I’ve been climbing for about 10 years, but ask me about our sport’s superstars and I’ll stammer to give you three names. Talk to me about the most recently opened climbing routes and their grades or which rock god just sent it and I’ll shrug my shoulders and give you a blank look. Tell me to rate a climb or a boulder problem and I’ll scratch my head.
I may not be as technical or experienced as the other “old timers,” but like you, I love to climb. And in recent years, I’ve discovered a love for bouldering.
I’ve had the pleasure of going on two rock trips: CDO’s Goo Goo Gaga in November, and just two weeks ago, to Baguio’s Ambongdolan Rock Trip. And just because the latter is the more recent adventure (and the one my memory will allow me to remember), I’ll chew the fat on this one.
After a five-hour ride up to our country’s summer capital, I was hoping to get to the crag and climb. But Ambongdolan is 1 ½ hours away from Baguio City via a hired jeep (or in my case, Alvin’s 4×4), so the wait only got me more excited. Miles later, we reached the Barangay Clinic—our home base for the weekend.
The crag is a 20-minute up and downhill walk—which is a great way to warm up (although on the first day we drove there). The site itself is breathtaking, full of off-white and sand-colored boulders ready to be pinched, crimped, poked, sat or stepped on, grabbed—whatever way you want to hold them—to send any given problem. The Baguio crew did an excellent job finding the area, creating the problems, and discovering us even more future areas to climb—we took a peek and our hearts beat wildly to see all the possibilities (thanks, guys!).
And since I’m a non-technical climber who can’t tell my V0’s from her V10’s, I can’t say what grade these problems are. But I do know that everyone on the trip—from the most inexperienced to the most seasoned—got their hands on a lot of juicy problems. Some easily and happily sent, others refusing to be finished until we come back (very soon, I hope). No waiting in long cues to jump on a problem—you can hop on another one if need be (although we had a shortage of crash pads, so when you do head over, make sure you’re well-stocked).
The Ambongdolan locals pride themselves in their caves, which are popular spots that tourists like to visit. On the second day of the trip got the chance to explore one cave whose formations we all marveled at mini rice terraces, a fried egg, a giant mushroom, angel’s wings, and more. The spelunking was a good break for our tired bodies and raw fingers, but we didn’t expect this cave exploration to take a lot of work. We crawled through soil, tiptoed around precious stalagmites, and kept our balance through the wet ground, all in the dark. Our eyes could take the dark for only so long, so we were thrilled to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
By early afternoon, it was time to pack our things and clear the Barangay Clinic. We boarded our jeepney and in Amazing Race-style, got back to the jeep terminal in time to grab a quick dinner and board our bus back home. Two weeks and a sore ring finger after, I’m still dreaming of going back to Ambongdolan. Who wants to come?
(Check out the photos posted by Rhei, Alvin, Ian, and Harley)
Want to see what Cantabaco, Cebu climbing has to offer? Check out this teaser video from the recently-held Lust for Lime 6 rock trip put together by Dennis Diaz. (more…)
We know that all of you love photography and the outdoors, so lets do a little contest to encourage you all to share your photography skills. As you know this website is lacking really good photos.
REQUIREMENTS/RULES: Take a bunch of sick pics and SUBMIT ONLY 1, UNO, folks, as an attachment to climbphil.contest@gmail.com. Try to keep the file size UNDER 2mb. The pic can be of any climber, crag, area within the Philippines.
PHOTOSHOP: Using photoshop is fine to adjust your levels, contrast, saturation, to crop but please don’t add any effects
TIMELINE: Sept 18th- Oct 2nd. We will accept no more entries after Oct 2nd.
On Oct 3, THE TOP 3 winners will be announced on the website, facebook and pinoyclimbers egroup. However the top 10 photos will be uploaded to the climb Philippines website for everyone’s viewing pleasure.
We might get a lot of entries so just expect a short reply back saying that we got your photo.
PRIZES:
1st Free Cushe slippers
2nd Free Cushe/Enemies Of Saturn shirt (double sided and really cool) and CD of the latest EOS tracks
3rd Free Cushe shirt
HAVE FUN,
Any questions email me at climbphil.contest@gmail.com
Remember to participate. If we get a good response, this will encourage us to do more contests like this in the future.
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Trips & Events
Video: Montalban Sessions
By Ina on September 12, 2010
Summer bouldering in Wawa, Rizal
Trips & Events
The CDO Experience
By Ina on August 30, 2010
WORDS & PHOTOS BY MIEL PAHATI
I’ve been climbing all over the Philippines for the last ten years. I’ve seen the outdoor scene grow and progress. Just when I thought I’d seen it all, here was another area with a whole new experience.
I visited Cagayan de Oro last August 19 to 24 to check-out the new bouldering spots and meet some old friends.
Right from the first day, I was amazed with the texture, movement and features of the CDO rock. I couldn’t name the type but it’s not limestone. It wasn’t quite like the boulders of Montalban and Manalmon, which were almost frictionless and smooth. Also compared it to bouldering in Baguio, whose weather is as cold as it can get, and friction as best you can get, in the Philippines.
All the areas are also just around 30-45 minutes drive from the city with very easy treks. In the six days I was there, I was bouldering three hours into the trip, down to the last hour I possibly could. It seemed that CDO brings in the friction, variety, and overall complete bouldering experience.
There is much to look forward to even when climbing indoors. The very homey local gym, Alwana, offers a variety of angles in all its walls. Though set up with a top-rope for most clients, the walls are also good for bouldering. It also has a weights room and spa, where you can conveniently get your dose of a full body work-out. If that’s not enough reason to drop by Alwana, then you must know that it is the jump-off point to all the crags.
The daily routine of waking up and travelling to the climbing areas by jeep or habal-habal (motorbike) was adventurous as always. During our whole trip, we visited four bouldering areas which all possessed a variety of rock formations. Most boulders averaged from 8 to 12 moves. On a V-scale i would say the problems start from V4 and go as high up to V14. There were highball slab problems climbing on monos, and some were overanging problems on crimps. With the level of climbing it’s suggested to bring at least 4-5 crash pads to maximize the experience.
There was one area with camping grounds, a 250-foot waterfall, and boulders as high as 30-40 feet, with hard and quality problems beautifully located close to one another. If only we could get a bouldering roc-trip going I’m sure we’d find more really good lines.
But for me, the trip was centered on this one route that really caught my attention. I could relate it to climbing Magic Dragon in Manalmon or Narda in Baguio, but this one had a kick to it. The line was superb, coming from a roof, to exit on an overhanging face with really “NICE” crimps and a slab exit. I returned to this boulder more than once and worked the route. It’s been a while for me climbing with some really psyched guys, and their energy helped me inch my way up the wall. I left it as a project, but it’s sure to be a prime line once it’s done.
