(Re)-Conquering Mount Apo, Part 2

Apr 10 (Day 3)

On this day, I celebrated the 10th year anniversary of my first Mount Apo climb.

I and Marlon planned on waking up at four thirty that morning to climb back to the peak and catch a sunrise shot. Unfortunately, the fog was too thick (visibility of less than 20 feet!) so we snuck back to our respective sleeping bags for another hour of sleep. The temperature outside our tent was a really low 4 degrees Celsius.

At six in the morning, I was up to cook rice and boil some water for Milo drinks. Mount Apo’s peak was still covered in fog, and dawn hasn’t really arrived at peak camp yet. Handling the burner and cooksets with my fleece-gloved hands, I prepared breakfast and lunch alongside Kat.

We finished cooking and eating by seven-thirty that morning (danggit, sinangag, hot cups of coffee and Milo). The sun’s risen by then (though with the fog rolling in occasionally), so I and Marlon climbed back to the peak to get some photos.



Photo (L): Altitude check at Mount Apo's peak.

And the results are amazing. This is what mountaineers look forward to in each of their expeditions: breathtaking sceneries from the highest point in the area.




Photos, clockwise from top left. (1) Two lower peaks of Mount Apo, taken from the official peak location. (2) Marlon and Stip on 'conquer' mode at the peak. (3) "A walk in the clouds".


After getting our shots, we quickly made our way back to peak camp to re-pack our gear and get back on the trail to descend to the third camp area: Lake Vinado. From peak camp to Lake Vinado, it’s a 4-5 hour trek descending from Mt Apo via its Kidapawan side. We left peak camp at nine-thirty that morning.

The trek going down to Lake Vinado was at a relatively leisurely pace --- the only difficult aspects of this trek is that “descents” (going down) are usually the portion of the trek which causes most of the injuries. I sprained my ankle once when I tripped over a stone, fell on my bum countless times and got me worrying on the strain that the descent is putting on my knees (my 20-kilo fullpack is now only about 16 kilos, but I’m also now lugging about 2 kilos of our trash).

We stopped along the trail for lunch, just before re-entering the tropical forest area of Kidapawan. We had a good view of Lake Vinado from our lunchstop. Fortunate for us, there were some children selling banana-ques there (during Holy Week, the more enterprising locals strategically place themselves along the trail to sell some simple food).

The trail started to become muddy when we re-entered the forest area and the climate quickly became humid.

We arrived at Lake Vinado without any further mishaps by two in the afternoon. There must have been more than 50 other tents in the area, plus about twenty makeshift stalls selling eggs, vegetables, softdrinks and Tanduay! We had the chance to clean up a bit at the lake (water’s not safe for drinking though); none of the other climbers were swimming at the lake because there was too much algae in it. So technically, none of us had taken a bath yet, even with the plentiful water from the lake!

We unpacked, set-up our camp areas, brought out the stoves and cooksets, and took inventory of our remaining food supplies. We can afford to have a feast that night for dinner: canned lechon paksiw, Spam, salted egg with onions and tomatoes, and my expertly-cooked rice (hahahaha).

The campsite at Lake Vinado is the largest in Mount Apo, and every Holy Week, the campers there engage in some friendly games and “parties”. The mood is festive, almost like a fiesta.

That night, me, Kath, Ren and Marlon finished the remaining GSM blue in my bag. We had a great time telling stories, recounting the last 3 days of adventure, gazing back at Mount Apo’s peak, and psyching ourselves for the last section of our mountaineering trip the following day.

We called 'lights out' after we've downed all the gin (I was starting to see some fuzzy circles in my vision by then... I think the group connived in handing me a 'taller' round everytime it was my turn to drink).

Oh, and yep. By the end of Day 3, none of us have taken a bath yet (hurrah for 'alcohol sponge baths!'. We're not really sure if we're used to each other by then, but I don't think any of us were stinky (yet).

--- to be continued ---