Young Cuban arrives in Nepal wanting to climb Everest

April 6, 2023

The young Cuban who will attempt to climb the summit of Everest for the second time has arrived in Nepal, as he announced on his social media.

"In Nepal again, ready to begin my second expedition to climb Everest. Thank you so much to my wife for accompanying me to Nepal and for all the support, help and other assistance in all the preparations," posted this Tuesday on Facebook Cuban mountaineer Yandy Núñez Martínez, who in 2021 had to cancel his climb to the highest peak in the world after contracting the COVID-19 virus.

"Here I go again my people with everything ready for my second attempt to climb Mount Everest and make the dream I long for come true. To reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world 8,848 meters and become the first Cuban to achieve it," announced Núñez Martínez just two days ago on his social media.

Núñez Martínez is an experienced mountaineer with some important achievements in recent years. In December 2019 he summited Aconcagua, the highest mountain in America (6,962 meters); and in January 2020 Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe (5,642 meters). Before that, he had already summited Mont Blanc, Iztaccíhuatl and Orizaba.

In March 2021, Núñez Martínez officially announced that he was preparing to climb Mount Everest, the greatest challenge for any mountaineer worldwide.



"It is time to represent my country, Cuba, with great pride and always carry it to the highest heights of this world [...] I represent my people my nation and my Cubans, all 11 million. I also represent the nation of Iceland since I carry it deep in my heart. Long live Free Cuba. Homeland and Life and Freedom," he wrote then on his social media.

At the end of that same month, the Cuban mountaineer announced that he was in the final preparations for his climb of Mount Everest.

On April 15, he finally arrived at Everest base camp, which has an altitude of 5,364 meters.

However, in May, amid a surge of coronavirus in Nepal, the Cuban mountaineer announced that he had been forced to cancel the expedition and abandon his dream in the final stretch to reach the highest peak in the world.

Núñez Martínez, who is a native of Calabazar, in Havana, has been living in Iceland for almost a decade, a country where he has worked as a mountain rescuer, excursion guide and worker in a fishing company.

The mountaineer, who has waved the Cuban flag each time he has reached his goal in previous expeditions, said in an interview given to CiberCuba in 2021 that in addition to the national flag, in his climb to the highest point in the world he would carry a message of freedom.