FRIENDS

Aware is a non-profit association that is part of the company Search and Rescue S.L. that seeks to reduce the impact generated by tourism in the great mountains of our planet and in the communities that live near them.

Currently, the team is working on the Askole project, whose main focus is to give autonomy to this town in Pakistan, the last populated settlement before Chogori (K2). The emotional bond I have with Pakistan made me not hesitate for a moment to sign an active part of the association channeling its social and environmental actions.

The passion for the mountains of the people who make up Search and Rescue S.L. has led them to develop Elur, a project that offers technological solutions for rescuing people in extreme situations. A versatile rescue device capable of dealing with all the risks present in our environment.

A project with a multitude of applications in different sectors with which I collaborate contributing my experience in the mountain world and whose rescue prototype we tested in the San Francisco volcano in Argentina and in the winter expedition to Chogori (K2).

It is the Foundation in commemoration of the Navarrese mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza. Its mission is to preserve and disseminate his memory and the achievement of his unfinished cooperation projects in life: the construction of an Orphanage, a Hospital and a School in (indistinctly) Nepal, Pakistan and India, where the most disadvantaged children of the three countries that are home to mountains of more than eight thousand meters of altitude.

I have been collaborating with them for more than 5 years in the different projects they develop in Nepal. Through communication campaigns to collect food or medicine or holding events to collect funds with which to develop projects in Nepal.

In addition, the SOS Himalaya Foundation together with the company IvoIbranding / Arista participated in the distribution and fundraising through the film Pumori that Alex Txikon produced in 2019.

They were responsible for the planning and organization of more than 25 screenings and/or screenings throughout the Basque Country and Navarra, raising around €15,000 which they donated to Suku (the film’s protagonist) through said foundation. for your medical treatments.

Baltistán Fundazioa is an international development cooperation NGO that works in the Pakistani Karakorum, in pursuit of the integral and endogenous development of the inhabitants of the communities of the remote Hushé Valley.

The Foundation was born as Felix Iñurrategi-Baltistan Fundazioa in 2001 as a tribute to our friend Felix Iñurrategi, who died precisely in Gasherbrum II. Friends, family and mountaineers were its founders, with imprecise objectives at the beginning, but with the clear idea of providing the inhabitants of the area with the necessary skills and infrastructure so that they could promote and manage their own model of sustainable economic development. and equitable for men and women.

Baltistan Fundazioa works in close coordination with Felix Foundation Baltistan (FFB), a local organization made up exclusively of women and men from the Hushé Valley.

In the winter expedition to K2 that I carried out in the winter of 2018-2019, together with the expedition doctors Dr. Kepa Lizarraga and Dr. Josep Sanchís, we spent several days treating the inhabitants of the town of Askole, the gate of Gateway to the Himalayas of Pakistan. In those days we discovered something very important: the people of the town had, among other health problems, severe stomach pains caused by the large amounts of bicarbonate that they added to the products to be cooked more quickly since there are few natural fuel resources available such as firewood. The following year we sent 10 solar ovens built by the children of the Mondragón institute, which allowed them to learn to use solar energy and be able to heat food above 100º! In addition, we transported more than 100 solar panels and low consumption light bulbs so that they could have lighting and in this way the children could study when the day got dark. If you look closely, they are very humble populations and part of our work is to help in whatever way we can in those places through which we pass as visitors and they give us as much as the mountains of Pakistan.

Private non-profit entity, with 130 years of experience, and declared of general interest. Its purpose is to accompany people in their aging process to improve their well-being, generating knowledge and personalized services that promote their autonomy and dignity.

A few days after my return from my “Road to Himalayas” expedition (March 2020) the confinement was decreed in the Basque Country due to COVID-19 and we started with the project ‘High altitude meetings’ hand in hand with CaixaBank and the “la Caixa” Foundation ” through which I accompany (I still do) telematically 6 elderly people, from three residential centers (Zumaia, Donostia and Zizurkil) of Matia Fundazioa.

The pandemic and the isolation generated harsh situations, with little social contact, fear, uncertainties, losses for the elderly… and this activity has somewhat alleviated their situation.

We continue to see each other online every two weeks. These meetings have managed to stimulate and motivate the users of the residences, transporting them to the mountains for a few moments, serving to interact and share my anecdotes.

http://fundacionsarabastall.org/index.php

It is an NGO that was born and works in the province of Zaragoza; and from this corner of Bajo Aragón, it develops cooperation projects in Asia and carries out fundraising activities.