Miquel Sánchez, 40 years as a refugee guard in the Pyrenees: "What has changed the most is the people"

• Alpinism Interview with Kilian Jornet: "I don't think about my retirement, I can run and be with other things"

When he arrived up there 40 years ago, at the Ventosa i Calvell refuge, in the Pyrenees of Lleida, there was no electricity or telephone, it was just a cabin.

Mountaineers who wanted to reserve a place had to send a letter to a post office box in Vielha and make a money order to leave the deposit.

Then they uploaded the radio, later the telephone, the solar panels and so on to the Wi-Fi with which he currently manages the web and even an Instagram account.

The shelter today, after the latest renovations have been completed, is a warm place without the need to use heating thanks to its energy efficiency.

But if you ask

, the oldest shelter guard in Spain, for the most decisive change he has experienced in his four decades in the mountains, no doubt.

"What has changed the most is the people," he replies in a telephone conversation with EL MUNDO.

Why?

The type of public that comes now has nothing to do with it.

When I started at the refuge only skiers and climbers arrived.

Now mountaineers continue to come, but there are also tourists.

City people who already dare to go up here and enjoy this.

And I am delighted.

I am crazy about this place, this environment, and I like that everyone knows it.

Although sometimes you have to explain what a mountain refuge is and why it works that way.

And Sánchez remembers that from time to time they ask him for the Wi-Fi password -which only has the capacity for him to use it-, that there are those who ask about the menu at lunchtime or that recently some hikers asked him for some extra stoves, like if they were in a hotel in nearby Baqueira Beret.

As in the rest of the mountain refuges, in El Ventosa, at 2,200 meters of altitude, in the heart of the Aigüestortes National Park, electricity is limited and what is available is eaten.

Although, over time, Sánchez has adapted the menu he cooks to celiacs or vegetarians, the food arrives by helicopter once a week -about 850 kilos- and the closest store is in Barruera, an hour's walk and 20 minutes away. more by car.

Now he details that and many more curiosities about his experience as a refuge guard in the book 'El guardià de l'estany Negre', edited in Catalan by Cossetània, and written by the journalist

.

What leads a young man from Barcelona with a permanent job in an advertising agency in the Eixample to become a refugee guard in the Pyrenees?

That I came here and felt at home.

When I was young in Barcelona I was always thinking about what my future would be like, what I would do, if I would have money to live on, but when I came up here I stopped being overwhelmed.

I was already beginning to make expeditions and in 1982, when I returned from Manaslu, it was clear to me that I would never go back to an office, that I would live in the mountains.

one of the pioneers

Sánchez was part of the group of Spanish pioneers who in the 1980s opened the doors of Himalayanism to those who would come later.

In 1983 he already visited Everest and in 1985, although he did not reach the top, he participated in the second Spanish expedition that reached the summit, with

.

His love, on the other hand, was always in Africa, specifically in Mali, a country that he visited on multiple occasions to climb and where he met his current partner,

, more than 20 years ago .

Hence she, in fact, is their daughter,

.

Now the three of them live in the shelter for a good part of the summer season -from June to October-, although Sánchez only goes up in the winter season -from February to April-.

Despite the fact that the majority of mountain refuges in Spain are publicly owned and their operation must go out to tender, the Ventosa is private, from the Center Excursionista de Catalunya (CEC), so Sánchez can continue working up there as long as he wants.

He never lacks clientele after the creation of the Carros de Foc route, which links the 11 refuges of the Aigüestortes National Park, and the 'boom' of outdoor sports, so...

Do you ever think of quitting?

What's up, what's up, right now I'm just thinking about how to celebrate 40 years this June.

Let's see what group I can invite to play because not everyone wants to come up here.

Perhaps there are people who think that I'm already a geek, but I don't see myself retiring.

I like the work, I like being here.

If I have to leave it because of a back or knee problem, I'll have a hard time, really.

And Sánchez says goodbye, acknowledging, with some embarrassment, that he can still make the ascent from the Cavallers reservoir -about six kilometers with a difference in level of 500- in 40 minutes and that there are still days when he climbs with quite a load.

Gone are the days when he competed with some shelter workers to see who gained the most weight, with 27 kilos of butane cylinders as a backpack.

Gone are the times when mules or climbing or skiing companions helped him, who, in exchange for the effort, only asked for a good lunch.

Now everything, communications, services, the building itself and above all the clientele has changed in the Ventosa i Calvell refuge, in the Pyrenees of Lleida.

Everything, except one thing: "The landscape is still spectacular."

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• more sport

• Everest

SportsInterview with Kilian Jornet: "I don't think about my retirement, I can run and be with other things"

Business and sportHow many sneakers can a star sell?

SportsKilian Jornet creates a new brand together with Camper: the adventure of a 'Spanish Air Jordan'

See links of interest

• Last News

• Will SmithOscars 2022

• Oscar Winners 2022

• Translator

• What

• Work calendar 2022

• Best Colleges 2022

• Panathinaikos - Real Madrid