MOUNTAINEERING NEWS ITEM

Filipinos Oracion & Emata Reach Everest's Summit

THURSDAY, 18 MAY 2006

Wire reports confirmed that Heracleo Oracion finally reached Mount Everest’s summit yesterday at 3:30 pm local time making him the first Filipino to reach the peak of the world’s tallest mountain.

The confirmation of Oracion’s success came when he radioed the expedition’s leader Arturo Valdez that, “the Philippine eagle has landed at the summit of Mount Everest.”

After Oracion, his teammate Erwin Emata reached the summit today at 5:34 am local time and became the second Filipino to reach Everest’s summit.

For their groundbreaking achievement, preparations are already being made for a hero’s welcome for the two mountaineers when they return home.

Meanwhile, the latest update from Romi Garduce is that he was already on his way to Camp 3 and is planning to reach the summit by tomorrow. Garduce is the other Filipino mountaineer who is aiming to reach Everest’s summit.

Despite the wrangling at home about the perceived “race” for the summit between Garduce and the expedition team where Oracion and Emata belongs, Garduce said that he does not consider the climb a race because, “mountaineers know when to quit or to pace themselves.”

A race or not, the three climbers and their teammates will go down in history as the pioneers just by being the first Filipinos to dare to reach the world’s tallest mountain.

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