Carles Gel: falling in love with the infinite landscape of Greenland

Source Summary

When he was 7 years old, Carles Gel left the farmhouse near Vilassar de Mar where he lived and, without saying anything, decided he would climb the Creu de Montcabrer all by himself. Between climbing up and down, he stayed there all day. He was born to explore. Carles (Vilassar de Mar, 1963) still remembers that first summit and the excursions with his parents to Montseny. Or the trips to the Pyrenees with the Salesians of Mataró, where he forged his personality and his desire to travel the world. This man from Maresme, who has lived far from the sea for years, would put down roots in the Pyrenees, and currently lives in Andorra, in Pal. Although he studied to be a draughtsman, he ended up working as a mountain guide, as he is not a person destined to live locked away in an office. "I could have been a good architect, but a moment came when I told myself that I had to pursue my dreams. We cannot live without dreams," he explains. He has now been doing this job for 40 years, which has allowed him to reach summits on all continents and cross Greenland, a journey that changed him. When he remembers that white immensity, he gets emotional. He speaks of it with the same passion as that child who, at 7 years old, climbed the Creu de Montcabrer.