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FROM THE ROCK TO A HIGH PLACE
The first step is usually the hardest to take; as one foot leads the other, the build-up of momentum and the flow of the movement allows the pace to quicken until the temptation to return to standing still or sitting down is finally overcome…
BY JEREMY GOMEZ
M
oving of our own volition is one of the first displays of freedom, and to walk at our own pace is a statement of it. The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once wrote in a letter to his sister-in-law: “Every day I walk myself into a state of well being and walk away from illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts and I know no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” Walking is an exercise of physical and spiritual well-being. The ways in which we take a walk and the distances we cover are usually details that we don’t regularly consider, but for three local men, the path that led them through some of the world’s most rugged and awe-inspiring mountain ranges and the distance they covered will be forever etched in their minds. 56
Mark Randall, Stephen Hermida, and Joe Celecia have come together to tell their story in a new book: HIMALAYA - From the Rock to a High Place. The book, written by Mark, includes photos by Stephen, a travel photographer, and shares the accounts of their experiences travelling through Nepal’s famous Three Passes Trek. Known to be the hardest trek in Nepal, the trek bypasses the 5000m high point on six different occasions whilst the majority of the trek still remains higher than 4000m. The book also includes the account of Joe Celecia’s third climb in the Himalayas, which through the hard-earned experience of previous climbs and his sheer tenacity becomes the first Gibraltarian to supersede the 7000m mark in the famous mountain range. Many will know of Mark’s other
adventures, recorded in his two previous books: Walk to the Rock and On Ancient Trails. This joint venture explores the majesty of a far-off gem and of the enduring nature of the human spirit, as all three individuals reached their goals through naturally formed obstacles and trials that were unique to each of them. Mark began these tests of endurance after he was medically advised to walk himself back to wellbeing after a back injury, but this back injury caused him numerous sleeping problems on a trek during which many climbers succumb to exhaustion. Stephen, though a seasoned adventurer, was embarking on his first trekking expedition and had to come to terms with an endeavour many would have worked up to, and Joe overcame the struggles of previous expeditions on which problems with equipment that GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE JULY 2020
