Carles Gel: falling in love with the infinite landscape of Greenland

BarcelonaWhen he was 7 years old, Carles Gel left the farmhouse near Vilassar de Mar where he lived and, without saying anything, decided he would climb the Creu de Montcabrer all by himself. Between climbing up and down, he stayed there all day. He was born to explore. Carles (Vilassar de Mar, 1963) still remembers that first summit and the excursions with his parents to Montseny. Or the trips to the Pyrenees with the Salesians of Mataró, where he forged his personality and his desire to travel the world. This man from Maresme, who has lived far from the sea for years, would put down roots in the Pyrenees, and currently lives in Andorra, in Pal. Although he studied to be a draughtsman, he ended up working as a mountain guide, as he is not a person destined to live locked away in an office. "I could have been a good architect, but a moment came when I told myself that I had to pursue my dreams. We cannot live without dreams," he explains. He has now been doing this job for 40 years, which has allowed him to reach summits on all continents and cross Greenland, a journey that changed him. When he remembers that white immensity, he gets emotional. He speaks of it with the same passion as that child who, at 7 years old, climbed the Creu de Montcabrer.

Carles speaks with ‘ARA when he still has wounds on his leg from his last adventure, a crossing over the icy waters of Lake Peipus, on the border between Russia and Estonia. In recent years, crossings over snow and ice have been seducing him. He is already thinking of crossing Lake Baikal, in Siberia. And also of returning to Greenland. But before falling in love with the north, he had his fill of climbing peaks. In fact, he still has his fill of it, because he continues to work as a mountain guide. “When I started this job, there were few guides. I made quick progress. I had only climbed Aneto when I went to the Pamirs to climb Mount Lenin, over 7,000 meters. I wanted to live and was a bit reckless. At 26, I went to do the first 8,000, Manaslu, but it was a reality check. It is one of the most complicated mountains. Pere Aymerich and Enric Font died there in 1982. I went there in 1986, and it wasn't until the 90s that the first Catalans, Josep Nogueras and Antonio Montalban, from Sabadell, conquered it. There I understood that I lacked experience, so I focused on the Andes, where I started going in 1993. I worked as a guide there and climbed more than 125 peaks from Patagonia to Ecuador. Then I returned to the Himalayas, because I felt ready,” he explains, as he recalls climbing partners, peaks, and anecdotes, whether on Cho Oyu or Everest. When he talks about his expeditions, his eyes shine.

26 days surrounded by an infinite white

But nothing like his ski traverse of Greenland, an adventure that, as often happens, was born a little by chance. “I went to Alaska to do an expedition with my brother. And there we met José Mijares, a mountain guide from Palencia who worked with some Norwegians. My brother said he was cocky, but I liked him. And my intuition didn't fail. It was he who suggested to me, when we were there, if I wanted to accompany him to cross Greenland skiing. I told him no. I was tired of the cold. But after a few months I called him and asked if I was still in time to sign up. At that time, the longest snow traverse I had done skiing was in the Pyrenees, so I went to Balandrau to train,” he says. Brave as he is, he embarked on that adventure in May 2002. It was necessary to notify the Danish authorities, get the permit, and have courage. “In the days leading up to it, I had a knot in my stomach. I saw the glaciers and it intimidated me. But once we started skiing, the fear disappeared. We completed the route in record time, in just 26 days. And this despite the fact that we were three days unable to leave the tent due to a storm. We went from west to east, starting from the part closest to Canada. The first two days it's hard to ski, as you encounter crevasses. Then you still see the mountains, but afterwards you see nothing but infinite white. It's fascinating, as you end up climbing up to 2,500 meters and when it's uphill, it's very difficult. You only see a white horizon. You spend days seeing nothing, except when you have visions, which you do. We still don't know if we saw a group of birds, because one of us saw them and the other didn't,” he recalls. During those days, they barely encountered anyone. They crossed paths with some Icelanders who were skiing in the opposite direction and using kites, which allow you to ski with the wind in your favor faster, a technique that Gel and Mijares had discarded. “There was a group of Norwegians and not much else. And then we found one of the United States bases, there in the middle of nowhere, where some soldiers let us sleep with them. The next day a giant Hercules plane landed carrying soldiers. Who knows where they were supposed to be sent to fight afterwards,” he reminisces.

Carles lost 15 kilos on that crossing, in which they ended up at a point on the coast so isolated that they had to activate the safety beacon for a helicopter to rescue them. “When we finally saw green grass and the sea with icebergs, it was exciting, we had achieved it,” says a man who has returned to the area several times, to learn about Inuit culture and continue pursuing dreams. They never end. In fact, he wants to return to reach the North Pole skiing alone.