The odyssey experienced by Roberto Farias Tomaz, 19, who disappeared at the turn of the year on the Paraná peak, the highest point in the southern region at 1,877 meters high, and managed to reach a farm alone injured, weakened and many kilometers away from the route along which more than 100 military firefighters and around 300 volunteers were looking for him, brought to light a recurring theme in groups of mountaineers: is it fair to leave a traveling companion behind?
As happened in the case of Juliana Marins, the Brazilian woman who died in the fall of the Rijani volcano, in Indonesia, at the end of last June, social networks were abuzz when a television station broadcast — live — an interview with Thayane Smith, 19, who had gone up Paraná with Roberto and left him behind alone on the difficult descent from the summit (going down is always more difficult, remember?). As he candidly told the reporter, he joined a group of runners because their pace had more to do with his “lifestyle”, whatever that may be.
After several inconsequential versions given by the girl, the internet wasted no time in crucifying her. With a good dose of reason, go there. But also in a hysterical tone that blinds logical reasoning and what is behind this whole problem: the illusion fed on the platforms that you just need to want to get there, wherever that is. The poor information that deletes what doesn’t look good in the photo adds to the tragic statistics.
The mantra says that the mountain does not forgive mistakes. Here and there, it leaves an unwary person with a more attentive guardian angel if they emerge well from a sequence of failures. Roberto was lucky, very lucky, when he risked jumping from the top of a waterfall of approximately 30 meters and hitting the water, losing his glasses and a combat boots. It came out cheap. The point where the waterfalls hit the bottom is usually full of large rocks, dangerously broken over the centuries. A few centimeters to one side or the other would have meant, at the very least, serious fractures that would threaten life in such a remote place.
But what about Thayane? Well, to begin with, the Paraná peak is not exactly the death zone of Everest, where bodies are left along the way because the rescue poses a huge risk to the lives of those who attempt it. The girl’s report about Roberto having felt ill on the way up, and being slow on the way down, and considering that they passed several other visitors, makes it clear that the ideal and more ethical option would have been for the couple to have asked the others to notify the park management of the difficulties, which could provide assistance for their safe descent. Together.
How long would help have taken? Hours, probably. Hours that would pass without the two having shelter or food, wet from the rain and exposed to the winds, uncomfortable hours that would test their patience, an ingredient known to be in short supply among teenagers. The result was that Thayane arrived at the base and Roberto ended up on a trail that left him in the cold, from which he would leave four days later, due to a lack of observation of the signs (precarious for beginners, let’s be clear) of the right path.
Because if Thayane made a mistake — and she made a big mistake — in abandoning her weakened colleague, Roberto also ignored the basic rule of staying in the place where they separated, believing that he would have the strength to return to the safety of the camp alone, “just go slowly” he must have thought. He needed to find the strength to do the most difficult thing.
But they both made a mistake, too, by going to a difficult-to-access summit without a guide or someone experienced on this route and minimal safety equipment, such as a whistle, a thermal blanket, some cereal bars and cell phones that, at some point, would have a signal or could be tracked, and on which they could have downloaded maps of the trail accessible offline, possibly even printed ones to avoid having a dead device. All of this weighs almost nothing and can save lives. But, of course, Instagram posts don’t tell you that.
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