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Chilean
Women Everest 2001 Expedition
First
South American Women Expedition to Mount Everest
Four
Chilean women started an expedition to Mount Everest.
They are Vivianne Cuq (leader), Cristina Prieto,
Patricia Soto y Andrea Munoz. They are joined by three
high-altitude cameramen: Christian Cuq, Philippe Reuter
and Francisco Medina. The rest of expedition includes
one doctor, one producer and one professional cameraman
from Chilean National Television. Total: 10 persons,
all Chilean, except Philippe Reuter, who is from
France, but lives in Chile.
Update
5/29/2001:
"Hello, here we are again, this time with the
summit in our hands. It is impossible to describe the
relief being back together in Base Camp, safe, in
theory, we are remembering with great sorrow those who
did not return.
Philippe
Reuter's message described in some
detail what happened on summit day, probably the most
chaotic of our lives - sharing the route with many
other expeditions is difficult and above all else,
dangerous.
That
night, each of us assumed and accepted all the
inherent dangers of the ascent and we thus succeeded
in arriving at the top. I remember many exceptional
aspects of this success - a brother and sister on the
summit (Christian and I arrived 15 minutes apart - we
hugged each other as I left and he arrived), 3 women
on the summit at the same time (you'd have to check
the history books to see if this has happened before),
the first Chilean and South American women, 75% of an
expedition on the summit - a much higher percentage
than the norm), but the most important factor is the
fact that the team all returned safely to base camp.
This
is a point I would like to highlight, because as head
of the expedition, I consider it a great success - we
owe it to a rigorous selection process and a still
more rigorous training schedule as well as the human
and professional qualities of the team members.
We
nearly missed out on the summit. We were working in
the mountains since the 7th April and when the last
two weeks in May arrived, no opportunities to summit
had presented themselves. we were all nervous, tired
and exhausted, but finally we were given the chance
and we took advantage (thanks to our training and
belief).
Tomorrow
we will be leaving Base Camp. The expedition will
leave our lives, leaving us with exceptional memories.
We will know that we have been privileged to have had
this chance.
I
am eternally grateful to everyone who accompanied me
to this mountain, particularly those who made up the
support group, who on countless occasions helped us
overcome the difficult times - Philippe, Christian and
Pancho.
I
am grateful to the girls who took up the challenge and
accepted the invitation to participate in this
expedition - Patricia, Andrea and Cristina. I
urge all Chilean women to get involved in sport in all
its forms and I urge all mountaineers from our
continent to set high goals.
A
fond farewell from the heights of the Himalayas,
Vivianne Cuq."
