1st Pinoy to climb Mt. Everest is a Scout

First Filipino scheduled to scale Mt. Everest is a confirmed Boy Scout, he developed interest in mountain climbing during hiking and other BSP activities.

Garduce, BSP

The Philippine team that's training now (in Nepal, i think) are scheduled to start climbing Everest in 2007.

Garduce, on the other hand, another able mountaineer, has set out to join another team (not of Pinoys) who will attempt to climb Everest this year instead (they start this May).

If Garduce succeeds and doesn't die from the attempt... then he'd be the first Pinoy ever to scale Everest... beating the Philippine team :)

The Philippine team will then be second...and could probably just set a record in terms of speed, but they won't ever be the first...

Garduce has often competed with two mountaineers from the Philippine team... about being first to scale other high mountains, and who's quicker to scale these high mountains...

Both Garduce and the Phillipine Team are sponsored by North Face.... and yes, in a way, i think mababawasan yung thunder ng Philippine team (kasi nga they won't be FIRST na) but for the individuals in the team, scaling Everest must be a personal dream they'd want to come true... so Ok na din

and besides, nobody can really stop Garduce from trying :)


Veteran climber seeks to be 1st Pinoy on Everest

By Nikko Dizon
Inquirer

ACCOMPLISHED mountaineer Romeo "Romi" Garduce left yesterday for Nepal on a quest to become the first Filipino to conquer Mt. Everest, the world's highest mountain peak.

Garduce is making the climb to test his limits, to benefit a charity and to instill national pride.

"I guess it's part of self-discovery. I keep on challenging myself," Garduce told reporters when asked why he embarked on such an ambitious goal.

He added: "This is the fourth time I am doing a Climb-for-a-Cause. Our countrymen can support my climb by donating to charity, by making a pledge every thousand feet."

Garduce was in high spirits as he prepared to check in for his Thai Airways flight that would take him to Nepal via Bangkok.

"My bags already weigh 40 kilograms!" he exclaimed, laughing, as he tried to figure out where to put the extra pairs of socks, videocam films, brochures and other paraphernalia that his sponsors had given him.

Asked by the Inquirer when he plans to return to the Philippines, Garduce replied in jest: "Me or my body?"

"My climb could either be successful or kapalit nito ang buhay ko (it could mean my life)," he said.

The thirtysomething systems analyst had mixed feelings about his Everest climb.

"Para kang sundalo na ipapadala sa giyera (You're like a soldier being sent off to war). I have mixed feelings about it. I am happy to be able to do things as planned but at the same time, I'm nervous because of the danger and the pressure [to succeed] because [my climb] has been announced," Garduce said.

At 29,035 feet, Everest is three times the height of Mt. Apo, the Philippines' highest mountain at 9,690 feet. It has claimed numerous lives throughout history, but it has also given fame to those who have conquered it.

Roel Chan, brand manager of North Face, one of Garduce's sponsors together with GMA 7 network, said that a check with the Nepal archives showed that no Filipino has yet attempted to climb Everest, even after the world already marked the 50th year of the first successful climb of Mt. Everest in 1953.

National pride

"It's a matter of national pride as far as Everest is concerned. As for mountaineers, Romi said there's fulfillment in climbing, in pushing your body beyond ordinary limits, and how far the human spirit could take you," Chan said.

He added that Garduce's decision came when he conquered Tibet's Mt. Cho-Oyu (26,906 feet) in September last year.

On Jan. 1, 2005, he became the first Filipino to climb Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere at 22,831 feet.

Chan said all these accomplishments had made Garduce-who began mountaineering as a hobby in 1991 and started taking mountain climbing seriously in 1998-the Philippines' "highest altitude record holder."

For the Everest climb, Garduce said he would acclimatize himself this month and in April by climbing a lower mountain not far from Mt. Everest together with another Filipino climber, Jon Jon Villareal.

Garduce aims to begin the Everest assault in May, teaming up with other climbers from Europe or America.

More dangerous route

He would be taking the Southeast range, from the Nepal side, called the "Hillary route," named after Edmund Hillary, who conquered Everest with Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, in 1953.

"The history's there, the route has glaciers and it's dangerous. This is probably 10 times more dangerous than Cho-oyu," Garduce said.

He read up and researched about Everest as part of his preparation for the climb, aside from undergoing endurance training.

But he stopped reading about Everest last January because he said the anxiety attacks started setting in.

"I'd see the slopes in my mind and the anxiety would creep in," he admitted.

Other peaks to conquer

What's next for the Filipino climber, if and when he succeeds in scaling Everest?

Garduce explained: "It's a never-ending quest. Cho-oyu was a big thing, being a death zone altitude. But after one or two months, the feeling was gone. Bitin eh (It's hanging). I needed to do something more. Everest would probably be the same. After this, I'll rest for a while, then think of something else. Maybe cross the Sahara. There are more dangerous and more difficult mountains to climb."