"7 Summits + 2 Poles" project news

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

Masala Team news from Everest. In the morning it was snowing impenetrably. Nevertheless, the puja (opening, consecration of the camp) took place in any weather. They say it's good luck if it's snowing. In the end, everyone smeared themselves with flour and were very happy.  A lot of trekkers come to us. Lena invites everyone to the Bar where we spend most of our time. It's warm and there are board games. And a guitar. And music. And drinks to brighten up a snowy day. We have ice classes tomorrow. And we also wait for Makalu group of the 8000 Club.

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from the team "We are just tourists!" of the 8000 Club! We continue to acclimatize at the Everest base camp. Today, the weather did not allow us to hold snow and ice classes, so we were checking and fitting equipment. We remembered the main nodes in mountaineering, conducted an instruction with a demonstration of the use of climbing equipment using jumars for climbing a rope and a descent device.  We discussed the specifics of traveling along the route.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

 Hurray! The Everest team "Masala Team" reached the Base Camp today. Our camp is just beautiful. It is right at the very beginning, so all our friends come to tea with us. There is a large tent in the camp, a dining room, a bar with a projector and various drinks. Tents in height, with beds and lighting and charging. And a lot of things. We'll show it tomorrow. The staff met us perfectly. And the team of Sherpas and cooks, also  the team of Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin, who are shooting a film and have already gone to 6400 and skied down. And the 8000 Club team led by Viktor Volodin.  It's snowing. But our camp is warm and cozy. Our food is prepared by the chef of the best restaurant in Kathmandu, La Sherpa. Tomorrow is Pooja. There will be a lot of photos. And we are waiting for the 8000 club team on Makalu, under the leadership of Luda Korobeshko, who will spend 2 nights with us and then fly under her mountain. Now we have 17 participants. It will be 28.

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from the team "We are tourists!" of the 8000 CLUB!   Today we had a day of active acclimatization: after breakfast, we walked at a leisurely pace to the Pumori base camp, up to an altitude of 5500 m. Towards noon, the sky was overcast, but we managed to see a beautiful panorama of Mount Everest and Lhotse, opening from this height.  Also, the scale of the Khumbu icefall is almost entirely visible from there.

By lunchtime we went down and went to tea at the base camp of the 7 Summits Club. We met with Alex Abramov and his team of Everest climbers.  Well, in our 8000 Club camp there is another innovation: last night in the tent of each participant there was a lamp that is charged from a solar battery. So now there is no need to burn flashlights in the evenings — now we always have light!

We plan to hold snow and ice classes tomorrow.

Expedition leader Alexander Abramov: Today, along a snow-covered trail, which became slippery as soon as the sun warmed up, we quickly rode to the village of Lobuche, which consists of 10 loggias. As always, we settled in the most comfortable Oxygen Altitude loggia and watched a football match. It's snowing again, but we're already at home. Tomorrow we have to move to the Base camp. In the evening, Dr. Andrey Selivanov conducted a medical examination. Everyone feels good.

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

Greetings from the Everest base camp from the 8000 Club team "We are just tourists!"! Yesterday our friendly team reached the base camp! This year's acclimatization program is slightly different from the previous one: for better acclimatization, we spent 2 nights in Namche Bazaar and 2 nights in Dingboche, so trekking took 8 days.

Our camp pleasantly surprised all participants: comfortable tents in full height, where there are beds and dressing rooms for storing things. The floors are covered with carpets, there is enough space for storing equipment.  We have our own separate toilets, showers, a washbasin with hot water and a separate large tent where we can all gather together. Everything is at the highest level!

Three times a day we are deliciously fed, and at any time you can come to the coffee shop and drink delicious coffee with fresh pastries with a view of the Himalayas.

Today our group was left by Elena, who accompanied her husband only to the base camp. We presented her with a diploma and a medal for completing this beautiful route.

Today we rest all day and adapt to the new height. Tomorrow our leader Viktor Volodin will once again check the equipment of all participants, we will fit the crampons and we will prepare for snow and ice classes.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

Massala Team News, Everest expedition. The day started with beautiful views of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. Slowly we overcame half of the way. We were constantly overtaken by yaks. Then it started snowing. Fortunately, we just got up for lunch. Have eaten. The sun came out. That's how we got to Periche. Now we are in a great Edelweiss loggia.

A couple of days ago, the team "Death zone freeride" (Vitaly Lazo, Anton Pugovkin and Ivan Rodin) went from the Base Camp to the Camp 1 (6100m). After overnight stay there, next day they climbed to the Camp 2 at 6400m. Great news today! There is the first ski descent on Everest — our team has successfully descended on skis from a height of 6500 m.  Guys skied through the icefall!  The start is given!

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

Hello everyone!  The team of "Massala tim" of the 7 Summits Club on Everest today cheerfully reached the Rivendell Hotel in the village of Deboche. Here are the best conditions on the route.  Whoever was there will understand.  The rain has already captured us at the Tiangboche Monastery. Where we sat him out in a cafe and visited the monastery itself.  Tomorrow the forest will end, and under the slopes of Ama Dablam we will go to Periche 4200m.

The head of the Everest expedition of the 8000 Club Viktor Volodin reports from Nepal:

Dear friends, April 20, 2023 is on the calendar. We spent the night today in the glorious village of Dingboche, in the morning we started slowly in the direction of the village of Periche. The trail first led us up, and then traverse through a picturesque gorge surrounded by beautiful highest peaks. And in the end we saw Pumori, it's a big beautiful pyramid. All participants feel well, saturation ranges from 82 to 98. 

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

All Namaste from Dingboche from the group "We are just tourists!" 8000 Club!  Yesterday our friendly team moved from Tengboche to Dingboche at an altitude of 4300 m. All the way we were surrounded by beautiful views of the majestic Ama-Dablam!  According to the acclimatization program, we spend two nights in Dingboche. Here we live in a still relative civilization — with a hot shower and delicious coffee.

New lodges are being built on the route to the Everest base camp, new cafes and coffee shops are appearing, the food in which is becoming more diverse.  Today we had an active day of rest! We had a good night's sleep and after breakfast, taking our time (we are tourists!), we walked to Chukhung, gaining another 400 m in height. The weather pleases, the saturation of the participants is normal!

Tomorrow we move to Lobuche at 4900, and the day after tomorrow we plan to be at the Everest base camp!

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

 Everest. The team of the 7 Summits Club. Yesterday we made a long journey from Phakding to Namche Bazaar.  In Montjo, we all took a picture together with a model of Everest. Namche is getting more beautiful every year. We met a lot of trekkers here.  In the evening, our team was provided with a separate bar.  That's what they said - it's yours.

With great sorrow we learned about the death on Annapurna of our friend, the guide of our expeditions, Noel Hanna.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alex Abramov reports from Nepal:

The team of the expedition of the 7 Summits Everest Club flew to Lukla and reached the Phakding. We live in the best loggia on the route, in Shangri La Sherpa. The whole team has become friends and feels great. Today we are moving to the capital of the Sherpas Namche-Bazaar. The weather is great.

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

The 8000 CLUB team "We are just tourists!" sends greetings to everyone from Tengboche from a height of 3850 m! Today our trekking was 11 km, we passed a section of the route from Namche Bazaar to Tengboche.  In the morning the weather was fine and for the first time in these days we saw Everest, Lhotse and the pearl of the Himalayas — the beautiful Ama Dablam! The members were delighted!

Behind the endless jokes, conversations about mountains and travel, time goes unnoticed.  I would like to say a few words about the guides of our expedition — Viktor Volodin and Pasang.

 VIKTOR VOLODIN has more than 70 routes of the highest difficulty category (5B and 6) to his credit. He climbed Everest twice (the second time on the record Northern Face), as part of the team he passed the most difficult route in the world – the Western Face K2, climbed among the first ascenders to the Middle peak of Lhotse ("Russian eight-thousandth). He climbed all the Pamir seven thousand meters.

 PASANG SHERPA — has been on the top of Mount Everest 17 times. Climbed 9 out of 14 eight-thousandths of our planet! 

We feel as safe as possible in their hands!

 Tomorrow we will go higher, to a height of 4200.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

News of the 7 Summits Club  expedition on Everest.  Today is the last day in Kathmandu and tomorrow we will fly to Lukla by three helicopters.  First we visited local stores. All the equipment here is 1.5 times cheaper than in Moscow. And you can find everything. The main thing is how to look. And in the evening we had a party with invited friends.

Participants of the Makalu expedition  and employees of the Russian Embassy came to us. Also our office of the 7 Summits Club in Kathmandu.  Now we are urgently going to bed, because the helicopter is at 7 am and we need to get up at 4 am. Hello everyone and wait for photos from the route!

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from Namche Bazaar from the 8000 CLUB team "We are tourists!"! Another beautiful day in the Himalayas is coming to an end!  We continue our acclimatization program, today we walked to the Hotel Everest View, gaining 450 m in height.

The morning started with beautiful views, but by lunchtime the mountains were covered with clouds. We spent about an hour on the observation deck, drank our favorite Ginger lemon tea with honey and quickly went down. After lunch it started to hail, but then the weather cleared up and amazing mountain views opened up near our lodge!

Saturation of all participants is normal, tomorrow we go higher — forward and up!

Президент Клуба 7 Вершин, руководитель экспедиции на Эверест Александр Абрамов сообщает из Непала:

Экспедиция на Эверест Клуба 7 Вершин под руководством Александра Абрамова в сборе. Катманду удивляет своим колоритом. Завтра у нас запланирован поход по магазинам. Затем традиционный приветственный ужин. А послезавтра летим на вертолете в Луклу.

Да пребудет с нами сила тела и сила духа!

 The head of the Everest expedition of the 8000 Club Viktor Volodin reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from the 8000 CLUB team "We are just tourists!"! Today we moved from Phakding to Namche Bazaar, gaining 800 m in height. The weather is great, the views are beautiful: wild cherry blossoms, the purest mountain rivers and slopes dotted with bright rhododendrons! We are glad that there are not so many people on the trek yet.

At a fairly brisk pace, we reached Namche in 5 hours. Before approaching the city, we saw a Himalayan pheasant in the forest, which is one of the symbols of Nepal. We considered this meeting a good sign! Before dinner, we walked around the neighborhood and visited the cafe "Sherpa Barista" with delicious coffee and desserts — today we deserved it. According to the acclimatization program, we will spend 2 days in Namche, tomorrow we will walk a little higher.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

Congratulations to everyone on the year 2080!  From Kathmandu.  The expedition of the 7 Summits Club to Everest begins.  The team is gathering. Sergey Bogomolov and Alla Mishina arrived.  And yesterday we had fun at the celebration of the New Year 2080 according to the Nepalese calendar.

And Yes… We received permits for Everest and Lhotse from the Ministry of Tourism of Nepal. Now only forward and up!!!

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

Today the 8000 CLUB team "We are just tourists!" visited all the main attractions of colorful Kathmandu!  After breakfast, we went to the most sacred place in the capital of Nepal — the Buddhist temple complex Bodnath, in the center of which there is a stupa founded in the V century. It is the main symbol of Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal.

Then we visited Pashupatinath, a Hindu temple complex located on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River. This temple is known for its cremations, which are carried out here, on special pedestals.

Closer to lunch, we got to Svayambunath, where we received a blessing to climb Mount Everest from local monks. This place offers a beautiful view of the whole city!

On the way to Thamel, we stopped at the central Durbar square.

Over dinner, we discussed plans for tomorrow. At 2.00 am we will start at the airport and go to meet the highest mountains of our planet!