Nepal Photo Captions III. Success Story

Sherpa carrying metal parts of a helicopter from base camp

UK camp. Venue of paragliding take-off

First lunch, Day 1 at the riverside

Most abused duffle bags with maximum allowable weight of 15 kilos

Waiting for the 3 Pinays and their sherpas at the base camp

Rocks on ice

At the most luxurious Japanese hotel

Larry and Orvin

Waiting to be transported

Tengboche. Nepalis send their prayers via stones, prayer flags, via manual and automated wheels

Success

Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon and Janet Bellarmino, 3 Pinays reached the summit of Mt. Everest from Tibet early morning of 16 May 2007. The 3, known for adventurer races in the tropical setting in the Philippines had a vague idea what trekking in Mt. Everest was when invited by Mr. Art Valdez 3 years ago.

Only after their training at Denali, India in 2004 with their Pinoy counterparts including Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata did they understand what alpine climbing was all about. They knew it would be tough.

Their accomplishment set 2 world records: 1st Pinay on Everest and 1st women in the world to traverse from Tibet to Nepal. While physically fit, the Pinays declared that they could not imagine how they would have done it without each other, their support group from the North and the South side, their sherpas and the blessing of Everest. Everest has been most kind to the Filipino climbers giving them fair weather in all their expeditions to which all the Filipino contingent is most grateful.

Noelle, Carina and Janet express their sincere thanks to Mr. Art Valdez, expedition leader for his vision and detailed guidance, Dr. Ted Esguerra for his medical assistance, to the corporate sponsors who helped fund the 2007 Kaya ng Pinay expedition, to the PALMC support and documentation group led by Mr. John Fortes and Banny Hermanos, to their loved ones and Filipino supporters who prayed for their success and to their super sherpas who pushed and pushed them until their safe completion of their mission.

Everest trekked by English, Europeans, Americans, Koreans, Malaysians, Japanese and other nationalities has now a mark in the summit for the Philippines, thanks to the quests of the 3 Pinays and the 4 other Filipinos.

-Chito posting from Katmandu