After seeing some so-called mountaineers photograph themselves with their freedom shirts on, it gets me thinking why they still have the gall to throw immature comments claiming foul to the organizers who brought them to such an event. After having paid 400 bucks for a certain merchandize, they go whining just because they didn't get a VIP treatment. Just because they earned nothing from the 400 bucks capital, now they are envious of the ones who gained some profit from it. That's pure tantrums!
I was a participant myself to the third freedom climb. I paid 400 bucks instead of the pre-registration cost, 300php, because damien and I were able to pay for it only after the pre-registration period. at the start, I learned that i was getting a shirt, a button pin, and a Philippine flaglet as climb kit. I attended the pre-climb meeting last June 4th and had a crash course on basic mountaineering and an introduction to the leave no trace principles. That's when I learned that some of my previous practices in the mountains were against the code of ethics. We were given free lunch, but because the number of participants was beyond what the organizers anticipated, we were left with a small cut of lechon manok and half a cup of rice... paolo and I had our second serving elsewhere. ^^,
I saw some group leaders who also joined the said pre-climb meeting, but weren't attentive to the crash course nor the Q and A portion and even left early after getting their climb kit. I wonder what they had told their group members because right after, some of their members got furious for the lack of organizers, the seedlings, and some merchandize at the site. What else were they after--the bag tag cum discount card?
Maybe they do not have the organizing know-how to fully understand how costly it is to put up an event as large as the freedom climb. Since it is nationwide and even some venues were overseas, the cost for communications and operations itself was already beyond what one can imagine. Some were even willing to pay for a freedom climb shirt at the cost of 380php, so what the heck are these people flaring up for?
As for the world record, I'm sure we did break the standing record on this stuff, with or without the Guinness' approval. As for the missing gwr representatives on site, it isn't the organizers' fault. If we do appear in the book next year, good for us and bad for Guinness, because it surely lost its credibility as far as my standard is concerned.
As for the seedlings, they should research a bit to know that one cannot just go and plant trees to any part of the mountain before saying anything about it. Some trees can disrupt the natural order and can even be detrimental to the wildlife. It was mentioned in the pre-climb meeting that not all mountains will be participants in the tree-planting activity.
As for the organizers in the vicinity, I was asking myself that at first. Then I came to understand after careful pondering that this is what the FIMO officials were talking about when they said that we, the representatives of the groups, are called to be part of the organizers. The organizers assigned coordinators for each mountain during the meeting wherein regional coordinators gathered the group leaders who were climbing mountains within their jurisdiction. again, since some leaders went home early, they might not have been briefed about it.
Yes, I know that much was expected from the organizers. But I also think that as participants, we had the responsibility to also play our role. As an spectator to all these post freedom climb rucus, it's rather annoying to read senseless comments given importance by people who are after their own exhalation.
To these peeps who are merely throwing tantrums: stop this immature claim of corruption just because the funds did not solely serve your own interests. I am not pro-FIMO as I also see the point that FC critics have raised especially the one regarding its high impact effect on the integrety of our mountains. We should not deal with this issue immaturely. Let's be open for a dialogue: not to throw more stones at each other, but to come up with solutions that will uphold camaraderie among Filipino mountaineers and still preserve the natural order of the wild.
