Everyone has a mountain to climb
Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO. On their long road to becoming the first Dominicans to climb Mount Everest, Evan Gomez, Federico Jovine and Karim Mella saw their lives in danger on dozens of occasions.
Nevertheless, the first and most troublesome proof that they were "playing with fire" was felt when they were reading the requirements needing to be fulfilled in order to receive the permit to begin the attempt in Gomez' office. The questionnaire asked: "What do want them to do with your body?" in case they died on the mountain.
To take the body home would cost US$30,000; to lower it to a small Sherpa village for burial would cost U$7,000 and to leave it where it was would cost nothing. The third option was the one chosen by Gomez, Jovine and Mella.
"I had to sign a death certificate with my first and only son who is just a few months old," said Gomez, and Army officer and an executive of the tour operator Desde el Medio Group.
To obtain the permit can take up to three years. In their case, the company that supplies the logistics demands that the climber has already climbed mountains of 7,000 and have experience walking on glaciers.
But to overcome two months facing temperatures below - 40° Celsius (or Fahrenheit, they are almost the same at that temperature), the freezer in a normal refrigerator goes down to -18° C, scramble, climb, sleep on the ground and struggle with a mountain whose structure changes on a daily basis was a mission with a meaning that was just too special.
"The message is that if we risk and sacrifice ourselves enough, we can achieve any goal, everyone has a mountain, that this mountain is more than a challenge, that in this case our mountain was Everest, which is no more than a physical mountain, but the mountain of today's Dominican youth is to finish university, to prepare themselves, to obey the law, to know that working hard you can reach any summit and that definitely Dominicans can do it," said Gomez.
Federico Jovine could not reach the summit
"I have a personal issue with that mountain"
Federico Jovine doesn't have any feelings of remorse over having gotten sick during the acclimatization process, nor is he sorry for his decision to go back when his oxygen system failed him.
"From the start we were conscious of the fact that the three of us were not going to reach the summit, due to the fact that one cannot stay a long time on the summit; if we would have had half an hour of difference, as happened, you cannot wait for anyone, but the only thing that was important was that one of us reached the summit, with the (Dominican) flag," said Jovine, a 36 year old lawyer and writer.
"The decision that was taken was the most correct and above all, because the mountain is always going to be there, and there is always a second opportunity. If one takes the most proper decisions at the right time, there is always a second chance, and because of this, I will have my second opportunity in time. This is something personal that I have with the mountain."
To obtain sponsorship for such a challenge is another on the obstacles that had to be overcome, since given the great risk that there is to lose a life, the companies fear relating themselves with so dangerious projects.
The beginning
The excursions and climbs from Loyola School in Santo Domingo
According to Ivan Gomez, the interest in mountain climbing came about when the three of them (Gomez, Federico Jovine and Karim Mella) were students in the Saint Ignatius of Loyola School in Santo Domingo and they joined a group that was called Excelsior (The Center of Excursionists from Loyola), a sort of Boy Scouts organization, made up of students from the school.
"We are al alumni of Loyola, it was there that we began to do excursions, climbs and to know our country," said Ivan Gomez, after a question by DL director Adriano Miguel Tejada.
And he added, "At the age of 15, I went to Duarte Peak for the first time and there I was bitten by the climbing bug. From that moment on, I have not stopped; I have been up Duarte more than 50 times." The history goes on when a frined of Gomes, Jovine and Mella thought up the idea he called 10 in 10; to climb the ten highest mountains in the country in 10 days, which institutionalized the group.
Obstacles
In 2011, a more unstable year than all those before
Nelson Rodriguez asked Federico Jovine to tell them about the obstacle the climbers have to face to ascend Everest, and Jovino, the only one of the three Dominicans that did not reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world who stressed the unstable climate as a major obstacle.
"This year it so happened, we do not know why, I suppose due to climate change, that the meteorologists said that 2011 has been the more unstable than all the previous years, because in the previous years the window (when the mountain is free of clouds to the summit) has been very precise, but this year it was crazy, at 7:00 o'clock at night they would see the climate reports from Seattle, Washington in the United States, and say one thing, but then at 5:00 o'clock in the morning of the following day everything changed." Jovine pointed out "we used three weather reports, one from NASA, another from Australia, and one from Seattle, which is to say three reports with three climate models. Just imagine how it is to win the climate lottery."
To reach the summit of Everest
"It was not like I imagined; it was the most tiring day"
Ivan Gomez told how there was greater danger going down.
Ever since Ivan Gomez was bewitched by mountain climbing, some 16 years ago, he began to dream of putting the Dominican flag on the highest point on earth.
But, although the emotion that he felt in those few minutes that he was on the much desired summit are said to have no price to the point that he can only compare it to the birth of his first son, the danger of getting down and the obstacles that he had to overcome made that day one where caution was more present than celebration.
"It was not like I always dreamed of, it was not that so beautiful moment, so spectacular, so glorious, really it was the satisfaction, it was a gift, but at that moment you are so...you are in survival mode, you are extremely tired, I would say it was the most tiring day of my life," said Gomez, who climbed to the summit after the arrival of Karim Mella.
"You took one step and you had to breathe seven times to be able to give another one, due to the altitude and the low levels of oxygen. We began to walk at 9:00 o'clock at night, I arrived at 5:28 in the morning and I knew that I still had 12 more hours of walking, you barely eat at that altitude, because the body keeps blood in the vital organs, then if you eat a lot, you get indigestion, you cannot drink a lot of water because water freezes, the only water you have is a liter, inside the suit and you have an oxygen tank with a limited lifetime, besides you need light to go down," said Gomez, 36.
After that time on, they reached the summit, placed the (Dominican) flag and fulfilled a series of commercial commitments and then they prepared to descend by a route full of bodies.
"A considerable number of deaths occur in the descent. On the internet you can find hundreds of photos of persons whose last images alive were taken on the summit of Everest, they lowered their guard, and descending is more dangerous than the ascent," said Gomez, who has gone up Duarte Peak 52 times and who lost 27 pounds in the ascent of Everest.
"Those great achievements require a lot of sacrifice; this is part of the sacrifice. The easy things, the important things never come easy, then precisely it is a sacrifice, a suffering, yes, it is suffering but it is also a satisfaction," said Gomez, who thanked the support of his wife, Nannette Camarena.
Everest is 8,848 meters above the sea, the altitude that planes fly at when they are traveling more than an hour.
Experience
Three mountain climbers with national and international goals
You cannot, just because "it entered your head" get on a place and try to climb Everest. No, besides the regulations that exist, Ivan and Federico stress the need for experience and the physical condition of the climbers.
"Obviously, if you go to Everest you have to have experience mountain climbing, to have certain experience, we already had local and international experience because decision making on the mountain is a question of life or death, which is to say that experience is very important," they both said.
The added that the physical factor was also vital and because of this, "when you do a lot of mountain climbing you acquire what is called, a base, that keeps you in condition; you have to run, ride bicycles, swim, as part of a normal routine, at least three times a week, of course, and faced with a mountain that is more than 6,000 meters you have to have a training plan.
Nevertheless, the first and most troublesome proof that they were "playing with fire" was felt when they were reading the requirements needing to be fulfilled in order to receive the permit to begin the attempt in Gomez' office. The questionnaire asked: "What do want them to do with your body?" in case they died on the mountain.
To take the body home would cost US$30,000; to lower it to a small Sherpa village for burial would cost U$7,000 and to leave it where it was would cost nothing. The third option was the one chosen by Gomez, Jovine and Mella.
"I had to sign a death certificate with my first and only son who is just a few months old," said Gomez, and Army officer and an executive of the tour operator Desde el Medio Group.
To obtain the permit can take up to three years. In their case, the company that supplies the logistics demands that the climber has already climbed mountains of 7,000 and have experience walking on glaciers.
But to overcome two months facing temperatures below - 40° Celsius (or Fahrenheit, they are almost the same at that temperature), the freezer in a normal refrigerator goes down to -18° C, scramble, climb, sleep on the ground and struggle with a mountain whose structure changes on a daily basis was a mission with a meaning that was just too special.
"The message is that if we risk and sacrifice ourselves enough, we can achieve any goal, everyone has a mountain, that this mountain is more than a challenge, that in this case our mountain was Everest, which is no more than a physical mountain, but the mountain of today's Dominican youth is to finish university, to prepare themselves, to obey the law, to know that working hard you can reach any summit and that definitely Dominicans can do it," said Gomez.
Federico Jovine could not reach the summit
"I have a personal issue with that mountain"
Federico Jovine doesn't have any feelings of remorse over having gotten sick during the acclimatization process, nor is he sorry for his decision to go back when his oxygen system failed him.
"From the start we were conscious of the fact that the three of us were not going to reach the summit, due to the fact that one cannot stay a long time on the summit; if we would have had half an hour of difference, as happened, you cannot wait for anyone, but the only thing that was important was that one of us reached the summit, with the (Dominican) flag," said Jovine, a 36 year old lawyer and writer.
"The decision that was taken was the most correct and above all, because the mountain is always going to be there, and there is always a second opportunity. If one takes the most proper decisions at the right time, there is always a second chance, and because of this, I will have my second opportunity in time. This is something personal that I have with the mountain."
To obtain sponsorship for such a challenge is another on the obstacles that had to be overcome, since given the great risk that there is to lose a life, the companies fear relating themselves with so dangerious projects.
The beginning
The excursions and climbs from Loyola School in Santo Domingo
According to Ivan Gomez, the interest in mountain climbing came about when the three of them (Gomez, Federico Jovine and Karim Mella) were students in the Saint Ignatius of Loyola School in Santo Domingo and they joined a group that was called Excelsior (The Center of Excursionists from Loyola), a sort of Boy Scouts organization, made up of students from the school.
"We are al alumni of Loyola, it was there that we began to do excursions, climbs and to know our country," said Ivan Gomez, after a question by DL director Adriano Miguel Tejada.
And he added, "At the age of 15, I went to Duarte Peak for the first time and there I was bitten by the climbing bug. From that moment on, I have not stopped; I have been up Duarte more than 50 times." The history goes on when a frined of Gomes, Jovine and Mella thought up the idea he called 10 in 10; to climb the ten highest mountains in the country in 10 days, which institutionalized the group.
Obstacles
In 2011, a more unstable year than all those before
Nelson Rodriguez asked Federico Jovine to tell them about the obstacle the climbers have to face to ascend Everest, and Jovino, the only one of the three Dominicans that did not reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world who stressed the unstable climate as a major obstacle.
"This year it so happened, we do not know why, I suppose due to climate change, that the meteorologists said that 2011 has been the more unstable than all the previous years, because in the previous years the window (when the mountain is free of clouds to the summit) has been very precise, but this year it was crazy, at 7:00 o'clock at night they would see the climate reports from Seattle, Washington in the United States, and say one thing, but then at 5:00 o'clock in the morning of the following day everything changed." Jovine pointed out "we used three weather reports, one from NASA, another from Australia, and one from Seattle, which is to say three reports with three climate models. Just imagine how it is to win the climate lottery."
To reach the summit of Everest
"It was not like I imagined; it was the most tiring day"
Ivan Gomez told how there was greater danger going down.
Ever since Ivan Gomez was bewitched by mountain climbing, some 16 years ago, he began to dream of putting the Dominican flag on the highest point on earth.
But, although the emotion that he felt in those few minutes that he was on the much desired summit are said to have no price to the point that he can only compare it to the birth of his first son, the danger of getting down and the obstacles that he had to overcome made that day one where caution was more present than celebration.
"It was not like I always dreamed of, it was not that so beautiful moment, so spectacular, so glorious, really it was the satisfaction, it was a gift, but at that moment you are so...you are in survival mode, you are extremely tired, I would say it was the most tiring day of my life," said Gomez, who climbed to the summit after the arrival of Karim Mella.
"You took one step and you had to breathe seven times to be able to give another one, due to the altitude and the low levels of oxygen. We began to walk at 9:00 o'clock at night, I arrived at 5:28 in the morning and I knew that I still had 12 more hours of walking, you barely eat at that altitude, because the body keeps blood in the vital organs, then if you eat a lot, you get indigestion, you cannot drink a lot of water because water freezes, the only water you have is a liter, inside the suit and you have an oxygen tank with a limited lifetime, besides you need light to go down," said Gomez, 36.
After that time on, they reached the summit, placed the (Dominican) flag and fulfilled a series of commercial commitments and then they prepared to descend by a route full of bodies.
"A considerable number of deaths occur in the descent. On the internet you can find hundreds of photos of persons whose last images alive were taken on the summit of Everest, they lowered their guard, and descending is more dangerous than the ascent," said Gomez, who has gone up Duarte Peak 52 times and who lost 27 pounds in the ascent of Everest.
"Those great achievements require a lot of sacrifice; this is part of the sacrifice. The easy things, the important things never come easy, then precisely it is a sacrifice, a suffering, yes, it is suffering but it is also a satisfaction," said Gomez, who thanked the support of his wife, Nannette Camarena.
Everest is 8,848 meters above the sea, the altitude that planes fly at when they are traveling more than an hour.
Experience
Three mountain climbers with national and international goals
You cannot, just because "it entered your head" get on a place and try to climb Everest. No, besides the regulations that exist, Ivan and Federico stress the need for experience and the physical condition of the climbers.
"Obviously, if you go to Everest you have to have experience mountain climbing, to have certain experience, we already had local and international experience because decision making on the mountain is a question of life or death, which is to say that experience is very important," they both said.
The added that the physical factor was also vital and because of this, "when you do a lot of mountain climbing you acquire what is called, a base, that keeps you in condition; you have to run, ride bicycles, swim, as part of a normal routine, at least three times a week, of course, and faced with a mountain that is more than 6,000 meters you have to have a training plan.
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