Pulag via Akiki

Just got back from what must have been my best Pulag trip ever. The weather was good (no rain, and the wind was mild).  It was actually possible to walk around camp barefoot and step right into the tent and not have to worry about tracking mud into the tent (just dry grass).  What we did was to climb the Akiki trail in one day, and have the rest of our gear (kahuna tents, barbecue, chairs, tables, cots, wine et al) brought up by porters on the easier ambangeg trail. This works out well as (1) we get to try the more challenging akiki trail (2) we get to traverse the akiki trail quickly, as all we have to carry is survival gear and (3) it's cheaper to hire porters to carry gear via ambangeg than via akiki!  (P1500 via akiki vs P500-600 via ambangeg).

 We were able to scale the Akiki trail and make it to the saddle camp in 7 hours. PAO Superintendent Albas seemed surprised at this time, so I'm guessing we must have been lucky - what with the trail being dry and all. Our guides were estimating the climb to take 13 hours, and the most aggressive climbers seemed to take 10 hours to scale Akiki. So perhaps the trick is to go ultra light and have all your gear waiting for you at camp when you get there!  The climbers I was with - Isaias Seronio, Cyril and Aidan Rocke were carrying far heavier gear than I was and made the same time - I'm guessing that the trail is actually doable in 5.5 hours - provided you don't stop to admire the view, take pictures, go ultra light (just carry your food, water, and raincoat/sweater/headgear/gloves/lamp).   

Pardon me monsieur, would you please pass the Grey Poupon?

It got so cold at night, there was enough frost on Aidan's tent to create a small ball of ice! Wow.