24-05-2025
'Live the Dream 2' narrates All-Filipina team's ascent to Mt. Everest summit in 2007
The experience of the three Filipina mountaineers who joined a 2007 All-Pinay Mt. Everest expedition has been immortalized in the book 'Live the Dream 2' by expedition leader Art Valdez.
During the book launch at Rockwell Center, Makati, earlier this May, members of the Philippine Mount Everest Expedition team honored the legacy of Filipinas Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commander Carina Dayondon, Petty Officer First Class Noelle Wenceslao Penetrante, and Janet Belarmino, who made up the first and only all-female expedition to traverse the legendary Mt. Everest.
In addition to the unveiling of the book, the launch was also held in the same spot where the expedition was announced 21 years prior, with Dayondon and Wenceslao in attendance.
'It's been 17 years, but every time I think back to that moment on the summit, I'm reminded that our story is every Filipina's story… It's about rising above doubt, and pushing past limits you didn't know you could break,' said Dayondon.
Wenceslao added, 'We didn't climb Everest to be remembered—we climbed because we believed we could. And now, we hope other women will see that they can take on their own Everest, whatever it may be.'
The All-Pinay Everest Expedition was a success after the All-Pinay expedition descended from the mountain in 2007, shortly after Leo Oracion, Pastor Emata, and Romi Garduce were able to place the Philippine flag at the Everest summit in 2006. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/JCB, GMA Integrated News
