My HALCONditional Hike

 

Mt. Halcon

Baco, Oriental Mindoro

 

When you cannot move a mountain, it is only because you were meant to climb it.

At Halcon's famous diving board, no clearing right?

It has always been in my to-do list to write about my Halcon experience. It is the only mountain I climbed that was not written in this blog. Lazy, yes I am. How many times I planned to write about it during my quarantines but alas, Netflix and social media took a stronger hold. Anyway, here I am, trying to recall my Halcon mountaineering experience from three years ago and preserve it in this blog post.

Mt. Halcon was the most difficult and my only 9/9 difficulty rated mountain in my climbing portfolio. In the Philippines, there are only four 9/9 mountains, and that includes Mt. Guiting-guiting (G2), Mantalingahan (Manta), Mt. Sicapoo and of course Mt. Halcon. It is also part of the knife-edge trilogy which includes Manta and G2. Mt. Halcon is considered one of the most difficult mountains here in the country with its unforgiving non-stop 80-85⁰ ascent. It’s also kind of (in)famous due to its record of highest number of hiking related deaths. To top it off, limatiks or blood-sucking leeches heavily infest this mountain. And… I’m just mind-blown scared of them!!!

Climbing Mt. Halcon is seasonal, which means the mountain is open for only a few days in a year. The local government sets the climb schedules and these coincide with the driest days in the year to prevent mountaineering accidents due to bad weather. In order to climb Mt. Halcon, you have to join an accredited climb organizer, in our case, we registered with Challenge The Summit team.

I was actually invited by my old friend Nikolai to join his office group Team Impaqta for this Halcon climb. Come climb day, I met them (mostly geothermal engineers) at Cubao bus terminal before we boarded the bus to Batangas port. At the port, we convened with the organizers and the rest of the Halcon group and we were given our ferry tickets to Calapan, Mindoro. With our ubiquitous backpacks, we all alighted the ferry and transferred to a jeepney that took us to SM Calapan for lunch (our last decent meal prior to the climb). Afterwards, we went straight to Baco Municipal Hall to register our names and we were all given a pre-climb briefing by the local government after submitting the requirements. We were required to provide two major climb certificates (I’ve shown my Mt. Apo and Mt. Pulag certificates) and also a fit-to-climb medical certificate to be allowed to climb Halcon.

Afterwards, we were taken to our jump-off point where we camped for the night. We pitched our tents, prepared our meals, and it was lights off after that.

We woke up at dawn and started to hike very early to commence our Mt. Halcon climb.

 

The Halcon group at Calapan Port before hike proper.

Day 1

Day 1 of our hike consisted of continuous assault, a little descent, a river crossing here and there, and back to never ending assault again. An hour after hiking, we encountered our first limatik. I am really scared of them so I made sure I am fully covered, with my remaining exposed skin heavily slathered in OFF lotion (we were told limatiks hate the smell of it).

 

We traversed a never-ending steep trail and entered a portion called Aplaya which has a lot of bonsai trees and moss. Sitting on the highest point on the ridge line is Mt. Halcon’s summit, our first glimpse of it. After the mossy trail, we entered a forest down the Dulangan River. This is a wide river dissecting the ridge into the foreground and the higher, steeper Halcon proper.

 

 Team Impaqta taken at Aplaya.

Halcon summit at the background.

We crossed Dulangan River with our rubber shoes and socks removed. Afterwards we put them back and hiked up to Balogbog baboy which was our campsite for two nights.

 

We pitched up our tents, checked our dinner which was cooked yesterday at the jump-off camp. To our dismay, it was already spoilt and beyond saving. Glad we have canned goods and veggies I was able to pull off a sauteed vegetable with sardines for dinner. Nikolai said it was so good!

 

After that, we went to sleep. Our Team Impaqta group hired the services of porters to carry some of our things. However, they forgot to bring their own tent, so we let them use one of our tents which ended in me getting crammed into another. There were four of us in that small tent, yes, we are definitely packed but I’m so tired to complain and think about it. Finally tucked inside my sleeping bag, I snoozed immediately.

 

 

Day 2

 

Day 2 of our Halcon hike put my passion for mountaineering to a test. I was feeling miserable on that day because of the pelting rain soaking me cold from head to toe, endless and tiring summit assault, and a minor injury when I accidentally banged my head into a tree branch. There was a point I promised myself not to hike anymore in the future. But funny thing though, the moment I set foot on our basecamp after our descent, I was already planning to conquest my second 9/9 mountain. Maybe mountaineering is the art of suffering. And I’m one addicted soul.

 

On our second day, we hiked to the summit to see the famous diving board of Mt. Halcon. It rained so heavily on that day as we attempted to summit. We also passed by the epitaph of a fallen mountaineer who died because of hypothermia in the biggest mountaineering catastrophe in the country.

 

On our way to the summit, we tackled Halcon’s Knife Edge. Sheer drop to the right, slightly lower angle on the left going up. My teammates who had been to Guiting-guiting all attested that G2’s Knife Edge is narrower and more intimidating.

Halcon's knife-edge.

 

Team Impaqta at the summit.

In the summit, we reached Halcon’s diving board, however, it was all foggy and we didn’t get the sea of clouds nor the clear view of Southern Luzon. Nevertheless, it felt surreal, and I had this sudden rush of immense self-pride for conquering this very difficult mountain despite its tremendous test of physical strength and sheer will. It was my most difficult hike so far (9/9 difficulty rating) and did it for 3days/2nights rather the usual 4days/3nights.

 

On our way down to our camp site, it rained harder than ever and we were so fortunate to be able to cross the rivers before they become impassable. But one of my teammates was so unlucky he got two limatiks in his eyes. Ouchhhh!!!

 

We reached our campsite and the rain was still non-stop. Our porters were fed and pretty cozied in one of our tents while us, we were not able to prepare our own dinner due to heavy rains pouring steadily outside our tents.The rain continued throughout the night and soon enough  soaked up our tents and sleeping bags. That night was very miserable and really one for the books. I can see the limatiks penetrating into our tent and sleeping bags. I was snuggled inside a wet and cold sleeping bag while the rain was leaking inside our tent. I did not sleep at all that night.

 

 

Day 3

 

I woke up in the morning with limatik bites and blood at my back and legs. A bruise was imminent in my forehead for I hit a tree branch from yesterday’s descent to our campsite. Finally the sun was up and I was able to capture time lapse video of the sunrise. I also flown my drone for a few minutes. After that, we had breakfast and we broke camp. Day 3 was our last day in Mt. Halcon. And we were fortunate that even with the thunderstorm the night before, the Dulangan River subsided and we were able to safely cross on our descent. Worse case, the river swells and we would be stranded for a day.

 

The descent was steep which translated to a faster hike downhill. We reached our jump-off camp mid-afternoon. We were all tired but nonetheless very proud of ourselves for logging another personal achievement. Come to think of it, one of my teammates was already planning a Mt. Sicapoo hike. We reached Calapan Port late afternoon and boarded a ferry back to Batangas. Took the bus back to the city and I alighted in Guadalupe station to where Eiver’s condo is (which served as my Manila basecamp).

 

Buko stop on our descent.

I ordered pizza, chicken and beers which were delivered to the condo. Definitely missed these luxuries after how many days in the mountain. I celebrated with Eiver my successful climb and told him my Halcon stories. Took also a long shower and had a deep, recharging sleep afterwards. The next day, I booked a Grabcar to NAIA Terminal 2 for my Davao flight. And just like that, I’m back to my geology work after this very unforgettable HALCONditional hike.

 

My HALCONditional Hike.

Climb Date: April 30-May 02, 2018

Summit Elevation: ~2586masl

Difficulty Rating: 9/9

Jump-off Point: Brgy. Lantuyan, Baco, Oriental Mindoro

Exit Point: same (back trail)

Days Required/Hours to Summit: 21 hours

Features:  Tropical rainforest, mossy forest, river crossings, waterfalls

Geology:Metamorphics (phyllites, schist)

Climb Organizer: Challenge the Summit

Hike Team: Team ImpaQta

 

 

Check out My Halconditional hike in these videos.