Summiting Mt. Timbak

I'm back to the boondocks! For how long? I'm not sure LOL. I just need some training climbs to prepare for our Mt. Kinabalu climb on March 24-25, 2011.

Anyway, last Feb. 19-20, the Outdoor group in the office went to Mt. Timbak for some fun and outreach program. Thanks to the organizers, they were able to ask for permission for us to use some of the classrooms at Mongoto Elementary School as sleeping quarters for the night. Also, we asked the rented van to just drop us at the school grounds so we didn't have to walk hehe.

One of the exciting things to do in the mountains is to watch the sunrise and sunset. We weren’t lucky to catch the sunset though because we arrived at the school at around 6PM already. We were blessed however with the full moon which looked amazingly perfect in its roundness that night. Moonlight + cold weather = romantic.

We woke up at around 4AM the next day for the summit assault. It's said that Mt. Timbak's summit is the same level with that of Mt. Pulag's saddle. My lungs were very much challenged during the climb to the summit that I almost gave up. I had difficulty breathing the early morning breeze. My layers of long sleeves felt like it's constricting my breathing so I had to remove it despite the coldness. I don't know if I had a case of AMS or I was just not ready for any physical activities as I did not prepare prior the climb. Anyway, after much self-talking, I was able to reach the summit. It was all worth it. The weather was beautiful that day we were able to watch the sun rise and there was a sea of clouds below us. Another interesting thing was that while the sun was rising, you can see the reflection of one mountain in the other mountain. Simple and ordinary but I was still amazed.

After breakfast, we headed to where some of the mummies' caves were. It was at least an hour's trek along a road and a path down the mountain. It was my first time to see a mummy despite it being part of my culture. I'm glad to finally see one.

We were supposed to also go and visit Apo Anno in Natubleng but we were already delayed based on our itinerary so we aborted the plan.

On the way back to Baguio, we dropped by KM 52 where the highest point of the Philippine Highway System can be found.

We were back in Baguio at around 4PM where the others took a bath in the public CRs in Burnham. Glad to know that we already have those in Baguio :).

As for me, I went home straight to check on my project.

Estimated budget for this trip is around Php 2K for a Manila-Baguio-Mt. Timbak-Baguio-Manila route. This already includes our donation, transportation and food. We were a big group though so our share for the rented van maybe smaller.

A good reference for this can be found at the Pinoy Mountaineer site.

I appreciate the group for giving respect to the locals, the place itself and the culture.