn’t what I thought it was.

“Babae.” (A Woman.)

I had more goosebumps after that, especially when K said the woman in white was standing to my left but a couple of steps behind.

All K could describe was black hair and white clothes as he said it immediately disappeared when he turned to look at it again.

I believed him, as I’ve also seen “things” like that on several occasions, the last of which was three days before this posting. But again, that’s another story.

Back at home, I told my friend Mylene about the white woman in Mt. Maculot. Mylene was a mountaineer before she married and gave birth. And then she told me a story of her mountaineering buddies hearing marching footsteps and Japanese voices during an overnight at the Rockies campsite.

My Mt. Romelo and Manabu Peak “goosebump-y” experiences coming soon.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

A new mountaineer's stop-over in Mt. Maculot

There’s new tambayan/tindahan at the foot of Mt. Maculot and it’s a good thing for those who hike during the weekends when all these so-called mountaineers’ stop-over get crowded a lot.

This one is very near the trail head, way past UWAC but before the fallen milestone with written acknowledgements.

The good-mannered, elderly man who owns it told me to just call him Tatay Ed.

He actually sells bottled water, soda, and even cooked food during the weekends. Unluckily for me, I climbed on a Thursday so I didn’t get to taste his cooking.

Tatay Ed said he’s constructing a toilet for the mountaineers. And we can use it for free. I just hope his free toilet wouldn’t smell.

For those who bring vehicles, he also charges nothing for parking within the area of his store.

“Bumili lang sa akin ay tama na,” he told me when I said sayang ang parking fees.

Anyway, I already saw his store when I climbed the Rockies last June, although I didn’t think it was a store because it didn’t look like one back then. It also used to be on the left side of the road. It’s now on the right.

Anyway, I’m sure Tatay Ed will sooner or later become a byword to those who frequent Mt. Maculot. Especially that he can also provide guides for those new to the mountain. It’s just sad that he didn’t have a cellphone yet. He could have been a very good contact person for mountaineers.

I’ll update this post as soon as I can get his number.

His guide rates are as follows:

P100 – up to the part na may ligaw (or where the trail splits into two)
P300 – up to the Rockies campsite
P1,000 – traverse (from Brgy. Pinagkaisahan to Brgy. Tiko)

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Going back to Mt. Maculot’s Rockies

I went back to Mt. Maculot two Saturdays ago (June 9) with a friend who has never climbed a mountain before.

It wasn’t planned, actually. I was looking at my mountain climbing photos Friday night and decided I will climb the day after. I logged onto Facebook, checked who’s online and messaged random friends. Diego responded positively and we left a few hours later.

We were at the registration in Cuenca by 6:30 AM. I actually intended to get there earlier but I still had to do so much that we were able to leave Taguig at 3 AM.

Why I wanted to climb early? Because it was the Freedom Climb weekend.

We were the first to register that day, but I was particularly slow due to not having even a minute of sleep (oh, reasons!) and I was with a virgin (it was Diego’s first mountain) so a group of three girls from Team Injury plus a solo hiker from Muntinlupa went past us. LoL! That made me miss my climbing buddy K. He wouldn’t let anyone do that to us, so he’d push me in the mildest possible way (so I wouldn’t get mad and leave him to summit alone) to keep on walking.

We reached the Rockies campsite just a few minutes (in fairness) behind the girls and the solo hiker. The four were resting in the cottage together with a couple who spent the night. Diego and I didn’t wanna waste time (hah!) so we headed straight to the Rockies.

It was a clear day, no fog at all and the sky was crisp blue and the clouds few and picturesque. I wanted to take opportunity of the weather because the Taal Lake was covered with fog when I first went there, and it was stormy during my second visit.

The four followed after a while and I was thankful to them that on my third time at the Rockies, I was able to go as far down as the “dila” (or whatever it is called). It wasn’t windy at all. I wouldn’t dare tread the edges of the Rockies if it was.

Diego was ecstatic. I knew the Rockies was perfect to introduce newbies to mountain climbing. The thrill (of climbing the almost vertical wall of the Rockies and being on edges of big rocks) and the fantastic view of the lake and Taal Volcano will encourage them to climb more.

Anyway, after taking gazillion pictures, we were back at the campsite at exactly 9 AM. And since we literally had no food and Diego’s water bottle was already empty, we hurried back down.

It was sad, however, that I have a very sensitive stomach, so I chose to just eat at downtown Lipa. Safest for me, aside from Nanay’s cooking, are fastfoods. I hate to say this but even the hotdog sandwich in MLQU (during one of my trips up there for hiking activities) made my stomach upset.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Mt. Maculot's Garbage Problems

Mt. Maculot's campsite, as I mentioned in my recent post titled Mt. Maculot: A Not-So-Pleasant-Surprise, has a big problem on waste management. It wouldn't have reached that point if all of us "mountaineers" are disciplined enough to "Leave No Trace" and if we really care about the environment.

Judging by the pile of liquor bottles, I think that some (if not most) of the hikers go up Mt. Maculot just to drink and party. Have the mountains become the new venue of Friday/Saturday/long weekend night-outs?

Perhaps some would argue, "What are the registration fees for?"

Do you think P10.00 is enough to let the locals chase our garbage in the mountains? To leave behind our water bottles and butanes so our backpacks wouldn't be as bulky when we go down?

These mountains were in peace before men learned the sport/hobby of climbing. These mountains didn't invite us to go up and spend our nights in its wilderness for a thrill. But we climb these mountains, nonetheless – as environmentalists, as thrill-seekers, as tourists. For what we don't know, these mountains perhaps consider us as unwanted visitors.

But whatever purpose we have for climbing, let's just do the mountains a favor. Please do not leave anything, especially your trash, behind.

I took a couple of videos just to show how not-so-pleasant Mt. Maculot's Rockies campsite has become.

Take a look:

Mt. Maculot: A Not-So-Pleasant Surprise

Last week of July, I learned that my young friends in MLQU Stallions Outdoor Club (MSOC) were planning to do a Mt. Maculot hike on the first weekend of August. I get invited to MSOC climbs most of the time so it was kinda automatic (especially with these young members) that I would be joining them on this one.

No one among those climbing that time had been to Mt. Maculot before, while I already did a traverse of the mountain September last year with my friend Danilo. So I was immediately appointed as the guide.

It was my first time to ever guide a group of climbers in the mountains, but as they say, there's always a first time for everything. My knowledge of the route, though, was Brgy. Pinagkaisahan – Grotto – Summit – Rockies – Brgy. Tiko. They were planning on a night trek to Rockies but I remember the trail as very easy so I agreed.

K (who is a member of MSOC himself) and I met the other members of the team around 9 PM at the Buendia bus terminal. We took a Lipa-bound bus cuz a road restoration was going on in Cuenca and no bus would go directly to the town.

The kids lingered for a while at McDonalds Lipa so we got to Cuenca a little past midnight. I had to ask someone from a Karinderia on how to get to the registration area cuz there were no tricycle that time of the night.

It drizzled on and off since we got to Lipa up to the time we got to the Rockies campsite. The trail was easy enough especially that we walked in a very easy pace. The kids wanted to enjoy it. It was, after all, their first climb since they graduated from the MSOC training.

I was surprised to see the camp site so different from what I saw last year. The lone small hut last year was now three big huts, and the small pile of garbage multiplied a hundred times. And that's not exaggerating because in one hut alone, we found two sacks full of garbage, not to mention those that were strewn around and plastic bags left hanging on roof of the huts. One simple word to describe the campsite of Mt. Maculot these days: kadiri.

I just wish all of us who love to admire the beauty of nature are all sensitive enough not to do the things that we know would harm what we enjoy seeing.

And then again that differentiates someone who loves to climb mountains, from someone who loves the mountains and nature in itself; a mountaineer from an environmentalist.

“This is not to suggest, however, that the mountain areas are free of environmental problems, notably deforestation. The more pragmatic view is that while there are inevitably conflicts between man’s activities in the mountains and the natural ecological balance, it is the extent of the resulting problems that has been overstated.” - Tourism Development and Environmental Management in Nepal

Back to the climb, the weather had not been so friendly even after sunrise. K and I attempted to climb the Rockies while the others were still resting but K wouldn't even attempt to go up with the thick fog and howling winds.

A few hours after, though, the fog had lessened and the wind became bearable. We attempted to go up the Rockies even if we couldn't even see a trace of the Taal Volcano through the fog. But then I thought it's better than to not bring them to the Rockies at all.

It was a great climb with the kids. I was also kinda pleased that they were careful not to leave any of our garbage behind. After all, that's what MSOC had taught them to do – to "Leave No Trace."

*On how to get to Mt. Maculot, please refer to my first blog of the mountain by clicking here.

Traversing Mt. Maculot

Mt. Maculot is a favorite destination for new mountaineers. The Rockies, being the most popular point of Mt. Maculot attracts newbie climbers because of its friendly trail and friendlier height (706+ MASL).

The summit, though, is a little bit higher (830 MASL) and the difficulty depends on which trail you use. As for adventure-seeking newbies, my friend Danilo and I opted for the more difficult traverse by way of the grotto trail.

We set off last September 20, a Monday, leaving the house at 1 am for our much anticipated first climb together. This was his first mountain, and my second - the first being Mt. Romelo in Siniloan, Laguna.

We arrived at Cuenca a little past 5 am, starving. Good thing there was one open carinderia offering stuff to warm our tummies. So we had a big serving of Lomi for only 35 pesos each.

Asking the store-owner for directions to the local church, we reached St. Isidore Parish just when that morning's mass was about to end. Quite admirably, they hold daily masses there at 5:30 every morning. Only a few church-goers were present, though. But it's still admirable enough that they wake up that early just to attend mass.

We passed by this toll gate slash registration area for those wanting to climb.

When we asked for a guide, the Barangay Tanod told us to go to the store beside the Barangay Hall (of Barangay Tico) a lil farther from the gate. The store also serves as an alternate registration area for climbers.

The guide that the store-owner gave us, though, only wanted to bring us to The Rockies. He discouraged us to do a traverse saying that no one does that anymore and there's no more trail from the summit to The Rockies. Little did he know that we knew someone who did a traverse just a month earlier. After sensing that the guide wouldn’t really be convinced to go with us in a traverse, Danilo called his friend (who recently had a traverse). The friend told us to just hire a tricycle to bring us to the grotto jump-off, which we eventually learned was called Barangay Pinagkaisahan.

The locals at Barangay Pinagkaisahan were much friendlier, we didn’t even have to ask for guides. Sensing what we needed, they pointed us to the house where a kid named Denver lived. The kid was ever so ready to be our guide. He wouldn’t even tell us his fee, leaving it up to how much we wanted to give him.

At exactly 7:11 AM, we started walking towards the grotto trail.

The trail has concrete steps. I could just imagine how full these steps could get during the Lent.

But on most parts, the steps were almost made invisible by towering cogon. And it was so bad that I didn’t bring any arm band or leggings to protect my arms and legs.

The stations of the cross were empty but our guide said the locals put religious icons on those stations during Holy Week when lots of pilgrims hike up to the grotto as a form of physical sacrifice. Danilo and I were kinda fast, stopping only to take pics once in a while. At 8 AM, we were already at the grotto.

We took that moment to take more pics, and moreover, to rest. The grotto offers a good view of Cuenca, it was so hot, though, despite the fact that it’s not even mid-morning yet.

We decided to move on, after 25 minutes of rest, to our next destination – the summit.

The trail to the summit was steep enough that I refrain from looking back. I don’t have bathmophobia, it’s just that I knew I’d feel weak in the knees if I looked back down and it’s still a long climb.

Three times, the trail had to be aided by ropes because it was really steep. Good thing I packed light and left the heavy dome tent at home.

We reached the summit at exactly 9:57 AM. The summit, though, didn’t offer any view because it was surrounded with bushes.

This was me with Denver, our 13-year-old guide.

Moving on, we reached the nearby campsite where we had our lunch. It provided us with much needed “refill” and an hour of rest, plus a change of shirt.

At exactly 11:00 AM, we started walking towards The Rockies. The trail leading down was so forested we had to duck and go over tree branches.

But the sights were so cool I had never seen anything like these.

The heart:

Around 45 minutes later, we were rewarded with our first sight of The Rockies. It’s that part covered with clouds to the right of the pic.

Then we had to pass by the cogon trail and the grass was again taller than us. The trail was actually almost not there anymore. So that’s what the first guide we talked to at Brgy. Tico was saying. But our little guide seemed to really know where he’s going cuz no matter how thick the cogon was, we didn’t get lost.

At 12:00 noon, we were already at The Rockies camp site. Imagine the heat! And it was quite a dismay that trash (even though collected in one place) were just left there by previous campers as if a garbage truck would come passing by and get them.

Then we headed to see The Rockies. It was the middle of the day; scorching hot, the 1 liter I brought with me was almost gone. Good thing Danilo brought 2 liters and was kind enough to share.

We were having second thoughts on whether to climb the rock formation or not. It seemed so steep from afar and there seemed to be no trail. But since we were already there, I decided to give it a try. We just agreed that we shouldn’t force it if we felt like its beyond our capabilities. After all, there’re only the two of us and the kid guide. We couldn’t really risk it if it proved to be a very technical assault.

But then we were surprised to find out it was very easy. Steep it might be, but it’s a very friendly ascent. But being above The Rockies in the middle of a very sunny day was no fun. At one point, we started hearing something popping inside Danilo’s sack. He opened it and found out it was his mineral water bottle getting deformed due to extreme heat. So before we suffer from heat stroke, we decided to take quick pics and head back.

Now that’s supposed to be the Taal Volcano behind me. LoL! Really hard to take pics in the middle of a sunny day especially with point-and-shoot cameras.

Pics turn out to be either so bright or so dark.

We left The Rockies at 1:05 PM. Still many hours to kill but there’s nothing much left to do up there, aside from the fact that we almost don’t have water anymore.

One hour and 10 minutes was all it took for us to reach the first stop over – the U.W.A.C. (Unified Wanderers Adventurers Club).

Being a Monday, they don’t have anything to offer but colas and mineral water, not even the “Banana Ice” I have so many times read about on the interwebs. But we were able to wash-up for a fee of 15 pesos per pail of water, and eat the boiled eggs my mother woke up early to cook that day.

There were no one else at the stop-over and since it was still very early to hurry up, we took some time to rest our aching muscles. But since I’m a person who gets tired of a place (aside from my house) so easily especially when there’s nothing to do, I had to keep going 45 minutes later.

Now, this was the first time we saw this sign since we started the climb in Barangay Pinagkaisahan. Lovely road. I won’t call it quaint, but it’s definitely a very simple town. Sometimes, I can’t help but wish for a life this simple.

Anyway, we reached Cuenca town 3:25 PM where we took a jeepney ride to Lipa. By 4:15 PM, we were already eating as much as our tummies could take at Jollibee Lipa. It was a tiring day after all, and even fast food tasted like heaven.

Bus to Alabang left at 5 PM and we literally slept all throughout the 2-hour ride. I was home by 8 PM. It was by far the earliest I went home after a day-hike.

HOW TO GET TO MT. MACULOT

* Ride a bus to Lipa (Php77.00 from Alabang)

* Take a Cuenca-bound jeep (Php23.00) and asked to be dropped at the town proper

* Walk or take trike to the Barangay Outpost of Barangay Tico for registration Php10.00

* If you’re going to The Rockies and you need a guide, you can get one at the store near the Barangay Hall (the store also serves as an alternate registration); but if you’re going to the Grotto, go straight to Barangay Pinagkaisahan and go get your guide there.

* If you’re doing a traverse, better get a guide at Barangay Pinagkaisahan. From personal experience, no guide in Barangay Tico wants to do a traverse. Better yet, ask for the kid named Denver at Barangay Pinagkaisahan. The kid is initially shy, but becomes friendly after a while. We gave him Php600 for the traverse.

* Don’t forget to bring extra food for the guide(s).