Frost blankets one of the trails of Mt Pulag in northern Luzon in this photo taken on Thursday morning (Jan. 26) due to the dipping temperature. (Photo courtesy of Silva Pacliwan)
BAGUIO CITY — The summit of Mt. Pulag, Luzon’s highest peak, continued to experience frost early Thursday, Jan. 26.
According to Silva Pacliwan, one of Mt. Pulag tour guides, thin sheets of ice covered a grassy area on the mountain around 5:30 a.m.
The frost began to appear in the area on Wednesday, blanketing the mountain’s dwarf bamboo grassland.
Mt. Pulag straddles the provinces of Benguet, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya in northern Luzon.
Pacliwan, a member of the Mt. Pulag Ecotour Guides Porters Association, said frost usually forms at the summit when the temperature drops between November and February due to the northeast monsoon, or “amihan.”
“This was the second time that frost formed at the summit this month. We just do not know if it will continue until February,” she said.
The temperature in the area lingered between 6 and 7 degrees Celsius this month, but Pacilwan said it could have been lower on Thursday morning
On Jan. 19, the Mount Pulag National Park Management issued an advisory for trekkers to bring thicker clothes and body warmers to avoid hypothermia.
The management advised trekkers to bring lip balm, hot drinks, all weather tents and blankets with heater.