Chilean mountaineers Galo Viguera and Felipe Bishara escaped death during their ascent to the top of Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world.
Chilean mountaineers Felipe Bishara and Galo Viguera ‘lived’ with death on their first great expedition to the Himalayas. A deadly avalanche and climatic factors prevented him from going to the top of Manaslu.
Last September, the athletes faced an interesting journey to the eighth highest mountain in the world< /strong>, whose objective was to be the most sustainable excursion in the history of our country. The national duo sought to conquer the Nepalese massif with a pure, minimalist and autonomous style, which would leave the smallest possible carbon footprint, without using helicopters or supplemental oxygen.
Despite carrying out a long preparation, of approximately 10 months, the national athletes, members of Team Lippi< /strong>, they were unable to carry out the assault on the summit due to bad weather conditions and an avalanche that left two people dead: a Sherpa and Hillary Nelson, recognized worldwide for being the first woman to summit in two ‘eight thousand’ (Everest and Lhotse).
In dialogue with BioBioChile, Bishara and Viguera recounted the problems they had to face in the area located between India and Tibet. “There are ‘superior’ things that make you be in the right place, at the right time and you have to trust. It all started on September 25 when we decided to separate with Galo”, indicated Felipe Bishara from the outset.
“On the 26th I am preparing to leave base camp to go through camp IV (7,400 meters) and after that descend, all in one go. I woke up later than scheduled and when we met Galo at camp II, 10 minutes before, we heard on the radio that there was an avalanche between camp IV and camp III”, he commented.
“Then uncertainty arose, since we did not know if they had died or injured, the number of people (…) Galo had planned to arrive at III that day and I would pass III and play IV . Once we got to III we found this a scene of injured people, restless Sherpas looking to abandon their clients to go after their injured colleagues”, he added.
Then came the most relevant statement. “So, due to some divine fact, I didn’t wake up at the time that corresponded to me, I did it later, and if I do the calculations I could have been between Camp III and Camp IV at the time of the avalanche said Bishara.
Galul’s Tale
Regarding Galo’s experience of this difficult moment, the athlete pointed out that “it is not very different from Felipe’s and they were difficult moments. That day we met in camp II with Felipe, we went up to camp III and there we found out what had happened”.
“This coincided with the death of the famous American skier Hillary Nelson. She and her husband reached the summit and when they skied down, Mrs. He made a bad move, drifted in some snow – a mini avalanche – and fell down the other side of the mountain at 2,000 meters. They found it several days later by helicopter,” Viguera said.
To finish the topic, the mountaineer pointed out that “the avalanche was not just snow, it was with pieces of ice, therefore that left both injured with internal bleeding and breaks. The tragic stories don’t end there, they continued days later.”
What left their passage through Manaslu and the upcoming challenges
On the other hand, the national athletes did not dramatize the impossibility of reaching 8,163 meters of the mountain. They pointed out that this journey also ended up being a positive experience, since it went beyond sports.
“Personally, this is life changing. Getting to know a culture like the Nepalese, getting to know the Sherpas and the people who inhabit this country have a very deep sense of spirituality and of living in the present that is too different from what we live”, declared Felipe Bishara.
“We basically (in Chile) are more focused on consumption, on measuring your income. Over there with good karma, good energy, with good camaraderie, it’s all they need to live”, he added.
In the same vein, he pointed out that “although it is a sporting milestone, it also changes your life to live the complete experience, both of culture, as well as knowing mountains of this altitude and finally the strength and will that we have together with Galo to embark on an adventure like this”.
Asked if they would go for a rematch, Bishara pointed out that “more than that, we are aware that the mountain speaks, we knew how to listen and we returned. Today we have a ‘bug’ of wanting to return to an experience like this, but personally I would look for another type of mountain, to know another frontier, because Manaslu has sections exposed to avalanches”.
“The rematch is about to go to another 8,000 meter mountain. And maybe when the conditions are right, go back to Manaslu, but we have to discuss it with Galo”, he added.
Although the representatives of the Lippi team could not reach the objective this time, they do not rule out returning to try it in the future. “Sport is everything to me. We already have some projects planned for next year, so this is just the beginning of our careers”, said Viguera.