Independence Day Rock Trip

June 12 - It's been a week since I came back from that not-so-secret 10-day trip. The one that left me sprained and gashes all around; making me miss out on a rock trip in Wawa the day after my return. Those who did get to climb told me that the route they took at the Uling wall was not the easier ones in the area (looking at the old guidebook, there is a scarcity of routes below 5.8). I told the guys that, weather permitting, I'll take them to the Rook area for a proper intro on the crags of Wawa.

Bridge leading to the limestone walls

Hot humid climb day

So many missed opportunities for rock climbing happened in the last year. I've used plenty of excuses, and all of them seems lame (buzzword of the moment) in hindsight. Just to be different last weekend, I took on the invite of Ian to go to Wawa and feel the rocks again, despite still nursing a nasty sprain I got two weeks ago.

Back to wasak. #Wawa #AngHeat #noupperbodystrength

A photo posted by Dennis Lopez (@dencius) on May 8, 2015 at 9:17pm PDT

Boogie Wall Revisited

One week to go before our expedition, and we've only had a couple of roped-in sessions under our belt. Everyone was so busy on their own things (Levi with the opening of the Lagalag Store in SM City; Bunny and I with our office duties) that we couldn't find the time to go back to the crags. This is our last chance before heading for Sibuyan.

I picked up Levi and Bunny along the way. Levi brought his prototype Lagalag fastpack to test during the climb. Bunny brought freshly pressed coffee for breakfast. We got to Wawa around 7 in the morning, and hiked out to the base of Boogie wall.

I've been to Boogie once before this; with Henry and Levi. I've led the second pitch without any real experience in placing traditional protection (i.e. stoppers). A pretty sketchy first experience, but I've learned a lot from that. At the base, we took some time planning the sequence of our climb: who will lead, come second, and clean the pro.

"selfie" before the climb