Place, Product, Price, Promotion

The fundamental P’s of marketing are just the tip of the iceberg.  There is much more beneath the P’s and I’m sinking in the deep cold waters to see just how much I can understand. Why is there just so little that is readily exposed whereas the fuller picture lies buried cold?  Like in free diving, there is need to gasp for air lest one drowns and die of lack of oxygen. This sudden need to write is me gasping for air from all the P's and what lies beneath it.  It is a needed respite from the suddenly heavy weight of the week ahead.  Exams. Designs. Papers. Work.  I don’t even want to expound.  Yikes! I’m being eaten alive by the system.  Actually though, it is a welcome change.  But, I’ll leave the P’s for a while for some recollection of C’s and A’s, CLIMBING and AIKIDO. 

2013 marked the beginning of a few changes.  Climbing wise, the new summer of the snake slithered fast away.  I was able to finish a boulder project that I’ve put off for sometime.  The “Avenger”, a short, crimpy, and overhanging boulder problem at the Kambingan Boulder at Wawa, Montalban now has a 2^nd ascent.  It feels awkward stating the fact.  It is not as if it’s a huge momentous event and it’s not even high on the list of 5-star boulder problems to tick-off or finish.  Still, it was a highlight I want to remember and to my perception, it still is one of the harder problems in the area.  Sweeter to think too was that the ascent was filmed by Gameplan, a now “webisoded” format of the old production that it was.  It’s now on its nth web episode, probably on the 61st?  It was a fun day.  Three episodes of Gameplan and one for Green Living were shot that day.  Aside from that the summer just faded.

The rains came shortly after.  Boulders got wet, approaches got muddy and the motivation to get out and get dirty just dwindled fast.  The cold mornings weighed down the blankets that pressed me down flat on my back.  The comfort of the dark soulfully tasted like the hot and soothing chicken soup I remember from back from when I was ten years old.  Climbing in the gym, the solution to wet weather, rapidly became monotonous.  I needed something new.

It was time to get into something I’ve put off again and it came like a cool breeze on a hot humid day.  Aikido, the martial art of harmony, was sunrise to the canvas of gray mornings.  The time I started climbing was the time I stopped practicing Aikido.  After 14 years, the pull towards it again became hard to ignore.  The first time I stepped into the dojo, after more than a decade of absence, I hesitated donning my hakama for fear of not remembering anything I have learned before.  The urge to relearn, however, was big.   Soon, I got my techniques back. 

Aikikai Hombu Dojo sent the new Waka Sensei or the young sensei heir to the founder of the art, O’Sensei, to conduct Aikido seminars here in the Philippines.  The timing was perfect.  When it comes, it comes, and it fed my decision to further pursue the course I was glad I started again.

I now teach Aikido classes in Ateneo de Manila every Mondays.  On other days, I just practice.  I’m amongst teachers, philosophers, students and other fellow aikidokas, all "yukyusha" or beginner by heart.  On the eve of a hot humid February 9th, Seki Shihan 8^thDan, granted my Nidan.  After a hiatus of 15 years, getting my form back, and after enduring hours and hours of practice, it felt reassuring that I was moving in a direction I wished for.

The summer of 2014 is now fast approaching.  The end of the P’s will give way to new C’s and A’s.  I have my fingers crossed.  I now ride on the catapult of previous climbing trips to Atimonan and Baguio, and the new responsibilities of a Nidan.  P’s … Why is there just so little that is readily exposed whereas the fuller picture lies buried cold?  Seek and you shall find?  Where there is darkness…light?  Perhaps it just needs to be that way.  

The End of Summer

Not long before the summer ended, not long before the rains would start, I found myself hiking up the trail across Wawa river.  Over the creaky hanging bridge, up the ugly concrete steps, through the bamboo fenced houses, Krissie, Justin and I hiked up towards “Slayer,” easily my favorite route in Montalban.  Much about the way to the crag was like the crisscrossing lines on my palms, familiar and intimate.  The split on the trail, one leading to “Uling” and the other leading to “Slayer”, the slippery final section of the approach on loose gravel, the thick guide rope on the steepest portion of the trail, and finally the right turn on that easy-to-miss cut-off just before the rope ended, they all already were part of a sweet memory that I’d never forget.  Getting lost in the hike, although sounding tragically romantic, no longer crossed my mind.  I don’t think I’d lose my way ever again or at least I can declare I’ll never get lost again even in the dark.  The hike felt short.  Sweat could never be avoided on that hike, but the effort getting there felt lighter.  Familiarity ground in deeper.  I felt the jungle embracing my presence and I welcomed the warm greeting.

We unburdened the packs from our backs at the base of the overhanging limestone of  “Slayer.”  We rested to catch our breaths then took out ropes and draws, wore our harnesses, and proceeded underneath our route.  Justin clipped the quickdraws onto his harness and led the pitch as Krissie belayed.  I prepared my jumar rope, ascender, gri-gri and all the slings I use to rig-up for high angle climbing photography as I warned Justin of the sketchy start.  Up until today I never did commit to memory a definite sequence for moving over the first few draws on that route.  I always found myself moving differently on all ascents.  I waited until Justin finished his try for an on-sight attempt.  It was a long hard battle.  He rested long before the crux, switched both hands for a shake-off and then proceeded after what I thought was marginal recovery.  For someone climbing “Slayer” it was either be the slayer or be slain.  It’s such a cliché.  Sadly, Justin found himself peeling off the rock and accepting Krissie’s belay as soon as he gave a go for the hardest section on the route.  It was probably the warm weather that made it difficult for him or maybe the long layoff while touring the Philippines with Krissie.  Either way, he’d try again before the day ended.

I tied-in, dragged a trail rope for my rig from my harness, shot up the route, and clipped continuously in sequence all the quickdraws that equipped the line.  Each biner gave a hard sharp “click” as they snapped close as I passed rope through them.  The sounds were pleasure to my ears.  The cold snapping sounds pierced through me.  I felt the high pitch, it crawled through my skin, and left slight tingles my nerves enjoyed.  It could be likened to the afternoon sun when you face an orange sunset with closed eyes.  Warm across your face, you feel it on your skin, you don’t see it but you know it was there.    

I reached the anchors easily.  “Slayer”, is a route below my limit but I wouldn’t mind climbing on it even several times in a day.   It would still give me the same gratifying feeling each time.  It wouldn’t feel like work and every move on it would be totally enjoyable, feeding all my senses.  I love the route to a fault, its perfect steepness where a fall would always be clear, all its cold solid hand holds, the right amount of crimpers, the underclings, the well spaced hangers and the perfect height.  I know exactly how to move on it. 

I decided to rig higher on its extension, “Dragon Slayer.”  I haven’t been on the extension for a long time and I was glad it felt foreign.  I nourished myself on the unfamiliarity.  The tight squeeze going for the tufa twisted my body to a cramp, but as it did, it also twisted my lips to a wide knowing smile.  “Dragon Slayer,” like all dragons I knew had surprises.  I enjoy rigging up on “Slayer” or even “Dragon Slayer” for that matter.  I could jumar up and down the entire day to look for another good shot.  I’ve taken photos from up there but could never have enough.  Besides the perfect view of the river and the high exposure the route delivered, “Slayer” helps me learn new things.  It has given me the opportunity to experiment on photographic composition and single rope techniques, both the artistic side and the technical side of high angle photography.  These are a few reasons why it has endeared itself to me.  The rest, I commit deep in memory and keep close to heart.

At the end of the day we all felt the same tired feel.  Me from jumaring all day, and Justin and Krissie from trying and trying “Slayer.”  Justin finished.  Krissie tried.  Still, it was a good day.  It all felt really good.  We enjoyed the climbing, the peanut butter & honey sandwiches, bananas, sausages and skyflakes and the short stories on climbing, some personal and some not, shared over lunch under the cold cave underneath “Slayer.”

We packed our bags and took our time hiking back, hunkered down by the sad feel of the day’s end.  After a quick early dinner of Aling Norma’s famed fried chicken we left in separate cars.  We didn’t exchange “good-byes” only “see you soons”.  A few days later, Justin left for the U.K.  A few weeks after, Krissie flew for the U.S.  Everybody was going.  Everyone was, except me.  I found myself in a tale opposite of the usual traveller’s.  I would see them again soon.  The thought became something to look forward to instead of a sad end.  Maybe we won’t see each other under “Slayer” again, but perhaps at another crag, somewhere.  It was time to move on again.       

The end of the day came fast.  The end of the summer came faster.  It was almost like a blink of an eye kind of fast.  I blink, I see a new face, I blink again, I see a new place.  There are only vivid memories now.  I close my eyes and sleep, and then realize, Justin sent the route and he left it, as he should.  He slew the slayer.  As for me, I finish the route every single time, but I still can’t quite leave it.  It sent me, I got slain by the slayer. 

Reawakening

Climbing photography is a longtime personal obsession. It allows me to get closer to completing, through a series of single-framed shots, a bigger picture that exposes or represents at least a fraction of the culture, the climbing, the landscape, and, to a certain extent, the attitude of different climbing areas both locally and internationally. From behind the lens, I can focus on details that sometimes remain unseen and taken for granted. By sharing them, the next step I’ve taken myself deeply into, I aim to awaken the past, track the present, and bravely inspire a future that will hopefully contribute to the constant progression of Pinoy climbing.

Wawa, Montalban is a constant object of this obsession. I take my camera for summer spins among the slopey river boulders of Wawa and I take it high on the steep, picturesque routes of the Slayer Area. This January, I got to take it out again, but this time, to the hidden limestone found at the Uling Wall.

Uling is a short thirty-minute hike after crossing the hanging bridge connecting the northern and southern banks of Wawa River. The crag faces west and the jungle keeps direct sunlight from hitting the walls. Unlike the routes at the Slayer Area, Uling routes are short, but what it lacks in height, it makes up for quantity. Number of routes easily goes over double and the difficulty ranges from 6a to 7b+.

Anchoring and jumaring my way up on the route “Snake Skins” gave me a vantage point that rendered the houses and boulders running the length of the river banks, and the hanging bridge crossing over it, to ant-size. Before shooting photos from the high angle, I was tempted to liken Wawa to the much celebrated Yosemite Valley in the US. The way the meandering river divided the small settlement, winding out from the limestone gorge and gurgling through the boulders, gave the place a serene feel, far and secluded as it is from the busy city. Immensity goes to Yosemite, but the way it served as home to many an outdoor community locally could very well be the same.

Looking from behind the lens felt like looking through a window to the past. In the short minute just before taking the first photo, I got a glimpse of the start of my outdoor life in the vertical world. I saw the days a decade ago when I’d go to the steeps with Simon Sandoval and Gax Ilanan as an initiate, learning the ropes from the maharishis of local climbing. Even through impending bad weather, we’d brave the elements just to get in as much climbing as possible.  We’d bolt, climb, work and get dirty. We’d wring out every drop of climbing we can for each day, going down only when the sun had set and the only light we had was from a single headlamp.

The New Year brings with it many changes.  It signals new beginnings and new hopes. I find this most timely as Uling got a face lift during the first week of 2013. It’s inspiring to see new climbers try old routes and it’s equally motivating to see new routes being put up.  Gax Ilanan and Xtian Guerrero put up three more routes in the area and possibly more in the coming weeks.  It’s amazing to realize that there are still bigger possibilities available at the crag.

There is a reawakening happening in Wawa.  Bouldering projects, prospective new lines at Slayer Area, and new lines at Uling Wall are but some of the few nuggets climbers can sink their teeth into this season. The progression from here is something I want to capture. It will be a challenge to be out there more, trying to constantly document the seemingly forward motion that Pinoy climbing is going through this year.  It is not impossible, nonetheless, and I’ll be climbing and hanging out on ropes and rigging more, shooting more photos as possible.