"This is one of the largest collections on the planet; there are pieces of great value, and behind each piece there is a great story," said Alex Txikon, referring to the Mendietxe Museum. There is, for example, a postcard sent by George Mallory and Andrew Irvine from the Everest base camp in 1924; the tent used by Reinhold Messner in 1980 in Everest; the oldest part of the Azpeitia collector (Marvon 80 Collector); the smallest part of Chon's collector.

"I can spend five hours explaining the quality and value of the pieces that are here, but it's best for them to come and people to see it in plain sight," says Txikon. Skis, helmets, goggles, crampons, poles, boots, rackets, harnesses, more than 250 piolets, among them one that belonged to François Simond, the alpinist of Lemoa stresses that "in this museum there is a living history".

"It all started 20 years ago, in 2004, on the slopes of ochomil K2," Olasagasti wrote in his personal account of Berria. In that year, Txikon found a bottle of Italian oxygen for the first ascent of K2 in 1954 and lowered it. That was the first piece, and in the subsequent expeditions, he started picking up more pieces. He keeps them in a room of the attic of the Convento de Esclavas de Azpeitia, as his family Soraluze, owner of the building since 1998, was his friend.

"We would like this to be a start," stressed Txikon and Mikel Soraluze, the driver of Mendietxe and one of the jurors. "Up there are 500 meters more, for now empty, and it would be very nice if you also readjust and go dress up. So far, without any kind of public money, thanks to many sponsors we have carried out the project, but from now on it will be essential the support of public institutions to continue expanding and improving Mendietxe".

Support of public institutions and museum of Basque mountaineering

We have just said that. Azpeitia and the Museum of the EMMOA Foundation are two unique projects. And what is the museum of Basque mountaineering? Olasagasti has written the analysis of the question in Berria: "Mendietxe is a beautiful museum of historic parts of the mountain. It is not, however, a museum of Basque mountaineering. In Mendietxe there are not the seven leaflets that the pioneer Andrés Espinosa wrote at his hands to publicize the experiences of the Alps and the Himalayas; in Mendietxe there is no historical collection of photographs of Antxon Bandres Azkue; in a historical warehouse that Anjel Sopeña used a century ago in the first historical climb of Fraileburu (...)

“We are a little ignorant of our history,” said Antxon Iturriza, a member of the EMMOA foundation, in the report we published in February on the occasion of the centenary of the Mountain Federation, while pointing out the objects filled with boxes stacked in the offices of Martutene. The museum project started about twenty years ago with the objective of collecting and publicizing its heritage; in February we said it was possible to open in the short term (at the Arkaute de Tolosa house), but the project is not behind.

“It’s been a longer process than we thought,” Iturriza acknowledged. “We thought you would introduce the project and surprise everyone, but you realize that to fulfill a dream you need money and... Although the City of Tolosa has shown a very positive attitude, we will need the support of more institutions.” There is also a problem: “Who will take our witness? We are elderly, we are in full activity and if we want the museum to stabilize, in part we will have to professionalize it, because we are not in the best time to seek volunteers”.

EMMOA stores much of the material accumulated for years in two rooms in a Martutene building. In one of the offices are the documents (books, newspapers and magazines, photographs, guides, maps...) and in the other the mountain material (piolets, skis, shampoos, boots, crampons...). Among them are the crampons and skis of wood of Maritxu Urreta, founder of the Basque Camping Club, the mountaineer Trini Cornellana, who in 1976 wore the coat on the fateful expedition of Shakume (Afghanistan), the first woman to climb the mountain, and the one that Gregorio Ariz wore on the Everzio expedition. A huge treasure, captive in eleven boxes.

Does not Basque mountaineering at last deserve a museum, no matter how small and simple, to house all that history and that boundless legacy? Olasagasti has finished the analysis with a question. It's easy to say yes, but...

Meanwhile, enjoy the collection of the Mendietxe Museum, which has been installed in the Convento de las Esclavas de Azpeitia, where there are many beautiful pieces.