"At 8,000 meters your mind is not so sharp”.
This mountain climber was one of the master keys during the operation taken to rescue Iñaki Ochoa de Olza.

(Timisoara, 1977). He risked his life three years ago while taking care, during three days, of his colleague, Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, who fainted at more than 7,000 meters above sea level, in the Annapurna. Horia represents the figure of the noble mountain climber. He also tried to help the Spanish Tolo Calafat (from Mallorca) and the Swiss, Joële Brupbacher.

“Trying to help a colleague is not an act of heroic. For me it’s a normal behavior, kind of common sense. You can always go back to a particular mountain and try to reach the summit. The mountain is not going to move anywhere else, but a human life is a unique and precious thing”. When the debate about the lost of values in the mountain climber’s world is at its highest, highlights -among a handful of mountaineers- the Romanian Horia Colibasanu who, quite reluctantly, gained some notoriety in Spain because he has been one of the master keys during the rescue-operation for Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, carried out in the spring of 2008 in the Annapurna. Colibasanu didn’t hesitate, not for a moment, in risking his life staying during three long days at 7,000 meters, without any food and very little water, just taking care of his dear friend.

Horia, 34 years old, has recently visited Barcelona to attend the presentation of his book “The fourteen of Iñaki” (Saga Ed.), in which the journalist called Jorge Nagore tells the story of the five intense and desperate days trying to save Iñaki’s life. Horia went back to the Annapurna and reached the summit last year, but he returned home with a sour feeling because he failed to save Tolo Calafat’s life. “I tried to help Tolo because just after reaching the top I was still feeling good and strong. This is not an act of solidarity, it is just something one must do. For me it’s as important to have a great time in the mountain and to share wonderful moments with my colleagues as to get an eight-thousand. I enjoy been among people that would act just like me and Iñaki was one of these people.

Did you think about leaving climb after Iñaki’s death?

Yes, but only for a very short period of time. It was not a very realistic option. Iñaki always told me that the bull fighters leave the bullfighting but they always end up coming back. I didn’t feel like doing it. Also, to abandon wouldn’t have do me any good. I’m an athlete and I’m not feeling like doing anything else.

You’re a dentist in Romania. How do you combine both worlds?

It’s rather difficult to attend all my appointments at work, to attend various Congress, to train, to leave for two months on expedition. I think that if I was only dedicated to a single task, I will choose mountaineering because I can’t live without the mountain. During the working days, when I finish up with all my appointments, I’m use to train for one or two hours and at the weekends I usually go to the mountain with my wife -who also enjoys to climb and is an sport’s addicted- and my one year old son.



This spring you have completed your fifth eight-thousand, the Makalu, and while been there, you also tried to help the Swiss Joëlle Brupbacher.

Joëlle reached the summit and completely fell exhausted on her way to the camp three, at 7,400 meters. The Slovenian Peter Hamor and I stayed with her while waiting for the sherpas to bring oxygen cylinders, but they couldn’t reach the camp and she died. It was a very tough experience because this time, unlike what happened in the Annapurna with Iñaki, I witnessed the death of this girl.

This last spring, while Horia discretely stepped on the top of the Makalu (8,463 meters) accompanied by the Spanish (from Asturias) Jorge Egocheaga y Martín Ramos (from Zamora), the Lothse made all the headlines. Only the veteran Carlos Soria, 72 years old, returned by his own to the base camp. The rest of climbers, from Juanito Olarzábal to Carlos Pauner, Manuel González or the couple made by Isabel García and Roberto Rodrigo, needed to be evacuated. They all reached the summit, some almost at night and completely exhausted. A timely rescue avoid the tragedy but it revealed a number of climbers that rejected mitigate the effects of altitude with oxygen and so it was needed to mobilize other expeditions in order to get them back home alive, though with severe frostbite. “Spain has got a number of excellent mountain climbers and really nice people but some of them are too dependent of the media and need constant attention. What happened in the Lothse happens every day in Himalaya, taking too much time to reach the summit (the time limit would be 13 or 14 hours), not wanting to take any oxygen even if it’s necessary… This is a bad attitude”.

Too much ego?

There are few humble people in the mountain’s world. The sponsors always look out for the most charismatic mountain climbers, so it’s normal that these people have got big egos. If something occurs in the Himalaya, it’s not that easy to change plans. The problem is that at 8,000 meters, a cerebral edema could appear. At altitudes like these our minds are not as sharp as they should be and we can’t take decisions so easily and quickly, that’s why people make mistakes.

Horia began climbing at age 21, in a country where the highest peak, the Molveanu, is just 2,544 meters. “Mi first expedition abroad, to the Caucasus, cost me $ 200. I crossed Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan… and I tasted the passion for adventure. In 1998, I climbed up the Elbrus and then I realized the challenge of adapting your body to altitude”. His first eight-thousand was the K2 in 2004 and without the help of oxygen. There he met his colleague in future expeditions, Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, with whom he climbed until death separated them apart in the Annapurna.