Malaga province firefighter takes on the Himalayas

In around 35 days, they will cross valleys and mountains to reach the heart of the northern Himalayas: Mount Manaslu or Mount Kutang in Tibetan, the eighth-highest peak in the world (8,163 metres).

The journey begins among the green mountains of Nepal, along roads with almost vertical gradients that the lorry carrying Daniel Gaona has been travelling since the early hours of this Monday. The journey was due to start on Sunday, but a landslide delayed it and it is only now that they are travelling the 260 kilometres of winding roads that separate them from Manaslu.

The journey, on which Gaona is accompanied by his friend and professional mountaineer Alex Txikon, along with the other six members of the expedition, involves a ten-hour bus journey, after which they will begin the trek on foot.

After the trekking phase, which will last seven or eight days, they will reach the base of the mountain. This period may extend due to the numerous road closures the flash flood on 26 August caused.

As well as Txikon and Gaona, Gaona's team comprises two mountaineers from the Basque Country, one from Tenerife, another from Cantabria, a fifth member from Colombia and a sixth from Ecuador, who was already waiting for them in Kathmandu.

Txikon was in charge of Gaona's first major expedition in 2024, when they climbed Ama Dablam, another mountain in Nepal (6,800 metres), and he was also the one who contacted Gaona about this new adventure. "I told him straight away. Of course I'm in. I'll find the money somehow, but I'm going," Gaona remembers.

Following that conversation, Gaona presented the expedition project to the Malaga provincial authority and the provincial fire consortium (CPB), for which he has been working as a firefighter-driver since 2009.

With the approval of Manuel Marmolejo, the provincial authority's second deputy president, Gaona started preparing.

He created his own T-shirts to promote the expedition and fund his equipment. To this day, he is grateful for the support from the provincial authority and, above all, from the CPB.

When they reach the "mountain of the spirits", they will set up base camp. From there, it will be three weeks of ascents and descents.

"We'll climb from base camp to camp one. Then we'll set up camp one and head back down to base camp to fetch more tents for camp two. And so on. As we climb, I reckon we'll probably set up three camps on the way to the summit. About 7,200 metres," Gaona explains.

After that, it will be a matter of waiting for the moment of truth: the perfect window of good weather to make the summit.

"We have satellite phones, walkie-talkies and internet access at base camp. That's where we'll be keeping an eye on the weather, the best days and when the ideal time will be to make our move on the summit," Gaona says.

It's not just good weather that matters, but also that they are acclimatised: that their own bodies are physically prepared for the mountain, the cold and the lack of oxygen.

Gaona knows one thing for sure: he doesn't want to use an oxygen tank.

"For me, that takes away the very essence of the mountain. If you have to climb with a tank on your back and a mask over your face, it makes no sense to me. If I'm climbing, I climb using my own body and if I can'y do it with my own body, I'll turn round and go home. I don't see it as a sport anymore if you have to add so much to it. It's like 'doping'," he says.

With that philosophy, which he has held since his debut in the climbing scene in the summer of 1999, when an acquaintance encouraged him to give it a go at the age of just 14, Gaona is now one of only six people in the whole of Andalucía to have reached grade 9 in sport climbing.

Four of them are from Malaga province. "In climbing, you start at grade 4 and finish at grade 9: the highest level. At grade 9, you have 9A, 9A+, 9B, 9B+ and 9C. The highest grade ever achieved in the sport is 9C. I reached grade 9 in May 2024, months before summiting Ama Dablam in December," Gaona explains.

He points out that these two activities are completely different disciplines. "It's like running a 50-metre sprint and a 160-kilometre ultra-marathon," he says.

In the worst-case scenario, if the weather is against them, it will take them about two weeks longer, he explains. If all conditions are ideal, they will reach the summit of Manaslu in late September or early October.

"This idea has been on my mind for 26 years. Ever since I started climbing as a child, I don't know why, but I've always been drawn to the great mountains. I've read loads of books about them and followed all the expeditions undertaken by Andalusians to places like K2 or Mount Everest," Gaona says.

The firefighter, who was born in Mollina, is aware of his family's concerns. "I've reassured them as much as I possibly could. I always make it clear: if we can reach the summit, we'll go for it. If not, we'll head home," he says.

"The mountains will still be there next year or for the rest of our lives. Safety comes first. If not this year, there's always next year," Gaona states.

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