Going BEYOND: Personal glory

The spotlight is now focused on seasoned mountaineer Romi Garduce as he continue his quest not for personal glory, but rather his personal way of uplifting the lives of some of his less-fortunate countrymen.

Aiming at being the first Filipino to reach the summit of the famed Himalayan's Greatest - Mount Everest, Garduce teams up with network giant GMA NETWORK, INC. and The Northface, world-renowned manufacturer of expedition gear.

The expedition, dubbed "Nangungunang Pinoy sa Tuktok ng Mundo - The GMA Mount Everest Expedition" will benefit various outreach programs and projects of the GMA Kapuso Foundation, a non-profit organization of GMA Network Inc.

Prior to this, he has scaled Mt. Cho Oyu in Tibet, Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina and Mt. Elbrus in Russia. Beneficiaries of these climbs were indigenous people (Cartwheel Foundation), underprivileged patients of the internal medicine ward of the Philippine General Hospital (Bukas Sarili Foundation) and the Bauan-Anilao Conservation project in Batangas.

Incidentally, two of the three above-mentioned mountains are included in the list of the Seven Summits or the highest peaks of the world's seven continents - Mt. Aconcagua, 22, 975 feet and Mt. Elbrus at 18, 619 feet.

Mt. Cho Oyu, at 27, 064 feet is the sixth highest peak and was scaled by Garduce last September 26 - the highest scaled by a Filipino. Nipping the borders of Nepal and Tibet, Cho Oyu - which means 'The Turquoise Goddess' - is known as the death zone due to the increasing number of casualties caused by its dangerous alpine condition.

The thirty-something Garduce - also known in the international mountaineering community as 'Garduch' - has reached Everest's Base Camp last April 3, officially attaining 17,000 feet of his trek towards the summit of the mountain also known as Chomolungma, a Tibetan name which means ' mother goddess of the universe'.

Mount Everest proudly stands at 29,035 feet, straddling the border of Nepal and Tibet. Six hundred and sixty people have successfully reached its summit, but aside from the success stories, there are sad tales of death as well. One hundred forty-two fatalities have been recorded, with avalanche being cited as the highest cause of death.

A systems analyst for a multi-national company, Garduce quietly slipped out from the country last March 04 to begin what many would perhaps agree as the climb of his life.

Garduce's climb goes beyond personal glory as he brings with him the prayer of a nation aching for a unifying source of pride and identity and the hope of underprivileged Filipinos whose cause he has repeatedly underscored in his past Climb-for-A-Cause expedition.