by Maria Eleanor E. Valeros, #newmedia specialist
:for#microadventurism
Caption: Mount Hibok-hibok is a stratovolcano. It is one of active volcanoes in the country. Photo from topicalphilippines.com
CAMIGUIN, NORTHERN MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES — Two professional mountaineers fuel my passion for climbing. They are German national Erik Weihenmayer and Batangueno, Regie Pablo.
Sightless since he was 13 years old caused by a hereditary disease of the retina, Erik conquered Mount Everest with all of his awakened guts and his blindness to failure.
He carried this fervent conviction that no killer peak can ever become an obstacle for a man who believes he can do away with adversity.
Meanwhile, Regie, the vice president for Luzon of the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, Inc. and an honorary member of the Batangas Backpackers, climbed Razdelnaya Peak of Kyrgyztan with a spirit that’s all thumbs up to nature’s law: “those that go up must also go down.”
What is it in mountains that entice individuals to subject themselves to physical torture or expose themselves to the harshness of the elements? What drives men and women to indulge in such a strenuous activity?
“Climbs are always rewarded with a kind of high.” This is the usual reply.
The euphoria of accomplishment can never be understood by any individual unless he or she learns to climb, explore, experience, and enjoy the mountain summit. There is no education better than the lessons of climbing. Mountains provide the best syllabus and perfect setting for a course on “higher education.”
Let me cite my first major climb. It happened on Mount Hibok-hibok on the occasion of Camiguin’s Lanzones Festival on October 17, 2002 where and when persistence and endurance were put to the test so to prove how “peak performers” must deal with the mountain setting.
Using the entry point through the base of Barangay Tagdo in the town capital of Mambajao, my companion and I did a night trek through the woods. As soon as the sun was up, we were halfway done with the course.
The road to the summit of one of the country’s active volcanoes, placed at approximately 4,200 feet, is a challenge even to professional climbers. The trail entails skillful maneuvers on loose rocks and boulders. Big on charm with all of its jagged peaks that loom from afar and a romantic vista of both the lovely Bohol sea and azure Mindanao waters, it would be very hard to imagine that in the early 50’s, an avalanche of glowing rocks and molten lava reaching 800 deg C burnt down trees and houses, leaving behind charred remains of both people and animals.
At almost high noon, my heart was racing when I realized I was less than two hundred meters from the summit. A red banner dangling from a pole sticking out of a cliffside became very visible. Up above towered serrated rocky ridges randomly splashed with ash gray, coal black, and verdant coats of hues.
I glanced back where the forest lay far, far below as tall cogon grasses thrashed wildly in the wind in salutation perhaps of that glorious day I had shared with flooding across Mambajao.
Blue surrounded nearby White Island which appeared to be single open and close quotation marks from up there. The sun spangled on the surface of the royal blue sea. A Thursday sun highlighted a patchwork of green fields, resplendent in the brightness of their color.
After the ritual of tying around what-have-yous to the pole sticking out of the ravine, I joined the rest of those who came before us and saved the experience and personal feat within the borders of photographs. Then some kind of quiet followed. One that finds a niche in the heart and there only.
Every climb is accompanied by this deafening peace that washes away vanity and pretensions. The tracks we left behind on Hibok-hibok will narrate the story of hope, faith and optimism. Footprints may illustrate how everything can be within reach through sheer determination, commitment, and personal courage – strong points that made Eric Weihenmayer pursue his purpose with dead earnestness.
Meanwhile, Regie takes climbing like managing life. Climbing doesn’t involve steady assaults every time. It is also knowing when you should go down.
Such are the essence of higher education.###
TRAVELEANORISM 