Spanish mountaineer Carlos Soria is training to tackle one of the world‘s highest peaks.
At 81, Spanish mountaineer Carlos Soria is training to tackle one of the world‘s highest peaks, a challenge he will dedicate to the elderly victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To all those who have disappeared because of this terrible pandemic, this terrible crisis, I want as an elderly person that I dedicate it to them,” Soria said outside her home in the Sierra Guadarrama mountains, north of Madrid.
If travel restrictions allow, Soria hopes to travel to Nepal in the spring to tackle the 8,167-meter ascent of Dhaulagiri.
After conquering 12 of the 8000 meters in the world, Soria wants to complete the list with Dhaulagiri and the Shishapangma of Tibet to become the oldest climber to reach the 14 highest peaks on the planet.
He had intended to do so earlier this year, but the pandemic has pushed much of the world into lockdown and put his plans on ice.
Without being discouraged, he took advantage of his stay at home by sleeping in a hypobaric chamber that reproduces the atmospheric conditions of life at 5,000 meters above sea level.
Soria retains her skills by trekking miles through the rugged foothills and using ice axes to scale a rudimentary climbing wall on her veranda.
“With all this mess in the world, being locked up here wasn’t the worst thing that could happen,” Soria said during a training break.
“I’m a seasoned climber, a very seasoned climber,” he laughs, recalling some of the trips that have taken him to remote beaches on every continent.
“Now that I’m a little older, I think it’s a great idea to show people of a certain age that they shouldn’t give up on things just because of their age.”
