THE YEAR 2008 was a relatively active year for the Delbros AB Normal Club.  They went on to summit two mountains — Mt. Batulao (811 MASL) and Mt. Pico De Loro (664+ MASL) before the rainy season started in June.  And then they played ‘hide and seek’ with Super Typhoon Cosmein Baguio City and Pangasinan in May as they sneaked deep and high into Benguet to see theMummies of Mount Timbak (2,717+ MASL).

The Delbros AB Normal folks usually go on “hybernate” mode from June to early November.  They are a crazy bunch but not careless.  Climbing a mountain during the rainy seasons is a no-no.  Not only that it is so much more dangerous.  It is also too inconvenient.  They go for adventure not discomfort.  A climb in late November to early December is feasible but the circumstances of the Delbros AB Normal Club members late last year made another climb impractical.

And that is why they were eager to welcome January, the official start of a new climbing season as far as the Club is concerned.

Determined to start early, Ed Delgado, the Club’s founder and his lieutenants planned and set into motion a January climb as soon as the smoke of New Year’s eve settled down.  Target:  the highest peak of the Malarayat Mountain Range in Batangas (accessible via Lipa City).

The Malarayat Mountain Range has three major peaks:  Mt. Manabo, Mt. Susong Dalaga (Young Lady’s Breast), and Mt. Malipunyo.  Mt. Malipunyo is the highest at 1,005 MASL.

Just a handful of Delbros AB Normal Club members were able to participate in the first climb of the year.  Some Boy Scouts, both young and old, joined them.  All in all, it was a small climb party of about 20 people.  But a climb is never measured by the number of climbers.  The mountain does not become an easier mountain to climb if there are more people climbing it (in fact the opposite may even be true).

No two mountains are alike, too.  Just like the other mountains that the Club climbed before, Mt. Malipunyo is beautiful and majestic in a way that cannot be fully described by words.  You have to climb it and commune with it to fully appreciate it.  Perhaps that is why people who have never climbed a mountain before look at people like the members of the Delbros AB Normal Club and see a bunch of lunatics.

SEVEN HOURS.  That’s the time it took the Delbros AB Normal Club and their Boy Scout companions to complete their Mt. Malipunyo Climb, from the jump-off point to the summit and back.

As it is, Mt. Malipunyo is just a preview of more mountains for the Delbros AB Normal Club to summit in 2009.  After all, the year has just started.

Note:  A similar article first appeared in A Wonderful Blog.