"7 Summits + 2 Poles" project news

A team of the 7 Summits Club guides arrived to Punta Arenas. We met the Kazakh team. Then we met Christine and her husband, Hannibal. And burrows ...

Photos from the window of the hotel on the Strait of Magellan. Tomorrow we will have a tough day. It is necessary to check all equipment.

By decision of the UN General Assembly on December 11^th  every year is celebrated as the International Mountain Day, to draw attention to mountain regions in the world, to their potential and challenges on the path to sustainable development.

  The 7 Summits Club congratulates all fans of the mountains, all the inhabitants of mountainous areas, all those who, one way or another, connected with the mountains!

2016 Theme — "Mountain Cultures: Celebrating diversity and strengthening identity"

Covering around 22 percent of the earth’s land surface, mountains play a critical role in moving the world towards sustainable economic growth. They not only provide sustenance and wellbeing to 915 million mountain people around the world, representing 13 percent of global population, but mountains also indirectly benefit billions more living downstream.

Mountain Day logoMountain Cultures

This year, the celebration of this Day aims to highlight Mountain Cultures. Mountains host communities with ancient cultures and traditions, and are places of religious worship, pilgrimage and rituals all over the world. The concept of traditional heritage, culture and spirituality is intrinsically linked with peoples’ livelihoods in the mountains, where it is often traditional lifestyles that determine the way people make a living and subsist.

Mountains are also the sources of springs and rivers and have been revered as the home of deities throughout history. In times of drought, the Kikuyu people faced Mount Kenya and asked the God Ngai for rain. The Inca people constructed their temples on the highest peaks over 6 000 metres (m) in the Andes. In China, villages traditionally dedicated a temple to the local mountain deity responsible for clouds and rain.

A large proportion of the world's minority populations live in mountain areas. While most of these consist of small numbers of people, some large groups exist, such as the Quechua in the Andes, the Amhara people in Ethiopia, and the Tibetans and Yi in China. Isolation, created by the rugged topographic barriers, has helped create and maintain many diverse cultures relatively intact. Unfortunately, the stability of mountain populations, each with different values and belief systems, is threatened by migration, urbanization and conflict. 

Mountain peoples have long held vital roles in the management of their ecosystems. Over the centuries, they have developed remarkable land-use systems, climate change adaptation approaches, traditional diets and mountain products that are unique and rich in globally significant biodiversity.

Often grounded in a deep connection with the land, mountain communities’ worldviews guide them in their agricultural activities and care of the environment and natural resources. In the Andes, for example, mother nature Pachamama, worshipped by the indigenous peoples, presides over planting and harvesting, embodies mountains and is believed to cause earthquakes. Rituals to honour Pachamama reinforce the relations between human communities and their natural environments, bringing together people from different clans and villages at various points of the agricultural cycle.

Furthermore, mountains and mountain-protected areas are places of spiritual solace, inspiration, recreation and relaxation. From skiing and climbing to viewing mountain gorillas in Rwanda and visiting the rock churches in Ethiopia, mountains offer an array of possibilities to all kinds of tourists. According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 376 of the world’s 669 Biosphere Reserves, or 56 percent, contain mountain ecosystems.  

The impacts of tourism on culture and identity in the mountains can bring both possibilities and challenges. Community-based mountain tourism can ensure a more equitable distribution of income, help maintain local cultures and knowledge, reduce out-migration and provide incentives for the protection of mountain ecosystems, their goods and services.

While Mountain Culture is the suggested theme for 2016, countries, communities and organizations are welcome to celebrate International Mountain Day through the choice of a different theme that might be more relevant to them.

On Saturday, December 3  a solemn evening of the Federation of Mountaineering of Russia (FMR) took place in the center of Moscow in the Telegraph hall. The action is devoted to summing up year and delivery of awards to the caused a stir athletes. The awarding the prize "Gold Ice Axe of Russia" for the best climb of year was the main event, of course. However evening began, and it was very pleasant, from a celebration of new summiters of Everest. Since 2012 FMR awards them with the special medal.

 The organizers caused on the stage of our heroes of Everest. Members of the expedition of the 7 Summits Club: Vlad Moroz, Roman Reutov, Irena Harazova, Igor Demyanenko. And also Masha Gordon, who climed from the South and forgotten in 2012 (when awarded all, since 1982) Vyacheslav Skripko. A bit later the award found one more heroine – Tatyana Yalovchak from Ukraine. She just was late. Awards will also be transferred to two more participants of our expedition: Oleg Pimenov and Vladimir Kotlyar.

The 7 Summits Club Expedition of the Pyramid of Carstens, the highest point in Australia was held from October 20 to November 6, 2016.  Leader Alexander Abramov. All memberss underwent a difficult trek through the jungles of New Guinea and then climbed to the top of the rocky route.

 Due to the expansion and opening of the new perspective directions, the office of the 7 Summits Club changes dislocation and moves closer to the center.

New address: Maly Karetny, 10

We hope to finish our moving till December 7th.

In this regard, small delays with answers by mail are possible. But we will try to respond as much as possible to all letters and calls even in the course of moving …

On Saturday, December 3  a solemn evening of the Federation of Mountaineering of Russia (FMR) took place in the center of Moscow in the Telegraph hall. The action is devoted to summing up year and delivery of awards to the caused a stir athletes. The awarding the prize "Gold Ice Axe of Russia" for the best climb of year was the main event, of course. However evening began, and it was very pleasant, from a celebration of new summiters of Everest. Since 2012 FMR awards them with the special medal.

 The organizers caused on the stage of our heroes of Everest. Members of the expedition of the 7 Summits Club: Vlad Moroz, Roman Reutov, Irena Harazova, Igor Demyanenko. And also Masha Gordon, who climed from the South and forgotten in 2012 (when awarded all, since 1982) Vyacheslav Skripko. A bit later the award found one more heroine – Tatyana Yalovchak from Ukraine. She just was late. Awards will also be transferred to two more participants of our expedition: Oleg Pimenov and Vladimir Kotlyar.

We congratulate heroes of Everest!

And also the team of Moscow which won "Golden Ice Axe of Russia" for Thalay Sagar new route

and other winners of this evening.

Photos from Facebook from different authors:

 In September 2016 GRIT&ROCK announced a launch of an annual international FIRST ASCENT EXPEDITION PRIZE to enable female first ascents. The award, the largest of its kind globally, will fund a female-led expedition team up to the amount of GBP5,000. The aims of the annually awarded prize is to promote and encourage female participation in pioneering alpine ascents. The Award is open to individuals and climbing teams with majority female participation and is meant to provide funding for those who need it most.

The application deadline is January 31, 2017. The jury comprising Victor Saunders, Catherine Destivelle, Lydia Bradey and Lise Billon will choose a winning project by March 1, 2017.

To learn more, please download the award document here

or contact us at award@gritandrock.com

*******

The Alpinist magazine:

Masha Gordon, the founder of Grit & Rock, explains: "During my Explorers Grand Slam record bid [She holds the female speed record—Ed.], I spent over a hundred days in various base camps around the world where I have encountered quite a few budding female alpinists in commercial groups doing normal routes on high altitude peaks," Gordon said. "That contrasted with very few independent women climbers who were part of the teams launching alpine-style ambitious summit bids. That made me wonder about the disconnect. I looked at the history of Piolets d'Or, the Oscars of Alpinism, and discovered that in its twenty-four-year-long history it has been won only twice by women. Fewer women alpinists get sponsored as brand athletes.... As a result, women get less expedition experience and, perhaps, dare less, feeling unqualified. This vicious cycle creates an unintended high-altitude glass ceiling. Our $6,000 First Ascent Expedition Grant was designed to act as a catalyst to encourage more competent female alpinists to launch their first ascent bids."

Gordon said she wasn't sure how much interest there would be when she announced the grant. "Our fear was that we would get few applications," she said. "So far, the queries we've had came from highly competent climbers. So far, so good!"

The selection panel consisting of Lydia Bradey, Catherine Destivelle, Victor Saunders and Lise Billon will award the first prize in February. Bradey was the first woman to summit Everest (8848m) without supplemental oxygen in 1988. Destivelle did an eleven-day solo first ascent on the Petit Dru (3732) in 1991, the Destivelle Route (VI 5.11b A5, 800m), and the following year she became the first woman to complete a solo ascent of the Eiger Nordwand, which she did in winter in 17 hours in 1992, among many other climbing feats. Saunders is still blazing new routes in alpine style at age 66, which he did earlier this month on Sersank Peak (6050m) with Mick Fowler in the Indian Himalaya. Billon is a 2016 Piolet d'Or recipient for the second ascent of Cerro Riso Patron (2550m) in Chile via a new route called Hasta las Webas (AI5+, M5, ED- 1000m), which she climbed with Jerome Sullivan, Diego Simari and Antoine Moineville.

[Photo] Masha Gordon collection

"If we can encourage women to think outside of the box, lead their own expeditions and explore routes in remote parts of the world, it would be a fantastic achievement," Bradey said.

"Our Foundation's goal is to help raise a generation of brave and confident girls through the power of [the] outdoors," Gordon said. "These girls need role models. This prize is aimed at helping create them."

 Please find some photos from our summit day. Carstenzs expedition 2016 led by Alex Abramov.

Dear Friends,

 It’s not a secret that this spring, we organized an expedition to mount Everest from the North side, in conjunction with «7 Summits Club», «RD Studio», «RedFox», «Yandex» and «Toyota». The expedition was stopped in half way, due to an earthquake magnitude of 8 – We were lucky that nobody from our Expedition was hurt. We were forced to evacuate.

Despite this fact, we managed to create a panoramic view of our 19km route, right from Base Camp (5100m) to Advanced Base Camp (6500m).

The Panoramas were published before the release of the film "Everest".

In the autumn of 2015, inspired by the many positive responses from your side, we decided to finish the job and began to organize an expedition in 2016.

May 20, 2016, we managed to reach the summit (8848м) and completed the full route whilst picturing everything in 3D panoramic views from base camp to the summit. May 22, 2016, we returned to base camp uninjured and safe.

Early June 2016 when we returned to Moscow, we started going through all the raw materials and then commenced our work to ensure it was of the highest standard. We created a special interactive page dedicated to the climb. Now, because of our project, everyone will be able to travel our full journey right from base camp (5100m) up until the summit of Everest (8848м). You will be able to pass this scenic mountainous route without exposing yourselves to any danger. 

We wanted to make such beauty more accessible and wanted to share with you this joy and positivity.

And yes – we were the first in the world to do a full 3D panoramic view of route to highest point in World – Everest Summit!

Thanks to all of those who participated in the project. We really appreciated your support. We appreciated your selfless dedication and inspiring enthusiasm.

Special thanks to:

- Anatoly Topol and Konstantin Lysenko from Yandex team – without your enthusiasm and faith, this project would not have taken place

- Olga Bolotova from the team Neq4 – as the most energetic team member of our project

- RD Studio team, and personally to Valdis Pelsh, Kristina Kozlova, Alexander Kubasov, Vladimir Kudinov – for your support in the mountains – with you there was never a boring moment

- expedition team and to Alexander Abramov – for the excellent organization of the expedition and the feeling of tranquility

- Vladimir Kotlyar and Vlad Moroz – for their selfless help during the expedition, faith and dedication

- Max Shakirov, project partner – because you were always never far behind

- colleagues, to team and to management – thank you very much for the opportunity you gave ma and fot believing in me

- parents, relatives and friends – for their support

- and, of course, to the Toyota team – for «Always a better way»

Together we make the world better – thank you.

---

"I want to share with you the inspiring beauty of the world we live in."  Roman Reutov

Vladimir Shataev ascended to the summit of Kilimanjaro at 9:30 November 3, 2016, in company with another great friend of our Club Alexander Sobolenko. They left the last camp to Barafu at 01:30. The climb took 8 hours. Vladimir Shataev is 79-a-half years old, he was born May 1, 1937. It is a national record of age ... but only for men. The absolute record belongs to our compatriot Angela Vorobyova – 86 years!

Despite the fact that early November is considered the end favorable for climbing season, the weather was quiet. Snow (about 2 cm) fell only to assault the camp Barafu.

According to Vladimir, trekking to the summit on the Machame route is a much cooler than Marangu, on which he has been climbing two times. The route seemed much more beautiful, varied and difficult. Climbing on Marangu and Machame is 2 different mountains. It was a pleasant discovery!

Kilimanjaro from Machame route is really beautiful.

Alexander Sobolenko plans had to prepare for the next climbs and to lose weight. According to him, the second paragraph failed, because he was very well fed.

Our Indonesian partners are famous for their trademark technique - inscribed flags on top of the mountain and certificates. Therefore, the awarding   procedure can be regarded as the end of the expedition. Though it may be, we still have to go home. But  to leave heat in South-East Asia for the cold of Russia is not very desirable.

1. Our group guided by Maxim Bulahovsky successfully climbed the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro - Uhuru peak via the Machame route. They made it 2 days ahead of schedule! Now they are down to the Millennium camp and then to the exit of the National Park. Their plan: go on a Safari early in order to see more animals.

2. The group of Artem Rostovtsev has also reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. So they celebrated the birthday of Pavel Altukhov. We also congratulate Paul with summit and birthday!

3. Another group is now in the assault camp Barafu and preparing for the most important moment - the exit to the summit bid.

4. Well, Alex Lagun (St. Petersburg) is off to Tanzania to meet the adventure, to make my first ever climb (photo)

Alex is planning for the first time to try yourself as a climber and to experience all of what have long told fellow climbers...

PHOTOS BY ARTEM ROSTOVTSEV

Our team on the Pyramid Carstensz returned to the paradise island of Bali, to relax and to heal the wounds. Mission accomplished - passed through the jungle, met with the Papuans, climbed to the top. Now  we have memories and stories for a lifetime. But so far only photos:

Hello! This is Alexander Abramov, from the base camp of Carstensz Pyramid. Today, our team (all members) climbed to the top. We climbed in record time, 5 hours from base camp to the summit. We were very lucky with the weather.

One of our members, all of you know, Irena Kharazova thus completing the Seven Summits project. And we lost another customer. LAUGH!

In general, everything is fine, we are now sitting in the base camp. We went down, the weather is beautiful, everyone is happy. We send greetings to family and friends! ...

Details we write tomorrow when we shall be on Bali. Now we are waiting for the helicopter. Bye!

The President of the 7 summits Club Alex Abramov has long sought to complete the programme Grand slam (seven summits plus two poles).

... So it turns out that the short season of traveling to the Pole coincides with a slightly longer, but also strictly limited, to the duration, season of Everest expeditions. And Alex is the head  Everest expeditions each year since 2003. Everest Expedition is  the most important event of the year for the 7 Summits Club, so it stands in the foreground.

 Therefore, in 2017, the leader of the expedition to Everest will join his team later than usual. He will  be a leader of  our program  at the North Pole that ends on April 16th.

 Now there's a real possibility for any person to reach the North Pole in various ways. We know the best, the optimal way.

It is our Last degree ski program.

 The last degree is a really difficult test, a test of endurance, character, struggle with the cold and struggle with the drift, this is a real danger of falling into ocean water in ice-holes and cracks a chance to meet the polar bear.... But the victory will be ours! It has always been, it always should be!

 The last degree route is changing from year to year. In theory it is about 110 km. However, near the Poles, there is always the strong drift that is difficult or even impossible to predict in advance. Therefore, in the process of movement on skis you can just take it back and have to go a greater distance.

 Camp Barneo (Russian: Лагерь Бaрнео) is a private Russian temporary ice base established annually since 2002 on an ice floe relatively close to the North Pole used largely for tourist excursion purposes.

 The first Ice Camp Barneo was established in 2002. Since that time, the camp has been rebuilt from scratch every year because of the constantly drifting Arctic ice. For example, in 2007 Ice Camp Barneo was located at about 89°31.5′N 30°27′W. However, northerly winds caused the Ice Camp to drift towards the southeast at a speed of 0.8 kilometres per hour (0.5 mph).

 The ice camp works under the patronage of the Russian Geographical Society and normally lasts for the month of April.

 Ice Camp Barneo should not be confused with the sequential Soviet/Russian "North Pole" drifting ice stations established by the Russian Academy of Sciences Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI).

 From 2002 to 2016, the starting and final point of all expeditions to Barneo has been Longyearbyen, the capital of the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. The city has necessary facilities including an airport, hotels of different levels, restaurants, a post office, a bank, and a supermarket.

 In 2016, following military exercises by Chechen paratroopers on Barneo, Norway enacted a flight embargo, which it later lifted. As a result, the 2017 event is expected to take place with a base in Russia.

Almost at the same time four our groups went to Africa to climb the highest peak of the continent. They have different routes, but the main goal is the same - Kilimanjaro! The two groups will work with Russian guides.

  Artem Rostovtsev leads the group, which aims to celebrate the birth of one of the participants at the summit of Kilimanjaro. This is their main goal! They go by the classic route Marangu.

 A group guided by Maxim Balakhovskiy will climb by another popular and also classic route - Machame. Immediately after the descent from the mountain they have to fly to the Serengeti National Park, where they will wait for safaris and hot air ballooning over the savannah.

 Two other individual groups will make the ascent with local guides. They also go by two different routes - Machame and Marangu.

PHOTOS by Artem Rostovtsev

Hello! This is Alexander Abramov from Papua Province, from the 7 Summits Club expedition to the Pyramid of Carstensz. This morning the weather was beautiful, which is very rare in these parts of the World. We were ready to start, but it turned out that the porters did not want to go. And they had a very long meeting, it was all due to our yesterday's meeting with the armed guerrillas.

 The porters were afraid to go out, but, nevertheless, at ten o'clock still started to collect things. We have lost time, so we had to go the whole day again. We got to the fourth camp very late, in darkness. This is the last camp before the base camp, tomorrow we will have a sufficiently long march climbing about one kilometer, partly over rocks.  And we must come to the base camp.

 Today we have a remarkable event. Today Evgeniy Kravt is 41. He put the bottle of whiskey, very good quality. And on the occasion, our Indonesian cooks and guides made cake, chocolate cake.

 Now the rain continues to pour. Everything is as usual, and by the morning rain subsides. We hope that this tradition will continue, and we will be able to start early in the morning.

 So far, all are good. Everybody is happy....

Hello! Alexander Abramov from Papua. We are fine, all alive and healthy. Constantly pouring rain. We now come to the third camp, there is still a camp 4 and the base camp. Then we will climb up the mountain.

One moment overshadowed today our travel. We were stopped by some local people with machine guns and pistols. They demanded money from us. We gave all that we could - it is about 1500 dollars. And we were released, thank God. Things could have been much worse, probably. But the expedition continues ... everything is good, in general, nothing bad has not happened yet. Okay ... well, all are alive and well and  have good appetite at all.

All good-bye!

Hello! There is Alexander Abramov, the Pyramid of Carstensz. Yesterday we finally went into these terrible, wet jungle and moved in it until evening in the pouring rain. Torrential rain it is a rain that just breaks through not only jackets or coats, but also tents, where we spend the night. Dirt, of course, to the knee. The guys really did not expect this. And their surprise has no limit. All the time asking how long it will last? Yes, this dirt will continue to the base camp Carstensz Pyramid. Today we could not get the camp 2 and stopped in the intermediate camp.

 In the morning we started with the desire to reach the camp 2, but within an hour we came to a place where they were to pass the bridge.  The bridge appeared crushed, destroyed. And so for about two hours our Papuans made for us a new bridge. They cut down a tree, threw it into the water, pulled the rope. And we walked along the tree through which poured rage whitewater, belayed by  a rope...

Later in the jungle, we just started to climb on tree roots. You walk through the jungle ... in the air, at the height of half a meter. This endless climbing, endless mud, and we were not able to reach the camp 2 ...

 However, the team does not lose good spirits. Everybody is happy.

Alex Abramov:

Group took off from Timaka in Sugapa with a delay of 4 hours. In Sugapa we were waited for the crowd of Papuans with spears and bows. However, they met another plane, but we were impressed.

35 motoriders took us and our cargo and took up on a very bad road. Papuans three times stopped us and demanded money. But the policeman who was with us, decided this issue.

We finally got to Suanggama (2000 m), a village consisting of 5 houses. Three of them belong to the headman  and he posted three of his family. And two plank house built by the guides for the reception of expeditions to Carstensz. The houses of the headman  is a round hut with a grass roof. And dirt floors, as at Masai people in Africa. Our two cottages are two barn of rough-hewn boards.

We sleep on the floor and eat under a canopy of grass overlooking the whole village.

At the end of the day we witnessed an ugly scene. Men beat  one of wives of the headman  (third and youngest), she allegedly cheated on him with a white tourist. I think they even wanted to kill her. The Papuans are clearly threatened to our group. Anxious.