AN 80-YEAR-OLD mountaineer with a knee replacement has just come back from crowning the Lenin peak in Kyrgyzstan as 'practice' for the only two of the world's 8,000 metre-plus summits he has yet to scale.
Carlos Soria says he feels 'better than ever' and is looking forward to scaling the Dhaulagiri in September.
"After nine months of training after my knee replacement, the result has been fantastic," Soria told reporters when he landed at Madrid's Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport.
The Lenin peak in the Pamir mountain range on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is 7,134 metres above sea-level, but 'not very technical' from a climber's point of view, reveals Carlos.
"It was just the lack of ropes that could have made it dangerous," he admits.
"This was the worst thing that could have happened to me, because of not having flexibility in my leg - but anyway, it was amazing," says the mountaineer from Ávila, Castilla y León.
"The operation could have left me worse than I was, but I still say I feel better than I did before it."
Carlos did, however, experience some problems during the trip - firstly, because he was the only one of his climbing colleagues who had to make the epic journey without oxygen.
"I was very surprised that I was able to go up the way I did without oxygen. My two colleagues had climbed up to Camp 2 to sleep the night, but I had a problem with my stomach so I stayed down below. The day I did go up was fantastic, though," says the pensioner.
He also admitted it helped that he was well-known in Kyrgyzstan.
"Not only did everyone know me, but everyone loved me, and that gives you a lot of extra strength," Carlos admits.
He has already attempted to crown the Dhaulagiri, without success, because his knee replacement was 'giving him a lot of trouble', but he is keen to try again next month.
After this, he wants to try the Shisha Pangma which, if he completes it, will mean he has all 14 of the planet's 8,000-metre peaks under his belt.
These two are the only ones left, as he has already crowned 12 of them.
One of these was the Annapurna in Nepal, at 8,091 metres and commonly considered to be the world’s most dangerous summit – but Carlos was 77 when he scaled it in late April 2016.
"I can't wait for August 30 to come around," Carlos told reporters, excitedly.
"We're off to Nepal for two weeks to train on the Khumbu. Then, on September 20, we'll head to Base Camp.
"I think I'm going to feel fine. Everything's telling me I'm going to be in an excellent condition."
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