During Holy Week from April 17 to April 20, the Halcon Mountaineers, a local mountaineering group from Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, conducted a climb at Mt. Halcon dubbed the “Holy Week Climb.” After 10 years (due to the moratorium), the group revisited the majestic mountain of the island.
The group is comprised of 22 strong men from different walks of life; students, doctors, teachers, businessman, employees from the public and private sectors, a culinary expert, a fire officer and a seafarer. What made this climb special was the age bracket of the climbers, from a boy of 12 to teens and a majority in their early 40’s, but the most interesting is a 70-year-old member of the group.
Henry Tan is known and fondly called “Sir Okao”, a man of his word, a father, Chinese businessman, Rotarian and a Halcon Mountaineer. He has a passion for the great outdoors. Mountain climbing, biking, hiking, running and spelunking are just a few of his regular outdoor undertakings.
He never fails to support almost every activity of the group. In most outdoor activities he always blended in well with younger age members. His latest biking stint was last April 5, ferrying to Lobo, Batangas, on a “Batil” (a big pump boat) and pedaling his way up to Batangas City Port under the punishing heat from the sun and stiff sloping roads.
When asked if he wants to join us in climbing Mount Halcon on Holy Week, he just simply said, “Yes, write me down on the lists.” At 70 years of age he wanted to test his limits. As we ascend and descend through the trails of the mountain ranges of Mount Halcon from Day 1 to Day 4, we were surprised that he kept up with the pacing of the group even though you can see some signs of aging body and knee, but dramatically we succeeded in accomplishing our itinerary.
As far as the mountaineering community of the Philippines is concerned, Mount Halcon is considered one of the hardest mountains to climb in the Philippines. It will take you two excruciating days to reach the summit and two days to return to the jump off point. A very rough terrain and trails, punishing unpredictable weather conditions even during summer are just some obstacles you have to go through. These are some of the reasons why this mountain is very challenging to many.
But for Sir Okao he had accomplished the greatest challenge of Mount Halcon at his age. He outwitted the mountain with his untiring determination and spirit to conquer. As his last word says, “If God takes my life, it’s ok, I’m ready.”
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