‘Anwar’, a documentary presented at the Trento Festival, shows the social work in Africa and Asia of the Biscayan mountaineer, who is increasingly involved in activism
At this point, Alex Txikon (Lemoa, 1981) is more excited about a light bulb that turns on in a remote village in Pakistan thanks to solar panels than adding a new eight thousand to the eleven in which he has reached the summit. “You’re not going wrong,” he smiles. “I’m still going to be in the mountains and I have a few more expeditions left, but it’s true that I’m passionate about this type of action.” The mountaineer attends to EL CORREO while he flies to the Italian city of Trento, where the most important film and mountain festival in the world is held. He accompanies the screening this Saturday of ‘Anwar’, a documentary in which he makes clear his transition from Himalayanism to social activism.
Written and directed by Rosa García Loire, the film accompanies its charismatic protagonist from the icy peaks of Nepal to the miserable suburbs of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, until reaching the impossible roads of the rocky mountains of Pakistan. Mountain movies often have an epic tone and a happy ending. ‘Anwar’ shows off majestic aerial shots and breath-taking landscapes, but it starts with the chronicle of a failure. After two winters trying, Txikon could not crown the 8,163 meters of Manaslu. “Curiously, he is the simplest of all the eight thousand, but in winter he brings them,” he justifies.
At least the expedition can claim to be the first non-polluting. The
EKI Foundation supplied two-kilowatt portable photovoltaic installations to avoid using a gasoline-powered generator. Thanks to them, they obtained the solar energy necessary to light up and charge mobile phones, drones and other electronic devices. The feces went into a drum with quicklime and the paper was burned on the spot. Batteries are brought back for recycling. “We leave as little trace as possible,” explains Txikon. «In a field four of Everest, in the busiest areas, you continue to find garbage, but things are getting better and better. The Government of Nepal itself has carried out a campaign to clean up the mountains this year. Instead of spending on cleaning, it should be done on awareness and regulations.
Alex Txikon in Sierra Leone in an image from ‘Anwar’.
Alex Txikon touched the Cruz del Gorbea at the age of three. At 21, he climbed his first eight thousand, Broad Peak in the Pakistani Karakoram. The first winter summit of Nanga Parbat in 2016 is among the feats of this athlete, who swears he is not disenchanted with his profession. «I do what motivates me, what fills me. The amazing thing is that in thirty years a sponsor has never forced me to do anything », he confesses. “It is our own egos that invade us and kill us. With the uncertainty and fear of pretending, of wanting to be the best, you lose your way and you are capable of stepping on others.
Solar energy
Txikon explains that the Himalayas have changed a lot with technology. “I lived a beautiful time with ‘Al filo de lo imposible’ and in the expeditions of Edurne Pasaban”, he recalls. «Now there are tour operators that attract inexperienced clients, and that does not have a mountaineering value. In 2004 we were 16 people in a base camp in Makalu, we installed the ropes and climbed without oxygen. Now there you can find 150 guys in the spring. With one rope going up and one rope going down.
Alex Txikon plays with some children in the suburbs of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
The climber assures that he does not have a house or a car. «I live on borrowed, that’s the nice thing. With one hand in front and one behind. However, to get the 250,000 euros that it is worth to go to Everest in winter, he knows how to convince the sponsors and fascinate the public with his talks. In ‘Anwar’, Txikon learns first-hand about the work of the EKI Foundation in Sierra Leone, installing solar energy panels that allow schools and hospitals to become energy independent. The girls tell her that they want to be lawyers, doctors and even presidents of the country. The reality is that some become prostitutes when they are nine years old. Those same solar panels are what the climber will carry on the goat trails of Pakistan. His destination is the Günther Messner school in Sair, an area that was visited by 16 tourists last year (10 were from the Txikon team). 14 hours from Islamabad by road. 3 more hours in off-road to where the road ends. And 12 kilometers on foot, with a 1,000 meter drop.
«The bitch is that the world is distributed geographically: depending on where you were born, you have a future or not»
“These people have to walk twelve kilometers there and twelve back just to charge their mobile phone. They have nothing,” denounces the mountaineer and communicator, who is in talks with a Bilbao soccer club for “a spectacular action” in Africa, although nothing can be said yet. “The bitch is that the world is distributed geographically: depending on where you were born, you have a future or not,” concludes Alex Txikon, who at the end of ‘Anwar’ has a memory for his fellow climber to Nanga Parbat, Ali Sadpara, passed away last year on K2.
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