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Peruvian climber Richard Hidalgo said Monday that it was the right decision to give up his attempt to top Mount Everest in order to preserve his life and go back to Katmandu safe and sound so as to try it again some other time.

Hidalgo recalled that he was only 500 meters from the top of Mount Everest, whose altitude is 8848m (29000 feet), "I feel calm because I did everything possible to finish the expedition successfully."

He added that despite bad weather conditions, he remained for 36 hours very close to the Everest summit, in the “death zone” above camp 4 at 8350 m.a.s.l., which is unusual considering he did not have artificial oxygen.

The Peruvian climber said that under these conditions it is always a possibility that one would die from freezing during the ascent, which makes you decide between life and death even though the summit is very close and many desire to top it.

“The mountain climbing is like this, the mountain decides. I think I made the right decision and came back safe. That’s the most important thing in climbing. The Everest will still be there, and I’ll have another chance to climb it,” said Hidalgo.

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