Carlos Soria summits Manaslu aged 86!

At the incredible age of 86, Spanish mountaineer Carlos Soria has reached the summit of Manaslu (8,163m), fulfilling a long-term dream and achieving a feat that will go down in climbing history.

The sensational news reached base camp at 6 a.m. in Nepal when Pedro Mateo, the expedition leader, received the radio communication. One hour and twenty minutes later, a new radio update confirmed that Soria and his climbing partners – the Sherpas Mikel, Nima, and Phurba, and the climber and cameraman Luis Miguel Soriano – had passed the most dangerous part of the descent and were heading to Camp 2 after an exhausting day, which had started from Camp 3 at 17:00 the previous afternoon.

Soria's success is the latest chapter in his long love story with Manaslu, which began in 1973 with an unsuccessful first expedition to the world's eighth-highest mountain. He took part in a second expedition in 1975, which on 25 April successfully completed the first Spanish ascent of this Himalayan giant. Unlike other members of the expedition companions, Soria once again he did not reach the summit. Demonstrating extraordinary perseverance and determination, he finally summited Manaslu in 2010, at the age of 71.

What Soria has accomplished now is exceptional in many respects. It fits into the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of aforementioned first Spanish ascent of Manaslu, but it is undeniable that with his knee prosthesis and his venerable age of 86, reaching the 8163 apex takes on a much broader significance. Soria is now the oldest person to reach the summit of an eight-thousander; the previous "record" was held by the Yuichiro Miura from Japan, who reached the summit of Everest on 23 May 2013 at the age of 80.

Soria now has only Dhaulagiri and Shisha Pangma missing from the list of 14 8000ers, but it is obvious that his feat on Manaslu goes well beyond the summit. It is a lesson in life. It is proof that age is not an obstacle to pursuing one's dreams, and that, as he himself likes to say, "there are summits far more important than the highest point of a mountain."