Conquering a Desert Mountain

Mount Batulao
Nasugbu, Batangas
811 MASL
Minor Climb
Difficulty 4/9
Trail Class 3

Burnt soil, blazing trees and grass, dust everywhere. That's Mount Batulao in Nasugbu, Batangas.

This is my second climb with Accenture Outdoor Club as a trainee, dating back to April of 2007. A night ascend trek surely prevented us from the punishment of this barren land but when day came, we felt global warming first hand. Hehe. It was summer and some parts of the mountain are literally in flames because of the immense heat.

No water source is available back then, just a makeshift store of buko juice that's attended to only in the morning. With that, we made sure our hydro packs and bottles are full of it before hitting the trail for an assault of the summit at dawn. Ü

The path up to Camp 10 (summit) is intense. Rocks are loose, temperature was soaring even before sunrise and there are paths inclined up to 70 degrees, giving the trek a hint of rock climbing. Ü

Yet we still managed to fool around. : þ