FOR ROMI GARDUCE, majestic landscapes and cloud-crowned peaks are not just breathtaking sights. They are transformative and have shaped his life and spirit.
The mountaineer, scuba dive master, environmentalist, writer, and motivational speaker knows that to encounter these sights, you would have to subject yourself to both physical and mental trials. He often found himself battling uphill against treacherous terrain, dehydration, and thinning air. Romi says the art of hiking can be masochistic in some sense. Despite the physical hardships, the experience remains cathartic; While he says it was “all just suffering,” Romi finds that these climbs are more than mere feats of endurance, they are moments of profound growth.
Because of this, he ambitioned to conquer the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the globe’s seven continents,…