 |
|
 |
Name: Miroslav Caban
Nickname: Miro
Sports: mountaineering
Date of Birth: 4th of April, 1968
Home country: Czech Republic
Marital status: Married
Website: www.448.cz |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
I'm a mountaineer, traveller and photographer. I was born under the mountain massif of High Tatry (Vysoke Tatry) in Slovakia. Rocks and mountains were like tempting magnets to me since I was young. But a tragedy in the family diverted my life path from mountains for a while. Instead, I tried different sports and for 15 years I had played volleyball on a professional level. Since I was young I have been skiing and even involved in ski alpinism which was an unknown sport at those times.
Then only in 1996 my life path winded back to the mountains. It was like coming to an old place where I always wanted to be. Everything went on quite quickly and I started to climb the peaks of the Alps. Mount Blanc, Matterhorn, Grossglockner, Grossvenediger and others... I started to be more addicted and excited about seeing different countries, cultures, mountains and getting to their peaks. In 2000 I decided to fly to Argentina and try Aconcagua. Her 6962 meters make her the highest peak of South America and I came there equipped with my brand new Suunto Vector. Well, the first time I wasn't successful but thanks to my Suunto wristop I was lucky enough to make the promise to return back.
I returned in 2001 and reached the peak. That was already part of preparation for the most tempting and most dangerous mountain in the world, the K2. For climbing her we decided for the path that climbs up the Cesen's pillar and we reached 8000m. But due to a very bad weather we had to turn back.
Next year a combination of two peaks at once came to my mind and in a team of two we tried Cho Oyu and Mt. Everest. For this expedition I was equipped with Suunto Advizor which is an evolution of the Vector and is able to tell and record your heart rate (which, for example, I used during my demanding training for the expedition). Unfavourable weather didn't allow us to reach the peak of Cho Oyu but on 17.5.2002 I found myself standing on the peak of Mt. Everest. All of my climbing has been done without using an oxygen mask.
After climbing Everest it seemed only logical to climb all the highest peaks of each continent which is called 7 Summits. One by one I climbed them all and finished 7 Summits in 2005. Then I only discovered that I became the second man in the world right after Reinhold Messner to do the 7 Summits without oxygen.
My future, or better contemporary project, as it is to start in few weeks, is to climb four 8000+ peaks in four months, again without oxygen. The project's name is Project 4-4-8 and you will be able to follow it on this web site.
What are the 1-3 biggest moments in your life that made your heart beat?
 A big and in a way also inevitable moment of my life was when I climbed with my family the mountain Krivan in Slovak mountains of High Tatry (Vysoke Tatry). I was 7 years old but inside of me happened something I'm not able to describe. Since then mountains became my second home.
Another big sporting moment of my life was the climbing of Mt. Everest without oxygen. There was quite a lot of adrenalin involved and a good portion of my great feeling came also from the fact that I planned the whole expedition merely on my own and then we executed it in only two persons. Those were the moments that stay with you for the rest of your life. Due to Suunto I was also able to bring those back in the logbook of my Vector and experience them again anytime I clicked through the wristop's memory.
Third such moment happened to me in 2005 when I finished the 7 summits. I did them because I was interested in travelling to different parts of Earth, to see far away places and cultures. Some of the peaks of 7 Summits are not that high or demanding like Everest but you can find some of them in very exotic places.
Merely just from curiosity I wrote to the organization that keeps the lists of people who did the 7 Summits. A surprise and feeling of huge happiness overtook me when in an email from the organization my name was written right after Reinhold Messner's. Anybody else included in the total list did at least part of 7 Summits with oxygen mask. It was a great honour for me to be listed right after R. Messner who has been an icon in mountaineering.
Click here to see the 7 Summits record of Miro Caban
|
| |
|
|
