Trek to Everest Base Camp Spring (Holy Week) 2018 - 17 days (12 hiking days)

More and more Pinoys are finding their way to the foothills of the highest mountains of the world. Don't be left behind!

Our partner, Dream Himalaya Adventures Pvt. Ltd, has a special offer for Filipino teams planning to go to EBC. DHA has been guiding Pinoys since the 2006 Filipino Mt. Everest expeditions. Email me to book your slot!

Getting Back

Re-starting something after being away for some time is always hard (except maybe riding a bike, which they say you never forget). Even the thought of re-launching this blog, for example, is taking an extreme amount of energy. What more to actually start writing content again?

So after a year since my last hike of significant elevation gain, I headed back up a mountain. This time, the Pantingan Peak of Mt. Mariveles in Bagac, Bataan. I hoped that muscle memory will make up for the utter lack of hiking in the past six months. Pantingan turned out to be a mountain you should not restart climbing on.

The approach to Pantingan Peak (right-of-center)

Rockstar-ing in Balagbag

I was planning a "solo" dayhike in Tarak Ridge last Saturday, but instead I found myself lugging a heavy pack up to the helipad of Mt. Balagbag, while the mountain rockstars ran/hiked ahead of me.

with the uncles

Climate Change Climb in Pinagheneralan

One of the supposed "perks" of having the UPM application in the summer is the warm but dry weather conditions. Supposedly none of the wet and miserable times usually experienced during the monsoon. Imagine our surprise when they announced a typhoon was expected to enter around the same time as our climb (just my luck). Betty rolled in and threatened to rain on our weekend.

There was a large group of applicants eager to get to the next stage of their training, so we had to divide the group into three teams (Pinagheneralan, Banahaw de Liliw, and Makiling) to lessen our impact on the mountain. I chose to join the Pinagheneralan team since nobody else knew the trail and how to get the permits.

Team Banayad at Camp 1

Valentines in Bungkol-Baka

San Jose, Tarlac has been very close to the heart of the UP Mountaineers ever since the club help develop the trekking destinations there. Spearheaded by Boboy Francisco, several mountains were opened in the early 2000's, and UPM has since become a regular visitor to this part of Central Luzon.

Happy camper. #UPmountaineers #Tarlac

A photo posted by Dennis Lopez (@dencius) on Feb 14, 2015 at 1:33am PST

Mt. Arayat - An Island in a Sea of Rice Fields

Since it was decided that the application period for the UP Mountaineers will be moved to the second semester (which is basically next year), we will take this free time to have more climbs within the organization, and just have fun. I invited the continuing applicants from last year to join the team so that they can remain in touch with the organization (should they still be interested in finishing their quest to become UP Mountaineers). I was worried that we won't have enough people in the team, but the anxiety was replaced by excitement, as 16 people signed up to climb.

(photo: Nikko Cayaga)

Mt. Maculot (Returning to a past favorite, and testing out a new pack)

It's easy to understand why a lot of outdoors people like Mt. Maculot. It's fairly accessible; relatively cheap; not so difficult to climb; guides are optional; and the view is unbeatable. During my climbing days pre-UPM, this ranks among my most-frequented mountains. But then I (we) came to realize that everyone else also loved to climb the mountain; which is very obvious with the level of erosion along the trail the saddle. What came next was the conscious decision not to climb it anymore; save the mountain at least from the impact from my footprints. January 2004 was my last visit.