a first: Winning an Online Raffle Contest!

And I was like OMG this morning when I confirmed my suspicion that I won!

For quite sometime now I have been immersing myself with travel blogs to compensate my frustration with foiled, botched or no travel days. It is wonderful to just read about the places that these people went to and daydream about them.

In searching for Batanes info I came across Ferdz' site: ironwulf.net. I subscribed to his page via FB, and before new year I saw his congratulatory post to the Philippine Blog Awards winner, Nina Fuentes of justwandering.org. Out of curiosity I checked out her site, and from there she became a regular in my everyday blogroll.

Sometime early this month Nina held a contest were she posted questions about her travels. Of course, I hopped onto the band wagon, I will lose nothing by joining. I subscribed to her RSS and twitter. I painstakingly researched her questions throughout her blog. After weeks, what do you know?

I won!

Outdoor Orientation and Survival

I have been a follower of the Upward Trail site from the start of my peakbagging career (lols at the term). I always read survival and backpacking articles of which I used as my basic mountaineering course. I would like to share one the articles in my mountain climbing bible from the Upward Trail site.

How to Pack a Survival Bag

It fits in a one-gallon Ziploc. It weighs just a couple of pounds. It costs a fraction of what one of those GPS-equipped cell phones costs. But this survival kit could save your life. While more complete kits could include everything from fishing gear to first-aid supplies, the 12 items of this one can be used to address all your basic nonmedical needs.

Shelter: Large plastic garbage bags make excellent ponchos. (The bright orange ones used by the Department of Transportation are even better, if you can find them.) With an 8-by-12-foot [2.4-by-3.7-meter] plastic drop sheet and 25 feet [7.6 meters] of parachute chord, you'll be able to build an emergency shelter. (Hardware stores stock all three items.) A pocketknife can be used to cut the cord—and for myriad other chores.
Fire: Double wrap waterproof matches in Ziploc bags, and carry a lighter or flint-and-steel set as well. Cotton balls dipped in Vaseline (store them in a film container) are handy fire-starting aids.
Signaling: The reflection of a signal mirror can be seen up to a hundred miles [160 kilometers] away on clear days. You can purchase one at any decent outdoors store, as well as a whistle (something every child in your party should carry).
Water: One bottle of iodine-based purification tablets can treat up to 25 quarts [23.7 liters] of water. Navigation: Carry a compass. Enough said. A mini-flashlight is useful in many ways—and having light also boosts morale.

Whatever is in your survival kit, says expert Byron Kerns, the fundamental rule is: "You've got to keep it with you." Put it in the bottom of your daypack; put it in the detachable fanny pack from your frame pack. Just put it somewhere.

Hip Pack: Deuter Pulse One

When I try to jog (which usually ends up in brisk walk), I am always on solo. My jog/walk essentials are hydration, cellphone, cash, comb and another vanities. And with no one to look after my things, I first tried using a small sling bag. It felt uncomfortable, with the sling bag bouncing back and forth keeping me distracted plus it wouldn't hold an average-sized water bottle.

For the longest time I have been scouring Landmark in Makati or any malls that I have been to (when I remember) for water bottle bags. Even belt bags I could not find one in the malls that I went to. I used a belt bag as an assault pack back in 2007 Mt. Mayon knife ridge attempt, and the cost of it was around php300-400, unbranded. I set my budget at php500.00 for this.

Pulse One

Surigao City: It's Restday, and the Rest is History.

Northern Mindanao Solo Roadtrip: Part 2 of 3

SURIGAO CITY

November 28, 2010 

Part 1 of 3 - Gingoog City: Climb-turned-roadtrip

Back in Manila, Sunday  is considered as everybody's restday but it doesn't mean that people do actually rest. The streets near the malls and most establishments are bustling with people who wants to spend restday....not resting.

So I wokeup before my alarm went off. I sat there in the bed droned in the white noise of the telly, and contemplating on my plans for the day. I was already dressed, ready to go mountain climbing, but was having a heavy heart on the matter. There are few things to consider like my remaining resources a.k.a. CASH, and I was a bit torn between spending another day in Gingoog City or setting out to explore another land. I made my decision as I went back to sleep. Lol.

Gingoog bus terminal

Gears in Mind, Not on Hand

noThose persons that I have climbed with, and those who have followed my Multiply posts, all know that I am not a gears person. It was only in the year 2009 that I bought a decent backpack (Deuter ACTLite 35+10). It is that time also that I decided to buy a local tent (Apexus Tadpole - red), and my reliable trek shoes (TNF Plasma Gtex XCR Boa II). I bought all of these necessities, after 2 years of climbing, just in time for my Mt. Apo climb. 

Now that another biggie climb is in the picture (Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia), I need to upgrade my other gears, or that I need to buy those that I don't have yet. As of the moment, I have my eyes on these babies....

Petzl Tikkina 2

HEADLAMP 

We all know that one of the most important part of a mountaineer's survival kit is a headlamp. During my 3 years in mountaineering, I have seen different types of headlamp used. There are cheap headlamps (like what I usually use) which you can buy from hardware stores at the mall, or from tyangge stores ran by the Chinese, lols. They are priced somewhere in between 100-200php. Also there are headlamps that are somewhere in between cheap and expensive, like Energizer or Eveready which ranges about 300-800php a piece. And of course there are branded ones, like the most famous Petzl, Black Diamond etc. which is priced from 1000-5000php, Philippine distributed. You can procure these branded items through the internet but the price range is almost the same if you will include the shipping cost.

I have been using a cheap generic heavy headlamp before I upgraded to Energizer, which I haven't used yet since it is relatively new. What I don't want to happen is the headlamp dying on me just when I needed it the most. So I decided to get a cheap and decent Petzl Tikinna 2 headlamp in my favorite color, orange.

Tikkina 2 is priced at $19.95 last time I checked, shipping not included. If converted to Philippine peso that will be roughly around 900php. Locally distributed, it is priced 1400php almost. It has two lighting modes, and a battery life of 190h at economic level. It has two LED that can light up to 23 meter range at maximum level. Not a very good choice for search and rescue, but just enough for normal climbing condition. Just pray you don't get lost in dense jungle, hehehe.

Originally, I dreamt of getting a high powered headlamp, Petzl Myolite (with Xenon bulbs and can light up to 100m range in maximum power) which costs around 5000php. Climb trip priorities inifinitely delayed the purchase. So I am settling on this not so pricey torch.

Deuter Wizard

ASSAULT PACK

Aside from the regular packs that we climbers lug to the campsite, there also cases where assault packs are needed. Assault packs are small bags enough to carry our basic necessities like water, food, and med kits usually for hikes from campsite to summit. One good example where this is needed, is Mt. Guiting guiting in Romblon where you need to camp at Mayo's peak then assault to summit the next day bringing as little as you can to help you maintain balance as you negotiate the ravines and slippery ridge terrain.

I haven't bought one eversince I started climbing, and I considered buying one for the sake of the Mt. Kinabalu climb, since we are taking the Via Ferrata and we need to have both our hands free in scrambling down the boulder face of the summit. 

I have checked Altrec.com, and saw that this is priced at $28 or something. 

Deuter Futura 24 SL

TALL PACK

I have been using a 45L overhead pack since late 2009. Although I have other packs for lighter loads, this has been my staple for overnight climbs. I realized that the larger the backpack, the more stuff you will bring, ergo the heavier your load will be. Whereas when you have a small one, you will be forced to leave some of the comforts at home. I still don't know if all my necessaries will fit this 24L bag, but this is still for consideration and not needed immediately just like the previous 2. 

I haven't checked the price of Futura 24 but I bet it is around $100, an amount which I could use for something more important.

I am still on the budgeting phase where I try to balance my personal expenses, my travel expenses, and my gears expenses. It is only now that I realize that this hobby is much more expensive than others. That I realized when I passed by a golf shop and saw that a club set (main gear in golf) of Calloway is only 14,000, which is same price to a branded foreign tent (just one of our necessities). I cannot imagine how I survived this hobby, with just a meager amount left for my travel expenses. Because I don't buy gears, maybe? Lols.

Philippine Tropical Mountaineering - General Terms

This post is also a condensed article from the site of Singarong Backpackers, who I consider as a reference in climbing during my newbie years, together with the Upward Trail site. I extracted this from my Multiply archive from a few years back.

Tropical vs Alpine Climbing

The Philippines has no alpine mountain peaks because the country is situated in the tropical belt and, at least, none of the peaks in the country exceeds 11,500 ft in altitude to be able to acquire alpine conditions like Mt Kinabalu in Malaysia and Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) in Indonesia. As such, Philippine Mountaineering (mountaineering in the Philippine setting) does not have to contend with alpine conditions – extremely low temperature, ice, snow and barren rocks – that makes mountaineering life extremely difficult and hazardous. Hence, in the Philippines, the use of protective gear for very low temperature and the use of crampons are not necessary. Much less, Philippine Tropical Mountaineering is free from the debilitating effect of very high altitude – the deficiency of oxygen supply in the atmosphere.