On September 14, 1985, thousands of Catalans gathered at El Prat airport to welcome the expedition that was returning home after reaching the summit. For the first time, the Catalan flag had flown atop the highest mountain in the world, Everest. Two weeks earlier, Òscar Cadiach, Toni Sors, and Carles Vallès had made history, and Cadiach had been responsible for delivering the good news via a precarious radio connection: “Catalonia has reached the roof of the world”. Curiously, many people still believe that the words were "We have reached the summit", but that was not the case. The Tarragona native, who had climbed without the help of oxygen bottles, arrived with so much energy at the top of Everest that he had time to read the Sextine Ode to some intrepid Catalans that the poet Joan Brossa had dedicated to those brave men.

"We have reached the summit." Forty years ago, at four in the afternoon on August 28, 1985, Catalan was spoken for the first time atop Everest, the highest peak on the planet. News that filled an entire country with pride. That "We have reached the summit" became a generational cry, a motto of the Catalonia that would become an Olympic champion. People incorporated it into their vocabulary, and thousands welcomed the heroes when they returned home. Curiously, though, the phrase uttered at the summit by Òscar Cadiach was "Catalonia has reached the roof of the world."