Cho Oyu and Beyond ...

Cho Oyu climb for a cause is an awareness and fund-raising campaign aimed to help provide much needed education to our often neglected indigenous children in the remote parts of the country. The climb objective is to set a new altitude record, an attempt of the 6th highest mt & one of the peaks in the death zone. This event intends to bridge the education gap, and hope we provide our indigenous children a better future -- safe and away from a possible 'death zone'.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Hello from Nepal

Hello, just got back to Kathmandu.

I did a short acclimatization trek/climb with 4 other Filipinos in Langtang province, all were now back safe in Kathmandu, and they will soon leave for Manila. 3 of us attempted to climb Yala Peak (5500m/18400ft), and we're happy to share that 2 of us made it to the summit of Yala Peak. I was with another UPMountaineer, his first taste of alpine mountaineering. Unfortunately, the 3rd member got sick in basecamp (mild AMS) and wasn't able to join us in the attempt. Aug28 8:30am, Romi Garduch and Jonjon "LA" Villareal made it to the top of Yala peak, it might be the first filipino cilmb of that peak (but so what haha).
I'm still in kathmandu and will leave for Tibet Sep3, to tackle the primary trip objective - - Cho Oyu. My sub-group (total 14 split by 'kitchen sub-group') has only 4 members, me included. 1 Australian, 1 S.African, and i think 1 German -- very diversed/mixed group.

So far, everything seems to be ok. No worry setting in yet for the big climb ahead :)
maybe because the memory of our interesting Yala climb is still fresh on my mind... that last 5 minutes of rock scrambling on the slippery and unstable knife-ridge of the summit of Yala (w/o safety ropes), with 1000m vertical fall potential on both sides of the ridge; those leaps of faith over several crevasses (again w/out ropes hehe); and few tricky rock climbing moves over unstable rock formations - what else could I ask for in a climbing adventure hehe..

I am hoping my team will get a Sat-fon so I can do regular updates. The next 2 weeks will be our acclimatization stage, until we reach our Advanced Basecamp (ABC) at around 19,000ft. Then 3rd or 4th week of September (weather-permitting) we'll be at the high camps ready for the Summit bid. Worst case, my next update will be Oct9 (when we get back in Kathmandu).

So wish us luck, and don't forget to pledge or donate for Cartwheel ;)
Cheers!
Romi

Wednesday, August 17, 2005


Aug17. Guesting at NewsCentral Studio23. Making 'bola' to Trisha, but I guess it didn't work ;( hahaha. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 16, 2005


Climb for a Cause Logo Posted by Picasa

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Bulletin Board

'NEW' Check out the Climb for a Cause Website: http://www.mydestiny.net/~cartwheel/climb.html

(Note: if you are a first-time visitor of this event-blog, it might help if you start from the bottom, start with the previous posts. Scroll down now...)
- What this climb is all about, check out previous post - 'Breaking the Barrier'
- How to donate or make a pledge for Cartwheel Foundation, check out the previous post - 'Letter'

Climb for a Cause Event News
(Aug12) - Watch NewsCentral (studio23) live interview on Wednesday Aug17 10pm.

The mall exhibit, which will feature photos of our indigenous folks, is postponed to either last week of August, or first week of September. I'll be in the hills by then.
We've started with our PRs.
Check out: Business World newspaper (Aug11 'Bulletin' Section), upmountaineers.org.ph. (more to come).

Donate Today
We're now accepting donations. Contact Noemi or Romi, or any of our representatives thru cartwheelinc@pacific.net.ph or cartwheelinc@yahoo.com or ph_climbforacause@yahoo.com.
Or drop by our exhibit to hand-over your donations (we’ll post the exact dates later).
Cartwheel will be issuing acknowledgement receipts for donations above 500php (I believe for tax deduction purposes, or - probably just a souvenir hehe).
"Ey, we just got our first checque today (Jul7) of 4,000p! Keep 'em coming..."

(as of Aug9) Total outright donations to-date: 13,250p ; Total pledge: 9,250p
Total potential to-date: 22,500 p (100% of collected amount goes to Cartwheel)
Let’s bring this number up to make this program significant. You’re small contribution would mean a lot.

What’s new in this site
- (Aug3) I've created a new page on "Climbing Cho Oyu", check this out: http://climbingchooyu.blogspot.com/
- (July18) I’ve created a new link “News, Events, Etc” for any miscellaneous items not directly relevant to this event. This will include climbing news of other Pinoy teams, tsismis, party events, and others…
Check out the (bottom) article related to the question on an Everest attempt.
- (Aug8) New post in this link: "Training Escapades"

Wednesday, August 10, 2005


Cartwheel heads North. Representatives of Carthweel foundation visiting The North Face shop in Rockwell. (frtl: Alwin, Rojean, Noemi, Garduch). Posted by Picasa