Published on August 25, 2014
Image courtesy of the Philippines Department of Tourism
Every summer, the country’s highest peak Mt. Apo in Davao del Sur poses a challenge to extreme sports enthusiasts: can your bodies take a treacherous 120-km race to the menacing boulder face at the peak and back within 24 hours?
The Boulder Face Challenge requires competitors to bike to the Tibolo-Kapatagan Junction, trek up to the Mt. Apo Summit camp site, tube down the Sibulan River and run through a busy national highway back to the Sta. Cruz Municipal Plaza in a day. The average leisurely climb takes three days to make the round trip; past Boulder Face Challenge winners have finished the circuit in 12 hours!
This annual race is hosted by the Department of Tourism Davao and the local government of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur as part of the PistasaKinaiyahan (Feast of Nature) every April. It’s is part eco-tourism promotion and nature conservation advocacy that includes a clean-up of the trails by climbers from all over the Philippines.
If you’re up to the challenge, getting your team to Davao del Sur is easy. There are many commercial flights to Davao City daily from Manila. From Davao City, take any of the 2-3 hour shuttle rides to Digos City, the capital of Davao del Sur. From Digos, you can take a 15-minute jeepney ride to the municipality of Sta. Cruz, the starting point of the race.
Elsewhere on the Web: Read the Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge official page.
