Mountaineer Miguel Mapalad became the 10th Filipino to summit Mount Everest. The iconic Everest is located in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. His mountaineering comrade, Jeno Panganiban, was the 11th Filipino Everest conqueror.

Mount Everest continues to be a dream and fascination of all mountaineers because the challenges it offers attract the brave and disciplined, and its breathtaking beauty is often described as a “big slice of heaven on Earth.” Reaching its apex gives the mountaineer an immense sense of achievement.

Climbing every mountain  

“I am just lucky, I guess,” said Miguel Mapalad, with a shy kind of smile on his face. “It was not easy, but we found ways, slowly but surely, when we were there. It took courage, a strong body, a tough and sharp mind and, of course, prayers. So that is how I and my team got lucky.”

He admitted to this columnist that there was no diet plan to be lean and mean. Prior to the actual climb, he practiced reaching the top of smaller mountains then to the bigger ones here in our country.

His resume as a full-time-mountaineer shows that he has climbed some of the most difficult mountains, namely, Ama Dablam, Kilimanjaro, Island Peak, Lobuche Peak, Mount Kazbek and numerous high-altitude mountains in the Philippines and in Asia.

Mapalad, together with fellow climber Jeno Panganiban, are members of a local mountaineering group known as the Philippine 14 Peaks Expedition Team, whose mission and vision is to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks. (Mt. Everest is 8,849 meters above sea level).

Mapalad was most thankful for the opportunity to realize this dream. He said he thought it an impossible dream, but resolved to achieve it especially after he fell in love with Everest when he first saw it in 2013.

Everest is legendary for its bone-chilling and numbing temperatures and exacting terrain. With these givens, Mapalad said, “I wanted to be fully prepared for the eight-day long journey. I did a lot of research. Sinundan ko 'yung (I followed the) training plan for Mt. Everest,” adding that they needed to get their bodies used to the climate. It took five months, he said.

We are family

Mapalad said he went to the Himalayas on 4 April. After his “acclimatization trek” and started to climb, Delimondo was there with him.

Mapalad eyed turned misty recalling, “My Delimondo family said that they would pray for my success. They were the ones who gave me encouragement every day.”

It was his honesty that was most endearing about Mapalad, revealing that fear did engulf him during the treacherous trek. “The summit push was the most challenging part of the climb. I used to just see it on television, then there I was doing it,” Mapalad ended the revelation with a nervous laughter as he narrated how the treacherous “ice-fall” area scared him the most. “Sabi ko, ‘Naku, eto na. Dadaan talaga tayo dito (Oh well, here it is, we have to pass it). No choice.’ I thought, how will you ever get to the top if you let fear overwhelm you? And I had faith in myself, the equipment, the forecast. And I had faith in God, of course, He gave me the strength. I always called on Him.”

Mapalad and his team had to pass through the location four times, but they got through. After succeeding the first time, his fear vanished, and he was also able to bear the cold. After a long trek, they reached the Dead Zone, which, scary as the name was, they also survived and then it was on to the summit push. “It took us 12 hours to get to the summit because there were just too many climbers at the time.”

Being on the top of Everest stirred emotions in Mapalad. “Before reaching the summit, medyo dramatic na 'yung feels. My emotions stirred. When we were nearing the summit — maybe the last 10 steps, I was thinking, ‘this is it, this has been your dream for the last 20 years. The last 10 steps felt like in slow motion. I realized I was nearing the end of the trek. I could not cry because the tears might turn to ice. And when I got there, what did I do? I took a picture, of course.” Mapalad ended his recollection with a guffaw.

“It is beautiful at the top,” said Mapalad, his eyes filled with pride. “There are no words to describe its majesty. God is truly amazing to give all of us this kind of gift.”