Garduce gears up for wind-raked Vinson

MANILA, Philippines - Romi Garduce has yet to reach his peak as a mountaineer.

In fact, even as he prepares for his next stop, the 16,067-foot Vinson Massif in the Antarctic Region, the Pinoy icon can’t help but look forward for more.

“It’s the itch,” he told a small group of scribes Thursday evening.

Garduce described Vinson Massif as colder than when you’re inside a cold storage facility, and where you can’t expose even one centimeter of your skin for a second.

“In a matter of seconds, you get frost bites,” said Garduce of the only remaining obstacle in his bid to conquer the top summits of all the seven continents.

So far, he’d conquered the rest, Africa’s Kilimanjaro in 2002, South America’s Aconcagua in 2005, Asia’s Mt. Everest in 2006, Europe’s El Brus in 2007, North America’s McKinley or Denali Peak in 2008, and Australia’s Kosciuzko in 2008.

“Then I slept for two years and scaled Indonesia’s Carstenz last month,” said Garduce, who considered the Indonesia rock wall as one of the toughest summits.

“So, to me there are eight and not just seven,” he said.

Garduce’s next climb is set in December, and once again he will have GMA-7 covering the expedition every step of the way, just like how it went during his historic Everest climb.

“This is going to be tough. Vinson is where the strongest wind was ever recorded,” he added.

But he doesn’t see any major obstacle in his next project. In fact, he will give the public his own impression and expectations on GMA-7’s “Born to be Wild,” a pioneering environmental and wildlife program which Garduce is hosting.

In this special, Garduce will also recall his Everest climb, and Carstenz, which he did with Levi Nayahangan, and talk about his Seven Summits “promise.”

He was asked what’s in store after Vinson Massif.

“I think it’s endless because you will never run out of mountains or walls to climb,” said Garduce.

“Once you’re done with the Seven Summits, there’s what they call the “Triad,” a deadly combination of Mt. Everest, South Pole and North Pole.

“No Filipino has ever done the South Pole, which I think is more doable than the North Pole. And it doesn’t end there, because you still have the 14 highest mountains to climb for you to complete the Grand Slam,” he said.

“They’re all in the Himalayas and so far I’ve only completed two. I don’t think I can ever finish them all,” he said.

But that’s getting ahead of the story of Garduce’s next stop: Vinson Massif of the Antarctic Region.