Mt. Maculot New Trail

I can now confirm that a new trail has been created in Mt. Maculot. The existence of the old traditional trail, which had been there for decades or maybe ever since the mountain had been open to the public....was no more. The reason according to the locals, was that landslides had occurred making the old traditional trail very dangerous. An fatal accident almost happened last week in one of the climbers, this prompted the local government  to act swiftly and create a new one. The new trail is very fresh and was shy of two weeks old. 



The trail per my assesment is not suitable for beginners, at least for now. We learned this the hard way last weekend when we brought a bunch of newbies. Its a good thing me and my group went via traverse trail, the other half of the group was not so lucky. 

Hopefully as time passes by, and more climbers use this trail. Will make it more sturdy and not loose as is it is now.

How it is now (sorry I dont have pic of the old  one)

Nevertheless the view is always mesmerizing

Mt. Maculot Traverse for a Bon Voyage Louise!

“All good things must come to end” as the saying goes. And with that, our French friend Jean-Louis two year stint in the Philippines is over. He’s going back to his homeland on December 22. We share the same passion for climbing, these brought our group together. Hes been with us for several past climbs including the infamous Guiting-guiting. To celebrate his departure, a friend organized a climb for him in the mountain which is grand yet easy to climb. Mt. Maculot . Its my first time to climb Mt. Maculot (traverse) during the rainy season. I never thought that it was very grassy during this time. I guess it is true that each climb of a Mountain is different, the trail differs and the trees grows.

We had a great time with your company Louis! Hope to climb with you again someday, even on another part of the world. Till next time!

A few more steps to the summit of G2.

Go ahead... Make my day!

Trying to ride a carabao in carabao island!

Last climb!

Mt. Maculot Traverse 2010

I organized a MacTrav (Maculot Traverse :P) last June 26. This is not a traverse per-se as the mountaineers define it (please see my previous post for the details). Its just a dayhike and I organize this mainly for these friends.. A former officemate who wanna try hiking, an American friend who is a veteran in climbing but is new to the tropics and two old buddies who is on/off on their climbing career. The last time I've been here it was raining and now its el-nino so surely the trail is different. Its not just the trail that is different but also is the cleanliness of the place! There a lot of plastic trash along the grotto trail and onward to the summit. My hunch is that the trash was the result of the recent 'holyweek' which several Roman Catholics influx this site. Seeing no trash going down the traditional trail confirms my observation. The traditional trail is normally the route of climbers
Maculot will always be one of my favorite mountains. The climb is not that difficult but the view is more than rewarding. And what a day to end our trip with a visit from my friends aunt who lives in Cuenca. To our surprise his father was a native of this city, there are several stores in Cuenca which bore their surname. And then his aunt served us their bakery's 'monay' bread which their family is famous for. After eating several pieces, now I know why.

Here lies two mountaineers... Jus Kidding!!!




Resting at the 'Grotto'



Rope a Dope


On the way to saddle


Group shot at the Rockies

Mt. Maculot Traverse

Its our climb to Guiting-guiting next week (holyweek) and as a part of our training regimen, we need to do a training climb. We decided to take a dayhike in Mt. Maculot but with a twist, well gonna do a traverse (my first time doing this).
The start of the trek of course does'nt start on the traditional route. For one you have to start at the trail that will take you to the pilgrimage site of the 'Grotto'. The locals were very adamant to let us proceed, one reason is that a rescue operation is going on. For 5 days rescuers are trying to find a lost 71 year old man who climb Mt. Maculot alone. Also, eventhough its summer its raining for several days in Cuenca. They are discouraging us, saying the path is slippery, we have to pass a very narrow trail and that there are women in our group (if they only knew what my women colleagues have already been to!). To make the story short we were able to go on but opted to take two guides, since this trail is the one less traveled.
The trail to grotto is exposed and occasionally have cemented stairs. A few meters from the Actual Grotto site are huts of merchants who are taking advantage of the influx of pilgrims for the holyweek. Here is were we took our lunch.


At the Grotto, with our French friend Louis

After Grotto, you will greeted by a steep ascent in a densely covered forrest. There are two locations were you need to use the stationed ropes. Its a good thing that rain came after this area or else its going to be difficult to climb. After a few more hours you will reach the summit. Mind you that the summit is also densely covered so there is no view at all. We stayed here for a few minutes then we decided to go down to the rockies. The descent is also steep and very muddy, then you will reach the grassland (kugon-an) saddle that will take you to the huts that sell halo-halo. From here its on to the rockies. We took some pictures and then we decided to head back down going the traditional route. We reach the traditional route jumpoff (mountaineers store) at around 7:00pm.


(sorry, blurry pics. madilim eh)


wet de la summit!

Mt. Maculot is one of the easiest to climb but is also one of the most rewarding because of the view from the rockies, the reason that this is a must for beginners. But for those who want to take Maculot to next level, traversing is a very good idea.
And BTW, as expected the locals were over describing the trail. Yep, its true that its muddy, steep and you indeed a rope is some parts. But not as difficult as they were saying.


taal lake at the background (almost slipped here. wet rocks. )


UPDATE : We left Cuenca, Batangas with still no word of the lost 71 year old man. Hoping he can still be found and nothing bad/serious happened to him.