4th of the 7 SUMMITS

Alas!! Aug27, 11.02am Local time - Romi made it on top of Mt Elbrus' West Peak 5642m (Highest in Europe). This is the 4th of the 7 SUMMITS! 3 to go!!! Layo pa haha!

Summary

Finally, after a long dreaded re-attempt to climb the West Peak of Elbrus – the summit revealed itself to me! WHEW! And as usual, given the mountain’s notorious behavior of sudden weather change – we almost didn’t make it. Our guide thought of aborting the climb 20-30mins before reaching the summit due to high winds, bad visibility and white-out! Imagine we already reach the summit-rim and just need to find the highest mark of the rim – the thought of walking back from that point can make you Mad like hell! But luck favored us that time - the weather held for a bit and we were able to continue on and went back to safety.
My team mate was not as lucky. He lost his baggage (containing all his customized gear), then got sick a few days later – and when he was finally making the summit push – 2 avalanches sent climbers tumbling down the slopes (1-hr before the summit), eventually shooing them away from its summit! Tough luck!

Well, I was not too lucky all the way myself – the immigration officer in Min.Vody (I flown in straight here from Baku), wanted to kick out my sorry ass back to Azerbaijan (where I “connected” my flight) claiming that I should pass by Moscow first (as written in my useless voucher document). For the knowing tourist – he was simply after $$$! But I’m a stubborn SOB, and although I was the last one to leave the airport – at least I was let go! WHEW! I did expect “some problems” along the way (the place being Russia), but it was a surprise to have my first point of contact (immigration) to be my problem. Such is life!!

Anyway, the solid, good news was that, I’m now “4 out of the 7 SUMMITS” (the current Philippine record) – and the obvious question being – WHAT’S NEXT?!

Let’s see… :)

Back to El Bruce

To avoid recalling the difficult times in the slopes of Mt. Elbrus, I’ll change the name of the mountain as El Bruce hehe.

I made a bold attempt to summit 18,400ft El Bruce last 2004, but failed. On the 4th day of the climb, I made an attempt – weak and sick. After more than 10 hours, I was still walking upwards, when snow clouds enveloped the mountain dropping visibility to as low as 3-5 meters. 200 vertical meters before the summit (2-3h to go), I met up with the lead team. The members were on their way down, while I was still struggling to hike up. Sensing danger and higher risk, the expedition leader asked me to go down to live another day. Weeks of preparation, thousands of dollars of my savings, hope for the Conservation project work that this expedition should support – all seemed to float in the air, higher and higher - and into oblivion. It was one of the most miserable and humbling day of my life.

3 years had passed, and the memory of my agonizing time in El Bruce is still fresh in my mind. I dreaded the mountain, the ever changing weather, the Russian atmosphere, and the possible repeat of defeat. Will I climb its summit this time?

Only time will tell…

Hold on dude

Ooops – I was told that I will be “on my own” for the time-being, so I have to scrap a 15-000$ Carstensz climb! I’ve spent a few hundred $s to buy new hardware and big boots for this climb, but now those have to be stored in my plastic drums to last until the real time comes. If.
Carstensz is relatively simple, yet unbelievably expensive climb due to ‘unique’ and unstable condition in the backcountry of Indonesia. Sometimes, late at night, while listening to the whirr-whirring sound of my electric fan – I thought of convincing myself, that the TRUE highest mountain in the Australian Continent – is Mt. Kosciousko (in Australia). That Carstensz Pyramid is a money challenge more than a climb, that there is no such continent as OCEANEA! We’ll have to find out. If after my 5th (of the 7) summits I still have zero funds, I’ll do Kosciousko to finish 6th. :) Then maybe, the plan to do the 7th (Vinson in Antractica) – will attract supporters and sponsors, so then the 1ST PINOY to bag the seven summits is finally realizing an expensive dream.

LET’S FINISH THESE 7 SUMMITS!!
So we can move on with better adventure challenges ahead - umm, South Pole? hehehe..

UP NEXT - Carstensz Pyramid (Australasia)

The Mystic Mountain

Carstensz Pyramid sits in the isolated easternmost Indonesian territory of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), it is to the west of Papau New Guinea – these combined Papua territories form the 2nd largest island on the planet (after Greenland). Carstensz, or Puncak Jaya as it is locally known - is the highest mountain in the Oceanea and Australasian continent, standing proud at 16,023ft/4884m. It is one of the popular seven summits, and “the most technical” of the 7, given its big rock wall in the approach to the summit.

The route has a steep granite wall with sharp, glove-tearing rock. Only a few hundred people have climbed Carstensz mainly due to security issues or political instability, and because of logistics nightmare of moving supplies and equipment in a dense and remote jungle frequented by lowland tribal men. It is a wet and cold climb in snow and rain with a tricky vertical rock wall climb leading to the peak. Compared to Montalban rocks (in Philippines), this is “rock climbing at high altitude”, and it requires a day of multi-pitch climbing. It is one of the last two (2) mountains near the equator with disappearing glaciers (the other one is Kilimanjaro).

Different tribes used to occupy and roam the jungles of Papua, most of them used to practice voodoo rituals, and cannibalism! The look and feel of the place brings you back to those mystical jungle feel of those King Kong movies, somewhat lost in time or simply back in the stone-age. For climbers, this is an adventure in the last remaining frontiers of our planet, and a rare chance to visit the mystical mountains of Papua.

________

(To-date, there has been no recorded Filipino climb on this mountain. If successful, this puts a new Pinoy mark on the highest mountain in Australasia or Oceanea, and brings us closer to the 7-summits dream.)

Everest 2006

May 19, 2006. Garduch on top of Mt. Everest... :)

Aconcagua 2004-5

Jan 1,2005. Summit of Aconcagua with Magnus (Sweden) and Pablo (Argentina), Andean Range Argentina.

Read The Aconcagua Climb Story

Elbrus 2004

Garduch near the Barrel Huts, Mt. Elbrus at the background (Caucasus Russia)

Read the Story of My Elbrus Climb

Kilimanjaro 2002

Sept 2002.Garduch on top of Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, East Africa).

This is my pre-The NorthFace days, hence my pathetic 'kapote' pants hehe.

Read My Kilimanjaro Climb Story

Why 7 Summits?

Climbing all seven summits has been a coveted prize for most mountaineers. For some, it is a life-long pursuit to top all popular mountains in all corners of the Earth. Today, a little less than 200 climbers has done this feat – or just a mere 10% of the total summiteers of Mt. Everest.

In the Philippines, this feat is still a long reach. We just recently completed the conquest of Everest, and it is still a long way for a Filipino to complete all seven summits.

But why the seven? This is just one of the many possible challenges that an individual could undertake.

The 14 Giants
In the world of extreme adventure, the first on the list is summiting all 14 8000m peaks (all in Death Zone). Yes, that includes Everest, K2, Cho Oyu, and others. There are a few elite mountaineers who has done this feat, the first one was the renowned Reinhold Messner, who was also first to climb Everest without supplemental oxygen, and the first one to climb Everest, solo without supplemental O2, during monsoon! Truly a great mountaineeer! As for me, I've done only 2 of these 14 giants (Cho Oyu and Everest). I might do a few more after the 7 summit quest. But the most I can do is probably just 6 or 7 of these peaks, but no more. Most of the peaks are very technical in nature, requiring good discipline in ice, rock and big-wall climbing. We’ll need a new breed of Filipino climbers who can pursue this challenge.

The Poles
Another one in the adventure daring-do list is to traverse the North and South Poles without using motorized aids or dogs. North Pole is extremely dangerous, offering open leads (the sea in-between ice plates), difficult-to-traverse ice ridges (crumpled and collided ice plates and floes), polar bears (they can eat you), navigation problem (whole floating ice plates moves in different directions), and of course, extreme cold. And with the looming disaster brought about by Global Warming, this could be far more difficult in the future. Even polar bears started experiencing the difficulty. South Pole is obviously equally disastrous, but at least you know there’s land beneath the ice, at least most part of it. I read from somewhere that the wind there though, could reach a stunning 170mph! Anchor and rope up all you can, you’ll still fly like a kite. Obviously it’s also a cold hell, with daytime summer temperature reaching -40C and below. Ticking one of these poles is surely an admirable feat in itself.

The 7 Summits
And of course, the equally tiring quest for the 7-Summits. These adventure package means climbing all the highest mountain in each 7 continents. These are, arranged from highest to lowest - Everest in Asia, Aconcagua in South America, Denali or McKinley in North America, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe – and no, Mont Blanc is not the highest in the whole Europe, Vinson Massif in Antarctica; and the fun part – 2 candidate peaks for Oceana-Australasia region. Some folks consider Australia as the Australian continent. If that’s the case, the highest would be Kosioscko (which you can easily climb in 1-2 days). Some actually argued that it should be a combined Australia/New Zealand group – even if NZ belongs to a different tectonic plate. If you believe that – Mt Cook is your mountain. Although the top 2 candidates are Kosciousko in Aussie-land, and Cartenz Pyramid in Papua. Papua (formerly- Irian Jaya) is part of Indonesia, located west of Papua New Guinea where it shares the same piece of giant island. It’s below the equator and very close to Australia – hence, part of the Oceana group of islands/territories. Most 7 summiteers have climbed both candidate mountains to be ‘sure’ that they’ve done it all – making the 7 summits an 8-Summit quest instead. :)

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When I was asked why I wanted to climb Everest, I tell folks that “…climbing big mountains for me is a path towards self-discovery, and self-enrichment”. But now that it’s over – it doesn’t mean I’ll stop and end my story. This quest to complete the 7 is just a continuation of that long journey…