“In the middle of the journey of my life

I found myself lost in a dark forest

And I had lost the right path…

Oooooh, how could I describe this wild, thick and bitter place?

…but, in fact there, after many ordeals, I found  Goodness, Beauty and the love of my life… “

Dante Alighieri, The divine comedy, beginning of the 14^th century

My dear Albert, as we where shivering with cold on the slopes of mount Apo, I made you the promise to write a few words about our fabulous expedition in august 2013, trying to reach the top of the skull of grandfather Apo. Skull which is watching the Filipino people with a lot of love, and also full of compassion for them when terrible events happen as the recent typhoon.

Now, in the Parisian winter, I remember these sacred days with you, my son and the other brave men of our trek, including our powerful porters.

As you may know, in his famous poem, “the Divine Comedy”,  Dante, completely lost in the forest of life, found a guide and a friend in the person of Virgil, an other poet, devoted and careful.

Needless to say, my dear Albert, that there on the Mt.Apo, for all the lost souls we were, you were our Virgil. You always did the best for everyone, giving us confidence and force, including the preparation of the best pork adobo I ever tasted, non mentioning your delicious hot choco.

I invite all the readers of these few lines the adventure of climbing Mount Apo. It’s an unique experience, and whatever is the weather.At the end of August, we were not very lucky with it, some rain, some cold,and quite cloudy…but what we lost in the celebration of the sun, we won it in engaging ourselves in a strange world made out of subtle variations of white and gray clouds, dark blue,   and yellow (the sulfur). And not an easy world.Climbing up and down the boulders is a good challenge for who wants to test the agility and reactivity of his legs in a beautiful desolated landscape.

As far as I am concerned, I had drunk a good quantity of Korean sake the days before and a few shots of  Tanduay and I can assure you that climbing the boulders are the best medicine ever made against hangover. It’s always a joy to realize that the human being has a lot of capacity to react against adversity.

Best Companies on this Climb,,,

What a strong feeling we had when arrived on the top! It was another world,  , we were not happy with the weather but   we could feel the mystery and the wildness of the creation. And the spirit of grandfather Apo was there encouraging us to cope with reality and vivifying our minds and souls, 3000 meters above the level of the sea. God has spoken to Moses at the top of Mount Sinaï, and here, surrounded by mystical clouds, we could almost hear  old Apo whispering to our ears words of wisdom : enjoy life, little human being! And be brave and good with other people,  don’t forget that  your existence on this earth will end like the flight of the seagull! So do not deny the mystery of Grandfather Apo and all the transcendental forces!

A great adventure also was the climb down during the night time. two hours of fun with flashlight with some surprise at each step :bats, roots, holes, mud, fallen rotten jungle trees to climb up…Disneyland would never propose that!

Eventually, the great joy for me in this amazing trek was to see how my son “Jules” lived all that. In the urban life, he is a discreet, shy, nice and, I may say, quite reserved chap. Grandfather Apo gave him wings, he didn’t climb up or down, he just flied in his blue raincoat and his face turned into a angel face. How amazed I was! Me, an old man full of sins had created such a wonderful bluebird? But what is from flesh is from flesh, and what is from spirit is spirit!

 At the end of this letter, my dear Alb, I would like to thank all my Filipino friends who have supported my bad temper during this initiatic travel and also the sun which has welcomed us at the end of the trek. Excuse me also, dear reader, for my poor parisian English. I can only recommend you to experience the climb of Grandfather Apo, He will give you what you ask…

Article written by:     Michel Sigalla…..French, Actor

Adventure Date: August 24-26, 2013

Compliments to my Climb Buddies:  Jules Sigalla, Michael & Jonathan Joson

I am a 58 year old Australian who found Albert Gabriel from a google search of climbing Mt Apo. I have just completed a 3 day climb of Mt.Apo and I have to say I am delighted at how well the climb was organised and I am happy to say I had an unforgettable experience. The varied terrain and the explanations by our guide along the way were all key parts of the overall experience.

Together with my Singaporean Climb Buddies

On the first day we climbed to our camp for the night through a variety of terrain on a rougher track than I expected. The second day was quite challenging as we climbed to the summit through jungle then the boulder field. The return to our camp was not easy either! The scenery was spectacular and our guide made it more interesting by pointing out interesting features along the way.

On the third day we came down to the start point and returned to Davao City. I have done a lot of trekking and I would have to rate the Mt.Apo experience as much more interesting than comparable climbs I have done including the very popular Fancipan inVietnam.

My companion Stanley had a swim @ the Old Crater

In The Summit with our Guide Albert

This is an outdoor experience I would recommend to anyone seeking a challenging and interesting varied experience in nature at its best.

Colin Weekes, Sydney Australia

I’ve been blessed to be a part of a friendship that values the beauty and wonders of our motherland; to have the audacity to experience that thrills she can offer. Team masaya as we call ourselves have already visited most parts of the Philippines.
One experience we will never forget is embarking to a journey to meet the grandfather of all mountains and volcanoes, Mt. Apo

Situated in Davao del Sur, Mt. Apo, stands on his grandeur with an elevation of 10,311 feet above sea level. Being a dormant volcano, it gave birth to enchanting jungles, majestic boulders, serene lakes and springs thus becoming a dream destination for mountainers and adventurous individuals.

We were fetched by Sir Albert in our hotel to meet our lead guide Roy. We took an fx and then transferred to a habal habal – a local term for motorcycles for rent, were it will take us to Kapatagan and jump-off area

Our sojourn began at sitio baruring. Accompanied by Roy, our lead, guide, Jimboy, Jerry and Arnie our porters we headed to the foot of the moutain, passing thru a village wherein we are welcomed by the warm smiles of the villagers, and lush grassland and vegetation.

As we went deep into the forest, we began to unravel the beauty of its flora. There are a lot of wild berries, ferns and trees growing freely at the area. We didn’t get the chance to see much of its fauna, (no sighting of wild monkey) but this doesn’t reduce the excitement that we feel as we trek. We get to hop on large tree trunks, rappel on small branches and gnarled roots and parkour.

It was a long walk, making us famished and tired. We took our lunch at Tumpis and made several stops to rest while enjoying the cool weather and scenery.

We reached camp 1 an hour earlier. Exhausted, but happy, we started to imagine what would it be like the next day. We were told that tomorrow’s trek will be a lot difficult. It feels like opening a pandora’s box, elevating the risk and difficulty of the climb, but knowing that there’s hope of a safer journey with the help of our trusted guides. Hope to reach the peak and blow a good night kiss and greet a warm hello to the sun.

Dinner was served early; it’s was a long slumber for us.

We woke up around five in the morning. After breakfast, we sauntered, exciting through the woods. As the trees and plants go fewer, we knew that we are nearing the boulders.

The boulder area is like a man’s heartbeat. You won’t hear it if you don’t go near to a man’s chest and listen. As we touched the sulphuric ground, climbed enormous rocks and felt the heat gushing out from within, we knew how alive Mt. Apo is.

We passed thru Gabroq E- Camp and took few take 5 at Botoy’s ridge. We got a glimpse of what the crater, where a small lake formed after its second eruption. As we rambled thru the summit, the surrounding gets colder and foggier.

We settled at the second camp around 2:00pm. Again we arrived early at the site. Rejoicing that we get to experienced sunset, somthing expected happened.

It rained! It became a storm-like weather and the wind almost blew the cover of our tent. Water is seeping inside the tent. It was still a fun experience for us though. We’ve been laughing and giggling as we figure out how to keep the water out and make the tent withstand the weather.

Our guides became our parents that night. Aside from cooking our food, they took turns in checking our tent during times that wind is blowing very hard.

It was a colder and longer night for us. We slept with high hopes to see the sunrise

Luck didnt pave its way the following day. Perhaps due to the rain yesterday, the summit was enveloped with fog. What we witnessed is only a silhoutte of sunrise.

We ate our breakfast feeling disappointed. Afterwards we started packing. We will be doing a two-days worth of trekking in just a day going down the mountain.

Our lead guide took another chance on ascending to another peak. We didn’t know that this was an early Christmas present for us: A 360 degree view at Mt. Apo’s peak.

Very much elated, we spent few minutes taking pictures (with jump shots of course)

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” – we are in cloud 9.

We then started trekking our way home. The pace became slower, yet the spirit is still high. We been throwing jokes, chatting and singing songs to forget how tiring it is.

It was already dusk when we reached the village. We rested for a while, then started walking again to the jump-off area. We rode our way to kapatagn via habal-habal where a van that would take us to the city is waiting.

As we tucked ourselves in our cozy beds inside the hotel, we knew that this one of the many experiences that we will never forget.

Photo By : Jeremy Leung

Article by: Maricris Lim (Macre)

Compliment to Team Masaya: Jeremy Leung, Joy Anne Leung, Ma. Cristina Dacillo and Maricris Lim 

Adventure Date: November 18-20, 2013

Summer is closing in, and rainy season is nearly coming …..this is the time when we had two lady guest who climb  Mt. Apo using the Sta. Cruz-Kidapawan Traverse Trail last May 18-20 2013. They were Ms. Anne Karen dela Cerna(Yayen) , a nurse in a hospital and research center the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Ms. Erika Tabunar a student  in UP Diliman.

Our climb took 3 days spending our first night in Camp1 in Sta. Cruz side traversing to lake Venado passing the boulders and summit. Then, we pitch our tent near the lake where Yayen had her shower( around 7:00PM in the evening) in the freezing cold water from the lake (the 1st time I saw who did it).

In three days, we manage to reach Lake Agco around 5:00 PM passing Koo-ong trail and Mable River, enough to give us time to enjoy the hot spring and and arrived in Davao City safely that night.

Here are some photos we had ,,,,with this two physically fit gorgeous ladies,,,

On the First week of March , I had a call from a guy in the person of Jan Israel Samaniego (Ish) who wants climb Mt. Apo together with Seven(7) of his friends and later informed me that this is a very special climb for him for he is going to propose to his girlfriend Jen(Jenny Lyn Quilala) during sunrise at the center peak  in which the later has no idea about his plan.

As for me and my crew, we are also excited on this climb for its seldom to experience this kind of event in which you have to make an enduring Two days ascend to the highest point of the country to make a wedding proposal to your love one,,,,,Its a very unique act of  love and devotion ,,,,,,

Luckily , Ish’s plan worked very well , and on March 17, 2013 at exactly 5:33 AM  it was a perfect  timing when he gave the engagement ring to Jen in the center peak  with a beautiful sunrise as a back draft,,,then tears of  joy , clicking of the cameras and clapping of hands happened and we congratulate the couple,,,

On this Three Days climb (March 15-17,2013), we took the Sta. Cruz-Kidapawan Traverse Trail Passing the boulders , camping at the summit, having lunch @ Lake Venado then down to lake Agco passing Ko-ong trail and Marble river where we stayed for the night and diiping to the hotsprings,,,,

Together with their Friends who witnessed the Proposal