Romi Garduce back from latest conquest

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, Philippines--Mountaineer Romi Garduce on Friday thought he could slip back into the country as quietly as he left two weeks ago. But Garduce, one of the first Filipinos to have conquered Mt. Everest, was pleasantly surprised to find media persons waiting for him at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport when he arrived Friday afternoon from Moscow. "O, anong ginagawa nyo dito? Anong meron? (Hey, what are you doing here? What's up?" said a grinning Garduce upon seeing the reporters and photographers at the airport. He did not expect the fanfare that came with his celebrated success in reaching the summit of Mt. Everest in May last year. But completing a trek up Russia's Mt. Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, was no mean feat for the 38-year-old information technology professional and he simply could not escape media's prying eyes. But while he has set foot on the planet's highest point, conquering any mountain is just never the same. "This is my second attempt sa mountain (Elbrus). I failed the last time. So there was an additional fuel for me to finish it. Right after you finish, you should be happy right? But when I got there at the peak, I only felt two things: First, relief that I finished it, and secondly, three more to go," Garduce said, laughing at the thought. He had been forced to abort his expedition up Mt. Elbrus three years ago because of severe weather. "You already start thinking what's next, what you will do the next time, when you are just descending the mountain," he said. Surprises The Balanga, Bataan, native reached the peak of 5,642-meter Mt. Elbrus at 11:02 a.m. (Russia time) on August 27. Besides Everest, he had earlier climbed Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, in September 2002, and Aconcagua in Argentina in January 2005. While Everest was a colder and more tricky climb, Elbrus had its own surprises for the experienced mountaineer. "Elbrus is notorious for sudden change of weather, especially when you are close to the summit. In fact, 20 minutes before we reached the summit, we almost aborted because of strong winds and white-out. You won't see anything. White-out is like you're inside a pingpong ball," he said. As Garduce described it, the "tourist mountain" -- highly commercialized as it is surrounded by ski resorts -- has been an "underestimated" peak. Garduce and six other climbers in the international expedition stayed at the peak for just four minutes and headed back down, wary that bad weather might strike anytime. The entire trek took 10 days to complete. A day later, he related, two incidents of avalanche were reported near the summit, aborting the day's summit attempts. New challenge "Every mountain is a challenge. That's my realization. You can never be complacent that just because you've climbed Everest, you can climb all. It's not like that. Every mountain is a new challenge that comes with new difficulties, a different way of acclimatization," he told the Inquirer. Asked when his next expedition would be, Garduce said he would take a break first and focus on writing a book about his Mt. Everest climb. The remaining mountains on his checklist are the tallest peaks in North America, Australia and Antartica. "I haven't decided yet but maybe, the next mountain is McKinley in Alaska... but in the next three months, my focus will be my book. I'm writing my book first about the Everest experience," Garduce said.