Reaching the summit of Manaslu at age 86 made Carlos Soria the oldest person ever to summit an 8,000m peak, but getting down from the mountain proved too much for his aged and oft-injured legs to handle.
“Between Camp 4 and Camp 3, Carlos [Soria] hit his legs, already damaged by the injuries suffered two years ago on Dhaulagiri and a knee prosthesis,” Luis Soriano with ExplorersWeb. “While not the most technical section of the climb [that’s between Camp 3 and Camp 2], part of the route between Camp 4 and Camp 3 is sustainedly steep and includes some icy patches. It is okay on the way up, but turned out complex on descent, given his mobility limitations.”
Soria managed to get to Camp 3, where he chose to be airlifted, “to avoid his injuries getting worse and [risking] his and his partners’ health.”
The Spanish man summited Manaslu on September 26, together with Luis Miguel Soriano, Mikel Sherpa, Nima Sherpa, and Phurba Sherpa. They had started from Camp 3 at 4:30 pm on Thursday, and reached the top 13 hours later. It was a record achievement. Yet the hardest part of the expedition, the descent, was still to come. Ultimately, Soria called for a helicopter lift.
Soria descends from the summit of Manaslu. Photo: Luis M. Soriano
Soria was the only passenger in the helicopter. The rest of the team stayed the night in Camp 3 and made it back to Base Camp pretty quickly (about three hours) the following morning. The entire team then flew to Kathmandu, where Soria joined his team for dinner. According to Soriano, Soria is okay, but still needs to replenish and rehydrate his depleted body.
Safety first
Soria had a knee replacement in 2018. In 2023, he had an accident at 7,700m on Dhaulagiri, when a Sherpa in front of him slipped and hit Soria’s leg. The collision broke his tibia and fibula right below the prosthesis.
Soria had to be dragged down to Camp 2, where he was finally airlifted. Thereafter, he did everything he could to recover and train for altitude. However, the movement in his knee remains restricted. He was able to climb Manaslu, but downhills are always a problem for anyone with knee issues. The downhill on Manaslu between C4 and C3 was steep, but not steep enough for rappelling.
Soria has long insisted that he will climb only in a way that both himself and the people around him can stay safe. “That is why I climb with Sherpas, oxygen, and whatever I consider necessary,” he told ExplorersWeb after a previous expedition.
The airlifts debate
Every year, there are reported cases, often publicly buried, of climbers airlifted from higher camps. Guides have told ExplorersWeb that airlifts above Base Camps on Nepal’s 8,000’ers are quite frequent these days. Usually, they are emergency evacuations of sick, injured, or exhausted climbers unable to proceed any further.
The debate comes when the emergency is unclear or doesn’t exist. Wealthy clients who have successfully summited can be tempted to ask for a ride down to Base Camp and cut down an exhausting descent or, in the case of Everest and Annapurna, to avoid the most dangerous sections. That kind of non-rescue helicopter rides raises ethical issues and, if reported as rescues, affects insurance company payouts. According to Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, such airlifts of convenience are not permitted.
Pasang Rinzee directs a helicopter during a rescue at a higher camp on Manaslu in 2022. Photo: Abiral Rai
Moreover, Soria’s team has honestly reported the airlift and the reasons for it, both to the media and The Himalayan Database. Most commercial climbers, even in valid emergency cases, do not, thinking it may affect the official authentication of their summit. At the very least, it taints their social media reports of the triumphant climb.
Is the summit valid?
However, Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism will issue a summit certificate as long as the top has been reached, regardless of what happens on the way down. Eberhard Jurgalski’s 8,000ers.com also validates summits if a climber reaches the highest point, and includes no asterisk over the means of descent. The Himalayan Database includes these summits in its files, but adds a marginal note specifying “helicopter-assisted.”
Billi Bierling told ExplorersWeb that Carlos Soria clearly told them about the airlift. In her opinion, it doesn’t diminish the merit of his achievement at all.
“He did amazingly well, and I say, good for him that he took a heli out — a lot of younger people do it,” Bierling told ExplorersWeb.
However, opinions differ among the climbing community. “We see this on Everest with the ‘medical’ evacuations from C2, and it’s very simple in my mind: it’s BC to summit to BC; anything else is invalid,” said 19-time Everest summiter Kenton Cool on this writer’s X account. That is also a common position among alpine-style teams.
On Manaslu above Camp 4. Photo: Luis M. Soriano
Other climbers pointed out that Soria’s is a strictly personal achievement with little mountaineering significance, since it was just one of hundreds of summits of Manaslu last week, done with oxygen and the support of three strong Sherpas and a climbing partner.
One fellow Spanish climber noted that the airlift would invalidate the summit if it was part of some record, such as becoming the oldest to complete the 14 8,000’ers. But Soria has already climbed (and successfully descended) Manaslu in 2010. Of the 8,000m peaks, he has only Shisha Pangma and Dhaulagiri, his long-time nemesis, to go.
When is it too late to climb?
Soria reached Manaslu Base Camp more aware of his strengths and weaknesses than most other clients on guided expeditions. He tested his endurance on 6,961m Aconcagua (6,961m) in February and took his time acclimatizing thoroughly before attempting Manaslu. While there is a minimum age (16) to climb an 8,000m peak in Nepal, there is no upper age limit.
Soria faced skepticism when he announced that he wanted to climb Manaslu at age 86. Among other things, he was unable to find sponsors. What might understandably make sponsors hesitate goes beyond style. It is about the risks taken both to reach the summit and to make it down alive. What would have happened if there had been no helicopter available at Camp 3?
“The summit climb went well, actually faster than expected,” Soria’s daughter, Sonsoles Soria, told ExplorersWeb. “The descent was also looking good at first, but as the slope steepened, he started having difficulties and acute pain in his legs.”
After he was airlifted to Samagaon, Sonsoles Soria said he could barely walk or speak out of exhaustion. “However, after eating and sleeping, he felt much better. Most of all, he is the happiest man on Earth!”
