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

Boom Tarak Tarak

Tarak Ridge
Mariveles, Bataan
1,006 MASL (Ridge)
1,130 MASL (Summit)
Major Climb
Difficulty 4/9
Trail Class 3

This trek is my first with Accenture Outdoor Club (AOC), dating back to March 2007.

Lost in Mount Maculot?

Mount Maculot
Cuenca, Batangas
685 MASL
Minor Climb
Difficulty 2/9
Trail Class 1-3

In line with my quest to document almost all of my activities here, I'll start off with my Mount Maculot climb way back in January 2007 (ancient, I agree).

Yup, I got lost in such a small mountain. Haha. We got lost because we followed the wrong trail signs left by silly pranksters. We walked for about two hours towards I don't know where, passing through peanut and veggie farms. Haha. Good thing we met village folks gathering some twigs and guided us to the right direction. After following the correct path, in less than an hour we're at the campsite. The view of Taal Lake here is really nice. Ü