Annapurna 2010: The warrior from Mallorca

Zaragoza, IN KATMANDU: Carlos, Javier and Juanito arrived in Katmand� yesterday, by the afternoon. When they arrived to Katmandu, they found a general strike. The access to the city was blocked and they had a lot of problems but they finally got to their hotel. Today and tomorrow they will have to do a lot of paperwork. Tomorrow, Tuesday, Carlos and Javier will catch a flight at 8 in the evening that will take them to Doha. They will have a scale there for two hours and they will catch a flight directly to Madrid. It is expected that they will arrive in the early morning of Wednesday. And so they will put an end to this long and hard expedition.

Annapurna, TOLO, THE WARRIOR FROM MALLORCA

I met Tolo Calafat in the pleasant expedition from Mallorca that
attempted Everest in 2005. I was there with Carlos Pauner filming and attempting the same summit. Carlos had met Tolo the previous year in Cho Oyu. In those days Tolo climbed Cho Oyu, Everest and the false summit of Broad Peak. I did not met Tolo again until the fall of 2009 in Shisha Pangma in Tibet, where I was returning with Carlos and Tolo came with no one else but Juanito Oiarz�bal. For Tolo and for me, being part of an expedition with these Himalayas climbers was a great honor. Juanito, who in Shisha had just met Tolo, quickly became his friend, as everybody, and in the one thousand tasks required in an expedition, he called him Tolo �the Gudari�� the warrior� in Euskera: �Gudari, take two stoves and gas�, �Gudari, don�t forget power for the water�� Tolo�s eyes, and mine, twinkled imagining stepping on the summit of the mountain, while he listened to stories from Juanito and Carlos in their numerous eight-thousand meters summits. And he dreamed to continue his career as a Himalayas climber, along with famous fellows as Juanito and Carlos. Juanito and Carlos gave him advice, in how to make his career as an eight-thousand climber from the Baleares Islands and from Mallorca. Listening carefully to Juanito, and following his advice, many times as a joke, he was turning into a �Gudari�, as Juanito called him constantly. We joked with him, telling him that, because of his tremendous strength, he should open the entire trail of the day of the summit, and also carry lines to fix. �That is what you expect from a Gudari� said Juanito. And Tolo, taking the joke, without any claim, and with great respect for Juanito and Carlos, said that he would, whatever his mentors said. After Shisha Pangma in Tibet, this spring of 2010 came to Annapurna in Nepal. We formed the same group, Juanito Oiarz�bal, Carlos Pauner, Tolo, who had become a �Gudari� after Shisha, and me. Annapurna inspires a special fear to those who come to climb it. Tolo, who has
a piece of bread, in his goodness, expressed his doubts or fears about the mountain sometimes. Quickly Juanito and Carlos reprimanded him, jokingly or seriously, and reminded him the path of the eight-thousand climber he was beginning to walk, and reminded him his condition of warrior to finish this mountain with success. In base camp, Tolo, an athlete of daily training, almost a professional, left everyday to move his legs in the surroundings of base camp. He went out with Juanito, who most days asked jokingly �where are we going today, Gudari?� and Tolo always proposed a lot of hours of walking and Juanito reprimanded him with love� �you go then, Gudari, I have to cook garbanzos at 1�. (Juanito had cook for us almost everyday at base camp meals as if we were being invited to his home). The curious couple of Juanito and Tolo got my attention, when Tolo was a confirmed page and Gudari of Juanito. We all made common plans for the future. Carlos Pauner, Juanito Oiarz�bal and the Gudari from Mallorca, Tolo, made it to the summit of Annapurna, on April 27 at 16:00, Nepal time. Sadly something happened in the extremely trained body of Tolo, during the descent from the summit of Annapurna. Dr. M. Antonia Ner�n and I got the last words from him at 9 in the evening of April 28 through radio. Our Gudari was fading. And part of us with him. Tolo, the Gudari from Mallorca, died in the early morning of April 29 above 7,500 meters in Annapurna. His spirit survives, forever, in the memory of his wife Marga, and his bright gaze in his children�s. Tolo, Gudari, as Juanito called you, when we go back to the mountain, we will feel you among us. Rest in peace, there, wherever you are.

Javier P�rez

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Zaragoza, Friday, April 30, 2010

SONAM AND DAWA ARE SAFE AT BASE!

Good, good, good!
Here we were with our hearts in our hands fearing the worst for our
Sherpas, when Javier called from base, very happy, saying that Sonam and Dawa arrived to base past midnight! The walkie�s antenna broke and that was why they could not contact our climbers. They are exhausted but fine, we are sure that the doctors of our expedition are taking care of them.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera
Zaragoza, Friday, April 30, 2010

WORRIED ABOUT SONAM AND DAWA

We don�t have good news from Annapurna again.
The two Sherpas of the expedition, Sonam and Dawa, have not returned to base camp. Carlos has just confirmed that by telephone, at 19:30, Spain time. Sonam and Dawa were in camp 4 with Juanito, Horia and Carlos when the helicopter that had tried to rescue Tolo landed there. Sonam and Dawa rejected to be transported from camp 4 to base camp in
the helicopter because they were very afraid to go down hanging in the air, just tied by a rope to the helicopter. They decided to go down by their own foot. Last night they had to arrive to base camp and it wasn�t so, but our climbers thought they had spent the night in some camp and would come down this morning. It is 11 in the evening now and they have not arrived. They carried a walkie and they don�t answer. Carlos said that since they arrived to base camp yesterday there had been many avalanches. Our climbers are very worried about them and fear the worst. Tomorrow, very early in the morning, a group of climbers will go up to camp 2 to look for them.
Carlos, Javier and Juanito have delayed their departure from base camp that they had planed for tomorrow. We hope to have more information tomorrow, let�s hope they find them.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera
Annapurna, Friday, April 30, 2010

TOLO, FRIEND

You can�t imagine the feeling of void you have left us. We touched
your salvation with the tip of our fingers, but this cruel Annapurna
had stabbed you deadly. Dawa�s effort was worth nothing, after he
left for your encounter with oxygen and food. You were too high and could not come down one meter from your position. The night snow did not help either. On the next morning we flew over your position once and again and only the white blanket of snow was visible. Your life faded sweetly after the last communication of the previous night. You could not stand it anymore, pal. Horia�s solidarity was not useful either when he stayed with Juan and me at camp 4 after the summit, assuming an extreme risk. We gave it all, but it was not enough. Now grief comes on us. As chief of the expedition I had to talk to your wife and tell her the worst that could be told in the whole life. She is devastated, but with time she will be better, she will remember the brave man of dreams that you were and your children will grow proud of the stories and adventures of you that she will tell, I am sure. You were not a normal man. You were a warrior, a fighter of life and a man full of dreams. In all the expeditions that we did together, I have enjoyed your company as no one. Faithful, generous, with not fear to be wrong I think that you were the friendliest and good person I have met around these places. Strong and decided, you found in the Himalayas a proper terrain for your qualities. Remember that I told you: you�ll get hooked. You said you wouldn�t, that my thing was the
races. Yours war the same as our thing, a quest for almost impossible objectives and the ability to reach them. We take our vital energy for life from that and that is why we are what we are and that is why Marga fell in love with you one day. I want to send her all my encouragement. Although everything is black now, the sun will come up little by little and finally, you and us, will keep the part of Tolo that belongs to each of us, the part we liked most and it will keep on living inside of us. Tolo, little by little built his fame in the Himalayas, being known, making friends, behaving with honor and that has made that today everybody knows about this strong man from Mallorca, that decided to take the stories of the largest mountains of the world to his land. Mallorca had a great ambassador, that will be hard to match. Marga, you enjoyed a great father and husband. We have lived great moments with Tolo. That is why he won�t be gone forever. His memory will remain, his smile and generosity. We love you Tolo, so we hope that wherever you are, we will soon join you.

Carlos Pauner

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Zaragoza, Thursday, April 29, 2010

BREAKING NEWS

Carlos, Javier and Juanito will try to fly from base camp to Katmandu
in helicopter this Saturday, May 1st. Once there they will have to do some paperwork. They will try to get plane tickets for May 3 in the evening.

As for the health of our climbers, besides the great physical wear of
several days in extreme altitude and the exhaustion, Carlos has a
finger with a little frostbite, and a severe conjunctivitis. Juanito
has frostbite in his feet, and Horia a little frostbite in a finger.
The doctors have given the first care and they are fine.

The two Sherpas of the expedition, Sonam and Dawa, are fine too, they did not want to go down in the helicopter and are now going down to camp 1. They will arrive to base tomorrow with a better weather.

The members of the team that remained in base camp, Javier P�rez, Dr. Nerin and Dr. Morandeira, are very affected because they were two whole days in direct contact with Tolo, until 8 last night, when they lost contact with the climber.

From here we want to send a strong and emotional hug to the family of Tolo and tell them that we join them in their grief in these harsh
moments.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Zaragoza, Wednesday, April 28, 2010

SAD GOODBYE TO TOLO

Very sadly, we inform you the decease of Tolo Calafat. I have talked to Carlos at 7:40, Spain time. He has just arrived with Juanito and Horia to base camp. The last communication with Tolo was yesterday evening at 8. Then, according to Carlos, his voice was just a thread of life. From camp 4 they sent up a Sherpa in his search, with oxygen, water, sleeping bag, medicines. The Sherpa climbed for 11 hours without finding him. It snowed a lot yesterday in the afternoon on the high part of Annapurna and the weather was horrible. This morning, a helicopter with an expert Swiss rescue team could fly, with Jorge Egocheaga, over the zone where Tolo was, close to the mountain, and did not see absolutely anything. After a long time trying, the helicopter could land on camp 4 and took out Juanito, Carlos and Horia, with ropes tied to the helicopter, and they were transported to base camp. The first thing Carlos did was to call Tolo�s family, devastated by the notice. Carlos, Juanito and Javier are very affected. Thanks all of you for your support.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Carlos and Juanito are in camp 4, still recovering from the hard effort from yesterday, and with minor frostbite, which for the moment are not important. They are waiting for Tolo, who stayed at around 7,500 meters (we don�t have exact information) to rest. It looks like he has problems to continue descending and they are organizing a rescue from base camp. This is all we know for the moment. We will keep you posted.

Zaragoza, April 27, 2010

RESTING IN CAMP 4

Carlos Pauner and Juanito Oiarzabal are resting in camp IV. After a
long descent, around 20 hours (Spain time), Carlos informed us about his arrival. They are tired, after an exhausting day.

At the moment of the telephone call, Tolo Calafat and a Sherpa
continued their descent to camp IV and were in contact via walkie-talkie with Javier P�rez, who is at these moments monitoring
the descent from Annapurna�s base camp.

We won�t have more news until tomorrow.

Thanks to all. Greetings.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Earlier: Zaragoza, Tuesday, April 27, 2010

No word from Carlos after his call from the summit. We called base camp at 17:40, Spain time, and Javier P�rez says that the Korean expedition, which made it to the summit an hour before Carlos, has not reached camp 4 yet either. Carlos, Juanito and Tolo are going down fine, after the Koreans. They are going slowly because it is dark in the evening. Javier says that the moon is full and that will give them some visibility.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Carlos called at 12:15 PM, Spain time, from the summit of Annapurna! He is there right now, with Juanito and Tolo. Then will go back down right away. They fear that night can fall before they get to camp 4. They will keep us posted. Congratulations Carlos!

This Annapurna where we are now, was climbed in 1950 by a group of strong French climbers, famous in their time because of their feats on the Alps, specially in Chamonix, where most of them worked as mountain guides. Why is it then that 60 years later this mountain resists so much? Why the bad fame? We have to find a reason in the passage of those 60 years, when the glaciers that surround Annapurna have suffered a great transformation. The dangling seracs (big blocks of ice) have been crushed, and the avalanches fall on its slopes every day. In fact, the day we arrived at Base Camp, when I was coming down from the helicopter, the shape of the mountain was so overwhelming and broken, that I thought that we could not leave BC, only if we were going on a suicide game. As the days passed, we discovered the climbing route, the weak spots among the chain of threatening glaciers, dangling seracs and avalanches that sweep everything. So, most of the Himalayas climbers involved in the race for the 14 summits above 8000 meters, leave this summit until the end, because of the danger. Sadly, more than one has perished on this mountain, ending his or her race of the �14 eight-thousands�. The scary shape of the mountain as its recent history, makes its climbing, the tension, -the high tension-, much more patent than in other eight-thousand meters mountain. I have seen that in myself and in Carlos Pauner. When we arrived at camp 2, which in another mountain would be an acclimatization phase, relatively calm, in Annapurna you are with your eyes wide open and listening to every sound to see if you have to get away quick from the tents to dodge an avalanche that can sweep the camp where you are. The first night that we spent in C2, we slept with an open pocket knife in a safe place, the boots at hand, in case we had to rip open a tent in the middle of the night to be safe. Days later, when we climbed to C3 at 6,600m, on the trip to the cone, in the meeting place of avalanches that fell from the superior part of the Hoz Glacier, with a bar of seracs of more than 200 meters thick dangling on our heads one thousand meters above, a severe silence is imposed on the group, a silence that aggravates the situation of tension and danger in the spot. Once that passage was passed, the welcome we had on the steep slopes of the Hoz Glacier, with an avalanche of blocks of ice, sent us back to that state of permanent tension, mandatory in Annapurna. The usual jokes among us, while we shoot video, climb or rest in the high altitude camps, are just for Base Camp this time, the only place in the mountain where you can stop feeling the enormous pressure of the thousands of tons of ice that Annapurna keeps on the heads of those that attempt to climb it. Two days ago, climbing to C3 in a summit attempt, I broke one of my crampons in the steepest zone of the cone. While I was trying to fix it, an avalanche of powder snow swept that zone of the mountain without mercy, and brought me back to the state of high tension constantly required by this Annapurna. This avalanche of blocks of ice and powder snow that brushed me by, swept everything in its way to a huge crack in the ice of the glacier, that swallowed everything that fell from a thousand meters from above. I thought I was seeing the gates of hell. Today, April 27, while Carlos covers the last steep ramps from C4 to the summit, I am safe at Base Camp. I don�t feel the high tension generated by the chaotic dangling glaciers of Annapurna anymore, but I feel, up there, a few hours away from the summit, the enormous tension of the group that attempts to step on the summit of Annapurna, 60 years later. Good luck everybody, good luck Carlos.

Good day everybody. We still have no direct communication with Carlos. I have spoken with Javier P�rez at 09:40, Spain time. From base Javier can see the images of the Korean TV camera that is located at camp 1. He sees two people ahead, by the corridor zone (he doesn�t know who they are. We don�t know exactly how far away from the summit they are. Half an hour behind them are 5 Koreans, and behind them, half an hour or more are more climbers, but they are undistinguishable. It looks like there is a lot of wind and a lot of snow, so they move slowly, opening the path. This summit is getting difficult. We will inform you as we get more news.