Some of you are my friends, others are supporters or partners. Most of you barely know me from pictures, news articles or stories… But I consider you all my friends, therefore I somehow feel like I owe you these lines.
There have passed almost ten years since the successful attempt of K2, a fearful and respected mountain. I was so enthusiastic and exhausted after the summit day, that I couldn’t realize the meaning of that moment (one day, I will share with you which were my thoughts those days, as well as the adventures throughout the expedition).
I still smile when I remember that only Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner’s words, she is a reputed mountaineer, showed me the proper dimension of what I had just accomplished, just before leaving Pakistan. I had had success, Gerlinde assured me. Oh, what a heavy word, I was thinking!
On the day I landed back home, in 2004, I felt like I was a different person. I had won my place among the world’s respected mountaineers. Besides, I became kind of famous. I was surprised and overwhelmed too by the press articles, by the TV cameras and flashes, and by the hundreds of messages coming from all over the country!
I used to feel strong and self-confident atop of a mountain, but I didn’t know how to deal with the notoriety which came all of a sudden! So, I concentrated on my next move and on my next expedition every time. I carefully wasted every drop of energy and time.
Throughout those ten years, I walked the ways between my dental clinic to home and to the training spots, for thousands of times. I always saved resources for my family and friends.
Other successful attempts on the world’s highest mountains followed, some of them didn’t happen from the first time. I succeeded to climb Annapurna, a dreadful mountain, on my third attempt. Many of you know the circumstances! I learnt that U-turn, failure and postpone are part of any success story. Those make it even stronger.
Messages from you have never stopped coming. They were so many and diverse. They talked about encouragement, congratulations, thanks, appreciation, respect! there were some negative ones, as well.
They thrilled me and gave me joy; they motivated me and gave me power to move on; sometimes, I learned things from you.
I would like you to take these words as a way to thank each one of you.
I will try to drop some words from time to time here, in my tiny spare time. I will share life events, training methods, experiences which are worth-telling, and so on! I will try to make room for adventure, humor, friendship, stories and to life itself.
I kindly invite you to my world and I thank you all for joining me. If my presence on this blog will be occasional, please understand that I am working hard for my next adventure, while I am thinking about you all.
Kind regards,
Horia Colibasanu
grande horia, ojhala se cumplan todos tus suenos y anhelos y los compartas con nosotros, GRACIAS POR TODO P.D. si alguna vez vienes a Asturies ,mi humilde casa sera tu casa
Message…Gracias Horia, sigues demostrando lo buena persona que eres, siendo amigo de tus amigos y acordandote de toda la gente que te admiramos, un abrazo muy especial de mi parte y de todos los espanoles y desde el Annapurna, de Inaki.
Gracias, my friends from Spain!
we’ll be waiting patiently for those words…you can’t rush History, don’t you?
Right, no rush 🙂
Horia, you write beautifully.
Knowing people like you makes ilusion and hope in a better world