Pinoy On Top Of The World

By Jimbo Gulle (The Manila Times Sports Editor) and Gerald Peter Acre (The Manila Times Correspondent)
From ABS-CBN Interactive

A Filipino has reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain—and he wasn’t the one many expected would do it first.

Heracleo "Leo" Oracion made it to the top of the 8,848-meter (29,035-foot) Mount Everest at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Nepal (5:30 p.m. in Manila), ending the suspense of a tropical nation riveted by the stories of a handful of its countrymen conquering the peak.

"The Philippine eagle has landed at the summit of Everest," Art Valdez, leader of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition, quoted Oracion as saying through satellite radio, in a press conference in Makati City.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita congratulated Oracion. "The indomitable spirit of man, especially if that men are Pinoys, [shows that] we are equal to anyone in the world; therefore we all rejoice that they have accomplished this feat," Ermita said at a press briefing.

Valdez said Oracion, the Everest team’s lead climber, had only one sherpa guide with him on the way up Everest. He said Oracion, a 35-year-old native of Lucban, Quezon, reached the Hillary stretch of the mountain, which is 1,000 meters from the peak, at 12:30 p.m.

On the way down
Oracion was already on his way down from the mountain, hoping to help his regular climbing partner, Erwin "Pastor" Emata, reach the summit too, added Valdez, the former transportation undersecretary.

A native of Davao City, Emata was set to arrive at Camp 4, the last stopover before the summit, at 2 p.m. (5 p.m. in Manila). He was set to rest at the camp before scaling the summit Thursday.

At 26,000 feet, Camp 4 is also known as the Death Zone, since it is here where climbers may suffer from fatal illnesses such as cerebral edema, when water from extreme cold enters the brain, and pulmonary edema, when water seeps into the lungs. Oracion left this camp at 9 p.m. Tuesday (11 p.m. in Manila).

Aided by good weather, Oracion reached the summit ahead of Romi Garduce, the Filipino adventurer who first set out in April to reach the top of the world on his own—forcing his former teammates on the RP Everest Expedition to follow him to the mountain.

No word from Garduce
At presstime no word was heard on the position of Garduce, who began his "assault" on the summit on Monday morning from Everest’s base camp. He was believed to have taken a more difficult path to the peak, and was last reported to be at Camp 3, about 5,000 feet from the summit.

In previous interviews Garduce, who began training for Everest in March, said he wants to follow the pace of his body and mind in executing his summit assault. He also put weight on the advice of Nepalese sherpas, who know the weather in the Himalayas very well.

"We need more prayers, more positive thinking and hopes for all Filipino climbers here. Tuloy-tuloy na ito," he said.

Filipinos monitored the teams’ progress online as well on the televised preparations.

Besides climbing, Oracion is into biking, running, swimming and kayaking. He took part in international adventure races in parts of Asia and a 10-day expedition race in New Zealand.

Neighbors of Oracion pitched several streamers saying "Mabuhay Ka, Leo Oracion!" in front of their houses.

In a country where no mountain reaches 3,000 meters, and where the only ice is inside freezers, Garduce, Oracion and Emata were being feted even before they reach the summit.

"If they reach the top they will become national heroes," said fellow mountaineer James Tagara of the Manila-based AMCI club.

And even if they fail or something bad happens to them, "there would be more Filipinos stepping up to the challenge," Tagara told AFP.

Garduce, a computer systems analyst, said in his Internet diary this week that he completed his final training climb to Everest’s intermediate Camp 3 on May 6. Climbing on thin air requires "three breaths for every step," he said.

Garduce, who arrived at the Everest base camp in late March in a bid to follow the route taken in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first men to climb Everest, said he saw himself "not just as a climber, but a gate-opener, a ribbon cutter."

Taking on the challenge
"I may or may not climb the peak, but making the attempt alone already brings major significance in the history of mountaineering and adventure sports here. It means we are now taking on the challenge," he said.

"I don’t consider it a race, because mountaineers know when to quit or to pace themselves," Tagara added.