Palace airs support for Garduce in mountaineering record bid

Malacañang on Saturday aired support for veteran Filipino mountaineer Romi Garduce in his bid to set a record by climbing seven of the world’s tallest summits. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte also congratulated Garduce for his recent conquest of the 16,024-foot Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia. “We know this is just one step towards a bigger challenge. So long as you keep climbing, be assured we are with you," Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. Garduce, who conquered Mt. Everest in 2006, battled extreme weather conditions and had to make a short stop on the fifth day before reaching the top of Carstensz Friday. His next target is the Vinson Massif, a 16,067-foot mountain near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, in harsh below-zero temperatures. Garduce plans to complete his 10-year odyssey in December so he could join an elite group of mountaineers that achieved the feat and become the first Filipino to have successfully climbed the world’s tallest mountains. So far, he had scaled:

• Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa (2002),
• Mt. Aconcagua in South America (2005),
• Mt. Everest in Asia (2006),
• Mt. Elbrus in Europe (2007),
• Denali Peak in North America (2008), and
• Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia (2008).

Since 1991, Garduce championed environmentalism through close encounters with Mother Earth as a member of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers. — JE, GMA News