RETURN TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Joan Collins This Sunday Majorcan mountaineers Joan Antoni Olivieri “Oli”, Tolo Calafat and Tolo Quetglas return to their great adventure. Tomorrow they will leave for Nepal to try, for the second time, to conquer Everest from the south side. “This time yes” is the motto of the three members of the expedition “Majorca on top of the world”. Everest 2006 is sponsored by the Council of Majorca, GESA, Sa Nostra and the Serra Group (publishers of the Daily Bulletin). Just a year ago, Oli and the two Tolos stopped just 1'500 metres short of the peak. All three say that now they are returning to “finish the job”. Bad weather and the psychological decline that they had suffered after two months in their base camp in the Khumbu glacier at 5'400 metres caused them to abandon their attempt in May 2005. There had to be a second time. The public and private institutions which had financed the first expedition, consisting of Jopela, Oli and the two Tolos, made it clear that they would support the mountaineers again and Majorca would return in 2006 to win its match with the world's highest mountain. For their part, the Serra Group, through its publications, the Majorca Daily Bulletin, and Diari de Balears and the radio station Punto Radio, have taken an unprecedented step into the world of mountaineering and will be giving day to day accounts of the progress of the expedition for its duration. For two months, the newspapers and the radio station will follow the Majorcan climbers' every move. This year the Serra Group will again be at the foot of this great mountain to bring their readers (and listeners) the latest information from the expedition “Majorca on top of the world”. The adventure starts on Saturday April 1 with a gruelling itinerary involving a flight of around 30 hours. Once in the capital of Nepal, they will start the bureaucratic procedures and the hard negotiations with the sherpas. The next step will take the group to Lukla at 2'880 metres. This is the gate into the Solu-Khumbu region and the start of the climb to their base camp at 5'400 metres. From here they will have nine days of slow progress through “the ground of the 8'000” (the Himalayan range) until they reach the Khumbu glacier, where it is probable that they will set up their camp on Easter Day. But on this journey, not everything will be bureaucracy, negotiations or various ailments. Oli and the two Tolos will also dedicate a day to the support of other people.