Dinamlagan Peak

First Buttress /West Face (October 3, 1998)

Just the previous day, Pedro Palabrica and I handily scaled Gawahon Pk in just one day from the trail-head in Barrio Gawahon. The task ahead was the more formidable one – the ascent of the adjacent Dinamlagan Pk. From our first-day camp 150 meters below the Gawahon summit, we reached our base of ascent by the intersection of the logging road and Dinamlagan Creek.

After filling our water containers and cooking our meal for lunch and supper, we scrambled up the spine of the First Buttress, one of several buttresses lining the West Face of Dinamlagan. We found a foot-trail on the spine but more than hour later it petered out as we approached the summit-wall.

Scrambling on the wall thick with scrub proved laborious what with our full backpack load. We resorted to go light by leaving behind most of our baggage and reached the summit at past 4:00 p.m. After some confusion when we temporarily lost track of our trail on our way down, we found our pack and set up camp on the buttress in darkness.