Climbing Outside

2014 was an exciting year for Climb Philippines. To recap:
 
We would like to highlight the Cagayan De Oro climbers who are steadily opening up new sectors at the Catanico River boulders. We are looking forward to visit this area soon and discover new lines. Baguio of course is still a spot that amazes us; we continue to find new problems in the same areas. We believe we can reach that point where you have more than 10 problems just staying in one spot.

Boulders of Lamtang, Baguio

Bouldering at Marabut, Samar

Deep Water Soloing (DWS) has greatly grown in popularity across the country. Due credit must go to the TNF team for the exposure, and for showing us that there is much to explore! A group of locals tested the cliffs of Samar for DWS, and it looks promising. We also have pocket areas in the beaches of Cebu and Batangas. Climb Philippines is happy to have helped a number of climbers share the experience. We have had several groups visit El Nido and take the DWS plunge. Keep it coming guys.

Deep-water soloing at Marabut, Samar

Deep-water soloing in Coron, Palawan Photo by Francisco Taranto, Jr. http://www.fotovertical.com/

Last but surely not the least are developments in sport climbing. Cebu, Iloilo and Atimonan have been getting most of the action. The dedicated team of Mackie Makinano recently bolted routes in Iloilo for 5.8 to 5.11 climbers. A crag called Poog, located in the Cebu province, was also expanded by a generous Italian climber named Ascanio Coimbra – thanks so much! All these provide the perfect push in moving towards our goal of making the Philippines a genuine climbing destination, with crags just a few hours’ travel apart: Ready whether you are hardcore or a weekend warrior, whatever it is that floats your boat, there’ll be an area to satisfy your lust for limestone.

Climbing at the newly-bolted Poog, Cebu Photo by Ben Lee's Photography http://www.benleesphotgraphy.co.nz/

On this note, we must say THANK YOU to all our foreign friends who have shared their time and effort in developing our crags. The SPOT Project is culminating this February in Baguio, Cebu and Manila after almost 10 months. We are all excited to share our experiences and learn from the very talented TNF Athletes: James Pearson, Caroline Ciavaldini and Yuji Hirayama. They will be bouldering, bolting, climbing and hanging out with the locals. With all these happening, the Philippine Climbing community has an opportunity to get together, remember why we love the outdoors, and expand to new horizons. 

But it must not stop there. Whatever we take from this experience, we must use to it to sustain the momentum of the past year in terms of developing our crags and our whole sport. Whatever we learn, we must continue to pass-on and teach to others. It helps a lot that we have the support of great brands locally like ROX Philippines and Sea to Summit who have continuously helped out in promoting our outdoor playgrounds as well as the indoor competitions. 

So yes, things are in the pipeline: Are you ready to go outside and climb?

-Miel