UPDATE as of April 13, 2013: A human body was found in the lower
portion of Rockies this morning and eventually identified as Victor Joel Ayson.
Praying for eternal peace of his soul. Sad news, it really is! May the good
Lord grant more strength to the family and loved ones of sir Victor. He'll
always be remembered as someone who stood firmly for his great passion.
I still have two pending posts for my Sicapoo and Pulag climbs (and
yes they are already long overdue) but it
seems like I am dragged to do an essay for the recent news that crack the silence
of the Philippine mountaineering community a week ago.
He is Victor Joel Ayson, a mountaineer who went on solo
hiking up Mt. Maculot in the early morning of Easter Sunday just last week. He was about to go
home after his recent successful climb in Mt. Guiting-Guiting in Romblon and I
guess since the proximity of pier in Batangas city and Cuenca is reasonable
(perhaps that he was already in Batangas), he decided to proceed and witness
the crack of dawn in Mt. Maculot. Since it was a suddenly-made invitational climb to
his friends, no one must have been readily available that’s why he decided to
push through with the said climb. Besides,it was not his first time to do a hike there
and I believe, he had his own good reasons
and intentions for doing that. For photography, apparently. The only thing that went wrong was that either something
really went wrong in one of the steps he made or he did not have any
control on what had supposed to happen.
I am not directly related to him nor am even a Facebook friend. I just can’t take it that somebody is dubbed as “nawalang
parang bula.”
I was sort of keeping myself updated day by day of the
progress of the Search and Rescue operations. Although my only contribution is
to simply pray for him, I really wanted to know what happened to him and I was and is continuously praying that may it never be too late and may he finally be found. I felt the
sorrow it brought to his family and loved ones.
A week has passed and I've found in the news that the family
has called off the SAR. I believe they are not giving up but perhaps they might
be thinking that it could be enough for the moment. There must still be feeling
of hope but the human efforts have been maximized already, they must be leaving it alone to the Almighty God who really knows what really happened.
But I am really curious how it is possible that in just a
matter of hours for no known reason, a person was gone --- tangibly gone . An no one could tell, no one could trace his whereabouts. No one could trace back what really
happened. --- leaving everyone a question mark. And his disappearance became a
mystery to both aspiring newbies to seasoned mountaineers; creating arguments as well on
the different opinions about doing solo climbs.
I could really feel the situation: perhaps that the mountain
is so close to my heart (it’s one of my favourite hiking destinations) and that
I also once did a solo dayhike there back in 2011.
I was much hyped up to do more challenging climbs back then that’s why I must have
been having a strong guts. Deep inside I was weak , and throughout the climb I was
praying for my safety and protection, yet it taught me to be self-reliant and
at the same time more all-reliant to the Giver of Life. All I want was to have
a “me-time,” a test of my limit in the wilderness and a moment of solitude
along with enjoying the trail and the nature alone. But despite that, I was
also expecting to meet fellow hikers since Maculot is truly one of the most
well-hiked and popular climbing destinations. During the trek, yes I actually
met a lot of people, both aspiring newbies and regular hikers. There are times that I was with them but most of the time I was
alone in the trail.
That must be the same moment of being alone in which the
instance of Sir Victor’s loss happened. According to the news, he was allegedly
spotted at around 7am and even claimed to be seen decending at around 9am.
This is why solo climbing is a hot issue to many of the
mountaineers making them to raise an eyebrow on this idea. To me, solo climbing
is just a matter of finding your inner self, finding your limit, finding more
adventure, finding a certain kind of pleasure, finding a unique definition of achievement, finding courage, finding yourself in the right/safe
track and finding your way back home. Many has done and experienced this and many has
survived. Nothing is wrong with that but still, it is not encouraged. It requires
a strong decision to pursue, a lot of self-assessment to the danger that is
absolutely certain, readiness and being responsible to oneself. Sir Victor, in
one way or another must have been a reason of finding something like that. The only thing is that everything along the
way is uncertain and actually became unexpected for him.
Just like everyone else, I am puzzled. I am really curious.
I wish it could have been only a movie, and with that, there would be a flashback and everything that happened
could have been revealed. And more importantly, he could have been found and led back
home. But it is not.
Yet there is something more powerful -- it is Prayer. NOTHING is impossible in God.
God is all-knowing God. He cares. He understands. He knows the best. To the
loved ones, it means a big amount of faith and really a test of the value of
patience. I am one of those who still have a big HOPE in #findingbiki.
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| A picture posted in his Facebook account dated March 25 where he took the New Trail to Rockies |
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| A picture tagged to him - this was his most recent climb prior to his "being missing" in Mt. Maculot |
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