Garduce's Sherpa guides move toward Mt. Everest's Camp 4

Mountaineer Romi Garduce’s two Nepalese guides began advancing to Mount Everest’s Camp 4 on Thursday, carrying the equipment and supplies the climber would need when he makes the final push to be the first Filipino to reach the summit. Camp 4 is the last of four numbered camps on the way to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. In a teleconference with members of print media on Wednesday, Garduce said he would make the "assault" to the top in two weeks, provided the weather cooperates. DEATH OF CZECH CLIMBER According to GMA 7 Team Everest covering Garduce’s journey, the mountaineer remains upbeat and determined despite the death of a Czech climber on Tuesday. The mountaineer from the Czech Republic died when he fell off the Lhotse Wall, an icy formation on Mt. Everest steeply angled at 60 to 80 degrees. Garduce successfully scaled Lhotse Wall en route to Camp 3 on Saturday. Nepalese government official Sahadeev Ramayaji told GMA 7 that the still unidentified Czech climber died four hours after Sherpa guides found him seriously injured. The Czech climber's death is the fourth one reported in this year’s climbing season in Mt. Everest. An avalanche buried three Sherpas on April 21 at the Khumbu Icefall, a vast mass of land marked by crevasses and ice bridges. Garduce passed through the Khumbu Ice Fall five times during his month-long acclimatization that ended on Saturday after reaching Camp 3. More than 150 people, including expert climbers, have perished in their mission to conquer Mt. Everest since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit was in 1953. Some of the victims fell from cliffs, were buried in avalanches, or succumbed to extreme exhaustion or altitude sickness. Ramayaji also said he would coordinate with GMA 7 Team Everest once Garduce and his Sherpa guides make it to the summit around the third week of May. “I will send the message to the Ministry of Tourism for an authentic record," the Nepalese official said. ABENOJAR CONTINUES ASCENT Meanwhile, Filipino mountaineer Dale Abenojar has not backed out of an international expedition to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, his wife told GMA 7 on Thursday. Abenojar is part of a 15-member team from different countries which would take the North Col, the route from Tibet. In August 2005, Abenojar was removed from the Seven Summits Expedition after it was found he had not scaled the other peaks required of an alpine climber to prepare him for world’s highest peak.-GMANews.TV