Carlos Soria

Carlos Soria doesn’t give up. The now 79-year-old Spaniard set off again to Nepal to climb his 13th of the 14 eight-thousanders. Already for the ninth time, Carlos will tackle Dhaulagiri. Last year, Soria and Co. had had to abandon their only summit attempt in the upper part of the 8,167-meter-high mountain because they had missed the right route while the fog had become denser. Later heavy snow had impeded a second try. “This time I am sure that we will succeed,” said the probably fittest of all climbing seniors optimistically before his departure for Kathmandu.

Family trip to the Khumbu region

Trekking with daughter and grandchildren

Soria is going to acclimatize with a trekking tour in the Khumbu region, which is also a family trip: his daughter Sonsoles and his 10-year-old grandchildren Andrea and Carlos will accompany him. Afterwards, he will make his way to Dhaulagiri along with three Spanish friends and his Sherpa team. They plan to arrive at the base camp in mid-April. Only just before the start of the expedition, Carlos had managed to find a sponsor for his journey to the seventh highest mountain in the world.

Shishapangma in fall?

Carlos Soria on Dhaulagiri (in 2017)

In case he achieves the long-awaited success on Dhaulagiri this spring, Soria wants to try in fall to scale Shishapangma and thus complete his eight-thousander collection. In 2005, Carlos had stood on the Central Peak of Shishapangma, which is – with a height of 8,008 meters – beyond the eight thousand mark, but just 19 meters lower than the main summit. In 2103 and 2014 Soria had returned empty handed from Shishapangma.

Already eight age records on eight-thousanders

Carlos holds the age records at K 2 (65 years old), Broad Peak (68), Makalu (69, there he climbed solo and without bottled oxygen), Gasherbrum I (70), Manaslu (71), Lhotse (72), Kangchenjunga (75) and Annapurna (77). If he succeeds also on Dhaulagiri and Shishapangma, Carlos Soria would be by far the oldest man who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. This “record” is held by the Spanish climber Oscar Cadiach, who scaled his last eight-thousander, Broad Peak, in 2017 at the age of 64. Fitness seems to be in Carlos’ genes: “My mother reached the age of 96 years”, the Spaniard said in an interview of desnivel com. “Until she turned  90, she made it to the third floor without a lift.”