Garduce conquers summit No. 6, eyes Vinson Massif in Antarctica

Veteran mountaineer Romi Garduce moved closer to the '7 Summits' record in mountaineering after he climbed to the summit of the Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia.

In a report aired at 24Oras, Garduce needed only seven days to reach the summit of the 16,024-foot Carstenz Pyramid, known locally as Puncak Jaya and located at Papua province. Garduce battled extreme weather conditions and had to make a short stop on the fifth day before reaching the top of Carstensz on Friday, more than five years after conquering Mt. Everest. "Nasa summit na tayo ng Carstensz Pyramid sa Indonesia. Medyo gininiginaw tayo ngayon kaya nagmamadali na kaming bumaba, araw-araw kaming binabagyo eh. Pero it's good na narating na natin itong tuktok and hopefully magtuloy tuloy ang success natin (We've reached the summit of Cartensz Pyramid in Indonesia. It’s cold here that is why we are in a hurry going down. We’ve been experiencing heavy rains here. The good thing is we’ve reached the top and hopefully our success continues)," said Garduce. Garduce said going down the summit is the challenging part in his expedition. Seasoned mountaineers consider Carstenz, the tallest mountain in the Australasia/Oceania region, the more challenging climb compared to Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia. Mt. Kosciuszko, however, is a subject of an ongoing debate whether it should be included in the list of the '7 Summits'. Although Mt. Kosciuszko is the tallest in Australia, at 7,310 feet, reaching the summit is not that difficult.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Garduce has successfully scaled six of the famous seven peaks — Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa (2002), Mt. Aconcagua in South America (2005), Mt. Everest in Asia (2006), Mt. Elbrus in Europe (2007), the Denali Peak in North America (2008), and Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia (2008). He now sets his sights on conquering the Vinson Massif, a 16,067-foot mountain near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, in harsh below zero temperatures. He 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. From 1991, Garduce championed environmentalism through close encounters with Mother Earth as a member of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers (UPM). Two decades after his first climb, Garduce continues to raise environmental awareness through his treks. A mountaineer for almost half his life, he knows the rigors of preparing for a climb, which takes much longer than staying on the summit. – JVP, GMA News