Abramov Alex

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov (Lenin Peak blitz program):

Today Is July 12th. The weather forecast is good.  And we go up to Camp 3. 6100m. And at night we go out to climb. It is the 8th day of our blitz, we arrived in Achik-Tash on July 5th.

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Kyrgyzstan:

Yesterday we reached Camp One at an altitude of 4300m. A lot of snow. The camp is comfortable, the tents are great, the food is great. Here we met our first group under the leadership of Viktor Volodin. Tonight they went to storm Lenin Peak.

The expedition of the 7 Summits Club to Mount Everest has been successfully completed and has gone down in history. This time we tried to make more video recordings, and professional ones at that. Ilya Gladkikh joined the team for this purpose. We have already published some of the materials in the chronicle of the expedition. Now it's time for the final processing and publication of the part of the filming that could not be processed on site.  Your attention is drawn to the page of the expedition diary. The first acclimatization rotation with the first overcoming of the legendary Khumbu icefall.

Alla Mishina: Interview with Alex Abramov on May 20, 2024. The original is here…

 Alex Abramov: On May 19 of this year, the team of my "Seven Summits Club" descended from the slopes of Everest in full force with the summit…

 And me?  It is on the height of 8000, a couple of hours before the exit. Well, why should I climb to the top for the 13th time? Everything is going according to plan, but in places with a creak. God grant memory... This is my twenty-first Everest expedition and I have been on the summit 12 times. And in January of this year I celebrated my 60th birthday. And it would be nice to celebrate the following years as well. And this is the thirteenth time... Well, at least there are no black cats at an altitude of 8000, otherwise there's something going on with this mountain illness.

 View of Mount 8848 from the South Col 8000

  Well, what should I create? Not a damn thing, but the facts: between the 3rd and 4th camps at an altitude of 7800, I was covered specifically despite the fact that I had been training all year. But then it's worth a little snot to break through, and the writing is gone... Or maybe you should quit smoking after all? Well, wait, I quit smoking for another 7,200, so why did it get covered?

  Covered and dispersed, let's forget it. It's time to think not about yourself, but about the group. What do people pay me for? For my experience, which will keep them alive, for the fact that I control every little thing on the ascent, keep the best guides and Sherpas as part of the expedition. We have everything from a doctor to a cook, everyone is focused on the result of a small, variously prepared group. My task was to prepare the group for the ascent as much as possible, both mentally and technically. But I can't walk in their place and I can't breathe in their place. Therefore, now it is "H time" for them - they must walk the distance from 8000 to 8848 themselves. And the main thing is to return as stalkers.

 In order for them to return intact, and not be left without fingers or eyesight, each participant needs to have an experienced partner. Everything is clear here, there are 7 proven Sherpa guides for 7 of my members. But what if something goes wrong? If we get stuck in traffic and into oncoming traffic, as it was last year, when due to the many delays of weak climbers in narrow places, instead of 8 hours we went up for as much as 12 hours, wasting oxygen? And if the weather covers us like it did here three days ago? There's Kotlyar and his group barely got out of the storm, people froze.

  And two independent climbers from Mongolia, who got lost on the descent, still cannot be found. What's there to guess - they're corpses. And to prevent all this from happening to mine, we need our small private rescue team, which will drag up and spread emergency oxygen in critical places, and which will instantly participate in rescue operations if someone is covered in the death zone. This is a classic of Soviet mountaineering - we always went to serious mountains only when we were released by the head of the rescue, and he released us if there were rapid response and support groups in the climbing area.

 The group is in the area of the Southern Peak at 8750

 It's now climbing who wants where he wants and with whom he wants — that's the result. But the Soviet classics are ironclad, it's been tested. And my clients in the group — they are not athletes, so they walk at different speeds, which means they will stretch over the mountain. There was a "steam locomotive" for 3 or even 4 hours of difference: who will get into which traffic jam is not to guess. This means that seven reserve Sherpas with emergency oxygen need to be stretched along the mountain at a reasonable distance between the pairs. I can't help them there anymore, there's a real death zone there. Now we need to discuss all the little things with everyone and concentrate their forces, systematize every detail so that they do not deviate from the plan and do not come to the top at the utmost possibilities: the road down is longer. The statistics of Everest are known: more died on the descent than on the ascent. Climbing up at full strength and with euphoria, with a warm heart. What's wrong — turned around and went down. But after the summit, they go down exhausted, often in bad weather and on the last liters of oxygen, with imperceptibly creeping frostbite of the face and hands and feet.

 Well, that means 14 Sherpas, of which 7 go up the mountain and 7 stretch out on the mountain in a support group. They all have walkie-talkies. But I have only 14 Sherpas, and we are in group 7 + 1, so I am left without a partner.

   And you need to carry a lot of oxygen — 5 bottles for each pair at least: two for a sherpa, three for a tourist. And this is 22 kg of weight for two. And he gets 5 more kilos of his personal belongings for small things — the backpack itself also has weight, thermos flasks, food, battery flashlights, first-aid kit, spare glasses, spare mittens... In short, either bring in additional oxygen and arrange the emergency support group correctly, or someone from the reserve team will go with me. Either cargo and belay for the participants, or for my 13th summit. But it hit me specifically yesterday. And now the tourists will count their partners, and someone will be in the red. And then this "minus" does not go away and all his life he will think that this is because he did not receive "his" paid sherpa from me, but I went. What's more important here? Should I go and be relatively close to them, or should I give them 200% success rate? And how can I provide them with 200% if I'm not on the mountain with them? They feel better mentally when I'm around. Nevertheless, my people know and see that those Sherpas — they are getting stupid sometimes and if something is wrong, they run away under various pretexts.

 9 p.m. We have a start at 22:00. It's time to decide. Either I'm going and one of the Sherpas is with me in a rope, and we won't bring enough emergency oxygen, or I'm not going. Well, how is it — I'm not going? I'm coming, of course. But for the 13th time... And yesterday it was covered specifically. Should I throw heads/tails? What nonsense. Is it covering up again? You need to think, not throw coins.

 The stratosphere. Everything is frozen

How much oxygen can I really carry on my own? I can, of course, have my 3 cylinders. A total of 20 kilos with a first aid kit. But then I'll walk slowly and I'll be of no use. That means 2 cylinders, as usual. And that means I won't have enough oxygen. Well, somewhere at the top of the support group, something is twitching. Then we return to option 1: I'm going, but I won't fully provide belay for the participants.

 Stupidly. What am I playing with now? With the lives of other people who believe me. How fucked up all these corpses are here! Every year at least one of the guides or organizers will screw up, and then instead of analyzing the causes of the accident by specialists, as was customary in our time, we have an analysis on the Internet by sofa experts with hundreds of repostings by "peek-a-boo bloggers" with photos the wrong mountain, the wrong year, and the wrong corpse.... in short, some nerves are due to the many unwelcome cases of Sherpas. At least hire a triple supply...

  Stop. An interesting thought flashed through my mind. I'll go with two cylinders, at the back of the group, without a partner, and I won't take anything from the emergency. On the third day, people frostbitten in a storm were running down from the middle of the mountain, they probably left half-empty cylinders on the trail. Maybe I find something, if I don't find it, I'll turn down. In any case, I'll get to the middle and be reasonably close to the group and reasonably safe to return if I'm left without oxygen.

 And there is also a better idea! Either I go and find the abandoned oxygen, or I go until mine runs out at the rate of two ends, or I go to the first corpse. Well, these two Mongols have gone somewhere. And where can the corpses go? They're lying along the rope, I guess. And we are just the first group after the storm, so we will find it.

 Well, here's the first one. And above, my team members climb up and the Sherpas - well, they have stretched out competently. The mountain turned out to be empty after the storm — those who got into it were dumped down from the middle, those who were going to sit it out - they are sitting in the base camp, my plan is to climb through intermediate camps in a storm so that on the first fine day to reach the summit — it worked. It doesn't blow as much on the intermediate раrts as on the saddle and above, where people froze. In short, the plan worked. We are alone on the mountain and the guys are walking fast, without traffic jams on the oncoming lane, I can't catch up with them.

 I didn't find any abandoned oxygen, but I found a corpse — as I expected. One of the Mongols, probably. There have been no others this year yet. The height is 8700, it's time to go down, so as not to lie down next to it.

 The First Mongol

The road down at a minimum of oxygen is not fast, I freeze specifically. Oxygen is the fuel for the body to create heat, without it fats do not burn. And when there is not enough of it, the brain turns off peripheral blood circulation and drives blood only to critical points, turns off the arms and legs.

 Oh, suddenly there's a second one. He was not visible at night. So both Mongols have been found. We need to tell their team to take it off before the people go. The day after tomorrow there will be a crowd here - early tonight, from 5400 from base camp, a caravan of people moved out. Someone sat out the storm in the first 6200, so you need to shoot the Mongols quickly. Well, fortunately, this place is not difficult to organize the descent of bodies, four will cope.

 The second Mongol

 7 a.m. That's it, my friends are all on the summit and the whole support group is stretched along the route. Lord, bear with us a little longer by your side, we're leaving!

 — Yes, Andrey, I'm in touch! What happened? Can't you walk? What happened? Are you blind? How much? At all? What is the height? As under the top at 8800... Right on the Hillary step drops? ...

 God, I told you to put up with us a little longer...

 To be continued…

Alexander Abramov, Expedition Leader, President of the 7 Summits Club: We're all at Base Camp. And we are already waiting for the helicopter in Kathmandu. Everyone is happy. The team is great!

Dmitry Moskalev on Lhotse

 This morning we received a message that Alexander Abramov's team climbed the summit of Mount Everest and began the descent. They reached the camp on the South Col.

Dmitry Moskalev reached the summit of Lhotse. He is also on the descent. We are waiting for further information.

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

There's a very strong wind up there today, it's been blowing all night. Our team decided to spend another day at an altitude of 6500m in Camp 2.

Viktor Volodin's team went to Camp 4 on the South Col. I think there is a strong wind there now.

We will go to Camp 3 tomorrow. We are resting today.

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

 After a good rest, our team went out to storm Mount Everest. Many expeditions to 8000 meters were canceled or ended in failure. We hope that our experience will help us.

 So, our schedule:

May 14 - Camp 2

May 15 - Camp 3

May 16 - South Saddle

May 17 ascent and descent to Camp 2

May 18 descent to the Base Camp

On May 19th, wait for us in Kathmandu.

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

The Everest-24 team, led by Alexander Abramov, finished their vacation in Namche Bazaar.

On May 12th, we all fly to the Everest Base Camp. On May 13th, we have rest and preparation. On May 14th we will start at Camp 2. On May 15th - Camp 3. On May 16th - Camp 4 on the South Col and on the night of May 16th to 17th we go out to storm Everest. Wish us good luck!

Valery Babanov and Eduard Kubatov also rested here in Namche Bazaar. Valera plans Everest without additional oxygen, Eduard – Lhotse, also without additional oxygen.

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

 Yesterday, on May 9, our team was able to fly from Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazaar with great difficulty in very bad weather. The flight was extreme. In conditions of very poor visibility, we flew very low. We are currently vacationing in Namche. Bars, massages, food and sleep.

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

Today, the first ever chess tournament was held at the Everest base camp – Ever Chess. Chess players from Russia and Nepal took part in it. Grandmaster and mountaineer Alexander Ryazantsev won.

 Official information about the Russian Chess Federation tournament

The results of the Ever-Chess tournament have been summed up.

According to the results of the additional games, grandmaster Alexander Ryazantsev became the winner of the tournament, beating Yuri Kalinichenko by only half a point. Vladimir Shumilin won the bronze medal.

The prize fund was also divided among themselves in descending order: Andrey Minkov, Yulia Kholodnova, Andrey Fedorov, Peter Minkov, Alexander Abramov, German Koshelev, Gennady Dutov.

Ever-Chess was the first tournament that was successfully held at the highest point in the world (5360 meters, Everest Base Camp).

The tournament was held in a friendly and fun atmosphere. Among the spectators were citizens of Japan, Russia, the USA and Nepal.

The tournament was organized by the 7 Summits Club with the support of the Russian Chess Federation.

Official publication on the website of the Russian Chess Federation:

In total, from the city of Lukla to the base camp, the chess players had to overcome 50 kilometers and climb from a height of 2,860 meters to a height of 5,364 meters during seven days of the hike.

Tomorrow, from 8:15 Moscow time and 11:00 Nepal time, the chess tournament starts at the highest natural altitude.

The chess players will have to play 9 games according to the Swiss system with a control of 10’+3”.

Recall that the competition will be held at the highest altitude, not counting the chess games played in space. The tournament will feature a prize pool of 7 million rubles.

The games will be broadcast on the channel of the Russian Chess Federation.

The expedition members relax in the club room and share their impressions with the hosts. And outside the tent windows there is a view of the base camp and the bad weather. In the final part of the broadcast, the head of the expedition, Alexander Abramov, appears. It is time for chess tournament that will day after tomorrow.

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

Christ is risen! Today, Alexander Abramov's team on Everest made an acclimatization climb to the base of the section of the route called "Lhotse wall". It started snowing. Visibility is gone. We went down to Camp 2 and celebrated Easter here.

The entire Lhotse wall was covered in ice. And stones were flying down the slope. Now everything is covered with snow. It's good. The stones will not fly. But it will be avalanche-prone.

The team of the 7 Summits Club, led by Alexander Abramov, overcame the Khumbu icefall and climbed yesterday to Camp 1. The height is 6000 m. The climbers spent a windy night there.

And today they moved to Camp 2 at an altitude of 6500, where they have high-speed Internet and have the opportunity to transmit information and images.

Alexander Abramov, head of the Everest expedition of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Base Camp:

The rest of the 7 Summits Club team under the leadership of Alexander Abramov has ended. Today we held classes on the use of oxygen equipment. Live Internet broadcasts were set up the day before.  We had a good rest. The team is going out for a second acclimatization rotation tonight. According to the plan: camps 1-2-3 at an altitude of 7,100 meters. It's getting colder. The weather has deteriorated. Strong winds began to blow. However, no one in the team is coughing yet. It's even strange.

Today, the Everest-24 team, led by Alexander Abramov, held training sessions on the ice. The participants showed excellent results. The day after tomorrow, the team leaves for the Khumbu icefall.

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

News from Everest. From the team of Alexander Abramov. Our team is acclimating. There was a puja yesterday. The opening of the camp. Many friends come to us every day. There was Valera Babanov, Maksut Zhumaev and the team. Our team has ice classes today. Life in the camp is gradually returning to normal.

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

Today, the team of the 7 Summits Club has safely reached the Base Camp. Alex Abramov led the column, riding a white horse with the flag of the 7 Summits Club. We were greeted with champagne and red caviar.

The camp shocked all participants with its comfort. We went through other camps. Compared it. We have the best one. We'll take off the camp tomorrow and show you everything.

The team of the 7 Summits Club "Everest-24" under the leadership of Alexander Abramov, in good weather, made the march from the village of Periche (4,300 m) to the village of Lobuche (4,900 m). Everything is fine, everything is going according to plan.