Climbing this mountain will not take a lot time. In two to three hours, camp sites in old or in new trail could be reached. There is even a climber who claimed that he reached the peak in an hour and fifteen minutes, definitely, he’s a trail runner! Bus climbers should not forget to observe optimum caution because there are very dangerous areas that claimed some lives in the past.
We climbed this mountain on various occasions and situations. I experienced a very heavy downpour in January 12, 2008… I experienced thunderstorm when I was in the peak, luckily the day after, was a perfect weather. Probably, my hottest Batulao experience was in February 27, 2011… not because my fellow climbers were hot but the sun was really scorching then. The cloudiest moment in Batulao was on June 25-26, 2011; the mountain then was pale but the cloud formation was at its best! We were probably the lucky on May 3-4, 2012 when we experienced the ‘four seasons’ in the mountain… scorching sun during our trekking to the campsite; very cloudy afternoon; rainy evening with thunderstorm; and windy and chilling morning! The most romantic moment in my Batulao experience was not during Valentine ’s Day but on October 28-29, 2013… the best sunset ever! The bluest sky during my Batulao climb was in July 11, 2014… the mountain was in the most picturesque mood compared to my other climbs. My recent Batulao climb on January 10-11, 2015 was the coldest night. Truly, there is no such thing as ‘monotonous climb’ every assault is a different experience for mountains offer different facet of delightfulness!
Batulao could also fuel and sustain the fire in climber’s heart. Once, I was with a couple, facing very rocky relationship challenges. Now, their relationship is much stronger than before. Batulao at least gave them a chance to intimately discuss some miscommunications.
This mountain was also a birthplace of some mountaineers. I can no longer count the number of young people that I accompanied in this mountain who are now mountain explorers in their own way. I am just hoping that they are always practicing the LNT principlesJ.
For some, the mountain was a view deck of God’s beautiful creation… a rough terrain that serves as a platform were we could appreciate His pure love and care to us.
Some hikers or mountaineers would say that Batulao is very picturesque, a beautiful eco-tourism destination with kind and hospitable people (locals)… In my case, it is more than that... after experiencing different facets of this mountain, Batulao is the most special mountain in this part of the country simply because…. ‘there, I was’!