Mt Amuyao Traverse

Mt Amuyao  (8,864ft)

Philippines 9th highest 

Brgy: Macalana Barlig Mountain Province
October 29 2016

At last!, We were back in Cordillera, after a year of climbing mountains, were bound again to complete our bid for climbing Philippines highest mountains, and this is the 2nd sequel of PH's 10 highest mountains. Packed with courage and enthusiasm were all excited to do one of cordilleras greatest traverse climb,. It was not only one of the hardest we did but it was the most amazing climb I did this year. Joining me this time are the pioneers of our organization, as we were total of nine.

BACKGROUND:

Mt Amuyao is PH's 9th highest mountain standing at 8,864 ft, It is situated near the border of mountain province and Ifugao. Its summit is where a tower of two large network in Ph is located. Its trail is one of the hardest and greatest trail in Cordillera after Napulauan and ugo,. The trail will start in the  humble village of Barlig up to summit passing down through the ancient villages of mountain province until reaching the worlds famous Batad rice terraces in Ifugao that served as our exit point. Its a strenuous hike of 31 kilometers crossing two provinces and countless of rivers plus death defying steep and narrow trails tested our toughness, adaptability and resiliency. We took 52 hours and 35 minutes to complete the whole traverse with a difficulty of 8/9.

note: (Mt Amuyao is not for beginners doing a traverse climb is very dangerous especially on the rainy days)

Day 1 Barlig to Mt Amuyao Summit

The trail started in the humble village of Barlig

01.30am when we arrived in Barlig after 2hours of travel time from Banaue. and 11 hours of travel from manila. While we were in Banaue we packed and buy foods before heading to Barlig. It was my first time in Barlig. The sun was shining bright on the afternoon we took our bags and registered on Barlig Police station and started paying our fees, the weather was cold and it was only 2 weeks when mountain province was struck by a typhoon. We met our local guide who resembled carrot man of Mayaoyao.

We commenced our trek at exactly 02.30pm after we fixed and geared our things . The first leg of the traverse was a mid steep ascent up to the pine forest area. A preview of the summit was visible to the naked eye, there were a lot of discreet moments not to disturbed the overwhelming view, a feeling of satisfaction. A landscape shaped by hands of creator, we were so mesmerized to see this beautiful area of Mountain province that we didn't notice that we were trekking for 3hours until dawn.

It was exactly 05.30pm when we felt the first chill.  we knew that it would take us 6hours to climb summit so we expected to summit at night.

The pine forest was one of the best part of the first leg

It was a continues sub steep ascent and a well established trail with a nice breeze from the pine trees.

      
It was when around 06.00pm when we arrived on the first waiting shed of the summit, It was already dark when we put our 2nd layer of cover. We geared our lights for the final 3hours of ascend to the summit.

The 2nd leg was hardcore, major assaults welcomed us, as we climb higher and the night is getting darker until total of darkness engulfed us. There was a sudden drop of temperature and a bit of rain. We pass through the man made staircase built by locals.

1hour after 07.00pm major assaults still pounding our legs on our way up still no sign of summit. I was in the middle as we were divided in 3 groups. Still overwhelming with power I continued to push through after rehydrating my body.

exactly around 08.00pm when I finally felt my leg muscles starting to wobble. It was still full of assaults and we were bit exhausted, It was totally dark.

The lead team were my climbing buddies from cannon, I was in the mid, while Gerald, Erika and Lemuel were in the back.

After 30 minutes of walking we finally reached the water source at exactly 08.30pm we were bit tired and gust of wind around 30-40kph hit us. good thing were wearing wind breakers.
It was also due to temperature drop that we were walking a bit slow.

We rest for a bit, as team cannon, Daryl and friends decided to go ahead the summit was just an hour away

I waited for the last team to arrive as I am there to assist them. It was roughly around 9.00pm when they arrived on the first water source
.

We continued trekking up to summit at roughly 09.05pm and push through, the final leg of Barlig to Mt Amuyao summit was the most tiring part of the day, It drained my energy to the point of questioning if we can make it up to the summit. many factors have affected our ascent because the gust of wind kept on pounding us with chilling factor and it was raining at the same time.


It was when 09.38pm when we arrived at the knife edge section, strong gust of wind reaching 70kph pounded us as we make it up, just I thought we were close to the summit but it was a continuous 30minutes of assault before we could reach the Tower. Roughly the weather was a degree lower than 10.

We took 7hours and 35mins finishing the first 7 kilometer leg before we could camp on the summit.. We reached the bunker at exactly 10.05pm. The bunker was an old storage room, but converted to a house catering climbers who climb Mt Amuyao.  It was first come first served tired and weary, we still manage to cook food and set tent outside.  There was also a large group of mountaineers inside the bunker.

10.45pm was when we finished eating,  I cooked nilaga baboy (pork stew) eventually my team mates were already asleep, when I got outside, Gerald and Lemuel were having a massage session. I joined them, good thing I brought Tiger balm, I felt at ease on my back pain.




It was 11.00pm lights off and it was a chilling night.



DAY 2

MT AMUYAO SUMMIT - PATYAY VILLAGE

Good morning summit!

We woke up with chilling temperature roughly around 5-8 degrees C, Daryl, Floro and me slept inside the bunker, because it was already full and the rest of my teammates are outside.
The sun was not shining on the great Sunday morning, and it was raining like crazy.

We hurriedly packed our stuff and started to boil water until all of us were already awake at around 06.00am. We were expecting a 14 hours trek that Sunday, although we were having second thought but we commenced our trek at exactly 06.15am

Mt Amuyao summit is full of pines and different fauna the descent from summit to pat yay village was estimated 6 hours of trekking

we continued descending down and still gust of wind around 50-60kph pounded us, the rain kept on pouring constantly and there are no signs that it will stop.

07.45am after descending  for about 2hours we reached the mossy forest.

many traces of the previous typhoon were present along the trail

The rain suddenly poured hard as we continued until we reached the waiting shed area at around 09.00am.  We push down descending via diversion road as we saw a lot of typhoon aftermath effects on the part of Amuyao, there were many land slides and fallen trees

the trail was too dangerous so we were cautious. .

We didn't noticed the time and we were starving, as to when I checked my watch it was already 10.30am

We crossed the first river crossing down to the flat area of Amuyao at around 11.30am after 5 hours and 30 minutes of trekking.

and crossed another river again!

and again . .

non stop. .

until we reached the first view deck of pat yay rice terrace. . I CANNOT FIND any words to say but it was overwhelmingly awesome!

these ancient structures were sculpted by mans hands thousands of years ago long before the Philippines became nation. It was always nice to see and know the culture of the cordilleran people. Even when we were kids we were taught in school of how the cordilleran people built the rice terrace

but it was fascinating to see it in real!


It was around 01.30pm when we reached Pat yay village, an ancient cordilleran village known to natives as resting ground of mountaineers doing a traverse and rev trav. we were 2 hours late on our itinerary.

It was a sanctuary for mountaineers, we decided to spend the night in pat yay because our guide recommended that it would take us another 7hours to reach Cambulo, plus the trail to Cambulo is very dangerous especially in the evening add the rain factor we decided to camp in pat yay! We rent a house in pat yay village for about 145 pesos each person pat yay village has no electricity but the weather was still cold and chilling at night.

03.00pm we prepared early dinner after it, hola siesta!!! We massage each other to relive the pain in our aching bodies, I had 18kg back pack that I carried  for about more than 27hours. We washed our things and set our sleeping bags to an early evening sleep.

ahh! massage was good when your body was aching

Lights out at around 07.30pm



DAY 3


PATYAY VILLAGE TO CAMBULLO VILLAGE TO BATAD SADDLE


Pat yay kang bata ka!  13 hours non stop trek!

The next day we woke up by rain and very cold temperature roughly around 10 degrees, still raining as we hope that the sun would shine soon.

we woke up the next morning at around 04.05am to prepare early breakfast for our morning assault on cambulo village, still dark and sleepy we needed to cook rice , and the water was freaking cold as ice!

TO BE CONTINUED. . . . . . 




continuation Mt Amuyao Part 2

MT MACULOT (TRAVESE)

Sept 4 2016
Brgy Siete Cuenca batangas.

At 7.30am,  On bound, we were going to Cuenca this weekend after successfully climbing Mt Manabu last week,  It was suppose to be our tree planting event however, due to seeds unavailability we proceed to continue our trek as a regular day hike exactly 1 week ago, we were on our way to visit one of Batangas famous mountain, Mt Maculot.

It was way back 2010 when my friend invited me to climb maculot, but I was so naïve that time that I refused to participate. It was my first time visiting Mt Maculot and this time we organized a joint hike from two aspiring Backpackers group. UGOEn and PMS,. This was our 3rd joint hike together after successfully climbing Mt Manabu last week.

Our group was partly mixed of some newbies and some veteran climbers, We organized this climb as a welcome activity to the new members of our organization. Maculot, was also known to many as a mystical and beautiful mountain after its counterpart Mt Makiling in Laguna. It is also a famous destination to tourist especially the Rockies that brings you 180 degrees view of Taal lake.

We were 9 including the team leader of PMS Aaron Moreno one of my climbing buddies, we were excited this time because Maculot is a known mountain to many in the southern most part of Batangas.

8.30am,  we were exactly at mountaineers store in Brgy Siete We were welcomed by local guides and tourist as we geared up in preparation for our traverse hike. Our trail will start in Brgy siete up to the campsite, left turn to the rockies and up to the summit traversing Grotto part, which on a scale of difficulty we have conquered 4/9 and took us 6 hours and 15mins.


We started our trek at around 9.00am, guides are required in Maculot as their new policy after a mountaineer died in the mountain way back 2014. The first part of the trail was a concrete it was an easy 10mins trek until we reached the rough area, the trail path became narrower after 30 mins of trekking. We saw signs of deforestation on the trail, we also heard of loggers cutting trees on our way to campsite.  our guide was well experienced guide. He told us that Logging in the area of Cuenca Batangas is prohibited by the local government. So I was a bit disappointed when I heard his stories. It took us a total of 30mins to reached the first view deck at around 10.30pm. 

It was also the resting point of some hikers, the camping site was about another 30mins away from the first view deck. At around 11.00am was when we reached the campsite on Mt Maculot, we were a bit surprise of the stores selling everything to hikers and trekkers, the rockies area in mt maculot was about 10mins away from the camping area, We decided to unload our bags on the camping area so that we could visit the rockies part of Mt Maculot which was a famous land mark of Cuenca Batangas.

The trail to rockies was not establish there were a lot of rope segments connecting the upper part to the lower part of the trail, as we ascend we saw already a preview of the world-famous taal lake. At around 11.18am was when we were already on the summit part of the Rockies area of Mt Maculot, the whole rockies part area has a 270-degree overwhelming view of taal and the nearby towns of Batangas city. That time we were already enjoying the view and taking good shots from the north and the south side of rockies part.

 Mt Maculot was also known to many as a mysterious mountain, fact that there was once a mountaineer went missing for 10 days in Mt Maculot and was found dead after 10days, It was one of the saddest moments of Philippine Mountaineering Society, operatives have investigated what was the cause of death of a mountaineer in Mt Maculot It was found out that prior to the death of that mountaineer he went to Mt Maculot on his own after successfully completing a major hike in Sibuyan island Romblon. 

He went up to the rockies part area on his own to take a picture of the sunrise he left his backpack on the jump off area without leaving a notice. Operatives found his body 10days after declaring he was missing, findings said that he got accidentally fell off 300-400feet below the rockies area.

 At around 11.45am was when decided to went back on the camping area of Maculot, after successfully capturing good shots. We were accompanied by our guide he told us the whole story of the tragic death of one of our colleagues in mountaineering.

It was past 12noon when took lunch on the camping site, that time we saw many other climbers who were that time just came back assaulting the summit of Mt Maculot. After our lunch we took a rest for about 30mins and resumed our trek at around 1.00pm I noticed that the clearing that day was not good due to bad weather and we expected rain that's why we packed our bags. The bad thing that day was I failed to bring my bag cover so we modified the garbage bag we brought and made an improvised bag cover. We resumed our trek at around 1.05pm, by that time fog was already engulfing our path, It seems that we were walking on an enchanted garden filled with mysterious fog. We decided to push through to summit even when we knew already that it will be raining. The good thing was that my the new members of our team posses great fighting spirit they were climbing hard with us.

01.30Pm was when all of a sudden the temperature drop and It started getting much cooler, so we enjoyed the whole ascent. The second part of the trail was like Mt Pulag Mossy forest, it also resembles wild bore trail in Mt Makiling, a mountain I previously climb last 2 months ago.

We continued pushing through, up to the thick fauna of Maculot, the presence of fog was also a major factor that we were trekking slowly, we were enjoying the whole trekking while relaxing, the wind was cool and breezy, all of us were silent that time, I always experience a sense of great sensation when hiking a mountain that's why I climb frequently.

At around 2.15am was when we reached the summit of Maculot after trekking for about an hour, It was a steady chill climbing relaxation on a great Sunday afternoon. We rest there for 30mins and met other hikers descending back to campsite, by that time I already expected a 900masl high altitude, although we were not been given a good clearing but It was so chill climb that I experience again satisfaction to the exquisite level of climbing a mountain.

We did the traverse climb that day so we were not going back from the point where we started, the clearing was a bit gloomy. I expected a great view of the summit and the whole of taal lake but after resting for 30mins we eventually forgot the clearing and took great pictures of the summit. From my memories, I have totally reached a total altitude of 40,000ft altitude since january this year and I'm planning to close my total altitude to 50,000feet at the end of this year. This was my 9th summit this year after Mt Manabu last week.

It was when 2.00pm when we decided to descend to the grotto area, the other it was on the other part of the mountain, the 3rd part of the trail segment was now muddy and slippery. It was due to heavy raining early morning, experience climbers are the one's that are doing the traverse part of Maculot because of the trail class, the descent from the summit down to grotto required a lot of rope segments and slippery rocks.

We carefully descended down, the mud was about 4 inches thick In my trekking shoes, it was a bit messy and we managed to descent successfully down after passing two rope segments. The descent was a bit comparable to Maktrav reverse trail and was also mossy. Our phasing was a bit slow because of the trail condition. The last part of the trail was a 20meter rope rapel down to grotto area, It was said that It was impassable when it is raining, although a reverse traverse trail was not recommended when raining but it is good conditioning hike for advanced climbers who are seeking for great tune up climb, It can also be a good alternate source of tune up climbs aside from Mt Makiling.

We took a rest for a bit and rehydrated our bodies, the fog was already gone, a good clearing of grotto area was already visible to my naked eyes, from our resting site it was now a swift 20mins descend going to grotto area after the rock segment. Now we were back to the familiar grassy part until we reached the grotto area. It was already 4.00PM, we rest for a bit. now the trail going to the grotto area was now far more established than its counterpart on the campsite area, It was composed of hundred of steps going down
After resting for a while we trail run down to the exit point for about 30mins, by 5pm we were already back at our jump off point. The entire traverse took us 6 hours and 30minutes excluding the phasing time and lunch. And at last, we finished another major climb that marked my 40,000ft altitude, this was the 9th summit we conquered this year, I thanked my hiking buddies for this another wonderful major hike we completed. I am looking forward to our major expedition in Cordillera this coming October so we are preparing for next month.

Cuenca, Batangas
Major Jumpoff: Mountaineer’s Store, Brgy. 7 “Siete”, Cuenca
Exit point (traverse): Brgy 5 (to Grotto), Cuenca
LLA: 13°55 N; 121°2 E; 706 MASL (Rockies) / 930 MASL (summit)
Days required / Hours to Rockies / summit : 1 day / 1-2 hr / 2-4 hr
Specs: Minor, Difficulty 3/9 (Rockies); 4/9 (Traverse) Trail class 1-3.
Features: Scenic views of Taal Lake, rock formations, forests