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This is a guest post from Javier Camacho. The article was first posted on OlympusConsumer.com.

Lhotse, 8516 meters: Touching the void
by Javier Camacho

This story begins with a high degree of uncertainty. Having been unable to find anybody to join me on my journey to climb the fourth highest mountain in the world, I had to set off for the Himalayas on my own. In addition to this, I was about to confront the memories of the traumatic experience that I’d lived through just two years before at the base camp of the mountain. On that fateful day, 23 people lost their lives in an avalanche triggered by the earthquake that devastated Nepal in 2015.
In this bustling place, I was going to meet two old acquaintances of mine: Ferran Latorre, the Catalan mountaineer with whom I shared an expedition to Makalu, and Yannick Graziani, the French mountain guide with whom I had attempted to climb Broad Peak. I was going to be sharing the ascent route with them almost all the way to Camp 4, located at an altitude of 8,000 meters. They wanted to climb Mount Everest, and the route to Camp 4 is the same for both summits.
We quickly got going, and, in just four days, I set foot in the base camp, at an altitude of 5,400 meters. Memories of difficult times and images of the tragedy that I witnessed in 2015 entered my mind, but now the place looked as if nothing had happened. Meeting up with old friends, with whom I had many things to talk about, ensured that I quickly pushed those tragic memories aside.