By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Jeno Panganiban and Miguel Mapalad are set to leave Wednesday night, May 14, to start their daring quest to scale the summit of Mt. Everest – the first in almost two decades for any Filipino mountaineers.
On a social media post, Panganiban shared the details of their schedule to climb the world’s highest peak with high hopes of etching their names into history books.
“GO TIME. We leave tonight (May 14, 11:00 PM), and summit on the 18th,” said Panganiban, whose campaign is spearheaded by the Philippine 14 Peaks Expedition Team.
Panganiban disclosed that they target to reach Basecamp to Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 and Camp 2 on Thursday, May 15, then go from Camp 2 to Camp 3 (Lhotse Face) on Friday, May 16. They hope to reach Camp 4 (South Col climb) from Camp 3 by May 17 before attempting the summit from South Col on May 18.
Panganiban added they had windows from the previous days but figured that they’d face unfavorable weather and strong winds.
“Our teammates who went early just got stuck at Camp 2 and eventually returned to base camp for safety. So May 14 is the best window for us to move, as advised by our expedition team and leaders, to summit on May 18,” Panganiban wrote.
Panganiban also asked for prayers and support in this ambitious campaign not only for themselves, but also for the Philippine flag.
“Panahon na para mag kapit-bisig tayo. Heto na. Top of the world. Para sa inang bayan, Pilipinas. Para sa mga Pilipino,” Panganiban wrote.
After summiting the 8,163-meter Mt. Manaslu last October, the team hopes to conquer more 8,000-meter mountains in less than a year by overcoming Mt. Everest, Mt. Cho Oyu, and Mt. Lhotse.
In fact, the name of their expedition team is derived from their goal of conquering the 14 highest mountain peaks in the world—all of which are 8,000 meters or 26,247 feet above sea level.
The last time Filipino mountaineers successfully scaled the Mt. Everest was in 2007 courtesy of Noelle Wenceslao, Janet Belarmino and Carina Dayondon.
