Mt Masalukot Nalayag Monolith
December 23 2016
MALABRIGO- It's been almost 9 months since we did our protest climb in Lobo Batangas, Entrenched with enthusiasm, it's our second time visiting Lobo after climbing Mt Tibig last year. Our aim was to find a possible emerging hiking destination to climbers which was Nalayag Rock formation, not known to many that time. We were the third team to reach one of Lobo's uncharted mountain range which was Masalukot.
It was almost Christmas and we were up for an extreme adrenaline activity before the year-end. Just to add later that week we had climb Mt Arayat after our big annual charity event in Porac Pampanga. We were joined by Drew one of the pioneers of our backpacking/ mountaineering group Malaysian based Pinoy climber.
Prior to this, 2 days earlier I also scaled Mt Makiling my mother mountain for the 5th time via traverse trail of Sto Tomas-UPLB, and my vigor seems to be at its peak.
BACKGROUND
Nalayag or Lalayag Rock formation of Mt Masalukot was not new to many, not before we climbed it, Its popularity emerged from underground to mainstream hiking destination after the closure of Mt Pala- Pala or Pico De Loro in Nasugbu.
After team Bakal successfully charted its coordinates on the map, the climbing community started to blog about it. It's wonderful rock formations, breathtaking sceneries and the beauty of Malabrigo coastline were the main highlights that later it became a climbing hot spot.
It lies in the local village of Balibago facing Verde Island passage which is the center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity. Logistically challenging, its main jump off took us 4 hours of dirt, rough road and obscure terrains before we could reach Sitio Balibago.
Although it is considered a Minor Climb the most challenging part of climbing Nalayag was Its bouldering part where you will need to climb a rock formation 200 ft in height without harness and ropes.
December 23, 2016
7:00 pm, We arrived in Lobo and paid a courtesy call to the Local Police station, the team was composed of the Blogger, Drew, Anica, Buboy, Mj and Erika
We were lost
team ligaw
The gang
12:30 pm, We paid our courtesy to the local chieftain of the community and arranged the possible logistics on our way back because technically there was no fix public transport back to Lobo town.
We commenced our trek at exactly 1:00pm, the original itinerary was supposed to be a traverse climb but due to Itinerary delays, we renounced our trek and back trailed later that evening. We were back up by two of our Local guides. We thought that we would be needing a Kern-mantle rope for rock climbing since the trail was not yet established we were not prepared but our local guide said it was fine since they have ropes.
The first segment was a mild off-road ascent going to kaingin area, where locals used as a prime livelihood source alongside with fishing. We had good time spent resting on that area throwing jokes and infamous hugot lines. Since drew just came back from Malaysia.
The sound of a chainsaw from a road construction nearby amplified and echoed its way up to our location. The view was already marvelous with an enticing panorama of Batangas straight.
2:15pm, The 2nd segment was a very steep ascent to Nalayag rock formation entangled with obscure terrain. The trail was not yet established so we had to grasp large vine for hand support.
This was a good camping site
We reached the base of the 200-foot rock formation sitting on the ridge of Masalukot, there was also another rock formation but our main task was to climb the tallest. The main summit of Mt Masalukot was unexplored yet since it is a mountain range.
Bouldering part
We had our late lunch at the foot of the rock formation afterward our guide arranged the rope segment for the 60-70 foot man-made ladder that will take you to the pinnacle of the gigantic monolith.
After our late lunch, Buboy started to climb followed by me, the wooden ladder was sturdy enough to support our weight but needed interval for a successful ascent, we had no rope for support so we were very cautious every step must be precise and accurate.
the other rock formation
After reaching the top of the ladder we used rope for support on the final ascent up.
Finally!, We reached the top at around 3:00 pm.
We saw the flag that Team BAKAL planted on the Rock formation marking them as the pioneers of this once uncharted territory. The view was remarkable! We were the third team to the summit after they explored Nalayag last December 10, 2016.
Pioneering as the 3rd Team
We took 360-degree shots of the marvelous scenery and spent an hour up the gigantic rock formation with the wind blew smoothly as we felt like we were sailing the farthest oceans!
Locals called it Nalayag because the shape of the rocks formations were like a boat sailing the sea. It can be seen when your up-float in the sea of Malabrigo.
here is our pictures up
Erika
Me
Drew
like on our way up we had difficulty getting down and we were very cautious. We back trailed on our trail head since we renounce our original traverse climb due to itinerary delays, we were considering the difficulty of logistics especially at night.
Drew and Anica
The day ended with nice Cold beer with my good friends/climbing buddies and some infamous Hugot lines, the night was filled with jokes since my friend MJ was around.
UGOEn
9:00 pm, Our chartered service extracted us, we reached Lobo at around 11:30 pm since there was no available public transport back to Batangas City we decided to spent the night in Erika's place.
The next day It was Christmas eve! We reached Batangas City at day break and had our famous Batangas LOMI!
It was an honor being part of an exploration climb, mountains that became famous climbing destination after your name sounds good, It felt like I was Edmund Hillary after climbing Everest or Christopher Columbus after reaching the New found territories or Neil Armstrong after stepping the moon! haha. Although we were not the first but exploring uncharted beautiful places in the Philippines is what Thrills me most! Til next climb!
Mt Masalukot Nalayag Monolith
Major Jump off: Brgy Balibago Malabrigo Batangas
