Romy Garduce is the first Filipino to have ever climbed all the seven summits of the world. He documented his adventures, which spanned a full decade (from 2002’s Kilimanjaro climb to 2012’s Mount Vinson in Antartica), and put together a book, Akyat! A Filipino’s Journey to the Seven Summits, which was launched this week at R.O.X. in Bonifacio Global City. The idea for a book, he says, came after climbing Everest in 2006. We spoke with the Filipino adventurer about homesickness, fooling around in the mountains, and feasting on Boy Bawang at Base Camp.
During your climbs, do you have time for homesickness? And if yes, how do you deal with that?
Yes, there are lull days, and days when there’s a storm so you spend all your time inside your tent. So your patience will be tested. There were climbers who actually turned back kasi hindi nila nakayanan yung homesickness, pero you really just have to be patient. What I do, dinadaan ko sa pagkain. Kornick, yan. Boy Bawang, Ding Dong. I thought Everest would be the worst, because that was my longest climb – I was there for two and a half months – but surprisingly, it was the Everest climb where we had the most supply of Filipino food!
So what did you eat?
Sardinas syempre, may baon din kaming dried mangoes. Yung luto, I taught myself how to cook adobo, sinigang, tinola. Ang maganda sa Everest, may base camp siya. What happens is that you go up, and then you go down to the base camp to recover, and then you go up a higher altitude and go back down again. Maraming base camp time.
Ever had sex in the mountains?
Unfortunately, no, ha ha. For two reasons: first, the opportunity never presented itself and second, it’s not very conducive di ba?
Upon returning home, what do you do first?
I eat a lot, I sleep a lot, I drink a lot, and I date a lot – babawian ko lang yung una mong tanong, ha ha ha. It’s recovery stage when you go home, so yung mga nawala, ibabalik mo lang. Obviously, it’s a good time to pig out, kasi you’re recovering from weight and protein loss. Of course, you want to socialize with old friends, so andun yung araw araw gimik. The good thing is, mataas ang tolerance mo for alcohol when you get back from altitude.
So in Pale Pilsen bottles, that would be how many?
I’m guessing, at least 15 bottles na walang tama.
Being Filipino, documentation can be a hassle. Did you experience any of these?
Mas problema yung funding, ha ha. I had minor encounters, interesting story: I almost got deported from Russia. Ang arte nila kasi, naghahanap sila ng butas with just about everything. You have to have your passport stamped wherever you go. My original plan was to fly via Moscow but when I arrived at the airport, I realized, wala akong gagawin sa Moscow so I looked for another flight that would take me straight to Caucasus, in the southern part of Russia. Nakahanap ako ng flight from elsewhere, hindi na from Moscow pero pagdating ko dun sa Caucasus, sabi nung officer, ‘your papers said you should’ve come from Moscow!’ Hindi ko rin alam na kailangan ng change of notes dun sa region na yun, hindi ko rin mabasa yung itinerary ko kasi it’s in Russian. So ganung kababaw. I had papers, visas, everything ha. Feeling ko he was just looking for me to bribe him. He was threatening to deport me. Patagalan kami, I was the last passenger sa airport. Nag patigasan talaga kami. I called my outfitter to talk to him pero wala ring nagawa. Hanggang sa nagsara yung airport. Nabuwsit yung officer, pinayagan na lang niya ako, ha ha.
What’s next for you?
I’m thinking about doing polar expeditions, but the most feasible now is to train the next generation of climbers.
READ COCONUTS MANILA’S EXCLUSIVE BOOK EXCERPT
Akyat! A Filipino’s Journey to the seven summits is available at leading bookstores. PHP395
