Meet Romi Garduce

ROMEO “ROMI” GARDUCE was born 1969 in Mariveles, Bataan. He studied at Tomas del Rosario College, and began climbing for a cause in 1991 as a member of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers ( UPM).

He compares mountain climbing to drinking beer, saying it is an acquired taste, recalling how much he vomited during his first mountain climbing attempt in Mt. Nagcarlan.

Garduce became the first Filipino to climb one of the Seven Summits after reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2002. He then became the first Filipino to ascend Cho Oyu in 2005 then the highest mountain peak scaled by any Filipino.

Some of the other mountains he has climbed include; Mount Daedun, South Korea; Mount Rokko, Kobe, Japan; Annapurna, Nepal; Pokalde, Khumbu, Nepal;gokyo, Nepal ( October 2003); Kala Pattar, Nepal; Cerro Bonete, La Rioja, Argentina.

His other hobbies include mostly outdoor sports such as biking, diving, kayaking, and other nature stuff. madaliin ko at makipagunahan sa kanila. I also didn’t want to make unnecessary risks and put myself in danger, baka instead na mauna, mauna lang akong madisgrasya. [I didn’t want to consider my Everest dream as a race. To preserve the integrity of my dream climb is more important than racing against others to reach it. I also didn’t want to make unnecessary risks and put myself in danger, or get in an accident first instead of reaching it first]. I didn’t want that. ”

It could be recalled that the Philippines expedition to Mt. Everest almost became a race by the two leading networks. Garduce was sponsored by GMA 7 while Leo Oracion and Pastor Emata were sponsored by ABS-CBN.

Ain’t no mountain high enough?

Despite completing the Seven Summits, Garduce said his mountaineering days were far from over.

“Just like the mountain that is timeless, so is mountaineering,” he philosophically said. “It’s not something bound by age constraints. Like there are some trying to set records as the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest.”

Completing the Seven Summits he said was not just the ultimate mountaineering record.

“After you’ve completed the highest Seven Summits, there’s also the second highest mountains for each continent, which is even harder, specifically because of K2. It is the second highest mountain after Everest and even much