If many of his countrymen question — and continue to question — Abenojar’s claim that he reached the top of Mt. Everest, one of two Sherpa guides who reportedly helped him accomplish this feat, 29-year-old Tshiring Sherpa, said he had a feeling Abenojar could do it when they met last April.
"He looked smart, he was smiling and he talked a lot. I think these were good things to have in climbing Everest," Tshiring told The STAR in an exclusive interview Sunday, while his fellow Sherpa, Pasang, and Abenojar were having their gangrene-infected toes examined at the Cardinal Santos Memorial Medical Center (CSMMC) in San Juan.
Besides two instances at the start and near the end of Abenojar’s odyssey to reach the summit of the world’s tallest mountain, Tshiring said that he believed Abenojar would succeed in his quest to become the first Filipino to reach Everest’s summit.
"We were told to take good care of him because he is a first-timer, and wants to be the first Filipino to climb Everest," Tshiring said of the meeting in which Abenojar chose him and Pasang as guides.
"I became like his mother. I took good care of him," Tshiring told The STAR with a smile.
He described Abenojar as a talkative person whom he and Pasang would hear making remarks during every stage of the journey.
At one point in the early stages of their climb, when snow fell while they were trekking up from Jumor Point to the North Col, Tshiring said he heard Abenojar remark that it was his first time to see falling snow.
"I thought he was lying. That was impossible," Tshiring said, adding that he only realized this remark was true when Abenojar and Robin Mendoza told them in Kathmandu, Nepal that Abenojar was facing doubts back home over whether Abenojar had accomplished the feat, since he had no alpine mountain climbing experience before taking on Everest.
Knowing that Abenojar was a first-timer to Everest, Tshiring said he made sure that the Filipino underwent the proper acclimatization and a crash course in alpine mountain climbing.
"For acclimatization, we did not give him oxygen so he would learn to breathe in thin air. That’s very important," Tshiring said.
Lack of acclimatization to the thin air near the summit of Everest is what kills even experienced alpine climbers, as it can trigger bleeding in the lungs that is often fatal if left untreated.
Their insistence that Abenojar manage with less oxygen, especially during his first days at the China Base Camp, resulted in constant arguments because Abenojar would always ask for more oxygen.
Tshiring said that during Abenojar’s first night at the China Base Camp, when he first encountered thin air at a high altitude, he and Ramkrishna Tripathi, the base camp manager of the 15-man international team of adventurers that Abenojar had joined, had their hands full refusing the first-timer’s request for more oxygen.
"He said that he couldn’t sleep. So, Ram stayed with him and helped him get to sleep by massaging his head," Tshiring said.
He said one of the time he actually worried that Abenojar may not make it to the Everest summit was early in the expedition when Abenojar had a hard time dealing with the freezing cold and high altitude.
"(Abenojar) wanted to stay all day in his tent and sleep," Tshiring said.
When he saw this, Tshiring said, he confronted Abenojar and warned him he would fail in his quest to be the first Filipino to climb Everest if he did not train hard and get used to the mountain boots and "crampons" he wore for the climb.
Fortunately, Tshiring said Abenojar buckled down to the task and focused on walking around the base camp to get used to the heavy footwear.
Tshiring said it was he who accompanied Abenojar during the final approach to the summit on May 15.
He said at the last stage of the trek, about a day or two before Abenojar reached the summit and some 7,900 meters below the peak, a second incident gave him serious worries that Abenojar might not make it.
"He wanted to rest for a day up there. That was not possible," Tshiring said. "So, you know, I fooled him. I told him that we had to climb to the summit now because the weather would be bad on May 16 according to a weather forecast we had — which was really not true."
Abenojar said the truth was that he had already declared his intention to the two Sherpas that he wanted to return to the Base Camp because he was dead tired.
"What I told them was, ‘I give up. I’m going home.’ I was depressed then because I felt dehydrated and they had finished off our supply of water and all I wanted to do was sleep because we climbed straight through the day then," Abenojar said in Tagalog.
He said he even ordered the two Sherpas to radio Ramkrishna at the Base Camp that he was descending to the camp, which Ramkrishna allowed.
Even though the base camp manager agreed to Abenojar’s descent, the Sherpas would not let him quit: "Ramkishna agreed then. But the two Sherpas did not, they told me it was a short distance to the summit, why not continue?"
Still smarting from the Sherpas finishing all his water the previous day, Abenojar said he ordered Tshiring to boil him enough ice water to fill two bottles, which the Sherpa did.
Abenojar said he also assigned the tasks of strapping on his crampons, his heavy belt and other chores to the two Sherpas as conditions for him to continue climbing and that the Sherpas readily complied with the demands.
"After that, Tshiring and I went straight for the summit," Abenojar said.
Tshiring said that it was he who took the photographs of Abenojar at the top of Everest and that Abenojar seemed preoccupied.
Abenojar said he had no time to enjoy the view on top of Mt. Everest because he was worrying about whether he still had the energy to make it back down to the Base Camp.
"Other people think the descent is easy. It isn’t, that is what I found out for myself," Abenojar said.
He said when one encounters the dead bodies of climbers who sought the Everest summit, the corpses were mostly of climbers who had reached the top of the world only to die on their way down.
"You do not hear of climbers dying on the way to the Everest summit. All of the dead died on the descent," he said.
Abenojar said he chose the more difficult North Face route for two reasons.
First, it was cheaper to go by the North Face route, he said. While inquiring around in Kathmandu for guides, Abenojar found the fee for passing through the south side route was around $60,000. He said the north side route cost him only $25,000.
"It’s cheaper. I had no sponsor, no network sponsor so I had to be frugal," Abenojar said.
In his analysis, Abenojar said the north route seemed an easier and faster route to the summit despite the consensus that it is more difficult due to its exposure to the harsh north wind.
The faster route, he said, was an important factor for him because he was really determined to race the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition (FPMEE) team’s Leo Oracion and Erwin "Pastor" Emata, backed by ABS-CBN, and solo climber Romeo Garduce, backed by GMA-7, to the summit.
"I truly wanted to be first. It was really a race that took place. For those who said there was no race, they should tell the truth," Abenojar said.
Abenojar said his Sherpas set their arrival date at the Everest summit for May 5, according to their original summit plan, with the plan calling for them to accompany the expedition of a Korean, a Mr. Pak, to the mountain summit on that date.
"When Tshiring and Pasang drew up the plan, I asked them to think about it hard if I can do it that fast," Abenojar said.
He said that to avoid setting out in haste, he asked them to find out precisely when the other teams were planning to reach the summit.
"You know, those Sherpas are all related," Abenojar said.
Finding out that the FPMEE was planning to approach the summit on the 17th, they rescheduled their summit date to two days before the FPMEE’s scheduled arrival at the summit.
"I did not pawn my Range Rover back home just to be second or third on top of Mt. Everest. I was determined to be the first," Abenojar said.