Today marks 20 years since the first Romanians conquered Everest: Fane Tulpan, Marius Gane and Lucian Bohdan. And because it’s an event worth celebrating, I spoke to David Neatsu, the climber who led the Romanian Everest expedition in 2003. David was in the car, heading to Risnov, the place where he was going to meet 14 Romanians who – they were together 20 years ago. “I am sure we will have tears in our eyes, because only we know what we experienced there, and these two days we will try to enjoy what we could not enjoy there. With them, we stayed together at the highest altitude on this planet, and no one, absolutely no one can take that away from us,” David told us.

The expedition to Everest was prepared for a year. David, along with others, went to great lengths to organize it because, as he also says, going to Everest is not cheap: “The total cost was $340,000 at the time.”

“A person’s character is the most important thing”

The climbers had known each other for years before they decided to embark on this adventure together. And since climbing Everest is not easy, David established 3 extremely important criteria on the basis of which he was going to choose those who would accompany him on the adventure of a lifetime.

“The most important thing in such an expedition, where you risk never returning, is the character of a person. The second criterion was altitude experience, we have all climbed above 7000 meters and that experience is very important on a normal peak of 8840 meters and the third thing we took into account was daily training. You have neither character nor experience if you are not constantly learning how to climb. Training is the most important thing, how can you take big breaks for 6-7 months and then climb to the top? You have no chance,” David admitted to us.

In 2003, 32 expeditions consisting of 900 people from all over the world set out to conquer Everest.

Half tons of equipment and 74 days in the mountains

“There were only 14 of us, and out of 900, only 32 climbed to the top, 3 of them Romanians. That’s what we need to notice,” David told us excitedly.

As for the route, the Romanian expedition climbed Everest from the Tibetan side because it was cheaper. Although climbing the south face of Everest in Nepal was easier, it would have cost twice as much. At the level of equipment required for such an expedition, everything is as impressive as the goal of conquering the highest point on Earth:

“We only had half a ton of equipment and we returned 12 out of 36 barrels of this equipment. The mountain expedition actually lasted 74 days. I arrived in Nepal on 27 March 2003 and left Nepal on 7 June 2003. There were periods of acclimatization with repeated ascents between camps. These constant climbs you make between camps serve a dual purpose. First, for acclimatization, and secondly, to raise the equipment as high as possible, to take it with people as high as possible.”

“There is nothing more difficult in this world than Everest”

20 years after he set foot on the world’s highest peak and after 60 years of life, David Neatzu still believes that the hardest thing in the world is Everest. He told us that the main challenge is moral. And this is because the death rate on Everest is 1 to 6, and there were 14 of them. Throughout the expedition, climbers tried to avoid risks. Therefore, David believes that “the success of the Romanian expedition to Everest, on the 50th anniversary of the first earthlings’ ascent there, was not that we climbed to the top, but that we all returned alive.”

What you should do before you dare to climb Everest

I asked David what advice he would give to someone wanting to reach Everest. “There are many people with money, people with desire, people who can do something unprecedented, but without knowledge of mountaineering. You don’t start climbing now, and in two years you’ll climb Everest, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to come home,” explained David.

To everyone who wants to start this path, he suggests first doing 10-15 easier expeditions, to smaller peaks, where “learn to climb the ladder of knowledge.”

“The experience you accumulate in expeditions to smaller peaks will be very useful to you there, at an altitude of 8,848 meters, knowing how to set up a tent in the wind of tens, hundreds of kilometers per hour, in conditions of frost, in conditions of a blizzard. Choose equipment without anyone’s advice, only from your own experience. It is extremely important to have experience, you have everything you need for nothing if you don’t have experience. I would advise people to go to smaller peaks, to learn the alphabet of a high mountain, it is extremely different, I mean it is completely different from any experience gained on mountains below 8000 meters,” says the mountaineer.

And that’s not all. David Neatsu says that for such an adventure one should be more than 35-40 years old, because on Everest it is not the muscles that are important, but the psyche.

20 years since the most wonderful moment

Today, David is celebrating with all his loved ones, with those with whom he suffered and rejoiced 20 or more years ago. 14 climbers and 2 dear friends will remember the most beautiful moment of their lives on the 20th anniversary.

10-year meeting

“Ten years ago, when we met in Piatra Craiului, we were, so to speak, in vain. Now that I was 20 years old, I told them: “, – says David with a laugh. “First, we will be happy,” he added.

20 years of reunion

About the future

David Neatsu does and will do exactly what he loves: climbing the mountain, experiencing freedom, traveling. And that’s not all. In addition to his plans to conquer the world far and wide, David Neatsu has prepared a book for us that will be released in the fall.

“Last night I came back from Athos, I climbed to the top of Athos. So, I’m going to Kyrgyzstan, where the Tien Shan massif is, on July 15th, and when I come back, I’m going to Alaska on August 20th. After I get back from Alaska, I already have plane tickets for November, I’m going to Papua New Guinea. I have a full year, last year was busy and I hope it will be busy for the rest of my life. We make our plans, me and my older or younger friends, we go where we can see,” said a joyful man who fearlessly set foot on Everest 20 years ago.

The article is supported by the Romanian Mountaineering and Research Association