Rostislav ‘Rosta’ Šustr, a crane operator from the LIBERTY Ostrava’s rolling mills recently set out on a mountaineering expedition of a lifetime! A mountaineering enthusiast, he wanted a rather unconventional present for his milestone 50^th birthday – and joined an expedition to climb the 6,476m Mera Peak in Nepal.

On 3^rd November, he set off for Nepal to climb the iconic mountain, often referred to as the highest mountain in the world for amateur climbers.

“Mera Peak presents a unique opportunity from its summit to view five of the world highest mountains over 8,000m, Cho Oyu, Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Kanchenjunga. But a height of 6,476 meters? Could I climb it? It would be a dream come true to climb to such a height.”

However, despite careful planning, there were several hurdles from the start and the group had to constantly improvise and change course. Their original route was blocked by landslides, bridges were washed away in the recent monsoon rain, and there was an unusually high amount of melting snow to deal with.

“Some members of the expedition decided to go home, but despite the odds, we continued towards our goal taking crazy detours on paths with difficult slopes, no access to proper lodging, and with only connectivity via satellite phone for a possible emergency call”.

“We had a very knowledgeable team leader who was a local, so he led us along paths that are not even on our maps”.
 
After a gruelling fortnight, Rosta reached the summit of Mera Peak – having started his ascent to the summit along with his expedition, on the night of 17^th November.

“Although it was around -16°C, the temperature felt like -45°C as the wind was strong around 60 to 90 km per hour. But our team reached the top despite all the challenges.”