Dale’s ‘docu’ draws crowd at Megamall

Like being on the peak of Mt. Everest again.

The story of adventure sportsman Dale Abenojar’s bitter and lonely climb up Mt. Everest in May was presented the other night in the documentary film, "A Child in Everest," and it made the mountaineer feel "like I’m again on top of the world."

The film drew tears and and applause from more than 500 people who watched the movie at SM Megamall Friday night. Guests included members of the media, government, friends, family and supporters.

Abenojar, 43, said the success of the special screening of his trek up the world’s highest mountain pleased him almost as much as the moment he reached the Everest summit.

"I’m so happy," he said in a post-screening interview with The STAR. "It’s like I’m again on top of the world because now I have shared many of my unforgettable moments in (the Nepalese capital of) Kathmandu and on the Tibet side of Mt. Everest with my fellow Filipinos. I really share with them my success in reaching the summit of Mt. Everest."

The documentary was edited by Orly Lavarde and directed by television commercial director Gus Cruz. Its executive producer is Abenojar’s publicist and friend Robin Mendoza.

The documentary melded the video footage and still photographs taken by Abenojar and his guides, Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa and Pasang Dorchi Sherpa, as they climbed the perilous north face of Mt. Everest with television newsreel footage covering Abenojar’s race to the top of the world with other Filipino mountaineers.

Abenojar claims to have reached the Everest summit on the morning of May 15, a good two days ahead of Heracleo "Leo" Oracion of the ABS-CBN-backed First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition (FPMEE), who surmounted the Everest peak on May 17.

Other climbers who, in Oracion’s wake, reached the summit on May 18 and 19, respectively, were the FPMEE’s Erwin "Pastor" Emata and solo climber Romeo Garduce, who was backed by GMA-7.

"A Child in Everest" also showed revealing interviews with Abenojar’s wife Lisa and Ramkrishna Tripathi, the Nepalese camp manager of the Monterosa International Treks and Expedition group Abenojar joined, as well as Canadian-Australian Vince Walters, who was with Abenojar in the Monterosa group.

"I have long waited for Robin and direk Gus to finish the documentary because I have long wanted to share my story with my countrymen," Abenojar said. "Sa wakas (finally) we were able to show it and my countrymen have seen it and I am happy because, by their reactions earlier, they enjoyed the show."

Abenojar also confirmed a blurb at the end of the documentary that declared Abenojar’s desire to again climb to the Everest summit, this time "without the aid of supplementary oxygen."

"That’s true," he said. "I’m thinking of climbing Mt. Everest again, hopefully next year, but this time without supplemental oxygen. What I’m planning is to traverse it — meaning I will climb up the north side and go down the south side."

Abenojar also said he will only make this second and more difficult attempt if he can get sponsors for the expedition: "I will do it if there will be sponsors. As it is I’m already happy that I was able to reach the (Everest) summit and come home alive."

Abenojar lost his left big toe and his guide, Pasang, lost all his toes to gangrene caused by frostbite in making the climb.