There's Room for Dogs at the Crags

Now and then, we get that intrusive beat that loops days-long in our head. Today, mine went like:

Crag dogs, crag dogs

What you gonna do…

What you gonna do when they come for you?

It’s high time we discuss dogs in our local crags. This is an opinion piece so it helps to premise where this perspective comes from:

- I’m chill with dogs. I grew up with dogs and we have five dogs in our house. I treat dogs as people: with a healthy measure of likes and dislikes.

- I won’t ever bring a dog to the crag but I’m happy to see well-behaved dogs at the crag.

- I am not too keen to discuss “do’s and don'ts” so please take these pleadings to mean “please do” and “please don’t.”

Please DO

Please know that most climbers are pro-social: they’d rather hold their breath than speak up about bad dog behavior for fear of upsetting the owner. 

Please understand that a crag is a shared space. There are behaviors that are okay in private spaces but can cause unpleasantness in shared ones.

Please be aware of how your dog may respond to strange dogs in a strange place. Dogs trash-talking each other in the form of “whoof-whoof” and “ghaaar--aarggghh” can distract other climbers.

Most of the time, this is a minor inconvenience. But distraction can lead to inattentiveness which is just a few (metaphorical) clips away from someone getting hurt.

Please train your dog to be prepared for all kinds of social interaction. An overly friendly toddler and a scared dog is a recipe for a rabies shot. 

Please create a comfortable space for your dog to lounge in. Rock climbing areas are full of rocks. To a dog with no other choice, the coziest chill to place is on a bunched up rope on top of a rope bag. 

Please DON’T

Please don’t be the reason your dog gets painted as a villain. Dogs are neither good nor bad–they have the mental age of toddlers. They become bad dogs when they are put in “bad situations”--situations they are not trained for.

These thoughts popped into my head after a brief chat with Jojo, who you may know as Cebu Dog Trainer. Two years ago, he helped me navigate the most difficult dog relationship I’ve ever had.

At that time, I lived in an apartment complex where there’s a caged Belgian Shepherd in the garage. The dog couldn’t even take a full step in that cage. The only thing he could do was move around in circles, like how some dogs may chase their tail. Or like the Firefox logo.

A caged work dog is not a friendly dog. Over several weeks, I managed to create a relationship with that dog. Until such time I could pet him and eventually we’d go on walking out in the park. The only constraint is that I could only walk him at dawn or very late in the night because he’d lunge at everything that moved.

This is not an exaggeration. He’s lunged at a Ford Ranger, a Mitsubishi Strada, and at a dog barking at him from the second story of a house. 

I’ve always kept him on a short leash so I could easily tell when his body would tense up for a lunge. The most he could do was a dog version of a wheelie. (Really helped to walk him only when no one was around.)

Jojo gave me some advice that turned a hopeless case into some of the most meaningful times of my life. Like tech support but for dogs. He splits his time between New York and Cebu.

I had to move eventually and I couldn’t take the dog with me.

Koto wouldn’t have been a good crag dog. But he’d be a good free dog.

Thoughts on Rappeling with a GriGri

Long list of caveats before I get to the point because we live in 2025: 

- This is NOT an instructional post. You will die.

- I read about a fatal accident that happened recently because of a failed single-strand (Reepschnur) rappel. This post is not a speculation on the incident. It's my personal reflection on the rappel systems that I use (because writing is a form of introspection). 

- The chain links and bolts that I use to rappel off of are much narrower than the ring in the photos. 

- I don't recommend a single-strand rappel if you've only learned about it from YouTube or Wikihow. Please respect gravity. 

- You may see a non-locking carabiner in the photos. Let's pretend it's a locking carabiner.

I've been rappeling quite a bit lately because some of the routes in Bukidnon don't have rings or chain links at the top. Rapping down with a GriGri is my second favorite method of rappelling .

Setup 1:

This is the setup that I use most frequently. It strikes a good balance between material, safety, and efficiency. The carabiner blocks the rope and there's a BFK to act as a backup blocker.

Is it SERENE? Probably not.

It's not equalized. If set up on two bolts, it violates the non-extending principle.

Setup 2: 
 

It's almost the as the first setup but the carabiner clipped to the live end of the rope makes it a close system. 
 

Setup 3: 

This setup uses a knot to close the system. It's the same as the second setup, minus the first blocking carabiner.

Being a closed system, the rope cannot slide off of the anchor if you load it on the strand that's supposed to take your weight. This brings us to the biggest risk of a single-rope rappel.

Quick sidenote: I don't like this configuration because one time I rapped off of it and the pull end went through the ring. I had to climb back up again because I couldn't pull the rope down. 

Some Random Thoughts 

Just as it's so easy to confuse left and right, it's so easy to mix up the load and pull ends on a Reepschnur system. That's why I always do a load test before committing to my rappel system. 

The biggest risks for more experienced climbers are complacency and absent-mindedness. I guard myself against those.

I also tell myself that I'm not special--that any "stupid" mistake that others do, I can do, too. 

I've been taught to load test a rappel system before disconnecting my PAS. Someone once told me that when building anchors, you should always add before you subtract.

Climbing is not worth dying for. I've bailed many times on routes that I found too risky and will bail many times over.

I will also happily admit if the technical requirements of a task are way beyond my skills. 

PS: My favorite configuration is an extended double-strand rappel with a friction hitch clipped to my belay loop: it's clean, secure, and comfortable (because the extension puts you in a more upright position).

The Best Crag No One Climbs: Neverland in Kiokong, Bukidnon

 The first time I visited Neverland, the trail was so overgrown that we took a few wrong turns to find the crag.

Vegetation doesn’t scream “Climbing Capital of the Philippines”, the dream that some people thought it would be when development began.

No amount of limestone can turn a destination into the capital of anything if locals don’t frequent the crag. The “never” in Neverland has started to take on a new meaning.

Fortunately, I found a climbing partner who was willing to do the 20-minute hike with me whenever our schedules align (that’s about every weekend with a few gaps here and there).

What Makes Neverland Unique

Spiderwebs make Neverland unique. Bolts covered in webs as if an allusion to the superhero many want to be; or a gift wrap to anyone willing to experience the gift of movement that the climbs offer.

The bolters did a masterclass (can we still say “master”??) in finding lines in, around, and under the tufas that Neverland holds.

Reaching around tufas is often a game of “wish-me-luck.” Climbing away from the rock face and on to tufas can make the climbing feel exposed even as the bolts are right within an arm’s length.

What Makes Neverland Truly Unique

For real now, what makes Neverland unique is the three dimensional climbing that tufas and random features for you to do. That’s like climbing on lots of volumes and macros, for my fellow gym rats out there.

The other thing: the grading is wild. Because most climbs haven’t been repeated many times, we’ll have to take on the word of the first ascensionists and the few repeats the lines have had. You can expect a climb to be soft or terribly hard; and wish for the best.

The crag sits just a little over 600 meters from the parking area. A 20-minute hike if you go really, really slow. It’s a mystery why it’s not getting more climbs.

Thank you, Iloilo

"You made everyone believe that they could climb." 

 These were Hanna's words as she and Bea drove me home last night. 

You made me realize that all the fears I've had growing up were learned. My paraphrase of what Alex told me as she recalled what I said in Bouldering 101: We only have two innate fears -- loud noises and the fear of falling. 

"You can be a food blogger." Thanks Matt. My taste buds know only salty, sour, and sweet. Thank you for believing in me. I never lost my faith that you could send the boulder problem you've worked on for weeks. Some days you made me question that faith. But you always kept your eyes to the skies. 

Some of us just stare at sky. One person seemingly has the ability to bring it down--Jamie with her power scream as she climbed. It was enough to drown all her demons and ours, too. But her eyes never showed fear. Scared but focused. I believe the term for it is concurrent processing. 

 I'm also processing the time I've spent in Iloilo. I've lived here for almost a year. I first visited Iloilo a couple of years ago. That's when Sophie taught me to never give up my Sicilian Bishop. 

I usually use words to remember things. My visual memory is not the finest. But I can still clearly recall Bea's face after I told her that I have been thinking about my father everyday since he passed many years ago. 

 Bea glanced at me sideways, casually, as she downed a round of beer: "He must have been a good dad." San Miguel Pilsen. Such a clean beer. 

It was a difficult relationship. But he was a good father.

Speaking of being a parent, I'm closer to being parents to some of our climbers than being their older brother. I gloried in the times I made them cringe when I said stuff like "bruh this foothold is so sus" or "how do you like my climbing rizz?"

My favorite thing to teach was finding joy. But I never said it out loud. It's the reason why I never pushed anyone to climb hard. "Good is good enough." 

I barely bothered anyone with how they choose to climb a route. It's better to execute the wrong beta correctly than to do the right beta poorly. 

My second favorite thing to do was asking people what mental illness they have. No, not really. My second favorite thing to do was getting to know everyone as people. 

[This is the part where I paused to test myself how many names I could write. I got to 20 relatively easily. I can still squeeze my brain and get to at least 30. It helps that there are at least three Kai's] 

So I need to stop right now because I realize I can go on talking about my personal experiences with the people I've met. 

It was a good run. We always leave a part of ourselves behind. The part of myself that will stay behind would like to say, "See you later, best belayer." 

(I just randomly recalled I still have a tab at Kalye Kahlo for a Spanish Latte. Sorry Jicel!)