The sky's the limit

“This time I was sure that I would not get cold feet no matter what. I gave everything I had and at the end it turned out well. The monsoon season was getting closer and I had to be patient. Finally I made it to the top,” said the 64-year-old Catalan alpinist, Òscar Cadiach, at his arrival in Barcelona on Sunday, 10 days after reaching the summit of Broad Peak (8,047 meters). He is the first Catalan to achieve fourteen 8,000-meter summits without oxygen. He is the only climber in the world who has reached the Broad Peak’s three summits.

According to the Federation of Hiking Organizations of Catalonia (FEEC), Cadiach received an emotional welcome from friends and family in the Barcelona Airport. The warm welcome reminded the Tarragona born climber of his return in 1985, when he arrived home after reaching the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, as a part of the first Catalan expedition to do so.