Catalans on TOP of the world

Fewer than 40 mountaineers have climbed the 14 eight-thousanders -or 8,000 metre peaks- on planet Earth. It is one of the most aspired to feats in modern mountaineering, since Italian Reinhold Messner first achieved it upon scaling Lhotse (8,516 m) on October 16, 1986. Until 2017, no Catalan climber had been able to add their name to the list, but between May and July that anomaly was amended thanks to Ferran Latorre and Òscar Cadiach. They are not the only Catalans to take on the challenge of summitting all eight-thousanders. Lleida-born Juanjo Garra also set it as the main goal of his mountaineering career, but died in an accident on Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) in May 2013 when pursuing his ninth. Osona native Xavi Arias has also stated his intention to climb them all, but he still has eight to go.

Latorre and Cadiach began 2017 with their last eight-thousander in mind. In the case of the Tarragona climber, Cadiach, it was for the fourth consecutive year after three frustrated expeditions to Broad Peak (8,051 m), the last remaining on his list. Latorre had planned to attack his last eight-thousander, Everest, before Cadiach did his, to become the first Catalan to register his name on the famous list. He knew the mountain well, having made six previous expeditions to it, both on the north and south sides, but had not surpassed 8,650 m. Latorre’s aim was to scale Everest without bottled oxygen, as he had done with all the others, but the weather conditions the day he set out and the fact that he had suffered from flu a few days previously made it impossible. Finally, between four and five in the morning Catalan time on May 27, he set foot on the planet’s highest peak and became the first Catalan and the 38th mountaineer in history to conquer the 14 eight thousanders, with or without bottled oxygen. “I’ve had so much support from so many people, it’s really thrilling. At the top I thought first of my daughter, Clara, the only real reason for existing. I hope she’s proud of her father,” Latorre said on the radio the day he made the summit.

In the summer, Cadiach returned to Broad Peak with his fourth consecutive expedition, his fifth in all. The veteran Tarragona mountaineer was still in line to become the first Catalan to climb all eight-thousanders without oxygen. Only 17 climbers had ever achieved the feat, the last two, Italians Nives Meroi and Romano Benet, just two months before Cadiach’s expedition to Broad Peak. His expedition did not start well, as Cadiach had to turn back on the first two tries due to bad weather conditions. So he planned a third attack for July 27. He finally reached the top 14 hours after leaving Camp 3 (7,200 m) and became the 18th mountaineer, and the oldest (at 64 years of age), on the list inaugurated by Reinhold Messner in 1986.