A hot welcome to visiting club members

On short notice, people came to a venue geographically at the center of the city. Not asking who would be there but by simple deduction from the invitation of ex President Banny Hermanos that ex President Jazz Aquino and wife  Xenia are in town, familiar PALMCERs would show up. True enough, call and people will be there and were there. Never mind if there was a suicide drama happening at the Guadalupe Bridge along EDSA on the appointed time and the zipper truck lane at C5 has been unzipped (lane dedicated to plying big trucks). Yet people showed up and stayed way past midnight at Silly Labuyo along Shaw Boulevard.

To the Buriwisan aficionados of the 90’s, the location was a familiar place as this was the area where weekend trekkers would hang around to wait for group mates before boarding a public jeep headed for Siniloan in Laguna. To the urban workers of the 21^st century, this area called Greenfield is now one of the choices for night outs along the boulevard (among them are the Pioneer Center and the Capitol Commons developed by the Ayala and the Ortigas Group located at the Pasig Provincial Ground.) But the PALMCERS of the 90’s (or late 80’s), this was the venue where members from different continents of the world gathered just to be socially within reach for an enjoyable drink, eat and talk.

There were not much stories about climbs but about current events and other personalities particularly those not present that evening. Center of the talk about the recreation common to the attendees was the value of a club, the group and the associations with the climb. 

At the background are Tim Toledo, Jun Feliciano,
 Ding Cailipan, Tere Collado, Carol B. , Xenia A.

People gather on short notice because a shared experience on climbing mostly pleasant is forever remembered. The experience is memorable because it is a group activity which solo or individual climbing cannot replicate. Even if the club at current situation faces issues on membership as narrated by current President Russell Aguinaldo, it can always look back at its heritage and history as the very foundation why it is still here even with the changing climbing landscape and the shifting corporate structure.

Perhaps it is true that friendships built on climbs are the ones that endure. To think, there was even no discussion on when the next climb will be. Thanks to those who sponsored the drinks and for the guests from other continents.