It is not just climbing mountains. It is one's determination in conquering the difficulties you encountered along the trail during your ascend to reach the summit.
Considering myself lucky to have been able to meet these people whose thrill-seeking spirits always hunger for adventures. Their active bodies and minds always thirst for adrenaline-pumping activities.
Hello, dear Hivers!
We are Kit-One Mountaineers.
Funny how we call ourselves such names. There is no real deep meaning on how we derived from thinking on what to call our group. It just simply comes from the Tagalog word "SaKIT ng KataWAN", which means "body pain". Just a witty idea from one of our friend's brilliant mind when out of the blue, while we were on our five-minute rest while on our way ascending the summit, she heard someone complains that her legs were aching, and she was about to give up. "KIT-ONE!", that brilliant friend suddenly exclaimed. "Why not call our group KIT-ONE? What do we get from climbing mountains? Body pain, right?!" All laughed and agreed in a cheerful chorus "Yeah, right!", and as they say, the rest is history.Now let me take you on a virtual climb that ascended thirteen years ago when our small group decided to participate in the first-ever Annual Freedom Climb in the country which was spearheaded by PNMS (Philippine National Mountaineering Society).
Freedom Climb, an event that was held during the country's Independence Day on June 12, in which, thousands of mountaineers registered and joined for a simultaneous summit climb event and the simultaneous raising of the Philippine Flag at the peak of more than 50 mountain destinations in the country. It is to pay tribute to our fallen heroes who fought for our country from foreign invaders for us to have the freedom we have the liberty to enjoy nowadays.
When one of my friends mentioned this upcoming event, two weeks before, my ears clapped with excitement, with a jump of joy inside. It would not be my first ever climb but the idea that it was a nationwide mountaineering event, and that it would be the first-ever "Freedom Climb" that I would be glad to take part with, sounds amazing. She asked if I would like to join and of course, I did not hesitate to say "yes". To have been part of that pioneering big event was a privilege, and probably an honor.
Kit-One chose to climb Mt. Marami in Maragondon, Cavite. According to the people here, it is named " marami (many)" because of the "many" rock formations that made up the mountains.
We had our jump-off at Brgy. Ramirez, Magallanes, Cavite. It was a five-hour trek. We first registered at the barangay hall for a fee of 20 pesos. The trail was a bit confusing so we hired an experienced local hiker to guide us on our trek. We planned to have it overnight so we bought our tents and food with us. Along the way, we crossed a river so we thought it would be better if we took a rest for while.
And as then, later on, the rest was over. It was again time to move. We met a group of cows along the way. They seemed very friendly and looked at us as if they were saying we were very much welcome to their paradise.
And as we continued ascending, the breath-taking view of the mountain we got a glimpse of from below was already waving. We were staring at it in awe. We couldn't wait to reach its summit.
And after a five-hour trek, we finally made it to the top. We caught the sunset, and I was speechless, it was so beautiful.
What a rewarding view from above, after almost half a day of ascending. It paid off all the "sakit ng katawan" (body pain) on our way up here. It was worth the climb.
And the sky was slowly getting dark, I and my friends had to set up our tents already.
We had fun talking over a simple dinner, sinigang na canned mackerel one of our friends cooked for us. The delicious soup was perfect to keep us warm from the cold weather at the top. It has become a mini bonfire too, which has kept us even warmer. It was a fun experience.
We woke up early the next morning to catch the beautiful sunrise over a hot cup of coffee.
And then, we proudly raised our flags!
Together with the thousands of mountaineers who joined the event, we are one with them for the memorable highlight of the event, the simultaneous "flag raising" that was done at 8:00 AM.
More than just to commemorate the heroism of our fallen heroes, to which we owe our independence nowadays, this event is also to raise awareness in taking care of our mother earth.
"Leave nothing but trace"
"Take nothing but pictures."
"Kill nothing but time."
A friendly and very important reminder for every mountaineer that one should always bear in mind. I guess it is high time to embrace our mother nature more and hear her cries. We could be one in protecting our mountains by bringing the message to the top of the mountain, to scream at the top of our lungs for the world to hear that we, Filipinos, are proud to be part of protecting our nature. In what way? In our little way, we can start planting trees. And with that, the freedom of enjoying mother nature's green and warm bosom can be freely enjoyed by the future generations to come.
Dear Kit-One, More that just "saKit ng kataWan" (body pain), our climb tought me to be strong when life gets tougher. Our unique friendship made me realize, that it's not about the mountain, but it's the climb. And more on with the amazing people we got to climb it with. I know that nothing lasts forever and when all these are over, can we all start at the jump-off beginning?
It was such an honor to have been part of this amazing team. More than just a team, we are friends. I would gladly be looking at this "body-aching climb" which has imparted amazing memory that I will cherish for a lifetime.