Brazilian Expedition to the Top of the
World: 60th day of the Brazilian Expedition to
the Top of the World.
Camp 2 (6,500m) - Base Camp (5,400m). Back to
Base, safe and sound.Dear friends! With extreme happiness, with great satisfaction, I
write you from Base Camp, after seven days of intense activity in
the high altitudes of Everest and Lhotse. To know that I am in a
safe place, far from the furious winds, well down from thin air,
brings me an immense calm, and to Irivan too, I am certain.
We were welcome with enthusiasm, today at 15
hours, by our friends here at Base Camp, after a long descent from
Camp 2, with an extremely heavy back pack. Marcelo Bonga, Alir
Wellner and Paulo Mαfia, hugged us with emotion, to the end they
also lived every second of our adventure and had each one their
important participation in this great victory.
Yes, my friends, a big and unforgettable victory
for Brazilian sports was achieved with the great efforts of these
last days. We climbed Lhotse, the fourth biggest mountain of the
world, one of the most respected 14 Eight Thousands, one of the most
difficult (there are only 14 mountains in the world taller than 8
thousand meters).
Yes, sadly we didn't climb Everest. We tried, with
a lot of will, but we understand that the conditions on Everest were
out of our control, when we were swept by an avalanche. The amount
of snow accumulated on the route offered an imminent danger of new
avalanches, a risk we preferred not to take again. And also, it is
very probable that just Irivan and I alone could open the route to
the summit through so much fresh snow, after our teammates and also
our Sherpas were not in conditions to help us, because of their
health.
The Japanese expedition, whose chief is Katayama,
formed by 3 climbers and 3 very strong Sherpas, made an attack of
Everest yesterday and returned exhausted, without achieving the main
summit, they bravely made it to the South Summit, at 8,751m.
And today, as if the gods were just waiting for
our descent, dark clouds covered the atmosphere. When we reached
Base Camp, it started to snow. We took advantage of a window of good
weather, we were in the right place at the right time.
In the following days, we will tell you more
details of our climb. Today I leave you the pictures we shot from
the summit of Lhotse, with a lot of pride, my sixth Eight Thousand
meter peak. The picture where I am shows the Nepalese side of the
Himalayas in the background, in the picture where Irivan is, you can
see the Tibetan plateau. In the third picture, the east view, that
proves we made it to the summit, where you can see Makalu (8,464m)
and, in the background, Kangchenjunga (8,598m).
We have a series of pictures