MT. HALCON
Baco, Oriental Mindoro
Major jumpoff: Brgy.Miyabig, Baco, Oriental Mindoro
LLA: 13° 15.749N 120° 59.703E, 2582 MASL
Days required / Hours to summit: 3.5-4 days / 15-18 hours
Specs: Major climb, Difficulty 9/9, Trail class 2-5
Features: River crossings, mossy forests, rocky ridges
** From Pinoymountaineer.com
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| Team Hotdog at the jump off - all smiles after the climb |
Having heard that Mt Halcon was initially open last year, one group who have contacts in the area successfuly ascend its peak , posted their pictures in facebook. This action arouse the interest of many waiting to set foot in Mt Halcon. That time finding the right contacts who can help you organize a climb proved to be difficult. As those who have climb it, doesnt want to give you any information about the climb, they point you everywhere, then you realize that their making a fool out of you. Soon this group organized monthly climb to Mt Halcon - with a fee of P3500 and foods are not included. And of course they make a lot of profit out of it. Then you just realize that everybody else is organizing their halcon climb. It seems that they are just in their circle of friends, trying to make money out of curious , uninformed, interested individual.
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| At the Campsite |
I dont want to spend that much for a climb knowing that the cost is not that much. It took me a year to finally climb Mt Halcon. I do my homework before then , I tried to reached out to tourism office in Baco but they said that there is no official statement yet that Mt Halcon is open for hikers. You should climb at your own risk.
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| Slopes of Halcon |
An invite was sent by My Mentor - Alex that its now possible and safe to climb Mt Halcon and the fees will be divided equally to the numbers of the participants. And that is the great opportunity for me and my climbing buddy - Errol to finally experienced the Halcon challenge.
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| Kawayanan Campsite |
The weekend before our Halcon climb - I have an organized Mt Purgatory traverse climb that served as our tune up climb. With little rest , and lots of excitement - Halcon was a successful climb.
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| The ladder |
The trail of Halcon is just pretty straighforward. Theres a lot of trail sign in forms of tree hacked. The only confusing part is when you crossed the river.
Water source is not an issue, as you will crossed a lot of river and waterfalls stream.
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| Arm raised in a V at the famous dive board |
Hiking it in summer can also cause difficulty as there are lots of open trail that can fried your skull , Having to do it on the rainy season - crossing the raging dulangan river can give you a nightmare and the cold temperature can send your body to chill.
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| Dulangan River Rocks |
When you plan to climb Halcon - please do so if your mentally and physically prepared. and you have the right equipment to regulate and control your body temperature.
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| Kubo at the Jumpoff with Alex Strong and others. |
In 1994 and 2004 two fatalities happened with different cause. The authority plan to close halcon this year as they fear that every 10 years - the mountain will take life away.
Good thing - no bad news until this time about it.
As they always say.. the rest is history..
Mt Halcon is closed for the rainy season and will open again next year in February to June.
For contacts : reached out to Halms
