After a day and a half we have reached the most awaited portion of our climb, the last portion which is the boulder trail. At this point I never thought I have gone this far. The sight of the boulder nearer give some insight of how far can I hold on. I am a bit excited but a little scared but what can I do for now, I am stuck in the middle of I can say away from civilization and now I have to wrap it off wherein retreat if impossible. "No retreat No surrender"
The team split into two. We have to choose whether we pass through the boulders or to they so called "direct assault". Direct assault is a shortcut , but deadliest of the two with a slope of nearly 75-85 degrees assault to the summit on a rocky and gravelly trail. It is at the left flank of the sulfur vent While the boulder trail is for the stronger ones, because it needs a lot of stamina due to long and hard trail . It is also regarded as the hardcore trail and is located at the right flank of the trail.
The team led by Sir Bob, Leony, Jean, Mary and Charley took the Direct assault trail while I, Dell, Mark, Dothy, Mara, Dheng, Karen, Dan, Jay-jay, Aldrin, Lucky took the boulders, it is a must for those who will climb Mt. Apo for the first time. It was very tiring, but we so have much fun that time.
The trail is more of rocks all of the time, big bigger and biggest rocks are along the way as we go higher and higher. We pass by the sulfur vent though these vent makes our assault very challenging and stress relieving. 
It was a struggle climb on my part because I have to hold on to my breath while passing through this trail. It was too dangerous and was a real treat for me. There was a time when we have to stop for awhile and take some rest and of course took some pictures. I was always in the middle of them. because I don't want to be left alone. It was fortunate for us that the winds blow in other direction make us free from sulfur vent which is dangerous to our lungs.
It tooks us 4 hours to passed the boulders and reach its top but It was'nt over yet. We passed though some open area until you reach the last part of the trail, a 90 degree ascend. It was a last hour to test our faith and determination.
Passing through the 90 degree assault need you to unleashed your remaining energy. We have to be focus as my fellow climber called it as a technical climb. we began climbing the steep rocks from ledge to ledge, we had no choice but to hoist our body to the next small ledge above us. The passing doesn't takes too long. It took us less than 30 minutes to get to the crater and here we take some of our moment to took some pictures.
AT THE SUMMIT
It is almost 5pm when we reach the first summit according to our guide, there are seven summit in Mt. Apo. The wind blowing is very cool. I took this opportunity to take some picture around the mountain.It was a beautiful sight for a first timer like me. It feel so rewarding for all the hardship and danger we passed by. I think all my "pagod" is gone.I could see samal island far way. I could see the trail we passed by. I stay there for a while until I sense that a bit of rain fall.
The camp site near Mt. Apo summit is about 15-20 minutes away. I passed through a high grass terrain. It started to rain when I reach the campsite. We are all tired and shattered. The wind is blowing very hard and cold as if there were a storm ahead. The campsite is very large very enough to accommodate us but we need to select the best place to pitch the tent. I help Jim John to pitched our tent. The rain start to pour harder as the wind blows harder. We were stuck inside the tent as we all having a hard time in the cold. Jim and I talked about our adventure as he was also a first time climber. It was storming that night, the wind blows like crazy and we were fortunate that we pitch our tent to the right place as no water entered our tent. After dinner, we have some chit chat, then light outs.
Please click this Link for more Pictures
one of my dream :) 7 summit of the Philippines x)
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