Abenojar hurting physically, emotionally

Dale Abenojar, the adventure sportsman who claims to have reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 15, is hurting physically and emotionally in cold and strife-torn Kathmandu, Nepal.

Accompanied only by close friend Robin Mendoza, Abenojar said that aside from the excruciating pain that a frostbitten left big toe was giving him, the seeming total disregard that his countrymen were giving to his successful conquest of Mt. Everest back home was making the hurt all the more painful.

"Masakit. It hurts that they doubt that I was able to climb up to the top of Mt. Everest. Ang nararamdaman ko ngayon eh, masaya, malungkot at nasasaktan," Abenojar told The STAR in a long-distance telephone interview yesterday afternoon.

Abenojar said that his main worry, aside from the homesickness he often feels, is his fight to keep his left big toe, which his Filipino-educated Nepali doctor has recommended for amputation.

"The pain is terrible but I really don’t want it to be removed. I want to keep all my toes. As any sportsman knows, the toes are important in keeping our balance," Abenojar said.

Abenojar said that he had insisted to his doctor to give the toe some time to heal to see if there was no need to amputate it. "I want to have my doctor-specialist friends in St. Luke’s or Makati Medical Center look at it. The trouble is I can’t go home just yet. We have to take care of business here first," Abenojar said.

Abenojar declined to elaborate, only saying that the business he and Mendoza were attending to had to do with clearing up some questions regarding his claimed successful bid to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, on May 15, or a good two days ahead of Heracleo "Leo" Oracion of the 1st Philippine Mount Everest Expedition (FPMEE). Oracion has been touted as the first Filipino on top of Mt. Everest, having reached the summit on May 17. Oracion was followed by his fellow FPMEE team member Erwin "Pastor" Emata the next day.

FPMEE’s backers have been dismissive of reports that Abenojar had reached the top of Mt. Everest first.

Arturo "Art" Valdez, FPMEE expedition team leader who had provided support to Oracion and Emata at the Mt. Everest Base Camp along with teammates Dr. Ted Esguerra, JB Anonuevo, Jong Narciso, and Fred Jamili, were one in dismissing Abenojar’s claim that he was first, expressing doubts about the photograph Abenojar’s camp had presented showing him atop Mt. Everest.

The FPMEE backers also suggested the certificate issued by the Mountaineering Association of Tibet of the Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, presented by Abenojar’s camp as additional evidence that he reached the summit first, could be spurious.

According to the certificate, Abenojar reached the summit of Mt. Everest at 10:45 a.m. of May 15.

Oracion and Emata had undertaken a much publicized climb of Mt. Everest in May with their major sponsor, TV network ABS-CBN, giving them in-depth coverage.

Rival network GMA-7 had sponsored the climb of a systems programmer, Romeo Garduce, leading to a virtual race to the top of Mt. Everest between Oracion and Emata of the FPMEE and Garduce for GMA-7.

Unknown to many, Abenojar had also left for Nepal last April 1 on a private bid to scale Mt. Everest, a mission he had vowed to make back in 1994.

For his part, Abenojar said that he was very happy to have fulfilled his lifelong dream of reaching the peak of Mt. Everest.

"I feel very happy to have fulfilled my lifelong dream. I would have liked my fellow Filipinos back home to have shared in this triumph but I’m not yet giving up on that," Abenojar said.