Bleachers' Brew #110 A Different Perspective

(This will appear in my column in the sports section of the Business Mirror tomorrow June 2, 2008. I'm posting it in advance to make way for our Boston-Los Angeles NBA Finals preview tomorrow that will likewise appear in the Business Mirror.)

It is said that in the battlefield, there are no atheists. And when one is thousands of feet up high in the rooftop of the world, well, you’re living on a lifeline and prayer.

As a member of the First Philippine Expedition to Mount Everest in 2006, Leo Oracion remembers the ascent in all its excruciating yet glorious detail. To this day, he can feel the numbing cold in his spine as the frost deadened his digits. The exhaustion he felt during the month-long assault on this famous mountain and seeing the frozen corpses littered along the climbing routes only served to intensify his focus on fulfilling a 17-year old dream.

For the Philippine Everest Expedition, the world’s highest mountain wasn’t merely there, as was English mountaineer George Mallory’s exasperated reply after being asked a thousand times over why he was going to scale the famous peak. To date, more than 2,400 people have reached the summit while 210 have lost their lives while attempting to do so. And for the 17-strong Philippine team, scaling the mountaintop was all about making a statement. As it is said in Everest, the mount’s most powerful gift is the triumph following the most desperate of outlooks. And to a people belonging to a tropical country, it’s all about literally and figuratively rising above it all. “Nasa isip namin na maaring hindi kami makakabalik,” said Oracion referring to the danger of such an undertaking despite the serene but deceptive beauty of Sagarmatha (“Goddess of the Sky”) as Everest is called in its native Nepali. “But as our team leader said, ‘it is all about national pride.’ So meron kaming paghuhugutan na lakas ng loob when it gets to be very difficult.”

High above good old terra firma, Oracion and his fellow climbers took a long and hard look at life from a different perspective. As Al Gore said in An Inconvenient Truth, “It’s quiet. It’s peaceful and all of a sudden there’s a gearshift inside of you. And it’s like taking a deep breath and going, “Oh, yeah. I forgot about this.”

“You value life more,” said Oracion who concurs with the almost-President of the United States of America who has championed the efforts to counteract climate change for the last few decades. “Not just human life, but the world around us – the environment and plant and animal life. Pero more than that, it’s translating that knowledge, those revelations into action.”

The Himalayan mountain range is a long ways off from the streets of old Manila. “Batang Quiapo ako,” the lean and fit Oracion proudly elucidated of the source of his inner strength and street smarts although he was born and raised in Lukban, Quezon. Lazy days were wasted on hanging out with friends and playing basketball but he had an epiphany after meeting an mountaineering group at Manuel L. Quezon University: “I found myself drawn to the great outdoors. It toughened me up.”

The climbs began, first at Mount Banahaw then in China, India, and ultimately high up in the alps of New Zealand. He devoured books on mountaineering and inevitably he began to dream of scaling Everest. “Everyone who is into mountain climbing dreams of reaching the summit of Everest,” explained Oracion. “Hindi ko alam kung saan ako magsisimula pero alam ko yung destination ko.”

That was Oracion’s mantra from the moment he picked up a book about the famous mountain right up to the acclimatization process and climb from Base Camp. And every chance he got, he’d pray – even at Buddhist monasteries. I could use every dollop of spiritual help, he reasoned.

Cold and tired, conscious of contracting high altitude pulmonary edema, a life-threatening condition that occurs when mountaineers hit altitudes of more than 8,000 feet, Oracion pulled himself up inch by frostbiting inch. Fueled by a reservoir of strength and adrenaline, he made that one last push to reach the top.

“I’m tired,” was his first thought as he gained that first solid footing on a dream he chased for 17 long years. But that soon gave way to exhilaration. “Somehow, it’s not a place where you can jump up and down,” he deadpanned.

The summit of Mount Everest isn’t a picture perfect cone. Rather it’s a snowcapped rocky crag that can only accommodate five people standing up. Oracion had lost 20 pounds in his climb up the mountain and he was suffering from exhaustion. “My training kicked in,” he ruminated about the intense preparations that began years ago with the climb in New Zealand where his first experience in alpine mountaineering saw him knee-deep in snow. “At kailangan buo ang loob mo.”

It was a long and arduous climb for Leo Oracion and at once, one huge achievement for the Filipino people. He unfurled the Philippine flag and waited for his teammates. At the top of the world, it was the most exhilarating 30 minutes of his life.

One year later, the Everest that Oracion scaled with so many others is different. The Gangotri and Khumbu glaciers are retreating with frightening speed due to climate change. The lakes at the base of the mountain are swelling and threatening to drown out nearby villages. And Oracion can’t help but think of similar effects on the Philippines with its denuded forests, carbon dioxide emissions, pollution, corruption… and the litany goes on.

He still shakes his head when he reads and hears about the country’s pitfalls. And it always takes him back to that gearshift in his mind.

Reaching the top of Everest has changed his life. When Oracion competes in duathlon or triathlon competitions, people almost always expect him to win. “Unfortunately, that isn’t the case,” he admitted. “Pero it has opened doors kasi people listen when I talk about the harmful effects of global warming. I am also able to help procure sports equipment for the youth in Cebu where I am now based.” He likewise serves with the Philippine Coastguard and on his free days when he isn’t training for another climb, he and some friends have been working to open public schools in areas not reached by the Department of Education. His disenchantment with the state of affairs in the country has only fueled his desire to make his corner of the world a brighter and better place.

And why not? He had the best view of the world that changed his perspective.

Author’s Note:
I first met Leo Oracion and Erwin “Pastor” Emata two years ago during Solar Sports’ trade launch along with its then new-sister channel, BTV. I was up on stage delivering a spiel with BTV counterpart Rely San Agustin and two of our station hosts, Vitto Lazatin and Reema Chanco when I spied the two watching the proceedings quietly in the back. I announced their presence to the assembled guests made up of government (boo) officials, athletes from various sports, corporate guests, and Solar Sports employees. A cheer went up and I shook hands with them.

For the First Philippine Everest Expedition. Their tracks may have been swept away by the wind, but their tracks in our history will remain forever.