RP climbers brace for final push to Mt. Everest

Weather-permitting, it would be just a matter of time before the first Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition team would conquer the world’s highest peak.

Team leader Art Valdez said Tuesday that top climbers Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata are currently acclimatizing themselves on Camp 3 in preparation for their big climb on Camp 4 at 7, 906 meters or 26, 032 feet in the next few days.

"Barring bad weather, the two will have a good crack at the summit soon," said Valdez, adding that the critical days would be around the second week of May.

Valdez, who made the update from freezing tundra of the Himalayan Khumbu region in Mt. Everest, said Oracion and Pastor actually came down from Mt. Everest Camp 3 at 6,828 meters or 22,376 feet Monday and succeeded in clipping their fixed ropes.

By this time, Valdez hoped that the members of the other expedition teams have also succeeded in fixing more ropes from Camp 2 to 3 and finally to Camp 4.

To give Oracion and Emata a much-needed rest and at the same time to replenish their energies, Valdez had asked the duo on Monday to go down to Dingboche, which is 4,340 meters, from the Everest Base Camp (EBC), which is 5,355 meters, and take three to four days of rest.

At Dingboche, the weather is warmer and there is more oxygen,according to Valdez.

Camp 2 now serves as the team’s advance base camp, where they have stashed high altitude equipment and food supplies.

Oracion and Emata would continue acclimatizing at Camp 3 then return to Camp 2 following the climbing rule of "climb high, sleep low" while hoping for a good weather.

Valdez also said that Oracion and Emata’s Sherpas have high praises for the two climbers, saying they have started to look like and climb as expertly and as fast as the Sherpas themselves.

He added that the First Philippine Mt. Everest Team’s physician, Dr. Ted Esguerra, also of the Philippine Coast Guard, has become the most popular figure in the mountain, attending to the climbers of other expedition teams who fell sick after being exposed to the extreme cold.