For Dr. Gligor Delev, climbing Mount Everest was a long-standing dream

Born in Skopje, Macedonia, Dr. Gligor Delev is an emergency physician in Montreal who has no fear of reaching for the top. In this case, the top he is reaching for is the summit of Mount Everest, near which this photograph was taken.

On Sunday, May 20, 2007, at around 10 a.m., Dr. Gligor Delev, 47, stepped on the summit of Mt. Everest(8,848 metres), which he had reached from the north face in an expedition of nearly 50 days. He was with Team Everest 2007, a group of nine Serbian mountain climbers. He tells us all about his adventure.

Q: Was that a Macedonian flag you planted on the roof of the world?

Yes, the flag of my country of origin. I didn’t know it, but a Macedonian newspaper was covering our expedition daily. You could follow it live, thanks to the Internet, and especially on the night we reached the summit, you could follow our progress in real time. A member of our group communicated by satellite with Serbia where an organizer uploaded the information to the web. In the bars of Serbia and Macedonia, fans could watch us on a big screen. In Montreal and in Mexico, too, my family was watching. Climbing Everest is an accomplishment I’m proud of. Usually I don’t make plans for the future, but with mountains, it just happens. Climbing lets me express my adventurous side in a deep way, something I’d already discovered when I joined Doctors of the World in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Venezuela among others. It was a side of me that went deeper than I thought.

Q: You’ve said that mountains make you feel humble. Why?

Because I have to show good judgment at all times. I’m not a fanatic, but if I descended too quickly, I would become frustrated. If, however, I got stubborn over nothing, I could die by not descending at the right time. Mountain-climbing has also taught me to trust others. Climbing Everest, I did my very best, but I never put my life in danger.

Q: You were pretty well prepared.

True, but I don’t prepare that much for my climbing projects. For this expedition, for instance, I decided to go only a month and a half before it started. That’s not much time. The truth is, I like to push the envelope; I like that I have no choice but to go forward. My daughter and my mother had reservations about this expedition; my own daughter judged me irresponsible. On the other hand, my son was proud of me.

Q: How did you fit in with the team?

It was difficult. Serbian climbers are used to following a leader’s orders without question. Me, I’m allergic to that kind of authority. Plus I was an outsider, so I had to work harder to fit in. On the whole, though, it was fine, because on the mountain people don’t compete against each other, they compete against themselves.

Q: Do you compete against yourself?

Yes. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it because I hadn’t trained enough, just the minimum necessary. But I like taking off knowing it’s going to be difficult; it stimulates me. The other climbers were much more experienced than me. I was also the only doctor in the team.

Q: What was most satisfying?

Two things. First, feeling I’ve freed myself from an obsession—that of climbing the highest mountain in the world, and, second, I love sharing the climbing, the friendships, the will to reach the summit. Since my return, I find I appreciate the little things much more, like a comfortable bed, hot water, a shower, a beer.

Q: Did this project have anything to do with a mid-life crisis?

Today, I can see that it probably did, because I needed to prove to myself that I was still alive. And I have a whole life ahead of me. I’m overwhelmed that I followed through on my dream; there’s always a good reason to do nothing. I know this, and I’ve heard it many times. So, I took action, and the rest followed.

Q: The expedition brought you closer to your country of origin. How do you see the situation in the Balkans?

Like a perpetual drama that makes me suffer. The former Yugoslavia is a fractured country and this upsets me. It’s absurd to think you can create a multitude of ethnicities just to satisfy everyone. No country can move forward if it’s fractured into countless ethnicities. Imagine if Quebec were divided among the pure laine, the people originally from Brittany(the Celts), the ones originally from Normandy and so on and so forth. I’m also moved by the situation of the Roms(Romani), the Balkan Gypsies. After the bombing of Kosovo, I saw hundreds of refugees camping south of Bitola, on the frontier between Greece and Macedonia. I saw their extremely precarious situation, as well as the hypocrisy practised towards them. The Albanian Kosovars chased them out, but no Western European country wants them. They don’t give a damn about them, even if they like their music. They are the forgotten people of the Balkan drama that’s being enacted.

Q: Are there any other mountains in your future?

Not at the moment. In any case, I couldn’t go; my wife would never forgive me. I owe her a little since I took off for Everest just as we had bought a house. My journey cost around $25,000 . . . so I have to calm down. I also have to consider my colleagues. I exchanged work schedules with them and they were very obliging.

Q: What stays with you from this?

The satisfaction of carrying out my dream. A long time ago, I started ophthalmology but I didn’t like it. So I dropped it and I didn’t like that I hadn’t seen it through to the end.

Q: You’ve gone on several humanitarian missions. Will you go on any more?

One day, very likely, in an unknown future, I’ll go back because I adored these missions that I experienced, several of them with my friend Dr. Jean Papacotsia. My children are grown, so I’d only have to negotiate with my wife.

Michel Dongois is features editor of L’actualité médicale.