I woke up this morning to burnt skin, sore muscles, and incredibly high spirits. Fresh off the Loyola Mountaineers’ (LM) latest induction climb at Mt. Pulag, Benguet, I’m basking in the familiar afterglow I haven’t felt in almost a year.
Photo courtesy of Dru Robles, Loyola Mountaineers Batch 17
Wow.
It’s only when I started writing this that I realized my last climb took place during a weekend getaway to Pico de Loro, Cavite, last February. That’s a 10-month drought and the longest one I’ve had since I joined LM back in ‘04 as a college sophomore. Up until a month or two after my graduation, I had the chance to climb once every few weeks, and made the most of many opportunities. I’ve climbed the likes of Pulag, Apo, Ugu, Kanlaon, Guiting-Guiting, and various other mountains, each no more than a couple of months apart.
My own induction was in Pulag, which my batch climbed through the Akiki “Killer” trail, an unforgiving assault to the summit. This year’s batch of inductees took the same route along with the LM undergrads, but the habol group – composed of LM alumni such as myself whose time to climb is limited due to career responsibilities – had to reach the peak via the tamer Ambangeg trail.
Though the climb wasn’t as much of a challenge as most others I’ve had, the facts that it was my first in months and that it let me catch up with friends I haven’t seen in ages made it well worth the vacation leaves I filed. It also allowed Tammy to set foot on Pulag’s summit and experience LM’s induction rights as a member for the first time.
Speaking of induction, congratulations to the guys and gals that make up the 20th batch of the Loyola Mountaineers! I don’t know any of you personally (yet), but kudos for surviving an admittedly grueling application process and entering your 2nd semester as newly inducted LM members.
As you’ll soon realize, your journey has only just begun.
It’s been a while. I tend to forget how good the pain feels after every climb. As for this one, I may have cursed the trek from start to end, acted all prissy and grumpy at times, but surely with no regrets. I love what we do, even if just the afterthought of the climb. As I always say in things like this, pain is temporary, mountaineering is forever.
Well said. I agree. There should be no regrets, especially since what is supposedly the worst part of the experience — the pain — can serve as a reminder that we are very much alive, and doing things not many are capable of. Yep, we may stay away from it for a while, but we will never be able to abandon this sport. Not when it means enough to us to practically define who we are.