He was born 40 years ago at 3775 altitude above sea level in San Antonio de los Cobres, the city of Train to the Clouds., Jaime Soriano is a very inspiring mountain guide in his land. About 10 years ago he opened a school so that boys could learn to live like them for free from tourism and become future guides and climbers. And on the 19th of this month he will be part of an expedition that will reach the summit of the Himalayas, where he will not use any form of oxygen to supplement his lungs.
His love for nature was born as a boy, sleeping outside on the street that connected his town to a spot where his grandparents were in Gianleri, 4,500 meters above sea level. Sometimes his parents had money to rent a vehicle, but sometimes they didn’t, so he traveled 45 kilometers on foot and other times by bike. “Many times when we came back, the night caught up with us and we fell asleep in the middle. We had few blankets and blankets, we did not have tents or sleeping bags,” he explains. ,It was a mining road, which was not used much. My parents always tell me that they started taking me when I was a kid. This is how my love for nature began”, he added,
This enthusiasm intensified even more in adolescence. Jaime went to the fields all the time and liked to “live on the summit”. When I was studying a technical degree in tourism, they had a theme that reflected this. “I do that,” he said to himself. The issue was about alternative tourism. Many tourists came in search of information and they already knew several ways to get to the mountain. And he liked the subject so much that he went deep and became a mountain guide. To take the Argentine Association of Mountain Guides exam, he had to travel to Catamarca. “And there we meet. I had a lot of experience and since then, I was able to work professionally,” he says.
Contacting Jaime hasn’t been easy. If you are called on the phone, it is very likely that you have no signal and you are “up”. His life passes through heights and not just the people of his province. He worked for five years in Aconcagua National Park, where he climbed the highest peak (6,960 m) of the Andes Mountains 18 times. His sports career currently includes climbing mountains in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. “Thank God that I devote myself completely to this activity, with all kinds of mountain expeditions and through the different provinces of the country.”
The achievements of this mountain man are not always associated with heights. 10 years ago he started fulfilling one of his dreams: Established a Mountain School, to train boys and youth, and to guide and work for tours like them in the future., It’s astonishing that they didn’t have a place to take their first steps, so close to the clouds.
“Since I knew they hadn’t gone out and hadn’t devoted themselves to it, I always wanted to show the kids in my town what I did and the places I knew. Thus arose a hill school for children. Lito Sanchez (First Argentine to summit in Himalayas) And it is not a formal institution. This is a project of mine. We will turn 10 on August 27. The Municipality of San Antonio de los Cobres supported us from the very beginning. He helped us in the meeting and gave us a class Municipal Sports Hall, where we put together a palaestra.
The godparents of the Mountain School are from there, after working long hours in Mendoza. This is the Mendoza Mountain Rescue Patrol. He helped me with the opening, sending things to the kids, along with some activity, to put together the lecture we have here. They are always present with the organization in some form or the other.
The next step for Jaime would be to have his own building, as sharing space in the sports center he says sometimes disrupts activities. “We received a donation of a piece of land, but the construction requires a huge investment,” he says.
In these 10 years he achieved part of his mission by being able to transmit his passion for the mountains. “Today many boys dedicate themselves to it, not permanently, but they care about becoming mountain guides like me and the boys always take part in my expeditions, they always go out with me, They do some exercises.
About 40 students study in the school and their age ranges from 5 to 27 years. They were doing mountain, rock climbing. One of the girls, 16-year-old Mariana Salva, climbed the Llullaillaco volcano, the highest in the province and the second highest in the world in activity at 6739 meters high. “After picking her up, I kept thinking that the Incas and their “girl” who was about 15 years old was a girl from my school who was about the same age. It was a great pleasure to be able to take her to that place. which is very sacred to us.”
Jaime refers to the maiden, one of three mummies discovered in 1999 by an expedition led by Johann Reinhardt and Argentine archaeologist Constanza Cerruti. They were three Inca children (a 15-year-old girl, a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy) who had been cold-killed and mummified about 500 years ago on the summit of the volcano. “The tallest archaeological site in the world,” Jaime says. The mummies can be seen at the High Mountain Archaeological Museum in the capital Salta.
PIt was strong and representative for me to take on the boys knowing the history of this sacred mountain. Especially since we are all of tribal origin.
School boys, although they are not certified guides, accomplish the task of taking and giving information. They are trained enough to accompany the tourists, in the mountains, the most visited in the area. In the field of climbing, they practice techniques.
What has always been prevalent in the school and tries to transmit to its students is not only mountaineering or rock climbing but a lifestyle. ,This way of life is in harmony with nature, which today much has been lost. They learn that in addition to mountaineering, as a sport or as a job opportunity, first aid, rescue, survival, care for the environment.All that stuff,” he says.
“The mountain gods to us are living, powerful beings,” Jaime says of the beliefs of the Andean world. “My grandparents told me that it is not good to sleep in the mountains, because you are like a charm. I did it many times, I sat and slept for hours”, he says.
He has a habit of doing what he takes in another 10 days of campaign in one day. “I like to climb mountains during the day without camping. This is a personal matter, which I do with prior preparation and study. I’ve got a special taste for it. Sometimes I go with students from my advanced schools, who are strong and also alone,” he explains.
During the camps, you never lose the taste of enjoying one of the world’s greatest shows: ThePuna sky. They are so clear that this ensures that all the stars can be seen. “The vastness is unbelievable. You have to live it, it cannot be expressed in words. Sunrise and sunset are also unacceptable” recommends.
On 19th of this month he will fly to Kathmandu, Nepal to live one of the most transcendental experiences of his life, What you are witnessing and preparing for mentally, physically and spiritually. It will take about 40 days to reach the summit of Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world., with 8163 m. According to the climber, mental preparation is at stake in the Himalayas as it is a very important challenge.
“The features in the Himalayas are different from the mountains we are used to in the north of Argentina. There is a lot of presence of ice, glaciers, ice and cracks here. and add height. The tallest one we have is Aconcagua with 6962 meters. In the Himalayas they are more than 8,000, so the difficulties presented by the terrain make up for the difficulties in terms of altitude and other techniques”, he explains.
Do climbers raised in height have an advantage in adapting to extreme heights? “I think so because all my life I have been at this height and have always been high., I always said that if I go up a mountain over 8,000 meters I will do without supplemental oxygen. Each person makes his own decision, it is mine to make such a mountain. The rest of the campaign will use oxygen”, he estimates. Beyond the fact that he was never at that altitude, he states that he is “preparing to improve conditions as the body is no longer adaptable” at that altitude, and on the other hand, he knows that he will immediately rise up and down. will go down. height.
Manaslu will be waiting for you, different from Puna with its challenges and skies, but with its own mystery.
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