All news

Svetlana Kotlyar, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Pakistan:

  Greetings to all from Skardu! Today our team had a very busy day! We decided not to waste time waiting for permits, and after breakfast we went by jeep to Deosai National Park!  We spent two hours on the road, which turned out to be very picturesque: alpine lakes, gorges – stunningly beautiful nature!

Deosai is the second highest high-altitude plateau in the world after the Tibetan one. It is located at an altitude of more than 4000 m at the junction of the Karakoram and the Western Himalayas. From the 4000 m mark, as acclimatization, we walked a little higher, up to 4200.

The plateau is known all over the world for its rich flora and fauna. And we were lucky enough to meet a huge groundhog here today!

After the walk, we refreshed ourselves and drove back to Skardu, where another member of the group, Valdis Pelsh, was waiting for us. He will be walking with us to the K2 base camp for the filming of the film "The High Altitude  Gene-2". We listened to his fascinating stories all evening!

In the evening, joyful news came — we received permits! Now the whole team is assembled and tomorrow early in the morning we will start in Ascole!

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Sergey Avtomonov reports from Turkey:

Greetings to all from the slopes of the sacred mountain! Today we finally gathered together in the city of Dogubayazit. We collected all the remaining things, distributed souvenirs, waited out the downpour and moved to the slope! While we were walking, the rain started several times, we got a little wet. But then the sun came out and dried us out. About four o'clock we arrived at the camp. We settled in tents, had lunch and rested.  In the evening we had a little wine and are trying to agree on the name of the group. There is no final decision yet. Tomorrow we will go to the assault camp for acclimatization. The weather is promised to be good, so they should not get wet. 

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Dasha Sivova reports from Pakistan: July 10th.  News of the 7 Summits Club group "Me and my young team".  We're at base camp! The GenKa2 group welcomed us very warmly, they gave us a real holiday!

Daria Sivova and Super-guide Viktor Volodin.

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

 Greetings to all from the first camp of Lenin Peak from the group "Everything is going according to plan"! This is where our ascent really begins. Today was a good five-hour walk from the base camp. A little tired, but everyone is happy. The northern slope of the mountain and the peak of 7134 opened in all its glory. Today is the first night at 4300, we are waiting for interesting dreams. Tomorrow, according to the weather and the condition of the participants, we will continue our acclimatization.

 Alexander Dorojukov, the Guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Elbrus region:

 The group "Franciacorta" today completed its program by climbing the summit of Elbrus. The weather was very borderline, the wind and snow did not leave us alone all the way. It poured in a couple of days very well, but, as they say, we still got into a small weather "window". Before this day and after it, the weather was not promised at all. We tried our best. And half of the group reached the top.

Hello everyone from Pakistan! Guides Svetlana Kotlyar and Alexander Spirin are in touch!  Today was not an easy day for us. We met the participants of our program at Islamabad airport early in the morning.  Since the morning, heavy rain has been falling in the city, we were warned that if the rain does not stop, we may not fly to Skardu. An alternative option, to spend two more days on the road by car after a tedious flight, was not even considered.

We decided together that it couldn't rain forever and went to the waiting room. After a couple of hours, the sky brightened, our flight was delayed, but we still managed to fly to Skardu! We are sure that this flight will be remembered by the participants for a long time: our fellow travelers from Pakistan cheerfully sang local songs throughout the flight, accompanying the singing with cheerful dances, and at this time stunning views of Karakorum opened behind the porthole!

Skardu is the former capital of Baltistan, it is one of the tourist centers in Northern Pakistan. Now there are quite a lot of travelers, tourists and climbers from all over the world. When we arrived at the hotel, a hot lunch was already waiting for us. After settling in and having a little rest, we went to Cold Desert — a high-altitude desert near Skardu.

Very beautiful location! Here at sunset you can ride with the breeze on jeeps or horses!

Having received our dose of adrenaline, we returned to the hotel, where our Pakistani friends treated us to a delicious barbecue! Tomorrow we plan to visit the Deosai Plateau, walk around the local market and get permits.

Super-Guide of the 7 Summits Club Valery Myasoedov reports from Tajikistan:

Greetings from Tajikistan! The first group in the history of the 8000 Club gathered in Dushanbe to pave the way to one of the most popular summits of the Soviet Union, Korzhenevskaya Peak, 7105 m and Peak Communism, 7495 m, now called Ismoil Somoni Peak. The city greeted us with an unbearable heat of +39, even the Tehran heat seemed cooler. In this program, the helicopter drop-off to Moskvin's Glade, to the Base Camp for both Summits, occurs several times a season, with enviable irregularity.  Therefore, we can say that we were lucky, right now, at night, we are heading to the village of Jirgital, located 200 km from Dushanbe, and early in the morning we fly to the Base Camp.

A welcome dinner was held at the Iranian cuisine restaurant (again an association with Tehran!), next to the hotel. Delicious, satisfying and in huge quantities, we took the uneaten with us to lunch boxes, it will come in handy on the road! We also managed to congratulate our dear Olga, the manager of Aksai Travel, on her birthday. The next report, I hope, will be written already from the Base Camp on Moskvin's Glade, 4200 m.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 10th. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2!  The weather has improved slightly today. But clouds and gusty winds still prevail. K2 in the clouds in the morning. After breakfast, we rearranged the tents after the snowfall and attended a puja at Gareth Madison. Then we had a bath day

We had burgers for lunch. Last night they brought two beautiful bulls.... Today, as a women's team under the leadership of Kristina, we cooked a great dinner - soup with meat, Potato Crumbs with minced meat and Greek salad.

It is unclear whether it will be possible to get out tomorrow - the weather is still very unstable and the slopes are avalanche-prone…

The heads of the expedition to K2 Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov are in touch.

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

Greetings to all from the Lenin Peak base camp from the group "Everything is going according to plan"! In the best traditions of one of our guides, Dmitry, we started the morning with morning exercises and, of course, with coffee. We successfully drove fat marmots and walked along the crest of Petrovsky Peak up to 4000 m. The weather pleases with warmth and sunshine, although it was blowing on the ridge, as always, but not for long! Now we are resting, packing up and preparing for tomorrow's exit to the first camp. They promise the sun! In the evening, there was  a traditional gatherings with a guitar!

Natalia Marinkevich, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Elbrus region:

Hi! The Snow Fishes group has successfully ascended to the top of Mount Elbrus! The weather is great, the mood is super!

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

Greetings from Kyrgyzstan from the friendly team "Everything is going according to plan"! Today we bought everything we needed, left the hot city of Osh and arrived at the hospitable Achik-Tash base camp under Lenin Peak! The weather greeted us with a light rain. Having had a delicious dinner in the new dining room, having sorted out the plans for tomorrow, we moved to the bar to sing songs! Tomorrow, according to the acclimatization plan, we will climb 4000m to the crest of Petrovsky Peak.

 The guide of the 7 Summits Club Dasha Sivova reports from Pakistan:

The team of the 7 Summits Club "Me and my young team", walking along the trekking route to the base camp K2, successfully reached the camp Goro 2. This is one of the most beautiful tent camps!  There was no rain today. The sun greeted us. Camp Goro 2 is located right on the glacier. All participants are healthy. Everyone is very, very happy. Today we have already seen Gasherbrooms and Broad Peak. We all decided that this trek is the most beautiful and definitely worth it to pass it!

 Alexander Dorojukov, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Elbrus region:

 Greetings to the group "Franciacorta", going to Mount Elbrus!  Today we walked on the Pastukhov Rocks.  The weather deteriorated all the way and under the rocks in 5 minutes we were covered with grits and, of course, a thunderstorm. It pinched us a little, but we left without loss.  We are waiting for a good forecast and go out on the summit…

Nikita Slotin, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

The group (as yet untitled) gathered for Lenin Peak today in the resort town of Osh. Today we managed to get acquainted with the bars and restaurants of the city, and of course cool off in the pool under the scorching sun! We changed money, bought SIM cards, checked equipment, got to know each other, who went where, who had what mountain plans. Tomorrow we leave for the base camp, and finally enjoy the coolness of the mountains!

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 8. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altittude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Happy holiday to all - the day of family, love and fidelity! We continue to have the heaviest snowfalls. Today the snow is even stronger than yesterday. And continues to sweep.

For breakfast, to somehow cheer up, I took out  the last pack of coffee. This is a big deficit in Pakistan. We drank in the morning and cheered up. We hope that in a couple of days our trekking group led by Vitya Volodin and Dasha Sivova will come to us and bring us coffee. We are very worried about the friends - since we have such severe snowfalls here, they should now be heavily watered with rain at the crossings, plus the rivers could overflow their banks… But, hopefully, they will be able to get to us.

We were informed today that the Gondogoro La Pass has been closed for about a week. And there are a lot of groups in Concordia waiting for it to be opened. We hope that in a couple of days the snowfall will stop.

Today, after breakfast, our doctor Andrey Selivanov (he is also an instructor-guide) conducted rescue work classes in the mountains with improvised means. Very informative, interesting and useful. We also remembered some of the nodes and beat the situation, what to do in case of loss of equipment when moving along the fixed ropes.

There was a rumor that our tents in Camp 1 were blown away by the wind... Eh, the weather would have been nice sooner. Then we will go up to the upper camps and restore order.

The heads of the expedition to K2 Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov are in touch.

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Andrey Berezin reports from the Elbrus region:

News of the Elbrus region! The Victory group has successfully climbed to the top of Elbrus. The weather favored us throughout the journey. Stunning views of the Caucasus Mountains opened from the summit. Congratulations to all the participants of the ascent  and wish them new ascents! The group's guide is Andrey Berezin.

Dmitry Semenov, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Elbrus region:

Hi! Today we are well done again, our group "Vertical" made an ascent to the Western peak of Elbrus (5642m.) The weather and our mood were great, we climbed to the top of Elbrus at a good pace. And the reward for this was unforgettable views of the Main Caucasian Ridge, and the vast expanses of the Northern Elbrus.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 7. All salams from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Today was Groundhog Day. It snowed all night again and continued to fall all day. In the morning after breakfast we sat and composed poems about our base camp. For lunch, our chefs pleased us with pizza and PAKORA, a national Pakistani dish of potatoes, boiled eggs and onions.

After lunch, a quiet hour was arranged. And before dinner, guests came to us - Garrett Madison (the leader of Madison Expedition), two Frenchmen from Broad Peak (one of them has already climbed to almost 8000 on Broad - there are no fixed ropes yet) and our friend, who is now going to K2 with Nims. There is nothing special - very heavy snowfalls - it is impossible to go anywhere. So they go to visit each other.

The heads of the expedition to K2 Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov are in touch.

Alexander Dorojukov, the Guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Elbrus region:

Greetings to the group "Franciacorta", going to Mount Elbrus! Today our gang-team walked to the Shelter of Eleven. There we held snow classes, we learned to distinguish sticks from an ice axe. The weather is gorgeous, we continue to go towards the goal.

Alexander Dorojukov, the Guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from the Elbrus region:

Greetings from the new group "Franciacorta", going to Mount Elbrus. Today our first acclimatization day was held on the slopes of Mount Cheget. We walked in good weather with beautiful flowers and views.