Mt. Ugo Climb wins in Atop convention

ITOGON’S annual Mt. Ugo Climb continues to reap awards in the national level after topping for the third straight year the country’s Best Tourism event under the sports wellness and adventure category.

With participants reaching to more than a thousand in its annual climb, Mt. Ugo bested other programs in the country after winning the plum for the first time in 2010. It was awarded during the 13th Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (Atop) Convention in Dapitan City recently.

The annual award is also in cooperation with the Department of Tourism.

Itogon Mayor Oscar Camantiles hopes to promote the town as a tourism hub via the pursuit of more eco-friendly tourism events in other areas such as Mt. Bidawan, Pigingan, and Daynet with the resounding success of the yearly Mt. Ugo Climb.

The annual Ugo Summer Climb is an invitational and promotional tourism activity of Itogon in partnership with host Barangay Tinongdan, which entails mountain trekking and promotes environmental awareness by observing the “low-impact/leave no trace” mountaineering rules.

It is a gathering for groups and individuals to foster camaraderie regardless of cultural affiliation and creates a bond between the community, organizers, government, and participants through various camp interactive activities in the duration of the trek.

The annual climb also helps promote and showcase the culture of the Ibalois, one of the cultural minorities found in Benguet including Itogon.

Aside from the annual climb, Mt. Ugo also hosted the first sky running event in the country drawing close to 300 participants from all over the world.

Organized by the Philippine Skyrunning Association, the race dubbed “Pilipinas Akyathlon” was a 33-kilometer out and back race in Tinongdan, Itogon all the way up to the 2,150 meters above sea level Mt. Ugo which is part of the 2012 Skyrunner World Series Trials. (Roderick Osis)