RP climbers scale coldest, highest peak in North America

From the highest peak in the world, the First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition team proceeded to North America to scale Denali, the coldest mountain on Earth,and add it to the list of peaks conquered by the intrepid Filipino climbers.

A few weeks after Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata reached the summit of Mount Everest, the team of Reggie Pablo, Carina Dayondon, Noel Wenceslao and Larry Honoridez left the country for Alaska to climb Denali, which meant "The Great One" in local language.

And Pablo’s team successfully conquered it despite harsh weather conditions, shortage of food and the absence of expensive porters and guides.

"The weather was really bad from start till the end of our expedition and we didn’t get guides and porters so it took us more than a month to successfully reach the summit," said Pablo in yesterday’s press conference at the National Sports Grill in Greenbelt 3.

After Denali, the tallest peak in North America at 20,320 feet (6,194 meters), the team is targeting Mt. Cho Oyu next.

Located in Nepal, Mt. Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world at 26,906 feet (8,201 meters).

Romeo Garduce, the third Filipino to summit Everest, made it to the peak of Mt. Cho Oyu first late last year.

Expedition leader Art Valdez said these climbs are being done in preparation for the 2007 Unity Climb where the team will attempt to climb Everest from both the North Col (Tibet) and South Col (Nepal) routes at the same time.

"These expeditions are just part of our preparation and training for our Unity Climb next year," said Valdez.

Denali, which is notorious for its crevasses and low temperature usually reaching -1 Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius), can be climbed from 18-21 days but due to the cold weather, the team completed their expedition in 36 days.

"Our food supply was for 18-21 days only, but thanks to other expedition teams that were friendly to us, we managed to live through it," recounted Pablo referring to climbers from Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea and Japan who parted with their extra food to them.