Yagumyum Peak

On April 21, 2000, in the second day of our Dauin-Valencia traverse, our 17-strong party was spending breakfast in Yagumyum Lake when Rodrigo Rodriguez III of Cuernos de Negros Mountaineering Club, asked around for anyone who would be joining him in the ascent of Yagumyum Peak on that day. Ernina Defino, Mariebelle and I, all three from Victorias City, volunteered to join while four members of Cebu Doctors’ College Mountaineering Club showed also their interest. With Rodriguez as guide, our 8-member party set out for the climb in the morning.

We had difficulty climbing the trail leading up to the spine of the ridge. It was very steep and slippery from wet mud. We gained a respite as we ambled on the ridge until we temporarily lost track of the continuation of the trail in the section where it climbs up to the summit-ridge.

We reached the peak in two hours. On our way back, we met two parties on their way to the summit. One was a local one and another had foreigners with them, including an old man who claimed to have climbed Cotopaxi. An hour after we reached the camp, a trekking party from Bacolod City that passed over the peak from Valencia passed by our camp.