2023-05-18 16:23:59
A crazy, ambitious dream… and perhaps too dangerous? Carlos Soria Fontan, an 84-year-old Spanish mountaineer, intends to become the oldest mountaineer to climb the fourteen highest peaks in the world, those culminating above 8,000 m, after having already conquered twelve.
First ascent at 51
His first expedition dates back to 1990. At the age of 51, he climbed his first “eight thousand”, the Nanga Parbat in Pakistan. He then, for 26 years, chained the ascents of summits until counting twelve in 2016, which was already a feat.
But Carlos Soria Fontan has his goal in mind. Only, the summit he covets seems much more difficult to reach. To climb the Dhaulagiri, at an altitude of 8,167 m, he tried his luck thirteen times… for thirteen failures. The last one dates from this week, just 700m from the finish!
Definitive abandonment?
On Wednesday, a message posted on his Facebook page indicates that he broke his leg in an accident caused by the fall of one of the Nepalese guides in his rope. “He was injured in the leg in an accident above 7,500 m,” the organizer of his expedition told AFP.
Another message, published on Thursday, confirms that the octogenarian has returned to the Nepalese capital for treatment and adds: “A big thank you to all of you for your support”. It is not clear if the old mountaineer plans to mount a 14th expedition.
Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest peaks in the world, including Everest, which rises to 8,849 m above sea level and welcomes hundreds of climbers each spring, when the temperatures are milder and the winds generally weaker.
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