Elia Saikaly, un cineasta y alpinista experimentado, alcanzó la cima del Everest por tercera vez hace una semana. Durante esta travesía, se convirtió en testigo de la “muerte, la carnicería y el caos”.

El último jueves 23 de mayo, Saikaly llogó a Hillary Step, la última etapa antes de lograr la cumbre en el monte más alto del mundo. La salida del sol le reveló que a su lado se encontraba el cuerpo sin vida de otro escalador.

Concluida esta experiencia, el cineasta, que producirá un documental llamado El sueño de Everest, utilizó su cuenta de Instagram para relatar su vivencia: “Tengo mucho que decir y compartir. No puedo creer lo que vi allá arriba”.

“Muerte. Carnicería. Caos. Filas. Cadáveres en la ruta y en tiendas de campaña en el campamento 4. Gente a la que traté de hacer regresar y que terminó muriendo. Gente siendo arrastrada. Caminando sobre cuerpos. Todo lo que leíste en los titulares sensacionalistas se repitió en nuestra noche de cumbre”, describió el experimentado alpinista.

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The south summit of Mt. Everest. . The irony of climbing the world’s tallest mountain is that it’s supposed to be one of the most incredible experiences of your life and yet it’s very difficult to process the magnitude of the events that are unfolding around you. You’re exhausted, deprived of oxygen, dehydrated, climbing towards the summit with numb extremities and yet have to perform at the highest level, while responding to uncontrollable events around you. . The common experience is that those who stand on the summit only begin to fully realize what they’ve accomplished and/or experienced long after they’ve descended and left basecamp. . In my case, our mad dash out of Camp 4 at 9:30pm to avoid the cues turned into a marathon of filming, passing climbers all night long and bouncing around the line to document the 4 Arab women featured in the ‘Dream of Everest’ documentary. . Just before sunrise, my climbing partner Pasang Kaji Sherpa and I climbed onto the ridge just off the safety lines at the south summit and watched over 30 climbers pass us so we could gather footage of the team members who were trailing slightly behind. . This photograph of the south summit was quickly taken on our descent as we raced down to avoid the incoming weather system. I barely looked at the view and quickly took this pic as I raced down the mountain. It wasn’t until today that I reviewed some of my images and was stunned to see how beautiful the morning was, how majestic the views were from the summit ridge with some of the tallest mountains on Earth looming beneath our feet. . . #Everest #summitclimb #8848 #Everest2019 #Southsummit #topoftheworld #nepal #himalayas #earth #beautifulearth #adventure #explore #expedition #8000m #Canon #dreamsbecomingreality #travel #shotoncanon #voyaged #natgeo #mountaineering #adventure #adventurephotography #shotoftheday @natgeo

Una publicación compartida de Elia Saikaly (@eliasaikaly) el

“La ironía de escalar la montaña más alta del mundo es que se supone que es una de las experiencias más increíbles de tu vida y, sin embargo, es muy difícil procesar la magnitud de los eventos que se desarrollan a tu alrededor. Está agotado, privado de oxígeno, deshidratado, trepando hacia la cima con adormecidas extremidades y, sin embargo, tiene que rendir al más alto nivel, mientras respondes a eventos incontrolables a su alrededor”, publicó en su cuenta de Instagram.

Hasta el momento, las autoridades de Nepal ya confirmaron que son 11 los montañistas muertos en lo que va de la temporada a raíz de un inusual atasco de alpinistas.

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Summit!!! . So that was completely insane! I stood on top of the world for the 3rd time on the morning of May 23rd, 2019. More importantly, we all made to the summit and back, safe. . The 4 Arab women, totally crushed it up there. How you climb is as important that you climb and they all graciously made it to the top of the world. . I shot it all. And I mean all of it. The ‘Dream of Everest’ is going to be a heck of a ride of a documentary. I pushed myself as hard as I could and never stopped filming. I even jumped up on the knife edge ridge to get the shots of the team on the Hillary Step. It was crazy, over 200 people climbing that night, but totally under control and I can’t thank @sherpapk enough for keeping up with the shooting pace and honestly, for keeping me alive by being my safety rigger and climbing partner. I love you man. . To all the Sherpas, my personal Sherpa team, the guides at Madison Mountaineering – all of this is possible because of you. We are nothing without you and all summits are possible because of you. 🙏🏼 . I’m down. I’m safe. And there is a lot more to come! . Totally wild adventure! So grateful to be back at basecamp. . @monakshahab @nellyattar @joyceazzam7s @alharthynoor – SO PROUD of what you’ve all accomplished. No one supported us with this documentary. No one. And we made it happen. Thank you for trusting me with your stories. The best is yet to come! . #Everest #Summit #topoftheworld #8848 #Everest2019

Una publicación compartida de Elia Saikaly (@eliasaikaly) el