Wikipedia:Dale Abenojar

'''Dale Sto. Tomas Abenojar''' (born April 27, 1963) is a Filipino mountaineer and an adventure sportsman and a mountain guide by profession. He is the founder of an evangelical Christian ministry called Gospel Expedition Ministries. He graduated from Living Waters' U.S.A. School of Biblical Evangelism in 1995 and is now a practicing missionary evangelist. In 2006, he was recognized as "the first Filipino" to reach the summit of Mount Everest by veteran Himalayan expedition chronicler Elizabeth Hawley. According to Hawley Dale reached the summit on May 15, 2006. Abenojar was certified by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA) on May 20, 2006 to have summitted Everest via the North Col on May 15, 2006 at 10:45 a.m. Beijing time.

Dale Abenojar is the 2,614th Everest summiteer. In contrast, Leo Oracion is the 2,740th Everest summiteer. Both Abenojar and Oracion is in the full list of successful ascents of Mount Everest from 1953 to 13 February 2009 in pdf file submitted by German Himalayan Archivist and former adventurestats.com compiler Eberhard Jurgalski of 8000ers.com. The Himalayan DataBase published by American Alpine Club had included Dale in the list of Everest North summitteers for Spring 2006 on May 15.

Background
Dale was a former member of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers. He was the first Filipino to publicly announce the intention to climb Everest in 1994. His intention drew criticism from Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines headed by Rolando Francisco. The MFPI then wrote a letter to the President of the Philippines not to support his Everest Expedition.

Everest Expedition
After 10 years he resumed his bid to climb Everest. He pawned his car, a Range Rover to support his climb. During the early stage of his expedition he took a short alpine mountaineering course provided by his Sherpa and was given proper acclimatization. In performing the first acclimatization in North Col Dale spewed blood due to lung infection. He was brought down with the assistance of two Sherpas and treated by the Indian doctor in Base Camp. After recuperating he then proceeded to assault the summit. His summit assault was monitored by radio communication between Monterosa Treks and Expeditions camp manager Ram Krishna and Abenojar's lead trekking guide Tsiring Jangbu Sherpa from China Base Camp at 5400m on May 10, Advance Base Camp at 6400m on May 10, North Col-Camp 1 at 7000m on May 12, Camp 2 at 7900m on May 13, Camp 3 at 8300m on May 14 and on the summit day at 8848m on May 15, 2006 at 10:45 a.m. Beijing time.

Upon arriving in the Philippines he and his Sherpa were brought to Cardinal Santos Hospital. Because Dale was suffering from severe frostbite climbing Everest, his left big toe had to be amputated while his Sherpa had frostbite to all his toes and had to be amputated as well. Sports medicine surgeon Dr. Gar Eufemio and his team had waived all their professional fees to help the cash-strapped Abenojar. Lucio Tan, a sponsor of FPMEE visited him, paid the hospital bills and praised his achievement.

Summit First News
GMA7 TV reported on April 28 that Mountaineers Romi Garduce, Del Adelujar (spelled correctly as Dale Abenojar), and the Philippine Everest team are the acknowledged Filipinos currently on Mount Everest to try their luck in becoming the first Filipinos to reach the peak of the mountain.

On May 11, GMA7 News said that Filipino mountaineer Dale Abenojar has not backed out of an international expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Abenojar is part of a 15-member team from different countries which would take the North Col, the route from Tibet.

On May 15, Abenojar's summit date, GMA7 News reported that another Filipino mountaineer Dale Abenojar was seen climbing the mountain from the Tibet side.

Newspapers in the Philippines reported a bitter rivalry between the maverick Dale Abenojar, who claimed the first Filipino ascent via the Northeast Ridge on May 15, and a national team that reached the summit from the south side two days later. The news was first reported in Philippine media on May 17, 2006 by GMA 7 and ABS-CBN, but actually first came to light through a posting on May 16, 2006 by Outdoor News Wire and Mt. Everest.Net.

The Filipino climbers on the South Col. (Leo Oracion, Erwin Emata and Romeo Garduce) had reached the peak of Everest, all of whom had climbed the Nepalese side of the mountain. For this, Oracion and Emata were awarded Athletes of the year by the Philippine Sportswriter Association. Garduce on the other hand was awarded Order of Lakandula by Malacañang. However, Abenojar was not included in these awards.

Summit proofs

 * 1) The Himalayan Database published by American Alpine Club had included Dale in the list of Everest North summitteers for Spring 2006 on May 15. Dale summit feat is disputed based also on the same list.
 * 2) China Tibet Mountaineering Association - Abenojar was certified by the CTMA on May 20, 2006 to have summitted Everest via the North Col on May 15, 2006 at 10:45 a.m. Beijing time or 8:45am Nepal time. In contrast, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal had awarded Leo a summit certificate making his Mount Everest South Col summit ascent on May 15, 2006.
 * 3) Elizabeth Hawley - On Hawley's interview at GMA-7 she said "I met him myself. I interviewed him at his request. I believe he reached the summit. I believe him. It has been disputed, but he has photos and I have copies (of the photos)". One of the photos, Hawley said, clearly "showed Mt. Makalu in the background. Mt. Makalu is not visible anywhere below 8500m on the North side".  Mounteverest.net states that the investigative body in Everest who have earned the respect of International Mountaineering community is Ms Hawley. Another organization who gathered information on Everest is EverestNews.com. Their website have kept summit list from 1950 to 2005.
 * 4) Summit/Near Summit Witnesses
 * a) Vince Waters - Hawley said that Waters, a former Canadian Air Force officer, also testified to her that he saw someone wearing the same clothes as Dale at 7900m on May 16, 2006. According to Waters, he spoke to Dale about letting him use the spare oxygen bottles Dale had left at his camp three tent just in case he needed oxygen later. Dale reached the peak with Tsiring Jangbu Sherpa, Hawley added.


 * b) Pasang Dorchi Sherpa - Two-time Everest summiteer and trekking guide Pasang saw Dale and Tsiring climb the 2nd step at 8600m until both of them reached the top of the step on the early morning of May 15, 2006. Pasang had to turn back from the base of the 2nd step after unloading two of Abenojar's spare oxygen bottles from his backpack because of severe frostbite to all of his toes. The top of the 2nd step to the summit is 148 meters.


 * c) Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa - Tshiring said that it was he who took the photographs of Abenojar at the top of Everest on May 15, 2006 at 10:45 a.m. Beijing time. Tshiring is a Himalayan trekking guide and a three-time Everest summiteer.


 * d) Discovery Channel production crew had interviewed Abenojar at 8300m near the place where David Sharp died.

Timeline

 * Celebrates his birthday in Everest - April 27, 2006
 * Descended on a Yak - May 7, 2006
 * Rope fixed on the north side (from the bottom to the summit). - May 9, 2006
 * Summit Bid from 6500m - May 12, 2006
 * Summit - May 15, 2006
 * Going down on a Yak in middle camp - May 18, 2006
 * Headed for Kathmandu Nepal - May 20, 2006
 * CTMA Certification announced by Philstar- May 30, 2006
 * Interview by Secretary of Elizabeth Hawley - May 30, 2006
 * Certified by Elizabeth Hawley - June 14, 2006
 * Frostbite toe was reported by GMA news -
 * Arrival in the Philippines

May 15 summit schedule

 * Himex Team 6:15a - 7:03a Nepal Time
 * Turkish Team 7:00a - 7:30a Nepal Time wiki
 * Dale Abenojar 8:30a - 9:00a Nepal Time 
 * Valdimer Lande 9:00a - 9:30a Nepal Time
 * Ravichandran Tharumalingam 2:00p - 2:30p Nepal Time

Note: All times are based on Kathmandu Standard Time (UTC+5:45)

Personal life
Dale Abenojar is married to Liza Abenojar. They have four children namely Alexandra, Katrina, Daniela and Rafaela. He is the eldest among the four children of Dantes and Leticia Abenojar. He has three siblings, Nuel, Ariel and Leda.

Dale was baptized as a United Methodist. Dale, his wife and children are now part of Victory Quezon City, a local church under Every Nation Ministries.

Recognition

 * Living summit witness, Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, three-time Everest summiteer said. "He (Abenojar) reached the top. That is the truth."
 * Abenojar was certified by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association on May 20, 2006 to have summitted Everest via the North Col on May 15, 2006 at 10:45 a.m. Beijing time.
 * On May 30, 2006, he was recognized by veteran Himalayan expedition chronicler Elizabeth Hawley as "the first Filipino" to reach the summit of Mount Everest
 * The Himalayan DataBase published by American Alpine Club had included Dale in the list of Everest North summitteers for Spring 2006 on May 15
 * Abenojar is in the full list of the 3,050 successful ascents of Mount Everest to March 2007. Under "Everest all" is a link to the entire list in Microsoft Excel Worksheet
 * Commended by Sen. Richard Gordon for his efforts to climb Everest
 * Recognized by the Nepal Travel Trade Reporter (Nepal's leading travel trade journal) as the first Filipino to scale the world's highest peak, Mount Everest from North Col, Tibet side on May 15, 2006 (vol.IX/issue no.29/may29-june4,2006/feat section/page26,29)
 * Recognized by DZME hosts Jessie Paredes and Manny Orlina as the first Filipino to summit Mount Everest


 * Recognized as the first Filipino to summit Mount Everest on the TV program Pilipinas Ngayon Na ", hosted by Undersecretary Robert Rivera of the Malacañang Press Office and co-hosted Nikka Cleofe-Alejar
 * On June 20, 2007, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo conferred the Presidential Award on Dale Abenojar as evidenced by Malacañang's official invitation.

Future plans

 * Climb Everest North side again in 2007 without the aid of supplemental oxygen.
 * Fund charities beside his Everest climb.
 * Scale the Seven Summits all in one year.

Mountains climbed

 * Mount Pinatubo
 * Mount Apo
 * Mount Everest

List of Philippine Adventure Sports

 * 1991 member of the first group, Anthropologist Padma Perez, London-based film maker, photo-journalist, computer graphic artist and art teacher Arnan de Leon, of mountain bikers to summit Mount Pulag
 * 1992 the first solo survival longtitudinal trek (East to West Coast) across the Palawan Island using the Mt. Cleopatra Needle (5225 ft) summit route, Saint Paul Mountain Range. The trek was monitored by Radyo Ng Bayan, Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
 * December 27, 1994 to January 3, 1995 member of the first mountaineering group (Congress Mountaineers -now called, The Association of Philippine Mountaineers) to traverse Mount Pinatubo's crater rim and lake after its eruption. The mountaineers led by Jules Calagui were sponsored by Panasonic and Purefoods.
 * 1996 first motorcycle trials summit ascent of Mount Apo. Dale's summit photos was taken by George C. Tapan, one of the Philippines's well-known travel photographer. Dale was also featured in The Philippine StarWeek Magazine and Asia Magazine.
 * 1999 over-all champion of the Bayfresh National 4x4 Off-road Championship. Dale used a shortened wheelbase off-road race-ready 1977 Range Rover Classic.
 * 2001 over-all champion of the Tough Truck Challenge National 4x4 Off-road Championship organized by the Manila Off-roaders Inc. Dale used a shortened wheelbase off-road race-ready 1977 Range Rover Classic.
 * Dale Abenojar and his family on a 4-wheel drive Range Rover at the crater rim of Mount Pinatubo Philippines, May 2004.
 * May 2004 first four-wheel drive vehicle ascent of Mount Pinatubo's Crater Rim using a rock crawler-modified 1977 Range Rover Classic. The event was featured in the Philstar motoring news. This event was featured on three local Philippine television networks namely, ABS-CBN's Sports Unlimited, ABC5's Auto Review and PTV4's Auto Extreme