Manoel Morgado, the Brazilian 5th climber of the Maltese Challenge8000 Everest Team is about to publish a book about his experiences on Everest.  Team member Marco Cremona said: “Two months before our Everest climb, Manoel asked us whether he could join the Maltese team, together with our guide Victor Saunders.

Given that we had climbed Cho Oyu with Manoel the previous October, and that he’s a strong, reliable climber and an asset to any climbing team (and a GREAT guy), we accepted. The rest is history – and will be documented in a book.”

Manoel is a professional mountaineering/trekking guide (http://www.manoelmorgado.c​om.br/web/index.php/quem-s​omos) but had never been above 8000m, just like the Challenge8000 team.  They first joined forces with Manoel when he was leading a Brazilian team  for Cho Oyu in September 2009.  Ably guided by experienced guide Victor Saunders, both Maltese and Brazilian teams summitted Cho Oyu on the 24 September 2009.   In fact, all members of both teams summitted with the exception of a Brazilian climber whose sight started to deteriorate when he ascended to 8000m.

After Cho Oyu, Manoel  set his sights on climbing Everest the following May, and booked himself in with an Argentine climbing team. Subsequently he changed his mind, and asked the Maltese whether he could join them instead. They accepted – and the rest, as they say, is history.

Marco Cremona added: “There is none as strong as Manoel in the 3000 – 6000m range, and he simply amazed us at the speed with which he could trek from the lower villages to Everest base camp and back. What would take us a good 3 days, Manuel could cover in a day. However, he suffered considerably at altitude so his story will surely be one of sheer determination and the will to succeed. Kind hearted, a devout Buddhist and a great guy all round, Manoel was ONE of US, and I’m pleased he got round to writing a book.

Anybody wanting to trek in the Himalayas, the Andes and South America, Africa and now Mongolia, your first port of call must be Manoel.”