Mt Ugo Traverse

Mt Ugo 2150 m

Perhaps climbing a mountain is like connecting to something, like falling into pit of oblivion and waking up enchanted with its charm. perhaps love transcends into everything, like how the flowers blossom after the rain, indeed, a universal language that anyone can understand, if you found it cherish and protect it"




Nov 17 2017
Kayapa Nueva Vizcaya
5:05 AM

I was delighted going back to Cordillera, after successfully climbing Mt Kinabalu in Borneo last month and were all set again to do our year-end climb,.

Traversing 33 km from Kayapa Nueva Vizcaya to Itogon Benguet via Mt Ugo was not easy as it sounds. But climbing one of the great cordilleran traverse dubbed by Dr Gideon Lasco of Pinoymountaineer, was a rewarding experience.

Its unique trail will offer you one of the most enticing scenery in the Cordilleran region and will take you to some isolated communities of the higher Cordilleran people.Cordillera is close to my heart like Mt Ugo is considered one of the gateways to the Cordilleran Mountain range located in the southern part of Benguet.

I was very enthusiastic going back not just because of its scenery but the feeling that struck my heart 3 years ago when I was experiencing great depression. It was like love at first sight, throughout the years of climbing Cordillera made me realize that life was very beautiful and meant to be lived.

Just to add Mt Ugo is one of the best climbing destinations if you are looking for a great scenery for backpacking and camping because of its countless of Pine tree forest, ridges and hanging bridges,  that are interconnected to local communities via community trail.


BACKGROUND

This mountain was accidentally discovered after a tragic incident happened June 26, 1987, flight PR 206  bound to Baguio and crashed just few hundred yards below its summit all of its passengers were killed.  It has an altitude of 2150m much smaller than the lofty heights of Mt Pulag and Mt Tabayoc respectively which are also in the same region of Benguet.
located between the borders of Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet, traversing this mountain demands physical preparation to some extent. but its rewarding scenery will delight your sight like trekking its ridges will make you forget that you are still in the tropical country of Ph.

The temperature in Mt Ugo can go down to single digit especially in December to March season but not as much as the complex weather conditions of  Mt Pulag that go down way below the freezing point.


The whole traverse took us 30 hours and 18 mins for a chill weekend climb plus camping sessions which was the most awesome part of climbing UGO.


Kayapa town proper Nueva Vizcaya

UGOEn

We arrived at exactly 7am in the morning of Dec 17,  after traveling 7 hours from Manila to Aritao, and 1 hour To Kayapa from Aritao,  The team composed of Anica, Surren, Alex, Jade and Me the blogger made our way to the town of Kayapa via bus from Manila and Chartered van from Aritao. We geared our stuffs, bought supplies and made a courtesy to the local community fo Kayapa before commencing our trek.

The goal was to reach Benguet via Mt UGO in 2 days before exiting Baguio City

We aimed to reach Indupit village home to the Ibaloy tribe before lunch so that we could camp near the summit by dawn. We had our heavy breakfast before commencing our trek, climbing Ugo was my 25th mountain this year after climbing several major mountains one of it was Mt Sicapoo which was a 9 mountain traverse.

My teammates were enthusiastic and affiliated with several locals trading some root crops via community trails from Kayapa to other towns in Benguet, We passed through other local Barios before reaching the first resting place at around 11:00 am We cooked our early lunch and had some siesta time before recommencing our trek to Domolpos village.

12:30 we passed through the markings of the paved road, it was obscure, most parts of the community trails were undeveloped, the beauty of climbing mountains is you have the privilege to see this places that most of the people don't see. some are good but some are not, some were an eye-opener, seeing it was like a double dagger pointed in the heart, to see such situation and people untouched mostly by civilization without proper access through health care and other basic needs from the government was heartbreaking.

We arrived in Domolpos village at around 4:00 pm,  I met a strong Mountain Lady from the Ibaloi tribe, we fetched some water in her backyard that we used later that evening for cooking.

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I remembered Nanay Cording from Mt Mariveles when I spoke to her and she cannot speak Tagalog. She speaks fluent in Kankanaey, Ibaloy, Igorot and some Ilocano words and she was 96 years old. Jade who is also a native Ilocano cannot barely understand what she said to us but I think she thanked us. They were not wearing any foot protection, like the other children from Indupit, one of our projects this year is to donate footwear to the Highlanders of Cordillera.

Cows everywhere

We bid farewell and gave some chocolate to some children as a token of appreciation for the water she gave us.

Hospitality from the highland people was very common, That's why I think mountain people were very blessed even though they lack the basic necessities in life, they were blessed in terms of health and other simple things we always neglect like the clean air we breath.

5:00 pm we continued to trek up to the south-east ridge of Mt Ugo where we camped and stayed overnight we had some several climbing groups ahead of us they were large groups others were support team.

Camping 101

We pitched our tents and started to camp at exactly 6:00 pm, The wind pounded our campsite heavily at around 50 kph. I to cooked Pork Caldereta and rice, by 7:00 pm I was already finished. We ate our dinner and started to rest at around 9:00 pm after few shots of Liquor, I was very worn out and the temperature was at 13-14 degree Celcius.

Chef skills

The presence of cows near our campsite was not new to us, in fact, celebrity chef and food blogger Erwan Heussaff blog about it when they climbed UGO via backtrail from Tinongdan village last September together with one of my Idols in trail running Koi Grey. Our campsite was big that it catered 18 tents alongside with ours.

10:00 We geared our thermal wears and sleeping pads, I was with Suren and Alex, Danica and Jade were in the other tent. We slept while The night was frigid and the wind blew hard and pounded our tent heavily until 6.00  am the next morning. It had my tent racks shattered into pieces.

DAY 2

MT UGO SUMMIT TO TINONGDAN VILLAGE

Sagada Arabica

5:30 am, The sky was gloomy and frigid, the sound of the rampant northern wind woke me up, It was shattering and echoing throughout the horizon and beyond, like a sound of dreadful spirits of the mountain suppressed and constrained.

I felt the first chill when I got out of my tent, immediately I boiled water so that I could brew coffee to ease the shivering . Jade woke up 10 mins after I got up, As I boiled warm water bit by bit the first light illuminated the sky at 6:00 Am. I prepared breakfast and cook rice.

Calderta ala Mt Ugo

Sisig

I cooked Sisig one of my favorite dish and preheated the Caldereta we had last night, I still had Pasta ingredients for lunch. Alex and Suren woke up afterward we had our breakfast at exactly 6:40 am and had our photo ops until 8:00 am.

Freezing @ 11 degrees

We had break camp at 8:15 am and recommenced the summit assault which was just 15 mins away from the campsite. We reached the summit exactly 8:35 am at around altitude 2150 masl almost half of Mt Kinabalu's altitude.

The summit was covered by lush floras and bushes that resembled Peak 2 of Mt Makiling, Beyond that, it had a marking of the tragic incident happened 30 years ago, from the northern side we saw Mt Pulag and Tabayoc which were very visible to the naked eye since we had good clearing.

We descended 15 mins after we arrived at the summit, we anticipated the long trek to Tinongdan which was 6-7 hours away.

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In memory of Flight PR206

 While descending we saw Baguio City from a distance an indicator that we were already in Benguet side. Tinongdan side was very beautiful compared to the Kayapa side, It was filled with countless of pine trees, beautiful ridges and rice terraces that resembled Maligcong in Bontoc and Mayaoyao in Ifugao with a touched of Akiki trail in Duacan.

Mr nice guy Suren

9:30 am, We descended of fast pace without intervals of rest, we passed through the pine tree forest which had a twilight aura,  it was sublimity. I admit that trekking this part of Mt Ugo gave me another perspective of Cordillera, all throughout the years of climbing this region It did not fail to offer something new, something to reflect on, something that altered my perspective on life and gratitude.

      Go pro Hero 5

It was like an awakening, a true connection with nature, I stop to reflect on that solemn moment  and thanked the creator for the marvelous sight. I must admit that I am really a nature lover.
Suren and I were the sweepers while Alex, Danica, and Jade were the lead pack.

The cows from Erwan's vlog

11: 30 am we arrived in Lusod village which was the first campsite for mountaineers after trekking relentlessly for 2 hours passing through the pine forest and rice terraces. Lusod had a little community on it. They had a nice irrigation system and some ancient houses and rice paddies we geared down for 30 minutes after our vigorous trek that undoubtedly diminished our vigor, we had some siesta time spent throwing our habit of Hugot lines and infamous jokes while trekking especially Alex was with us.

Rice terreces

passed 12:00 we decided to continue our trek down we all agreed to have our siesta moments and late lunch in La Trinidad Benguet since Jade was from La Trinidad, I wanted to cook pasta in the outdoors but we anticipated the Logistics concern in Itogon especially at night because there was no public transport in Tinongdan and we forgot to arrange our logistics in Tinongdan when we were back in kayapa town.

Tinongdan Village

We trekked again relentlessly without slowing our pacing, until we reached Tinongdan village after passing several lower mountains at 3:30 pm, Tinongdan village had the same features like the other villages of Batad and Bontoc. The local community of Tinongdan resembled the village of Pat Yay in Ifugao, It has its own rice terraces and ancient cordilleran houses, the community road interconnected through mountains was significant for trading purpose, the local community gave us a warm welcome when we reached Tinongdan in exchange we gave all our trail foods to the children we met along the way.

4:00 pm the exit point of Tinongdan was a suspension bridge 40 meter long, suspended at 100 ft above the air. we were very thankful we reached the end of the journey after traversing 33 Km total distance. As it was mid of December.

The exit point had paved roads logistically challenging and a bit difficult to reach thats why it was beautiful. we made a courtesy call to the local Brgy officials they greeted us with warm smiles and arranged our chartered  monster jeep going to Baguio City.


We reached Baguio at 6:00 pm and spent the night in Jade's house in La Trinidad before going back to Manila the next morning.


Mt Ugo was definitely not your easy walk in the park  year end climb but surely It had me reminisce of the great memories I had throughout the years of climbing this region, All I could say is that I am still in-love with its people, its scenery and its hidden beauty that constantly making me want to come back again and again. truly It was love at first sight..


Til next climb.


MT. UGO (2,150+)
Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet
Jump-off points: Kayapa, N. Vizcaya; Brgy. Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet
LLA: 16.31916°N, 120.80166°E, 2130 MASL
Days required / hours to summit: 2-3 days, 9-10 hrs
Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 5/9, Trail Class 1-3
Features: Pine forests, highland villages, views of Cordillera peaks

-Pinoy mountaineer