In February, CMRCA team members Josh Morris and Noppadon Uppakham (Taw) were invited to assist in the development of a new climbing area in The Philippines. Josh and Taw joined with American climber and mountain bike trail developer Cuatro Hundley to rebolt existing routes and add a handful of new routes. The team was invited by the energetic and proactive governor of Camsur Province, Governor L Ray Villafuerte. The governor has worked tirelessly over the past six years to help bring his province out of poverty and into the forfront of tourism in the Philippines. The governor sees the potential for Camsur to become one of Asia’s best developed adventure getaways.
“The Gov,” as he is kindly known by his dedicated followers is committed to establishing Gota Island in Camsur as one of the best developed climbing areas in Asia. He is committed to supplying titanium bolts and using the best Hilti glue, learning from the lessons learned by Thailand’s history of bolting challenges. All of the routes in Camsur are currently bolted with titanium glue ins and with Hilti RE-500 glue. It is rare to find a politician with such broad and sweeping vision and The Gov’s commitment to high safety standards are an example to the rest of Asia.
Over a period of 14 days, CMRCA provided bolt installation training and assistance in developing a long term sustainable development plan for climbing based tourism. We look forward to visitng Gota Island again soon for more bolting and to begin exploration of the untapped potential for stunning cave exploration.
Special thanks to all of the boys from Gota Island who were so integral in helping us!
