COMMUNITIES

XPedition Peaks Mt. Pulag
Fr. Guy Guibelondo, S.J., Campus Minister

Posted Thursday, 22-Jun-2006 12:59 PM

      It may not be Mt. Everest, but Mt. Pulag at 2,922 meters (9,610 feet) in Benguet Province is still one tall, tough mountain to conquer as eleven Xavier School faculty and staff, an alumnus and three guests found out reaching the “roof of Luzon” in a climb dubbed “XPedition” at dawn last June 3, Saturday.

      Veteran climber Chris Salumbides (HS-ODS) in a daring feat led nine first time climbers and five others up the steep slope to camp site one and on to the grassy peak of Mt. Pulag in time to watch the sunrise. He defied common practice of bringing novice mountaineers to climb mountains with lower elevations to acclimatize. Only Salumbides, Mel Manahan (HS ODS) and Fr. Guy Guibelondo SJ who likewise joined XPedition had previous extensive climbing experience among the XS climbers.

      "The asthmatic has reached the peak of Mt. Pulag,” novice climber Joanne Pusta (HS Guidance Coordinator) “texted” friends to describe her feat upon reaching the summit.

      A final twelve-person Xavier School climb team composed of mixed male and female veteran and first time climbers from the different departments of Xavier School started the climb Friday afternoon. Salumbides was joined by TJ Agulto (HS CLE teacher), Tess Elizalde and Reena Berredo (HSPO), Emman Santos (Guidance), Manahan and Pusta from the high school. The Grade School climbers were Karen Baylon, Tin Pascua and Carmel Villanueva, all faculty members, while Personnel Department’s lone trekker was Marge Castañeda. Fr. Guibelondo also enlisted in the team and was joined by alumnus Jeremy Tan (batch ‘05) and Charles Baga, Mike Dalimot and BJ Hernandez of the UST Mountain Climbers.

      Despite his climbing experience, Fr. Guibelondo failed to reach the peak. He backed out when the team pushed for the summit at 4:10 am Saturday due to lack of sleep brought about by low temperatures the night before. “I hardly slept because it was so cold,” Fr. Guibelondo said. A DENR personnel earlier warned that the temperature can drop to well below ten degrees Celsius. This did not affect the other climbers. “We also had difficulty sleeping because of the cold but we pushed on to the summit,” Elizalde said, speaking for the first-time women climbers.

      Reaching the peak at dawn the following day was the climax of a two-stage trek which started with a three-hour afternoon steep climb through trails hewn out of the pine and mossy forest on the mountain side to camp site two. The Xpedition, down by one person, completed the climb with an early morning trek through cogon trails snaking up to the peak. What started out with a five hour bus trip to Baguio Thursday night, another grueling ride on board a four-wheel drive vehicle through very rough mountain roads to take them up to the jump-off point at the Rangers station three hours away capped with a “breathtaking” view of the sunrise on June 3.

      The guest climbers coming from UST were invited by alumnus Tan, who himself has been climbing extensively since last year. He said he took to climbing when he was invited to climb by one of the faculty members while he was still in high school. “I’m on the lookout for other alumni who are interested in mountain climbing so we can start a club,” Tan said.

      The XPedition to Mt. Pulag , the roof of Luzon and the second highest peak in the Philippines, was put in perspective by one of the climbers. “We never really conquer mountains, the mountains conquer us,” he said even as the group is looking forward to another climb during the school year.

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