This mountain Methuselah is simply incredible. Carlos Soria reached the summit of the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu in western Nepal today – at the age of 86, no less.
This means that the Spaniard is now listed in the record books as the oldest person ever to stand on an eight-thousander. He replaces Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura, who climbed Mount Everest in 2013 at the age of 80 – for the third time in his life.
Six times at Manaslu in 52 years
This was Soria’s sixth attempt on Manaslu. According to the Himalayan Database mountaineering chronicle, he reached an altitude of around 6,000 meters in 1973. In 1975 – 50 years ago – Carlos was also part of the expedition in which Gerardo Blasquez and Jeronimo Lopez became the first two Spaniards to scale the eighth highest mountain on earth. He himself reached an altitude of around 7,000 meters – as he did on his next attempt on Manaslu in 1999.
In 2010, Soria – then already 71 years old – tried to summit this eight-thousander twice: in spring, he turned back at 7,500 meters, and in fall, he reached the summit without bottled oxygen, or rather, what everyone thought was the summit. In reality, as it later turned out, it was not the highest point of the summit ridge. Soria only reached the so-called True Summit now, 15 years later, with breathing mask and Sherpa support.
Soria holds age records on five eight-thousanders
Carlos has stood on twelve of the 14 highest peaks in the world. He celebrated his first eight-thousander success, on Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, at the age of 51. This was followed by twelve more eight-thousander successes (including the “erroneous” one on Manaslu), eleven of them over the age of 60.
The former upholsterer, who lives in the small town of Moralzarzal near Madrid, holds the age records on Makalu (69, at the time he climbed without bottled oxygen), Gasherbrum I (70, also without a breathing mask), Kangchenjunga (75), Annapurna (77), and, of course, Manaslu (86).
Climbs with an artificial knee joint
The only peaks missing from Soria’s collection are Shishapangma in Tibet – where in 2005 he did not reach the Main Summit (8,027 m), but “only” the slightly lower Central Summit (8,008 meters) – and Dhaulagiri. Carlos has already made 14 unsuccessful attempts on the 8167-meter-high mountain not far from Manaslu.
In 2023, he injured his shin during an summit attempt at 7,700 meters and had to be flown out by rescue helicopter. But even that did not mean the end of his long eight-thousander career – nor did the fact that he had already had an artificial knee joint fitted at the end of 2018. Carlos Soria is not easily deterred.
Andrews capitulates to deep snow in the Everest summit zone
American Tyler Andrews was slowed down again today during his fifth speed attempt on Mount Everest this year. The 35-year-old long-distance runner turned back at the South Col at around 7,900 meters. “Unfortunately, the snow above Camp 4 is too deep to reach the summit in a reasonable time,” Andrews let know.
He has since reached Camp 2 at 6,400 meters safely. He plans to return to base camp tomorrow, Saturday. This was his second failed attempt this fall; in spring, Tyler turned back prematurely three times.
Andrews wants to climb Everest without bottled oxygen – and faster than anyone has ever done before. The current record for reaching the summit without an oxygen mask from the Nepalese south side is 20 hours and 24 minutes, claimed in 1998 by Nepalese mountaineer Kaji Sherpa.
Rope-fixing team reaches summit of Dhaulagiri
Meanwhile, the first summit success of the season has been reported from Dhaulagiri. According to Chhang Dawa Sherpa, director of the Nepalese expedition operator Seven Summit Treks, the four-man rope-fixing team – consisting of Tashi Sherpa, Lakpa Temba Sherpa, Phurba Kusang Sherpa, and Pasang Nurbu Sherpa – reached the highest point at 8,167 meters.
