Mount Guiting-Guiting

Mount Guiting-Guiting is the highest mountain in the province of Romblon located at the heart of Sibuyan Island, one of the seven islands of Romblon province in the Philippines. Guiting-Guiting, in the local Romblomanon dialect, means "jagged". Though the length and duration of the climb is relatively shorter, two days to climb up and one day to descend, this mountain is still acknowledged as the most difficult and technically challenging Philippine mountain to climb, alongside Mount Halcon in Mindoro and Mount Mantalingajan in Palawan.HistoryIn May 1982, under the leadership of Arturo Valdez, a joint team from the Bacolod-based Philippine Mountaineering Society (PMS) and the University of the Philippines (UP), the team assaulted the mountain, the attempt of which was to be the first in history.It was during this expedition that one of the peaks, now known as "Mayo's Peak" was named after one of the team members, Mayo Monteza, who celebrated his birthday during the climb, while one of the water spring sources now known as "Bulod's Spring" was named after one of the local guides, Bulod, who volunteered (along with another locals) to join the climb. The team failed to take the summit on this first attempt, but came back two weeks afterwards. On 17 June 1982, four climbers became the first to stand at the summit. Their names are Mon Ruiz, Kim Valino, Roel Tan Torres (of UP mountaineers) and Edwin Gatia of the PMS team.