With all the challenges of climbing Mount Everest, many have questioned the reason behind Miguel Mapalad and Jeno Panganiban’s expedition.
There were a lot of celebrations when three new Filipinos reached the summit of Mount Everest last month, with Ric Rabe, Jeno Panganiban, and Miguel Mapalad all successful in their expeditions in the 2025 climbing season.
But even as Filipinos reached the highest point in the world for the first time in 18 years, questions and doubts also linger about the bigger meaning behind all of it — especially after the death of PJ Santiago, a fourth Filipino climber who was attempting to scale Mount Everest.
Santiago died as he reached Camp IV in his quest for the summit, which came before the success of Rabe, Panganiban and Mapalad.
For his compatriots, though, the challenge of Mount Everest comes with both the good and the bad, and it is what they live for. That is, climbers understand the risks of what they chase in deciding to conquer the world’s tallest mountain.
[READ: Jeno Panganiban, Miguel Mapalad hope to inspire new climbers after Everest expedition]
For Mapalad in particular, who climbed Mount Everest with Panganiban as his partner, it was about leaving a lasting legacy for his family, and for the climbers after them.
“For me, it’s a personal goal. As a mountaineer, yan ang unang-una, number one na pangarap ng mga mountaineer and it’s a life-long dream ko na yan na maakyat yung Everest. Natupad din,” Mapalad said during their arrival in Manila last Sunday.
“Syempre, tayong tao, gusto natin magkaroon ng something meaningful in our lives na may mai-kwento tayo sa mga apo natin, or sa buhay natin,” he added.
Panganiban, meanwhile, also targeted an impact bigger than themselves — as they brought the country on their back as well.
Quite literally, Panganiban, Mapalad, and Rabe were able to bring flag and country to the top of the mountain when they summited.
“Siguro, simply saying, this is our dream. This is our passion. We’re doing it for ourselves, we’re doing it our family, for our friends, we’re doing this for our country,” he said.
Now, whatever others outside their community might think, it is clear that for climbers like Mapalad and Panganiban that there is bigger meaning behind what they do.
Besides, they wouldn’t have gone through everything that they did — including the threat to their lives — if they didn’t believe that it was worth it.
At the end of the day, Mount Everest serves as an aspiration for climbers all over the world, and Filipinos are no different.