K2 West Face
No seguimento da "animalada russa" que não resisti em apresentar num post anterior, cá vai a noticia: Russian Climb just reported: "12: 50 pm, local time - radio contact with Andrew Mariev and Vadim Popovich: They're on the top!"
Após mêses de esforço, noites intermináveis sem oxigénio acima dos 8000m, aguentando ventos fortes, fraca visibilidade, tudo aquilo que faria qualquer um voltar para trás, e depois de superarem um muro rochoso com 100m aos 8500m de altitude(que apelidaram de "Berlim Wall"), os russos chegaram ao cume do K2 abrindo um via nova, num esporão localizado na inescalada face oeste.
Vadim Popovich, entra nos 8000's em grande, já que este foi o seu primeiro (inacreditável, não??).
"It's a big season on the Mountaineers' Mountain. Out of 13 routes on K2, Abruzzi and Cesen share two hundred summits. After that numbers thin out sharply, down to the very zeros: The East Face and the North Face still await a first ascent. The West Face has fallen today at the Russians' siege. "
Estão de parabéns!!!
Um pouco mais desta história que faz História em:
http://www.k2climb.net/news.php?id=16416
terça-feira, agosto 21, 2007
segunda-feira, agosto 20, 2007
Face sul, 9 largos.
Pois é! Existe hoje mais uma via no Cântaro Magro, aberta há alguns fins-de-semana atrás.
Granito de excelente qualidade. Plaquetes...por agora nem uma, mas um destes dias passará a ter uminha por reunião e outra extra num passo...um pouquinho exposto, ou seja, para os mais afoitos, a repetição da via terá de ser breve!
LUCRÉCIA
"We got the empire, now as then,
We don't doubt, we don't take reflection,
Lucretia, my direction, dance the ghost with me..."
Lálálálálálá....
sexta-feira, agosto 10, 2007
K2 west face special: Jannu legends in final battle for the impossible side of Savage mountain
7-8 days at 8000 meters without oxygen
Storms = Climbers go down, Russians go up
Expedition made up of legends
Tenho a certeza de que estes tipos são de outro planeta!! É simplesmente inumano!
A história é decididamente longa, mas vale a pena.
São russos, lá está!
Eu cá, fico a torcer para que hoje façam cume, depois de um esforço desta natureza, bem merecem! Neste mesmo minuto, andam lá por cima, já bem pertinho do cume do K2.
07:28 pm EST Aug 09, 2007
(K2climb.net) “I'm worried about the Russians. They may need three days to climb the upper part of the west face..." wrote Kazakh Denis Urubko to RussianClimb today. His concern is warranted. The forecasts show that a storm should be moving in Sunday, leaving the guys less than three days to make it to the top and back to high camp.
Previously, the team reported that they'll need 2 days up and one down. If another day is added to this calculation and the forecasts are correct, they could get stuck in one of K2's notorious storms - high up on one of the Savage Mountain's meanest faces.
Jannu climbers doing west face top on a shoe string
The three climbers in the summit team are no newbies.They did Jannu's north face and Everest north ridge without oxygen together - among other things. (You might recall Nick Totmjanin from a recent Everest second step story.) But they are still human. The challenge ahead comes after four days already spent at 7800 meters - without supplementary oxygen. That's like hanging out 4 days without oxygen in the highest camp on Everest - and then go on a 3-4 day summit push.
The team has worked hard since early June to fix the face. That's 2 months climbing up and down the wall, starting out in brutal cold and later through all storms. 2 members have been evacuated already, due to altitude thrombosis. This happens when thin air thickens the blood so much that it begins to clot.
Now, the three front liners have only a small tent, some gas, one stove, 2 mattresses and 2 sleeping-bags between them - for a climb that could last as long as some alpine style ascents take on entire 8000ers. "They've reduced the gear to the minimum, but it's enough only for one or two nights," expedition leader Kozlov also noted.
They better be fast.
West side close calls and tragedies
The men are negotiating virgin territory. The west side of K2 was first climbed primarily through the easier west ridge. Japanese Eiho Ohtani and Pakistan Nazir Sabir finally summited, but had to spend a bivouac in a snow cave at 8470m.
In a first attempt on the ridge, a British expedition led by Chris Bonington ended in tragedy: an avalanche killed Nick Escourt at about 6700m. Doug Scott was also caught in the slide, but was miraculously saved by his heavy backpack, which anchored him in the snow – arresting his fall and snapping the rope that was dragging him to his death.
Latest, in 1997, another Japanese team managed to reach the top through the ridge and partially through the face where the team reported avalanche-prone sections and an exposed traverse on steep slopes covered with loose rock. (Check in later today for a K2 route special.)
7-8 days at 8000 meters without oxygen
What the men have behind them and ahead of them is a display of a high altitude feat rarely seen before. After 4 days in the deathzone, their entire system is slowly shutting down. Yet they have to force themselves to climb even higher on an empty wall leading to a notoriously unpredictable summit.
They're in radio contact with BC every other hour; this morning they began the push by climbing 12 previously fixed pitches. Before noon, the continued to the top - in a highly risky free climb.
Due to the recent snow fall, the men broke trail for 5 hours in deep snow after the fixed ropes ended. As a result of 4 nights in C5, they ascended very slowly. "We listened to their voices in the radio here in BC and understood how tired they must be," reported a team member to RussianClimb.
The three climbers finally stopped at 5 pm local time and set Camp 6 - that is they pitched their small bivouac tent there to spend the night. They had ascended close to the rocks on the right side, and stopped 200 meters below the horisontal rock band. They left again at 5 am this morning (local) and hope to summit later today. The weather's fine, but the snow is reportedly very deep - up to waist-deep or even chest-deep in some spots. (Check ExWeb's news section for updates through the climb today).
Expedition made up of legends
The expedition, by far the world's greatest high altitude mountaineering team, is made up largely of Russian Everest north wall and Jannu north face legends. Shabaline, who was the first to summit through the Everest north wall direct line, has been leading much of the work on the K2 west face. They are no spring chickens either: In the middle of the expedition, on June 22, Pavel Shabaline had a grandson and on June 26, Gleb Sokolov had a grand-daughter.
The team reached Goro II camp June 6. “It's still winter on the Baltoro Glacier," they reported. The porters were having trouble. The Liaison Officer brought with him so many books to BC, that the Russians hired a yak just to carry his gear.
When the work on the face began, Gennady Kirievsky said it looked like Jannu. June 25, they reached 7,000 meters. "We worked 6 days,” Alex Bolotov reported. “The lower part of the wall is very steep. We had to climb on overhanging rock sections 3 meters wide. There are a lot of such hard pitches – extremely difficult walls.”
Storms = Climbers go down, Russians go up
That day, Bolotov fell 4 meters when a ‘friend’ snapped, while Nick Totmjanin set a tiny tent at 7150 m. A few days later, climbers on the Abruzzi were turned back by a storm. The west face climbers meanwhile, continued their work high up.
July 2, while most teams had spent the weekend weathering a raging storm sweeping all the Karakoram peaks, the Russian climbers still headed up their face - in drifting snowfall - and pitched a tent at C3.
“After the extremely steep rock band on the bastion, which can be compared to the vertical walls on Jannu’s North Face, the route continues on equally difficult rock sections above 7000m,” reported Victor Kozlov and Nickolay Totmjanin from BC.
In addition to the altitude and bitter cold, the climbers negotiated the rocky middle sections, "it's tough; there are many long, vertical cracks and dihedrals covered in ice. All [our men] are brave,” the BC crew proudly reported.
G2 avalanche; K2 west face climbers rescue team mate
July 6, another summit push was thwarted on the normal route. And then another one on July 10. Meanwhile, the west face Russians set up C4 at 7,600 meters.
And so it went on, pitch by pitch. July 16, in the middle of another stormy weekend, the Russians remained high up on K2's west face - enduring avalanches and heavy snowfall in C4 - while fixing new pitches above, toward the final camp.
July 18, following another bad snowstorm, an avalanche killed 2 people on GII. Meanwhile, the west face climbers were having their own drama.
The storm had struck on July 12 with heavy snow fall and strong wind on all altitudes. Vitaly Ivanov suddenly became very ill in camp 3 and was unable to descend without help. His mates climbed up for him that morning, with an emergency oxygen bottle and medical aid. The effort lasted until 10 pm. The next day, they descended to ABC through the storm in a climb that lasted until that evening.
As Vitaly became worse, other climbers including the expedition doctor and coach also climbed up to ABC to meet him. In the final parts, they brought him down on a sledge and at last, Vitaly was evacuated by Pakistan chopper. He was the first man down due to the altitude blood clots that would come to plaque the team.
No break
The climb however continued relentlessly, without break. Shabaline's group, who had helped their mate down from the upper sections of the wall, went straight back up - to continue the work above C4, while others worked the sections below.
In spite of the 6 straight days of storm, the team managed to salvage all the tents in the high-altitude camps and bring up more gear to higher altitudes. "The K2 West Face climb continues and the climbers are very grateful for all who believe in the team and support the guys on the expedition website," the team dispatched.
July 20, K2's normal route was summited at last - at the cost of 2 climbers' lives. July 21, while the K2 summiteers fought their way back down the Abruzzi Spur in full blizzard conditions, the west face climbers went up to cintinue the route to C5, at about 7,500meters.
Low spirits
By July 25, remaining climbers on the normal route began to taper off. Weather was terrible, and they were tired and worn from previous climbs. "It’s cold, snowy and rainy,” vented Giuseppe Pompili. “K2 is buried in snow — I am afraid the season’s over.”
The Italian climber added, “We’ll try to go up, at least to retrieve our tents in C1 and C2. The fixed ropes are useless, buried under the fresh snow. Most teams hoping to attempt K2 after Broad Peak have called it quits. Gerlinde is still here, but with doubts about conditions on the mountain.”
Over at the west face, the Russian climbers still worked their horrible wall, but very slowly. Difficult rocks were never-ending, the altitude was high and another storm was forecasted.
Summit push!
July 31, new climbers on a summit push from both the Abruzzi Spur and the Cesen route were turned back due to whiteout -exactly 53 years after Italians Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli had become the first humans to step on K2’s summit. Meanwhile, the Russian's overcame the bastion and at last set up C5 by the upper snow field.
Only four days later, on August 3, still in the middle of a bad weather spell - the Russians decided it was time. Strong winds or not - two teams headed to C5 on the summit push. The plan was to fight through the storm in order to be in position for a summit push whenever the good weather arrived.
“The wind is blowing hard at altitude,” the team reported. “Still, Alexey Bolotov and Gennady Kirievsky are going up from C1, and Nickolay Totmjanin, Valery Shamalo and Victor Volodin have departed ABC. They all hope to reach C5 and wait there for better weather conditions. As soon as the wind drops, they’ll start a summit push.”
Meanwhile, Alexander Korobkov became the second man to be airlifted with altitude-induced thrombosis. But nothing could stop the summit push now. August 6, three men were reported to have reached reached C5 - Nickolay (Nick)Totmjanin, Gennady (Gene) Kirievsky, and Alexey (Alex) Bolotov.
"They won’t leave until they make it,” commented Slovak Dodo Kopold.
The men on the wall
Two days ago, climbers looking up from K2’s BC could see nothing but snow fall. Yet meteorologists peered beyond the cloudy fronts and announced good weather approaching, to last until this Sunday. Let's hope they're right - and that the three Russians are strong and fast enough.
But who are the three climbers?
You might recall Nickolay Totmjanin from a previous ExWeb story "I free climbed the Everest second step to avoid the crowd." ExWeb ran the article in relation to Altitude Everest's claims that their climbers (reported "two of the best in the world") had been the first to do so.
Born December 8, 1958, Nick began climbing in 1977. He is a five time Snow Leopard and has hundreds of rock climbs, winter climbs and high altitude climbs to his name. He summited Everest north ridge in 2003 without oxygen, and free climbed the second step simply because he couldn't afford to wait in line. (His - and others - 'sidestep' was only mentioned briefly before Anker & co made global media fuss about theirs.)
Nick summited Jannu's nearly unclimbable North Face in 2004, and was also member of the Soviet team who achieved the first ascent to Lhotse’s main summit via the south face (summitteers were Bershov and Karatajev). He is married with 2 kids, and works as a mountain guide in the ROSTEP outfit.
Gennady Kirievsky was born on May 29, 1961 and started climbing in 1978. A repeat champion of Russian climbing competitions, Gene was the leader of a 2002 Everest north ridge expedition and the 2004 Jannu north face expedition. He summited Jannu on May 27 - together precisely with Nick Totmjanin - but not until after helping one of the first summiteers down. He is married with 2 kids - the entire family is in fact very active in outdoor sports.
Alexey Bolotov was also on the Jannu expedition. He was badly injured, tried for the summit anyway, but had to finally abort after he lost his crampon. Born on January 20, 1963 Alex too works at ROSTEP. Married, with 2 kids, he is another Russian climbing champion whose major climbs include Jannu, Everest (without oxygen) in 2002 and the 2001 Lhotse Middle first ascent.
Jannu repeat?
The Jannu climb was awarded by ExWeb and Piolet D'Or, and for good reason.
In their final week, bivouacking in a portaledge at 7000 meters, gaining only 30m per day climbing, the men were on the limits of human endurance. They were coming off the wall like wounded soldiers; bloody heads and broken ribs, everywhere danger lay in waiting. They began to lose their nerve, ascending only five meters a day; they couldn't imagine how many days would be needed to climb the last 700 meters of the wall.
"The idea that we would have to retreat with nothing to show for our pains, to live up to the expectations of those who did not believe in us, after we spent so much energy, forced us to continue the climb even in heavy snowfall, into late darkness," the guys reported back then - before completing the epic ascent.
Perhaps something similar is going through their minds in this minute.
Viktor Kozlov, Vassily Yelagin, Piotr Kuznetsov and Pavel Shabalin spent a few weeks by the west face in 2004 scouting access routes through the glacier and possible routes on the wall.
Despite bad weather conditions – the guys returned to Russia boiling with excitement: “The first impression is very good,” called out team leader Viktor Kozlov. Their exploratory team had found a pass to the sheer wall near the Chinese border. Right after the scouting expedition, Pavel Shabalin made an alpine-style ascent of Khan Tengri’s North Face with Iljas Tukhvatullin. Pavel paid dearly for it though - losing 3 toes and 5 fingers to frostbite.
But loaded with topos, images and video of the wall, the team has now been feverishly working for two months on the new route they hope to open on K2's west face. There's nothing on the wall, and it has never been climbed before.
After opening a new direct route on Everest’s north face in 2005, Victor Kozlov is again leading a strong Russian team to complete the first direct ascent up K2’s west face. Team members are Nickolay Cherny, Serguey Penzov, Victor Volodin, Valery Shamolo, Dmitry Komarov, Pavel Shabalin, Iljas Tukhvatullin, Andrey Mariev, Vadim Popovitch, Gleb Sokolov, Vitaly Ivanov, Vitaly Gorelik, Eugeny Vinogradsky, Alexey Bolotov, Nickolay Totmjanin, Gennady Kirievsky, Alexander Korobkov, Victor Pleskachevsky, Serguey Bychkovsky, Igor Borisenko, Vladimir Kochurov, Vladimir Kuptsov and Oleg Ushakov.
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quarta-feira, agosto 01, 2007
À cerca de uns 5 anos atrás uma recente web Catalã sob a temática do alpinismo/escalada lançava (em tom de brincadeira e divertimento) um informal concurso para apurar o melhor relato entre os seus utilizadores. Animado por Férran “CaraNorte” o idealizador e webmaster deste pequeno evento lá me pus a escrevinhar umas frases no meu péssimo castelhano sobre uma viagem, ou melhor, sobre a nossa primeira viagem aos Picos da Europa e ao seu majestoso Naranjo de Bulnes numa época que já nem recordo, quando os animais ainda falavam e nós usávamos pés-de-gato de bota com a bela da peúga e éramos muito inconscientes (esta ultima talvez ainda não esteja desactualizada).
NOTA 2:
Desculpem-nos todos aqueles que realmente dominam a língua castelhana e aqueles que de todo não a compreendem.
NOTA 3:
As fotos são realmente de muito má qualidade (para não dizer péssimas) mas resultam de uma câmara muito, muito rasca e de uma actual fraca digitalização, pois na altura não existiam e tampouco imaginávamos o que seriam as câmaras digitais.
Pero…volvamos el tiempo un poco más atrás…
Hace más de una década, éramos unos chavales llenos de ilusiones. Ilusiones con las chicas, ilusiones con las rutas, las paredes, las montañas…ilusiones con la vida. Soñábamos con una vida curtida por la rudeza de las montañas, con las grandes paredes que aparecían en las fotos de las revistas, con las rutas que estábamos abriendo cerca de casa. Soñábamos en escalar las famosas rutas de los Alpes, las tapias de Yosemite, las agujas de Patagonia, los grandes picos del Himalaya, todo esto sin creer en la dureza y en las dificultades de la propia vida. Tan inocentes que éramos… ¡sentíamos que teníamos el poder de mudar el mundo!
Desde la primera vez que habíamos mirado una foto de la cara Oeste del Naranjo de Bulnes, habíamos pactado que en el día que nos sintiéramos preparados marcharíamos a intentar escalar esta fascinante e histórica pared. Desde ese día, solo teníamos una imagen en nuestra mirada: el grandioso Picu Urriello.
Durante todo el año estuvimos entrenando, imaginando y soñando con el día de la partida. Teníamos mucha ilusión, pero poco dinero. Sólo quedaba un par de semanas de uno caluroso Setiembre para el comienzo de las clases. Entonces percibimos que... ¡o era ahora o sería el próximo verano! ¡Entonces, que sea AHORA!
Embriagados por un enorme sueño, partimos cargados con todos nuestros trastos en una estrellada y dulce noche de final de verano. A medida que nos aproximábamos al Norte, la fresca brisa de la noche invadía nuestros pulmones de aire y nuestras mentes de libertad.Mareados de tanta emoción, los pensamientos estaban lejos…colgados de las tapias del Urriello y los vagarosos kilómetros quedaban al Sur perdidos en la oscura y desierta carretera.
La niebla estaba cerrada, la visibilidad casi nula, la noche fría…y nosotros felices al llegar a Fuente De. No nos creíamos que hubiésemos llegado al corazón de los Picos de Europa. A la mañana siguiente, el sol brillaba en el cielo y nuestra miradas brillaban al ver y sentir estas magnificas montañas. Apresuradamente, salimos sendero arriba con unas gigantescas mochilas a la espalda. Levábamos una vieja tienda prestada, sacos de dormir, algo de ropa (¡pensando que sería siempre verano!), el material de escalada (cuerdas, empotradores, friends, cintas…) y la comida que suponíamos ser suficiente para los diez días de estancia a los pies del Picu (suponíamos que haría siempre sol y estaríamos todo el día escalando, por lo que comeríamos poco, apenas algo más por la noche… ¡qué ingenuos chavales!).
Legamos a Vega de Urriello completamente extenuados por la marcha de varias horas cargados como caballos desde Fuente Dé (desconocíamos la subida por Sotres), pero el sol iluminaba radiantemente la cara Oeste del Naranjo de Bulnes. Por momentos nos quedamos paralizados en una mezcla de fascinación, cansancio, emoción. Estábamos delante de la montaña y de la pared que nos había quitado noches de sueño, llenado de ilusión, rellenado nuestros pensamientos. ¡Qué alegría y qué miedo nos daba esta gran pared! No me pude contener, subí la pedrera hasta su base y extendí mi mano para sentir la suavidad abrasiva de esta roca y el calor de su corazón. Jamás olvidaré la sensación de este momento. Jamás olvidaré el toque de esta caliza, y su efecto en mi interioridad.
Nuno “Larau”, mi compañero de viaje, también tenía la emoción estampada en su rostro. Montamos la tienda, arrumamos nuestros trastos, cenamos mirando la pared y nos acostamos en uno profundo y tranquilo sueño en nuestro nuevo hogar. ¡Qué bellas son estas montañas!
Me despierto por la mañana muy temprano sintiendo algo de frío. Oigo uno ritmado y constante sonido en el techo de la tienda. - ¡Hostia, está lloviendo! Saco la cabeza fuera de la cremallera y lo que miro es una Vega de Urriello invadida por la niebla y de una fina, fría y persistente lluvia. La temperatura también ha descendido mogollón.- ¡No te preocupes, Miguel! ¡Hoy es nuestro primer día, tenemos nueve más y esto seguro que pasará!, habla Larau medio dormido, medio despierto. Ya más tranquilo, dando razón a las palabras de Larau, vuelvo a embreñarme en el calor de mi saco. Hoy tenemos de descansar, mañana ciertamente será un bonito día de escalada.
El segundo día de bonito nada, pues nace lluvioso. Para nuestro desespero, el tercero también. En estos días nos limitábamos ha hacer alguna visita al refugio para hablar con la gente y a quedarnos encerrados en la tienda comiendo, durmiendo y a oír las fuertes gotas de agua que venían de los cielos.
Sólo las frías gotas de lluvia nos despiertan de nuestras ilusiones. - ¡Tenemos que bajar! Destrepamos el anfiteatro, rapelamos los largos de abajo y salimos corriendo por el sendero. Llegamos a Vega de Urriello, empapados de agua pero con una enorme sonrisa en nuestros rostros. Sólo nos falta una cosa para atingirnos nuestro “nirvana”: llegar a la cumbre del Naranjo de Bulnes por su cara Oeste.
Al inicio de la noche empezamos a preparar nuestra cena y es entonces que nos deparamos con una imprevista realidad: ¡nos sobra muy poca comida! Uno de los pasatiempos en los anteriores días de lluvia, encerrados en la tienda era comer, de manera que al final de este cuarto día apenas teníamos una decena de galletas, un trozo de pan, un poco de queso y alguno sobre de sopa. No teníamos un duro para ir a comer al refugio y tampoco para bajarnos a alguno pueblo a comprar alimentos. Solo teníamos dos hipótesis: o marchábamos ya para Portugal, o entonces intentábamos sobrevivir seis días más a los pies del Picu Urrielo.
Optamos por la segunda hipótesis y empezamos a delinear nuestra estrategia para conseguir algo de alimentos. Solo teníamos dos oportunidades de conseguirlo: una por la mañana y otra por la noche.
Nos habíamos enterado que todos los días a la primera hora de la mañana, el guarda del refugio llegaba a la explanada delante del edificio y descargaba un saco lleno de trozos de pan (que los clientes no comían en la noche anterior) al suelo para regalar a su caballo de porteos. Pero también para nosotros esto era un regalo… Solo teníamos de despertarnos, esperar un rato e impartir este banquete con nuestro amigo caballo. Casi todos los días conseguíamos unos cuantos trozos de pan para el desayuno.
La segunda oportunidad era a las primeras horas de la noche, cuando los ricos clientes del refugio se retiraban al comedor para saciar su intensa hambre. Nosotros esperábamos unos largos minutos y entonces entrábamos también en el comedor. Rápidamente hacíamos una revisión con la mirada a las mesas y memorizábamos aquellas en que la gente dejaba de sobra pan en la cesta. Entonces hacíamos nuestra investida. Con una formal delicadeza juvenil, nos dirigíamos a los clientes y preguntábamos si era posible regalarnos alguno trozo de pan, visto que no lo irían a consumir. De la reacción de las personas a esta cuestión, obtuvimos innumeras contestaciones: unas positivas y agradables, otras negativas y muy tristes. Nuestro primero intento fui a un guía de montaña y a su ayudante que guiaban a un numeroso grupo de americanos. Su contestación fui dura, directa, fría y arrogante: ¡NO! Larau y yo nos quedamos blancos y bloqueados delante de tamaña arrogancia y marchamos desilusionados y confusos, como perros duramente reprehendidos por algo inocente. Esa noche, un ultimo sobre de sopa instantánea con galletas rellenó nuestros estómagos.
Al otro día la lluvia continuaba, y también las ganas de escalar, a la medida que decrecía la esperanza. Por la noche decidimos hacer otro intento de conseguir algo del precioso pan.
Acabados de entrar en el refugio vimos como el ayudante de guía salía de la cocina cargado con dos tableros llenos de cestas de pan. Larau interceptándolo momentos antes de entrar al comedor y con un duro ¡espera!, aproximase y empieza a sacar-le el pan. El tío, sin nada poder hacer, limitase nervosamente a decir ¡No!... ¡No!... ¡No!. Larau con una firmeza rara y harto de tanta arrogancia dice: ¡Hombre, cállate y sigue!, ¡esto es nuestra venganza!. Yo no me creía en lo que acababa de mirar, pero con las manos llenas de trozos de pan salimos corriendo del refugio.
Esa noche, encerrados en nuestra tienda, nos hartamos de pan con queso y de tanto reír recordando la expresión del tío al ver el pan de sus clientes huirle de las manos sin nada poder hacer.
Adormecimos al ritmado sonido de la lluvia… y seguramente soñando con el sonido de nuestra respiración, movimientos y libertad en la Oeste del Picu.
Muchas fueran las reacciones de las diferentes personas a nuestra actitud, pero hay una que jamás podremos olvidar: era ya de noche, y entramos en el refugio completamente mojados de la fuerte lluvia que caía sin cesar. Estábamos cansados de esperar, hartos de pan, saturados de tanta agua, tristes con nuestra falta de suerte. Dirigí-me a una mesa donde dos jóvenes familias cenaban alegremente. Los niños, con un aspecto cansado por la caminada de la tarde, comían sus refecciones encantados por estar en un entorno tan bonito como estas montañas.
Aproxímeme de una de las jóvenes madres y en un tono amigable pregunté: ¿Por favor, es posible que ustedes nos pueden regalar alguno trozo de pan? Es que nosotros somos escaladores y el mal tiempo no nos deja escalar y ya casi no tenemos alimentos para permanecer unos días más.
Para mi espanto, la señora mí contestó con una amable delicadeza y mismo con un entusiasmado tono de voz: - ¿oye, como te llamas?- Miguel, le contesté.- Pues Miguel, vos regalamos todo nuestro pan y todos queremos que acepten también dos platos de sopa, pues tenemos aquí de sobra. Yo cuando era más joven, lo que más me encantaba también era viajar. Y como tampoco tenia mucho dinero he pasado por situaciones semejantes a la vuestra. Tenemos todo el placer en ayudarlos.Sintiendo algo de vergüenza, pero extremamente gratos y emocionados, esa noche, cenamos felices la caliente sopa en la amistad de esta gentil gente. Como se ya no bastara, dos de los niños se acercan a nosotros cada uno con una taza de ensalada de frutas en sus manos y con un tono decidido nos dicen:- ¡Esto es vuestro postre!Nosotros sin esperarlo, una vez más somos sorprendidos con tamaña bondad. - Niños, muchas gracias por todo, pero eso es vuestro postre y nosotros no lo podemos aceptar. Solo hay una taza de ensalada de frutas para cada uno de vosotros y como tal no podemos aceptar lo que vos pertenece… - ¡No, esto es para vosotros. Tenéis que tener fuerzas para escalar el Picu Urrielo!, nos contestan. Agradecemos una vez más a todos y comemos este delicioso regalo de fruta. Esta cena calienta nuestros estómagos, pero es la amable amistad de esta gente que nos calienta el corazón.
Sólo nos queda uno día más. Después de mañana tenemos de marchar de regreso a Portugal, pues las clases están empezando y no nos podemos quedar más tiempo. Mañana haremos un último intento… un intento desesperado.
Despertamos temprano…demasiado temprano. El frío se hace fuertemente sentir y el ambiente está húmedo. La niebla cubre toda la Vega de Urrielo. Todo está silencioso. Vestimos toda nuestra ropa y salimos por la pedrera arriba en dirección a la cara Oeste. Empiezo el primero largo de la «Leiva». El frío muerde nuestros cuerpos, pero es esta maligna meteorología que muerde nuestras mentes. Cada movimiento lo sabemos que es sin futuro, cada pensamiento es una profunda cuchillada en nuestras ilusiones.
Llego a la primera reunión y el termómetro marca cero grados. La lluvia empieza tímidamente a surgir y la esperanza se pierde en la lejanía de nuestros pensamientos. Larau llega a la reunión completamente mojado. La lluvia ahora está fuerte y solo tenemos una solución: bajar. Nos sentimos confusos con la vida…como es siempre usual. Nos quedamos unos pocos minutos en la reunión, en silencio, mirando estas montañas, mirando todo…y mirando nada. Nuestros cuerpos quieren bajar…pero nuestros ojos, nuestra interioridad quieren resistir. Jamás olvidaré la desilusionada y distante mirada de Larau, momentos antes de empezar a rapelar.
Despacio, cabizbajos, bajamos la pedrera en dirección a nuestra verde tienda indiferentes a las fuertes gotas de agua. Ya cerca del refugio vemos como un grupo de escaladores míranos desde la terraza. Hoy nadie se ha metido en la pared y uno de ellos grita de lejos:- ¿portugueses?, ¡…sois muy locos!
Al siguiente día hacemos poco entusiasmados el camino de regreso a Fuente De. Colocamos los trastos en el coche y bajamos la carretera.
¡Está brillando el sol! Los rayos de luz están intentando romper entre los espesos nubarrones negros que marcaran el clima de los últimos diez días y que de una forma sutil ha marcado fuertemente nuestras mentes y nuestra personalidad. Estamos en Potes, en el corazón…
Miguel Grillo
Face Oeste do Picu Urriello (Naranjo de Bulnes)
Face Sul 
"Larau" no cume!
Cume do Urriello
O nosso grande amigo "El caballo" (e o seu balde cheio de...pão!)
Oeste do Naranjo debaixo de tempestade
Ataque desesperado à Face Oeste
A desilusão perante o eminente abandono
O termómetro marcava 0ºC
Adiós Urriello
