Gabriel Tarso: The Lens and the Battle for High-Altitude Survival

The transition to big mountains came with projects for Canal Off, especially 'Seven Summits', and for Red Bull, like 'Andes 6K'. The latter, from 2016 to 2017, was a true school. Spending about 60 days on expedition, the project demanded complete self-sufficiency, exploring mountains in the Andes, many of them above 6,000 meters, where he was the first Brazilian to ascend some of them. This experience forged his ability to manage risks, equipment, and his own health in completely remote environments.

The Athlete and the Filmmaker: An Exhausting Double Role

Gabriel Tarso's role is complex: to be a high-performance mountaineer while operating as a photographer and filmmaker. This means carrying significant extra weight — batteries, cameras, lenses for different scenarios — and, simultaneously, having the physical capacity to be ahead, behind, or off the main route to get the best angle. "The best images, the best angles, are sometimes outside the scene. Not sometimes, almost always," explains Gabriel. This exposes him to additional risks of avalanches and falls, beyond the dangers inherent to everyone on the mountain.

Physical preparation for this dual journey is extreme. As Brazil doesn't offer significant altitudes for acclimatization, Gabriel trained intensely in the most challenging physical conditions. He recounts leaving before dawn to climb trails with brutal elevation gains in the Serra Fina, simulating a summit push in high mountains, exhausting his body and mind to replicate the fatigue and drowsiness felt above 8,000 meters. This simulation aims to prepare him for critical moments, where mental clarity and the energy to operate equipment are crucial.

The Battle for Life: Zero Oxygen on Everest

During his third ascent of Everest in 2023, Gabriel faced one of the greatest perils of his career. On the descent, at the South Summit, around 8,700 meters of altitude, he realized his oxygen cylinder was empty. "It was a fight against death itself," he recounts. In a state of extreme exhaustion and unable to communicate effectively with the young Sherpa accompanying him, he found himself alone, his body rapidly deteriorating. After a brief loss of consciousness, the urgency to act took over.

Without the energy to perform usual safety procedures, Gabriel improvised a knot to descend a steep section. Luck, or perhaps providence, led him to find two abandoned oxygen cylinders from another expedition. With his last remaining strength, he reached the cylinders, and after a brief faint, the first connection revealed an empty cylinder. The second, however, released air. "It's the best feeling of my life," he describes. "You truly feel life returning. Your body is fading in the death zone, and when oxygen comes, the improvement is instantaneous. It's like Popeye eating spinach."

Avalanches and the Mountain's Unpredictability

Gabriel also shared a striking avalanche experience on Manaslu in 2022. At the time, he was ascending for acclimatization and had left his heavy safety gear in his tent, convinced by others that it wouldn't be necessary. As he stopped to eat, he heard an explosion. An avalanche came down toward him, passing just meters away. "The avalanche came and, just as water seeks the fastest path, it diverted around where I was," he recounted. This event, which he couldn't film at the moment of occurrence due to being in survival mode, made him reflect on luck and the mountain's unpredictability.

During the same season, climber Anup passed away, and another colleague, Dawa, was rescued after being buried in the snow. The experience highlighted the negligence and lack of adequate safety equipment in some expeditions, contrasting with the European standard of using avalanche transceivers and shovels. For Gabriel, the 'tourismification' of Everest and other mountains, with less prepared individuals more dependent on supplemental oxygen, exponentially increases the risks. Human error, whether due to negligence or overconfidence, is, for him, the greatest danger in the mountains, surpassing even nature's unpredictability.

Between the Mountain's Grandeur and the Strength of Affection

After three ascents of Everest, Gabriel noticed an evolution in his perspective. The first time was marked by grandeur, by the feeling of being "nothing" before the mountain's magnitude. With each return, maturity led him to "continue seeing beauty in the ordinary," meaning in the repetition and details that reveal themselves with each new visit. His life, now, is also shaped by a new "mountain": fatherhood.

With his son Chico, just six months old, Gabriel had to re-evaluate his commitments, turning down challenging projects to be present. He sees fatherhood as a new type of adventure, as intense as his expeditions, and an invitation to slow down and observe the world from a child's perspective. Although he continues with adventure projects in 2024, such as a paragliding expedition in Pakistan, trekking in Peru and Nepal, his return to the 8,000-meter high mountains is planned only for 2027.

The conversation concludes with a reflection on the loss of friends in the mountains, such as Edson and Ignácio. Gabriel emphasizes the importance of honoring the memory of those who lived their dreams in the heights, and how the perception of mortality makes him value emotional bonds even more. "Love continues to go to the mountains; only the meaning changes," he concludes, celebrating the passion for adventure, now balanced with family love and responsibility.