He scaled Everest to create awareness about depression

It was the sixth time that Mexico-based mountaineer David Liano Gonzalez has scaled the Mount Everest. Gonzalez made it to summit to create awareness about mental illness. 

Gonzalez  who was in Bengaluru on Tuesday, spoke to Deccan Herald about his experience. The 37-year-old said that even as he has scaled the height for other causes, this one has been close to his heart.  “Having seen someone close suffer from mental illness and having lost a close family member to depression, I know what it is like,” he expressed. 

For this mountaineer, it took two months to summit and he had been constantly sharing his experience on the social media to raise awareness. “I had many thanking me for working for this case, especially from India,” he added. 

He had reached summit on May 12. However, Gonzalez had to start preparing for this, much in advance. The idea struck him when he was on a road trip in India.

“Last year, I was on a bike expedition when the idea crossed my mind, and I met members of the Live Love Laugh Foundation. Then on, the preparations have been immense.”

The athlete trained for three months and ran several marathons to keep fit for the expedition. He was in two minds when he reached the base, Gonzalez explained.

“I had two options. To either climb up when the weather was good and the temperature was slightly high at -28 degrees or to wait for a month and scale Everest without Oxygen. Since I did not want to delay taking the banner of the foundation and bringing it back, I decided to start when the weather was good,” he added. 

He took a banner of actress Deepika Padukone’s Foundation having a message #youarenotalone and brought it back to Bengaluru.  

Road trip 
Ahead of the trek, this Mexican was on a road trip across India. “Travelling just a few hundred miles made me feel that I had reached a different place altogether. It is fantastic being in India. There is so much to see here culturally andarchitecturally. Even the people are great,” he said.

 Gonzalez had travelled from Delhi to Punjab, Manali and Varanasi.