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The
2001 Ararat Peace Climb
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| RICARDO TORRES-NAVA |
Hello
EverestNews.com, [this message was written to us, but
we wanted to share it with You :) ]
This
will be my last mail from Turkey. I was the first one
arriving and the last one to leave. Tomorrow I
will be flying back home ready to close my training so
I will attempt a World Record of Guinness in high
altitude scuba diving at Licancabur's lagoon next
November.
Licancabur
is located in the northern tip of Chile, south of Peru
and Bolivia , in the very dry Antofagasta region and
the lagoon is 6000 meter height. It will be as dry as
Ararat, no water either plus carrying the aqualungs.
I
know Nasuh is also leaving tomorrow but for China. He
will attempt Mustag Towers. What a great climber he
is!
I was
impress by all them. It was a thrill to finally meet
David Keaton. It was quite a bizarre coincidence that we
both wrote the chapter for Aconcagua in the book Seven
Summits published by Steve Bell.
So
many things in common .... how Mount Ararat bringing
us together. Swee is a superb athlete and an
incredible person. So easy to be with and Tunc was so
kind and humble all the time in spite of all his great
achievements.
What
can I say of my brother Marcelo, nothing seems to be
enough. He was my inspiration when I climbed Everest
as he was the first Latin American to summit an eight
thousand meter peak (Broad Peak) in 1984. And
Fernando, Fercho was also a delight to know.
I
spend long hours taking to all them and the
memories we all seven now share will be the jewel of
the crown of this great experience.
Normally
people ask me, as they probably do with all mountain
climbers, why do men climb and to offer a logical
explanation I always quote George Mallory the Galahad
of Everest with his immortal apparently illogical
phrase. "Because the mountain is there".
Sometimes
the mountain is there to prove you are number one, for
the pure ego trip.
Others
for financial reasons and pressures of your sponsors,
others to enjoy nature and God's work but this is the
first time that the mountain has been there for a
charitable and worthy cause beyond my personal
achievements.
I
love the feeling of have been of some help promoting
this cause and I will climb with this lot anytime
anywhere for any other organization that may need us.
So EverestNews.com,
Thanks so much for making me feel not only alive I
that wonderful untouched face of Ararat and having the
chance to open a new route which is rare these days
but overall for allowing me to help some people that
have not had all the advantages we did.
For
us tzedaka, wrongly translated as charity, in fact
means "justice" so we can all have the same
through those who had got more. I feel great as a Jew,
being able to make this Mitzvah, duty, to do tzedaka,
to give to others something I have and can be useful
to a cause, this ability the Creator gave me to climb
mountains so I can be closer to him and my fellow men.
God
bless you and please call me any time!
Shalom
RICARDO
TORRES-NAVA
This
climb has genuinely touched ALL of these climbers.
Don't we wish Everest was climbed this way !!! We hope
it has touched You. More to come. To
support this vision of peace, please make a donation, via
SHIVA charity. You can make a credit card donation by
clicking HERE.
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