Right after arriving from Butuan City and a short stopover at the house, I speedily took the LRT-2 going to Recto to connect to LRT-1 Dorotheo Jose for my final destination, Padre Faura. Padre Faura is the gateway by foot to the Philippine Airlines building housed at the corner of Padre Faura and M. Adriatico.
This was neither to book a flight nor to ask for a refund but to attend an event, the PALMC 38th Christmas Party, my first Christmas party for the year.
This chain of transfers is enough to raise the adrenalin to set up what’s in store at the 4/F auditorium Saturday evening. Not for a climb but to see familiar faces and structures.
The building, in the mid 90’s was associated with mountaineering trainings, weekly, bi-monthly pre-climbs and post climbs and happy memories of camaraderie, adventure and trek to any point in the Philippines accessible or inaccessible via public transport.
This experience was created by the people behind the club mostly by company officers, pilots, in and off flight service staff, maintenance crew and its membership from non-PAL employees who had a passion for nature, travel and possibly escape.
In the program proper, the usual perennial issue was presented by President Ding, “the club has not grown, we have not recruited enough, there is no interest.”
“Is the club then dying, no longer relevant?" This prompted ex president Banny Hermanos to ask, "what’s happening at the climbing scene?”
Ding and Naldy candidly shared their experiences. The millennials are taking over. They go for short terms thus have no particular loyalties. They pay to climb which is through organized tours though not necessarily operated by trained and responsible leaders. They value selfies and real time updates. Pre climb, post climb and group activities don’t interest them. Neither do cooking, training nor team work. Millennial climbers go for immediate pleasures. They don’t care if you are left behind. And in moments of life and death, do not count on them.
But Ding jokingly admitted he associates himself with the young because they invigorate him and can keep pace with their energy.
Why do established clubs like UPM, AMCI and even MESAU continue to still be relevant? Because they are school based with an active new recruit process. AMCI on the other hand has a rigid training process like UPM.
PALMC at this point is neither a training club not a school org with patience for millennials. But it has a history, pioneering in some explorations, with an exclusive unexplored destinations. It has a base of membership that one can consider family who one can look up to cover and complement climbing skills, navigation, equipment need and planning. Most importantly, it has proven that members have a shared interest for nature and its value.
These are the challenges the 2018 Board Members are faced with. We wish them well.
- Can we transform into a club with a serious training program?
- Or do we appeal to millennials and convert the recreation into a money making venture?
- Or do we let is stay as is and allow it to fade out unnoticed?
In the meantime on the side, Banny, Orwin and I were looking over the professionally photographed Everest Base Camp climb slides over rounds of imported beer appreciating and reminiscing the thoughts, angst, anger and thrill going through in our minds doing this milestone climb not many mountaineering clubs have done.
In the company of fellow mountaineers, Neil, Jojoy, Juno, Fabie, Prince, Daniel, Francis and Elvie, John (via text message), Dom and Sheryl (and their children) and others too many to mention at PAL 4/F Auditorium, we see the hall, the site of action in the 70’s to the 90’s, old and dilapidated, archaic and not modern but still functional. Like the club, the foundation is still there, the spirit alive but needing some boosting to make it still relevant this decade.
Whatever direction the club takes, it has for most members already explored new avenues, deepened appreciation for nature and established true friendship through thick and thin. For that, we are grateful.
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