(Re)-Conquering Mount Apo

On April 10th 1999, I climbed Mt. Apo with my university's outdoor club. I was barely a hundred pounds then. I didn't have any photos of the climb to remember it by (well, some of my fellow climbers had those disposable cameras with them).

For the last couple of years, I and a colleague of mine (Marlon) have been trying to organize a Mt. Apo climb but constraints on schedule and numbers always cropped up.

Finally, on April 8-11, we set to traverse Mt. Apo with two of my acquaintances (Kath and Ren, who are first-timers). We planned to ascend Mt. Apo from the Kapatagan trail (Davao side) and descend it via the Kidapawan trail (Cotabato side). It's been 10 years since my last (and only) Apo climb while it has been 5 years ago for Marlon's.


Apr 8 (Day 1)



The four of us boarded a bus at Davao City's bus terminal at 0400H (really early!) for a one-hour trip to Digos. Marlon and I had 55-liter fullpacks on (more or less 20 kilos each of gear, canned goods, rice and water) while Ren and Kath had 45-L fullpacks on.


Photo: Davao City bus terminal at four in the morning.



At Digos, we had a heavy breakfast at a nearby carinderia and also bought some food and bread for take-away lunch. At Digos terminal, we haggled for a van with 4 other students/climbers to take us on a special trip to Baras in Kapatagan to get registered and secure our permits.

By 0800H, at the Baras checkpoint, the environmental officers took inventory of our potential non-biodegradable wastes -- plastic bottles, canned goods, garbage bags, tissues and sanitary napkins and foil-sealed food. It was expected that as responsible climbers, we will be bringing down our trash and not leave anything behind, hence the inventory. If ever that we are unable to prove that we brought down all our trash, a penalty of 300-1000 Php is imposed upon exit.

After the inventory-taking, we proceeded to having ourselves registered and securing our mountaineering permits. A medical check-up is mandatory for all climbers followed by a briefing/orientation conducted by an environmental officer on our responsibilities as mountaineers. Climbing fees vary among students, locals and foreigners. Each of us had to pay 600 Php for our climbing permit. After securing our IDs and permits, we were cleared to climb.




Photos, from L-R: (1) Medical check-up done at checkpoint (2) Climbing permit fees at Kapatagan (3) Kath, Marlon and myself outside Baras checkpoint/registration.

Getting from Baras checkpoint to the jump-off point is almost a whole day's trek across the farms at Kapatagan. The alternative is to board a vegetable truck and drive through the farm lots for about an hour, which we did. By 900H, we were at the jump-off point.

We hiked for about 2 hours across farms and small villages before stopping on the trail to eat our packed lunches. After lunch, we continued hiking until we entered the forest area and started to contend with moderately difficult rises and dips on the trail.

The next stop for the day is Baruring river (actually, it's just a big stream), the trail's first potable water source. Most of the hikers needed to make the pitstop here to collect water for drinking and cooking. We re-filled our water bottles and got out our stove and cookset to cook some rice for our dinner.

The RICE Accident

Marlon attempted to cook rice at Baruring river. Yun nga lang mataas masyado yung apoy, and resulted to undercooked rice. We tried to salvage the rice (since we have only just enough to last us for 4 days) but we were unsuccessful. I explained to them how to cook rice using a stove. Since then, our group has nominated me to be the official rice cooker. Hahaha.

We had to dig a small hole to bury the undercooked rice near Baruring river. Dinner was going to be a light one --- it will be a simple ration of instant noodles and 1 can of vienna sausage among the 4 of us. After repacking our stuff, we set forth for Camp Gudi-gudi, the first campsite for the Mt. Apo climb.

Getting to Camp Gudi-Gudi from Baruring river is about a 3-hour trek. We left Baruring river at around 330pm. The trail going to Camp Gudi-gudi was very challenging --- aside from having to contend with the slippery mud, there were several fallen tree trunks scattered across the trail which we had to (a) climb over, (b) swing across and (c) crawl under. There were also a number of steep descents and rises which we had to carefully tread through. The fact that our packs were a bit heavy (because of the water we collected) made it necessary for us to take a break every half-hour.

We didn't meet anyone on the trail for a while, and soon after it got dark. We brought out our headlamps and flashlights. Navigating the trail was getting harder in the darkness. We had no idea then how much farther is Camp Gudi-gudi. We took a faster pace. I slipped countless times, not minding anymore where I step. I skinned my left shin and slightly twisted my right ankle.

After more than an hour of trekking through Mt. Apo's rainforests in the darkness, we finally heard sounds of people talking and butane stoves cooking away. At 740pm on Apr 8th, after 11 hours of trekking through slippery slopes and climbing over trees with heavy backpacks on, we were finally at Camp Gudi-gudi.

Tired as we were, we set up our tents and sleeping bags. I made a makeshift noose suspended from a treebranch where we can hook our butane lamp from so that Kath would have light for her cooking (instant noodles and vienna sausage). After a quick dinner and cleaning ourselves up with alcohol (no baths!), we slept for the night.

April 9 (Day 2)

None of us got a good night's rest. Camp Gudi-Gudi is a relatively small campsite, and since we were among the last persons to arrive at the camp we had to contend with the remaining tent areas. These tent areas were on a slight slope. So every half-hour or so into our sleep, all of us would be twisting in our sleeping bags to regain a comfortable sleeping position.

In the morning, I lighted one of the butane stoves to cook rice enough for both breakfast and lunch while Kath set on cooking vacuum-packed corned beef; we brought along a few onions and garlic to spicen up our meals a bit. The weather was a bit biting --- 15 deg C that morning --- so we spared some of our limited water for coffee.

After our meals, we broke camp, re-packed our gear, went about our “morning rituals” (morning rituals involve the use of a spade for digging, hehehe…) and were finally off for the climax of the trip: reaching Mt Apo’s peak. We left Camp Gudi-Gudi at 0840H.

The first two hours of hiking were difficult, as we were still in the rainforest area. We had to maneuver across very steep descents and contend with equally steep rises, relying on tree roots and the occasional rock to serve as foot-and-handholds. This portion of the trail is still muddy and slippery because of the rain earlier that morning.

Finally, we cleared the rainforest and found ourselves in the open. Elevation of 2300 meters. The humid conditions gave way to cold-weather climate, and the abundant presence of ferns and lichens are an indication that we were already at above-tropical altitudes.

We trudged on the trail, mindful that to our left side it was a sheer 200+ feet near-vertical drop. We rested on the occasional huge boulders on the trail, which were actually clues of what we were going to tackle next.




Photo (R): Lichens (those yellow strands that you see) and baby ferns, indicating above-tropical altitude. Lichens are technically parasitic plants, relying on other vegetation to survive.


From Davao City, some of the locals who are able to look at the whole of Mt. Apo on a clear day (no fog/clouds/mist covering the mountain) will notice that the top portion of the mountain is a pristine white. It greatly contrasts the peak (which is brownish) and the rainforest area (a lush green). Some people thought that there was snow on Mt. Apo.

That ‘white face’ of Mt. Apo is our next challenge for the day’s climb. It’s not snow. Grey-white boulders ranging from the size of a basketball to as big as a townhouse cover a significant portion of the mountain’s upper face. Mt. Apo is actually a dormant volcano, and its last eruption hundreds of years ago scattered boulders in this portion of the mountain. Think “Lord of the Rings” mountain scene. It’s going to be a 2-3 hour bouldering session for us, depending on our pace.

Mt. Apo’s boulder face does not have any “trails” to speak of. To facilitate mountaineers on where to generally head for, small pyramids of rocks are located strategically at the edge of some boulders to serve as trail markers. We made a game of scanning the area to spot the next trail marker for our amusement and distract us from the heavy loads that we’re carrying. Kath and myself are wall-climbers, and we took full advantage of our wall-climbing skills to maneuver across the boulders to set a path from one trail marker to the next.

Midway through the boulder face of Mt. Apo, we had our lunch break in a small canopy created by some criss-crossing boulders. We enjoyed our lunch; our energy reserves needed to be replenished. As added measures, we consumed some of our “power foods”.

Power Foods?

My power food is a mix of black coffee and Lipovitan (caffeine + sugar, hahaha). Kath and Ren had Extra Joss and honey oatmeal granola bars. Marlon, on the other hand, was way too proud of his Cloud 9 candybars.

And then it rained. The difficulty rating just went up another notch.

We donned on our rainshells. I remarked that we have to keep going with the climb in order to reach the peak camp with daylight still available. Some of the boulders started to become slippery, so our pace became slightly slower. At this point I got my first serious “injury” – I banged my knee very hard on a boulder in an attempt to climb it. I lost sensation in my left leg for about 10 minutes and I ceased moving during this period. My knee swelled slightly, but as soon as I got sensation back in my leg I consented with the group to continue on.

It rained for about half-an-hour. Actually, after half-an-hour, we’ve gained enough elevation to be above the rainclouds. Sweet! It was still foggy though, but occasionally the fog clears up and gives us a few seconds of glorious sunlight to take in the magnificent view of the ash-white boulders at 2600 m above sea level. And just beside it is Mt Apo’s biggest sulfur vent (locally dubbed as Baby Volcano), a yellow-green crack in the mountain’s side about 150 m long continuously spewing out steam.

We cleared the boulders area by two-thirty in the afternoon and got to a small flat clearing where we rested for half-an-hour. We ate our remaining bread and consumed some more of our power foods. A hundred meters away from us is the next challenge for the climb: Mt. Apo’s “Gulugod”.

“Gulugod” means spine. The usual mountain spines are ridge trails, with an incline of 30 degrees tops. Mt. Apo’s “Gulugod” is a staggering 80 degree ascent, almost near vertical! It’s a one-hour climb for a 200 meter ascent on a rocky+muddy wall. From where we are standing, we can see the string of climbers making their way up the Gulugod.

Photo (L): Dead Lake (left portion of the photo) and Boulders Face (right portion of the photo).

Again, wall-climbing skills proved to be an advantage. Kath and I had an easier time climbing up from one ledge to another as compared to Marlon and Ren, despite my sore knee and heavy pack. When we stopped to rest, we’ll find ourselves in precarious positions --- a slip means a potentially bad fall hence we tried our best to lean on the mountain wall as best as we can.

At the top of Gulugod, the trail forked. As Kath was in the lead, she took the right-side one. And lo…

… we found ourselves I a really big clearing. Easily the size of 2 football fields. Kath was ecstatic thinking that we’ve made it to peak camp finally.

Her happiness was short-lived when Marlon and I simultaneously commented that (1) there are no campers there – which is weird and (2) the ground was too soft. We were not at peak camp yet. We were at Dead Lake.

During the rainy months, this clearing fills up with water and hence becomes a lake. In the summer months, most of the water would have drained out or evaporated.

We left our mark at the Dead Lake by arranging some stones and getting a photo of our packs.

After this detour, we back-tracked to the fork in the trail and took the left one.

Photo (R): The trail going to Peak Camp. Photo taken from Mt. Apo's summit.

A half-hour later, we were finally at the peak. Wahoo!!! Tired as we were, we took in the foggy view, had some photos taken. This wasn’t the end of the day yet. We had to make our way to the peak camp.

Peak camp is 30 minutes away from the peak. It was an easy trek from the peak to the peak camp compared to the bouldering and 80-degree ascent earlier.

At 550pm on April 9, we were at Peak Camp. Wahoo!!!

Peak camp was much larger than Camp Gudi-Gudi, although all the good spots (the ones just beside rock walls) were already taken. We settled at an open (and more importantly flat) area. Marlon and I quickly set to cutting some talahib to lay out for our tent areas, while Ren went to look for water sources. The wind was beginning to pick-up (it’s very cold and gusty at the peak camp). While Marlon and Ren set-up the tents, I had to fashion a make-shift wind-shield for our burner stoves so that Kath and I can cook dinner. The wind-shield I did was crude: used my earth mat, some garbage bags and some twine to create a wind-barrier. Crude, but effective.

Dinner was rice (now expertly cooked by me, hahaha), corn soup, Spam and sautéed sardines. After dinner, we drank half of our GSM Blue supply while exchanging stories and jokes.

By 930 pm, we were back in our respective tents wrapped in our individual sleeping bags to sleep. The wind outside was really gusty and the climate is really cold. My watch registered 6 degrees C just before I went into my tent.

Oh, and of course, it’s not possible to take a bath at peak camp either so we had to make do with rubbing ourselves with alcohol again.

And one other tidbit: hygienic mountaineers put on a fresh pair of underwear everyday. Hahaha. I have always been a hygienic mountaineer.

---- to be continued ----