To La Pedriza who left and fell in love. I was fourteen at that time. From its cliffs, meadows and fields. He saw nature as a refuge, a place to escape a reality that still bore the ravages of a past war. He fell so much in love that he abandoned himself to the mountains. It was at the same time that he began working as an upholsterer in a small family workshop, a profession to which he devoted his entire life. This does not mean that he neglected this granite landscape: from La Pedriza at fourteen years old to the ascent of the west slope of Dru, one of the most legendary in the French Alps, at twenty-three years old. From there, the climber made numerous first routes and ascents to different peaks in Spain and the Alps. However, Carlos Soria (Ávila, 1939) was never a mountain professional. “Amateur, nothing more.” An enthusiast who managed to climb a virgin seven thousand, the Khan Dome, and conquer the fourteen eight thousand, the highest peaks in the world, among which Everest, K2, Nanga Parbat and Annapurna, considered the most dangerous in the world. world. And all but two managed to reach their peaks. “My hobby, mountain climbing, has given me the life I love. This gave me the opportunity to learn many interesting stories. I worked as an upholsterer, but I was born a mountaineer without knowing it,” he said in a conversation with this newspaper. Now, a goal: return to Manaslu (Nepal, 8,163 meters), the eighth highest altitude in the world Return, because already in 1975 he participated – after having attempted it in 1973 – in the first Spanish expedition to this summit, led by Jerónimo López and Gerardo Blázquez, who. was the first national eight thousand. “Today, 50 years later, we return. And more excited than ever “Expedition to Manaslu in 1975 Madrid communityThe idea of organizing, once again, an expedition to this summit. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this stage came from the Royal Spanish Mountaineering Society of Peñalara. The budget to make the climb possible is 190,000 euros. It will be in the spring of next year, at the beginning of March. And directed, this time, by Soria. Among the members of the expedition who will accompany the athlete is mountaineer Belén Rodríguez, who will attempt to break the women’s world speed record, round trip, from base camp to the summit, through the original route of this mountain of Soria, aged 86. when I go up, once again, to this summit of the Nepalese Himalayas. Despite the serious accident he suffered at Dhaulagiri, an expedition he led with his partner Sito Carcavilla in May last year, at around 7,700 meters above sea level, due to the fall of a Sherpa and of which he is “miraculously alive”, he has not I have not lost my interest in climbing mountains. Quite the contrary. “I never thought about throwing in the towel. I wanted to go back there. Climbing is what I love to do the most. Little by little, Soria recovered from this open fracture of the tibia. “Six months after the accident, they had to operate on me again. Recovery was slow. Time and patience. As if it were a miracle, I left Dhaulagiri alive, that’s the thought I clung to and cling to,” says the man from Avila. madrid_dia_0703Among the mountaineer’s accolades include the Medal of Sports Merit, the Spanish National Geographic Society Award, the Seven Stars of the Community of Madrid 2019 or best athlete of the year by the Spanish Ski Federation (1979) Now take on the new challenge with attitude and above all with enthusiasm. For this, he trained a lot, every day: “For me, sport, knowing how to eat well, taking care of myself in general, has been and is very important.” “Arriving at retirement in a good physical and mental state, that should be the goal. At this age, we still have a lot of life, and a very interesting life, ahead of us.” Soria ended up get away from the big city to live in the middle of nature Since he retired twenty years ago, he has lived in Moralzarzal, near the mountains. He rarely visits Madrid anymore, but he says it’s a “wonderful city that has a lot of quality, a lot of culture, a lot of movement.” It is precisely the Community of Madrid which will sponsor the return to Manaslu with 18,000 euros. But in addition to financial assistance from the Community, we need financial support from companies that might be interested in carrying out the expedition.
