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SMB Mountaineers was conceptualized in 2004 by group of friends who love the great outdoors. SMB stands for Society of Mountaineering Berks (Samahan ng Mountaineering Barkadas in Filipino). The aim of the group is to climb the different mountains of the country and abroad. While engaging ourselves with this sport, we strive to develop camaraderie amongst mountaineers who belong to other groups thus strengthening the bond of mountaineers in the country. We strongly adhere to the principles of "Leave No Trace" and adopt every possible means to protect nature and mother earth. One of the most important goal of the group is to help our brothers and sisters living in hard to reach areas. We organize outreach activities (dubbed as SMILE - SMB Mountaineers In Live Experience) and we seek to bring them proper help as much as we can. The SMILE project has been a success and future missions are already on their way. To date SMB is composed of individuals from all walks of life, who love the great outdoors, who are serious in delivering help to others, who are up to the challenges and rigors of mountaineering, and aim to protect the environment. Members have undergone Basic Mountaineering, Basic Rappelling and Basic Rock Climbing courses. Come and join us and be part of our growing circle of KABARKADAS! Just register in the website and join the activities and climbs*! It's that simple! See you! *You must be physically fit to join climbs and have the basic gears :) View our pics HERE. Join the fun and chat with the kabarkadas HERE. A Brief History of the Group (by Jimmar D. Lagazo -website admin and Pioneer Member)
The year was 2002. I had my first "official" climbing experience when we climbed Mount Banahaw during the Holy Week. It was followed by some minor climbs. In 2003, I again climbed Mount Banahaw and several climbs followed. I got hooked to climbing!!! My friends came to know this new hobby of mine and they decided to join and they also invited their friends. It was the year 2004 when we planned a trek to Manalmon but unfortunately I was down with the flu so the group composed of Len Lozano, Reggie, Janice, Joan, RJ and Aljie went on without me. Lala was unable to join because of work. I lended them my new stove. They boarded a bus to Bulacan and after alighting from the bus they accidentally left my stove. So no more stove. When they were registering, they were asked what the name of the group was. As a joke they wrote Stoveless Mountaineering Berks. The equivalent acronym - SMB =) So we used the name in the hope that we will change it in the future. A lot of climbs followed and new friends joined us. My officemates Mike, Joel, Blanca, Jesmer, Mark and friends Warren, Jane, Ruth and many more joined several climbs. In 2005, I started to have the liking of building websites. I built an automotive mechanics website (mekaniko.com - no longer updated) and my wife encouraged me to build one for SMB. I was hesitant ‘coz I never liked the name stoveless mountaineering berks =) We came up with Society of Mountaineering…… but what word will fit the letter B??? So I called Janice, RJ and Aljie. Len and Reggie were already in Singapore and I had a hard time calling Lala for she was busy with work (but we knew that we have her full support). We talked about the possible words that will fit the letter’s SMB. After much debating and chatting, we decided to name the group and the website SMB Mountaineers, SMB = Society of Mountaineering Berks (we decided to retain B as in Berks). I liked the name but I wanted the website to be more Filipino so I translated the name into Samahan ng mga Mountaineering Barkadas. I registered the name smbmountaineers.com, had it setup and whalla!
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