Danny Chan

Photo courtesy Maj. HPS Ahluwalia

Three Philippine women reached the top of Mount Everest, marking the first time that women from a southeast Asian country have scaled the world’s highest mountain. Noelle Wenceslao, Karina Dayondon and Janet Belarmino reached the peak on the morning of May 16.

Ms. Wenceslao, who fought off pulmonary edema to scale Everest, and Sherpa guide Lakpa Gyatzen reached the summit at 6:10 a.m. local time (8:10 a.m. Manila time). They were followed 10 minutes later by Ms. Dayondon and Sherpa guide Pemba Choti. The pair stayed on the summit for 20 minutes. Ms. Belarmino, who waited her turn among climbers queuing to reach the rooftop of the world, climbed to the summit at 11 a.m. Manila time with Pasang Norbu.

The climbers battled cold weather, health issues, thin atmosphere and the elements as well as the breakup of the original team to reach the summit. Ms. Belarmino moreover gave birth to a boy, Himalaya, five months earlier.

“They are in good health and in high spirits,” Ted Esguerra, the team doctor, told officials. “They are encouraged by the prayers of their friends and families. They are feeling strong.”

The trio was also expected to set another record by becoming the first women to traverse Mount Everest from the northern Tibetan side and descend down the southern Nepal face. Filipinos Leo Oracion, Pastour Emata and Romy Garduce ascended the mountain from the southeast side when they climbed Everest one year ago. The Nepalese side is generally considered more perilous due to landslides on the Khumbu Icefall, a part of the glacier on the south side. The team paid an extra $9,000—$3,000 per member—for the distinction of being the first women to ascend from the north.

Reports stated the three women, all members of the Philippine Coast Guard, reached Advanced Base Camp at 6,400 meters on May 13. They began their final ascent at 8 p.m. (Manila time) from Camp 3.

Mr. Oracion, one of three Philippine nationals who scaled Mount Everest last year, was expecting the mountaineers at the base camp following their historic climb. Along with Mr. Oracion were Mr. Emata, John Fortes of the Philippine Airlines Mountaineering Club and Ms. Wenceslao’s father Peewee.

Eduardo Ermita, the president’s executive secretary and a retired military general, said the country was proud of the “Kaya ng Pinay” Everest Team.

Ms. Wenceslao, a physical education major at the University of the Philippines, is an “extreme-adventure” athlete, dragon boat rower and a UP Mountaineer. Ms. Dayondon, the youngest member, began mountain climbing at age 17 while studying at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. Ms. Belarmino is a champion triathlete, an adventure racer, lawn tennis coach, sport instructor and also a member of the UP Mountaineers.

The team flew to New Zealand to study alpine climbing. The trio reached the summit of Mount Muztagh-Ata (7,546 m or 24,758 ft) on the China-Pakistan border in 2005, setting the record for the highest altitude attained by a Filipino woman. On June 23, the team scaled Alaska’s Mount KcKinley (6,194 m or 20,230 ft), North America’s highest peak. The women then climbed Mount Cho-Oyu in the Himalayas, the world’s sixth-highest mountain.

The 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) Mount Everest has been scaled 3,067 times, beginning with the ascent by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Approximately 550 mountaineers are expected to make the climb from ether Nepal or Tibet this season after the Chinese government and Maoist agreed to a peace deal to end a decade-long civil war.

A Nepali climber extended his own record in May by climbing the mountain for a 17th time. Officials in Kathmandu described Appa Sherpa’s achievement as a proud day for the impoverished landlocked country; foreign climbers have long overshadowed their Nepali counterparts.

Willi Unsoeld and Tom Hornbein performed the first traverse of Mount Everest on May 22, 1963. Phantog of Tibet was the first woman to reach the peak from the northern side on May 25, 1975.

The first woman to reach the top from the south side was Junko Tabei of Japan on May 16, 1975. The Philippine trio’s accomplishment came 32 years to the day after Ms. Tabei’s climb


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