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26 September 2006, 12:06

ExWeb interview with Alex Abramov, part 1: "I have learnt the lesson"

12:47 am EST Sep 26, 2006
(MountEverest.net) Abramov`s commercial Everest expedition in 2006 turned out a disaster. The team lost climber after climber to exposure; one rescued only after other climbers found him still alive after a night out. Only commercial outfit Himex made bigger headlines - after chief Russell Brice advised his staff to leave a "dying" (but talking) independent climber on the peak, not far from the safety of high camp.

Once the season was over, an email arrived from Alex stating that he and Russ proposed to create a rescue service on Everest’s north side. A cost of around $500 would be added to climbing permits, amounting to around $100,000 in total.

The money would cover 10-20 high altitude Tibetan climbers and gear. There would also be other restrictions; including a mandatory insurance to cover transportation, medical services, and recovery of bodies.

The Everest Monopoly

For several years, Russell Brice has tried to persuade CTMA to leave much of the Everest north side logistics - such as rope fixing - to him; and add the cost to non-Himex climbers` permit fee. He already managed the weather forecasts - included in his clients` fees but charged at a cost to others.

The Chinese authorities have been cold to his proposals, but seem to be warming up:

“Russell Brice, Ang Tsering and I discussed the proposal with CTMA (China/Tibet Mountaineering Association) during August in Lhasa,” Abramov told ExplorersWeb last week. “CTMA gave high appraisal for our idea and promised to discuss it with Beijing.”

Everest north side lost forever to independent climbing

Basically, the latest idea means that commercial outfits, who have rope-fixing and other logistics already budgeted for in their client fees, would get a nice cut on their expenses; while independent climbers would be forced to pay for services they might or might not want - or even use. In fact in 2006 as in previous years, other expeditions have also fixed rope on Everest north side, often leaving them for other climbers to use without charge.

More importantly, Everest north side will effectively become controlled by Himex - already the largest commercial outfitter there - and be lost forever to independent climbing.

With these facts in hand, ExplorersWeb posed Alex Abramov - once the expedition leader to one of our very own team mates - a few questions. Here goes:

ExplorersWeb: 3 out of 11 deaths on Everest North side in the past two years have been related to your outfit. Based on the statistics, people might argue that the easiest way to lower fatalities by almost 30% is to keep your outfit away from the mountain?

Abramov: "In the last four years I have organized expeditions for 12,11,18 and 29 climbers - a total of 70 clients. During the last two years 21 and 22 people have summited, respectively (including Sherpas). That makes a total of 43 summits - a good result I think."

"But of course expedition results are truly good only when no one dies. In the last two Everest expeditions, three of my clients died and I agree it is not the greatest results you can have. However, if my information is right, they are not the worst possible results either. Dan Mazur’s company for instance lost 5 clients only in 2005." (Ed note: To ExWeb`s knowledge, Dan Mazur did not lose 5 clients on Everest in 2005.)

"Speaking of statistics, each season about 200 climbers come to Everest’s North side. 7 people died there this year. I brought 29 climbers: So statistic show that if you have 29 climbers you have a big chance of losing 1. A second one is too much though, that’s for sure. My deepest condolences go to relatives and friends of these perished climbers." (Ed note: 8 climbers died on Everest north side this year).

ExplorersWeb: You have said earlier that you require your clients to be self-sufficient and well trained; how come you allowed a sight impaired climber with a history of a brain tumor (Thomas Weber), and a 15 year old (Richard Harris) on your permit?

Abramov: "I think it wasn’t my mistake to invite Thomas Weber. However he was highly experienced - a “Snow Leopard” (climbed the 5 highest peaks in the USSR). On Everest, Thomas reached the Rocky Section (1 hour from the summit) in 9 hours despite his bad vision – this is good timing, which proves he was prepared for the climb."

"In addition Thomas and his guide Harry Kikstra had 7, O2 bottles each, and 2 Sherpas assisting them. Each Sherpa carries 4 extra bottles for his own use: This is more than enough to climb Everest with safety."

"In addition, Thomas never told me about having undergone brain surgery! He didn’t inform me right about his illness. He just told me that he would sometimes lose vision on high altitude, but said that it was a particular problem with his body. In fact, I wear glasses and when in BC his vision was better than mine. He told me that he had spoken with doctors, and they had said climbing with that problem shouldn’t be too dangerous."

"I am not a doctor. Tomas asked me to organize his expedition and so I did. He didn’t ask me to get him an individual guide. He invited Harry himself, and just informed me about his choice after the decision was made. And I must repeat: He never said a word about a brain surgery - I have a “Medical form” which each client signs before the expedition, and no mention of a brain surgery is made there by Thomas."

"As for Christopher Harris, we know there have been cases of 17 years old boys and a 15 year old girl who have summited Everest. Christopher is very strong for his age. He had been the youngest lad to climb Mount Cook, and had summited peaks such as Denali and Kilimanjaro."

"His Everest climb was an `experiment`, all right – but it was not my experiment. Chris was climbing with his father, and we settled from the very beginning that I was not to be held responsible for any decision involving Christopher’s climb. That would be his father’s Richard Harris take."

"I think Richard made the right decision by aborting Christopher’s climb when the problems started. I saw how difficult it was for him to do it; he had spent a lot of money on the project and was committed to getting good results."

"We had a good, very experienced expedition doctor who took care of Christopher in the bad moments. The Australian team was also very well-equipped; each member had 7, O2 bottles, plus four bottles for each Sherpa."

"Both Thomas’ and Christopher’s were individual projects - they would have teamed up with us or with any other team in order to get them done - and they would have had the same problems with us or any other expedition. In fact, a leader of another expedition told me that both Thomas Weber and Christopher Harris had first asked him to join his team. Being more experienced than me; he refused."

"I think Richard and Christopher Harris will continue to pursue their project - and I wish them good luck."

"In the end, the problems that occurred were not due to bad organization – no one has complained about how I managed the expedition. Nevertheless, I have learnt one lesson: I will never invite that kind of climbers to join my expedition again."

ExplorersWeb: What do you think of the death of Thomas Weber and the actions of your guide and partner Harry Kikstra? What went wrong? Will you work together again?

Abramov: "My partnership with Kikstra has been misunderstood. Harry is not my business partner - he has his own company “7 Summits.com”, and I have my own company “7 Summits Club”. We never combined our business, and we never shared profit."

"However, we did help each other to find clients (I work mostly with Russians and Harry deals with western climbers) for expeditions to the 7 Summits, and we shared clients for 2 expeditions on Everest and 1 on Vinson - it is cheaper than to organize two separate outfits."

"Harry was not a guide for the 7Summits-club expedition. This has also been misunderstood. He was co-leader (because he brought 13 clients) and would climb as an individual guide for a particular client: Thomas Weber. Thomas had chosen him as a guide and invited him himself. Thomas paid his fees to Harry and Harry paid me the corresponding fee for two clients."

"During the acclimatization stage, Harry did his job very well. In fact, it was not Harry, but Thomas who really led his two-person team. Thomas was paying, and he made all the decisions. His wish to reach the summit was very strong and nobody, not even Harry, could turn him down: `What if you lose your vision up there and don`t make it back?` I asked Thomas at the North Col.
`Everest is the most important thing to me right now - I don’t want to think about the future,` he replied."

"Thomas wanted to show other sight-impaired people that it is possible to have a “normal” life - even on Everest. This was his project, and success was very important to him. It was my mistake to invite him to my team, but I`m sure that the result would have been the same had he taken part in any other commercial expedition."

MountEverest.net

Out of 11 fatalities on Everest this spring season, 4 were caused by "objective" climbing accidents: A serac collapsed in the Khumbu Icefall killing three Sherpas; Swede Tomas Olsson died when his anchor failed while descending the north face of Everest on skis. The remaining 7 deaths were attributed to altitude and exhaustion. Out of these 7 climbers, three were part of either 7Summits-Club or Russell Brice’s HiMex teams, the two largest expeditions on the North side.

According to statistics, the deaths of Slovenian Marko Lihteneker (perished in 2005), Igor Plyushkin (on May 22, 2006), and Thomas Weber (May 25, 2006) - all in unrelated incidents - make 7Summits-club the deadliest commercial expedition outfitter on Everest today. In addition, one 7Summits-club member was left for dead but later found alive and rescued. The outfit had at least two more incidents (one involving a 15-year old) where their clients had to be treated with oxygen and evacuated from ABC.

Himex commercial outfit lost a sherpa to altitude early in the season and was involved when independent climber David Sharp was left unattended in spite of injuries, not too far from high camp. Himex guides and clients passed the climber on summit push; a couple of Himex Sherpas stopped by him on descent and filmed him for a Discovery channel documentary. With the working title "Everest - no experience needed," the documentary was aimed to showcase the Himex commercial outfit`s superiority to independent climbing. After the Sherpas shot the video, where David reportedly clearly stated his name and other details, they were instructed by Brice to descend. David Sharp died, alone, that night.