Mount Damas Traverse (+ Ubod Falls)

7-8 February 2015

In preparation for my Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar trek, I joined my colleague Luther and his friends on their hike to the peak of Mount Damas, Tarlac. Luther’s friends took care of everything (logistics, food, tent… everything!) and all I had to worry about was carrying myself and personal pack. To a regular person, the trail should take about 5-6 hours but it took us 9 hours (as usual, I was part of the tail of the group). Despite being only 685 meters above sea level, the trail has 3-4 hours (my pace) of 60-70 degree continuous ascent and a few hours of some of rock climbing and rappelling.

Rappelling

The trail also passes over one mountain to get to the summit of Mount Damas. That means, we went up and down and then up again to reach our camp site. It got dark before we reached campsite so we had to hike with our headlamps. 

 

The trail challenge

3 hours of ascent this steep

The summit was just a few minutes away from the campsite, so we didn’t have to wake up that early to catch the sun rise. After a couple of photos on the summit, we broke our fast and headed towards Ubod Falls. The trail included climbing over rocks and a small waterfall. But since I was acrophobic, it seemed like going through a death zone. After one particular climbing part, my legs felt like jell-o and I succumbed to zombie-mode.

Ubod Falls

We had lunch at Ubod Falls, which was a refreshing stop considering the heat and humidity. Going back didn’t get any easier. We also had to go up and down again. The trail was so steep that I was on all fours going up and I climbed down backwards (others slid on their way down). Several parts of the trail had ropes (or more like trunks and bamboos) to pull you up or guide you down. It was such a good thing that the trail wasn’t wet.

 

Sunrise over our camp site

I didn’t expect much from this trip but it was well worth it. The trail was fantastic and challenging (especially to an acrophobic). And the best part was the group—I had never encountered such nice and friendly mountaineers. :)