Philippine mountaineer on her journey to scale the Seven Summits, highest peaks on all the continents
One of 14 children from a poor family, Carina Dayondon was not on course to be a world-class climber, but is preparing to become the first female from the Philippines to scale the highest peaks on each continent
It is not often one meets an elite mountaineer in the steamy heat of a tropical summer, but Carina Dayondon is not a typical mountain climber. The fourth eldest in a poor family of 14 children, raised in the sleepy town of Don Carlos, in central Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, she was expected to help bring up her brothers and sisters, not scale the world’s highest peaks.
Dayondon was selected for the first Philippine team to ascend Mount Everest (which succeeded, in May 2006), she had never experienced alpine conditions. “I was like the fish out of water. I come from the tropics and I had never seen snow,” says the shy, softly spoken adventurer, sitting in the shade on a pier in Manila Bay, where she is a lieutenant with the Philippine Coast Guard.
“As a child, I liked to stick my tongue to the ice in the freezer,” adds the woman who, though she didn’t summit Everest on that first attempt, succeeded in getting to the top of the world’s tallest mountain, which rises 8,848 metres, just a year later. Today, Dayondon is the most famous mountaineer in the Philippines and poised to become the first female from the country to scale the “Seven Summits”, the highest peaks on each of the world’s continents and considered the ultimate mountaineering accomplishment.
Only a few hundred mountaineers have conquered the seven and, of those, women number only in the dozens. Many climbers have lost their lives in the attempt.
Equipped with old kit, organising her own travel and logistics, and with next to nothing in the way of backup or corporate sponsorship, Dayondon has already conquered six of the peaks. Next month, she will attempt the seventh and final summit: snow-covered Mount Vinson, which, standing 4,892 metres tall, is the highest peak in Antarctica, and just 1,200km from the South Pole. If successful, Dayondon will have completed her life’s mission at the age of 40.
“She is from a small, sleepy town but she is goal driven; you can see that deep inside. She is very tough,” says Art Valdez, leader of the 2006 Philippine Everest team.
