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Vladimir Kotlyar, guide of the 7 Summits Club, from Antarctica: Hello to the Seven Summits Club from Antarctica! The team of guides Artem Rostovtsev, Vladimir Kotlyar and Nirmal Purja continues to stay in the base camp. BUT! Tomorrow we are already heading towards the summit. We hope that in a few days we will reach the highest point of Antarctica. Wish us good luck! And we're going to bed... and getting ready for tomorrow's victory march.

Vladimir Kotlyar, guide of the 7 Summits Club, from Antarctica: Aloha, Seven Summits! Guides from Antarctica Artem Rostovtsev, Vladimir Kotlyar and Nirmal Purzha are in touch.  We are staying at the base camp for now. We dug in, fortified the camp properly, set up walls of snow blocks here. And we wait out the bad weather. We hope to move back towards the summit from day to day…

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club: I am writing today, because the last 3 days have not been easy for us. In the area of the Vinson Massif and on the Antarctic Horn, bad weather has played out in earnest. It piled up to 1 m of snow.

Our Automobile expedition decided to complete the reconnaissance. Many conclusions have been made, equipment has been tested, and adjustments have been made to our subsequent crossing of Antarctica. Good luck to everyone in life and new adventures! We flew home on a private plane.

It also happens....

The team on the Vinson Massif attempted an ascent. But they went down because of the strong wind and snow from the High camp to the Low camp. They will be waiting for a new opportunity to climb the mountain. Now the members of the team are digging in tents and preparing for the approaching 2-day storm.

Vladimir Kotlyar, guide of the 7 Summits Club, from Antarctica: Hello to the Seven Summits Club! Vladimir Kotlyar, Artem Rostovtsev and Nirmal Purja are in touch. This is a group of the 7 Summits Club "Pingvinson" or "Vinson-2" , climbing on the highest point of Antarctica. Now, unfortunately, due to the unfavorable forecast, we had to go down. But we hope to return to the summit again in the near future and still do it.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club: Happy International Mountain Day, friends!In the life of each of us there is our own "Everest", to the top of which we strive to ascend. I wish you to achieve everything you strive for! Good luck, great heights and grandiose successes!

Sustainable mountain tourism

The theme of this year's International Mountain Day (IMD) on 11 December will be sustainable mountain tourism.

Sustainable tourism in mountains can contribute to creating additional and alternative livelihood options and promoting poverty alleviation, social inclusion, as well as landscape and biodiversity conservation. It is a way to preserve the natural, cultural and spiritual heritage, to promote local crafts and high value products, and celebrate many traditional practices such as local festivals.

Mountain tourism attracts around 15 to 20 percent of global tourism. Tourism, however, is one of the sectors most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, affecting economies, livelihoods, public services and opportunities on all continents. In mountains, the restrictions of the pandemic have further compounded the vulnerabilities of mountain communities.

This crisis can be seen as an opportunity to rethink mountain tourism and its impact on natural resources and livelihoods, to manage it better, and to harness it towards a more resilient, green and inclusive future.

In the coming months, FAO, leading UN agency for this International Day, will prepare communication materials in all six UN languages, which will be available on their website. Hard copies will be available upon request.

While sustainable mountain tourism is the suggested theme for 2021, countries, communities and organizations are welcome to celebrate IMD through a theme that is more relevant to them.

Celebrate this International Day 2021 with your community and friends preparing an event or joining the conversation on social media using the hashtag #MountainsMatter. Pass on some of the key messages, or share about the biodiversity in the mountains near you, or a photo of your favorite mountain.

Mountains are home to 15% of the world´s population and host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots. They provide freshwater for everyday life to half of humanity. Their conservation is a key factor for sustainable development and is part of Goal 15 of the SDGs.

Unfortunately, mountains are under threat from climate change and overexploitation. As the global climate continues to warm, mountain people — some of the world’s poorest — face even greater struggles to survive. The rising temperatures also mean that mountain glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates, affecting freshwater supplies downstream for millions of people.

This problem affects us all. We must reduce our carbon footprint and take care of these natural treasures.

The increasing attention to the importance of mountains led the UN to declare to 2002 the UN International Year of Mountains. The first international day was celebrated for the first time the following year, 2003.

Its roots date back to 1992, when the document “Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development” (called Chapter 13), was adopted as part of the action plan Agenda 21 of the Conference on Environment and Development.

Vladimir Kotlyar, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, from Antarctica: Hello, Seven Summits! Artem Rostovtsev, Nirmal Purja and Vladimir Kotlyar are in touch.  We climbed up as a whole, a full group, to the assault camp. It's snowing here now. We make water from it. And we hope to break through the weather window tomorrow. Well, there, as the card will fall. Come on, keep your fists and fingers crossed for us! That’s all, we hug everyone!

Hello, Seven Summits! The next expedition of the 7 Summits Club to the Vinson Massif has begun. We have an international team again and one of the guides is Nirmal Purja – the famous Nims. Yesterday we quickly flew to the base camp, from Punta Arenas with a short stop at Union Glacier. And today we decided to move higher, to the Low Camp. The fact is that the base camp is under clouds, but the sun is still shining here. And it's nicer to be here. We got up quite quickly, settled down, and plan to spend at least a couple of days here. We will wait for the good weather - while there is a strong wind above. And we will accumulate strength and in good weather we want to go to the top. Group guides: Artem Rostovtsev, Vladimir Kotlyar and Nirmal Purja.

Among the first climbers of the season at the highest point of Antarctica were climbers from the 7 Summits Club group with a guide Artem Rostovtsev. It was a very difficult ascent, especially the descent in bad weather. Artem has already started working with the next group, and the three participants have safely reached Punta Arenas. There they were met by the manager of the 7 Summits Club Elena Abramova.   These are three elite Indian climbers from the legendary Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling. At one time, this organization was created by Jawaharlal Nehru personally under Tenzing Norgay, after his first ascent of Everest. The current director of the institute, Jai Kishan, was in the group. He is famous, first of all, as an outstanding parachutist (2000 jumps) who made a jump over Everest. Jai officially has 6 world records. With him in the expedition was an instructor of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute Mordunya Soumendu and a young climber Mahender Kumar Yadav.  Congratulations!

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club from Antarctica: Today Is December 7th. Our Vinson-2 team flew to Union Glacier. And literally 2 hours later they flew to the base camp of the Vinson Massif.  After that, the weather window immediately closed. And an hour later it was already snowing.

The team of the Round-the-world Automobile Expedition has very bad news. The weather on the route of our cars deteriorated for about 6 days. A hurricane is raging on the Peninsula (Antarctic Peninsula). We can't fly to our cars. There is a week of waiting ahead. The weather on Union Glacier has also deteriorated. It's snowing now. We don't give up.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club: December 6th. So the Antarctic wait began. We didn't fly anywhere yesterday. Today, it looks like it will be too. We spend time chatting with our first team that climbed Mount Vinson. These are three Indians, led by Artem Rostovtsev. They brought a huge flag of India 15x50 m. We also looked at the invention of the century: a Porsche on tracks and skis.  In general, we are waiting for departure to Sky Blue, where our cars are already waiting for us. But the weather is bad there now…

A group of the 7 Summits Club is preparing to fly to Antarctica to climb the highest point of the continent, Mount Vinson.  At the starting point of the trip, the Chilean city of Punta Arenas, the participants and guides celebrated the birthday of one of the participants. This is Daniele Wolfson, an Everest climber, a representative of Israel, born in the USSR.

Alex Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club Company: Our plane successfully landed in Antarctica on Union Glacier. There are a lot of people who have flown here to observe a unique solar eclipse in Antarctica. And just now, our first team, headed by Artem Rostovtsev, arrived from Vinson Massif. We hug and listen to the stories of the heroes. Today we cannot fly to the starting point of our expedition Sky blue, as heavy cloud cover in this place.... So we're just resting.

Vladimir Kotlyar, a guide of the 7 Summits Club from Punta Arenas (southern Chile):

Aloha, Seven Summits and for all! The second group of the 7 Summits Club on the highest point of Antarctica Vinson Massif gathered in Punta Arenas! We are waiting for a couple of preparatory days before flying on the Icy continent. The arrival was celebrated at the famous los Ganaderos restaurant, where lamb is perfectly cooked.

There are 12 participants from different countries of the world in the group, they are now led by Vladimir Kotlyar and Nirmal Purja.  And Artem Rostovtsev will meet them already in Antarctica.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club: The team of the Round-the-World Automobile Expedition has prepared all the necessary equipment. And on the 5th of December in the morning we fly to Antarctica on the Union Glacier. We also take skis and sleds with us to conduct reconnaissance from the last point where the cars will reach.

We decided to make two flights at once, to Union Glacier 3,500 km and without delay another 1,000 km to Sky Blue. To the place of our start.  A lot of bags and trunks are flying with us. We will send photos and news daily, as we have new Iridium equipment for satellite Internet. The team is healthy and happy. We passed 3 tests for the COVID. Today we met a new team of the 7 Summits Club, which is flying to the Vinson Massif. These are 12 participants led by Volodya Kotlyar, Artem Rostovtsev and Nirmal (Nims) Purji. Hello everyone and see you soon!

Artem Rostovtsev, a guide of the 7 Summits Club from Antarctica: Hello, Seven Summits! This is Artem Rostovtsev. We went down to the Vinson Massif base camp. It's been blowing a little since morning. But we have already realized that it is impossible to wait any longer. We started the descent and after a couple of hours of strong wind we hid behind the ridge. On the fixed ropes, the wind was not so strong and we finally warmed up. And then - Low Camp, it was completely windless and warm, and we calmly reached the base camp. That's it, our mission is accomplished. Now we'll stay at the base camp for another day or two, because it's necessary. And we'll fly to Union Glacier.

A message from Elena Abramova, manager of the 7 Summits Club in Chile: 

The team of the 7 Summits Club "Vinson-2" arrived in Punta Arenas. Everyone is in a great mood!  The team of the Automotive Antarctic Expedition is also already in Punta Arenas and has begun active preparations for landing on the Ice Continent.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club: The team of the Auto Antarctic Expedition departs from Geneva to Punta Arenas. We hope to be in Punta Arenas tomorrow morning. It takes about 16 hours to fly. Good luck to everyone!

Artem Rostovtsev, a guide of the 7 Summits Club from Antarctica: Hello, Seven Summits! We went on the top of Vinson Massif yesterday. We can't go any lower today, we're stuck in an assault camp. A little bad weather around. The wind is strong, with gusts such that we save the tents. But we're holding on. We hope it will be over soon. I really want to go down, they say it's warmer there. We have everything: there is food, there is fuel. The tents are alive, but wet. Once again, a big hello to everyone from Artem Rostovtsev from Antarctica.

Alexander Abramov, President of the 7 Summits Club: A new expedition of the 7 Summits Club and the Goodgear Company in Antarctica begins. Now it is an auto expedition.  The task of the team, which includes Alexander Abramov, Vasily Shakhnovsky and Alexey Safonov, is to drive 2000 km across Antarctica by car and explore the Antarctic peninsula for the possibility of driving through it by car.  This is a unique expedition, as no 4x4 car has ever passed in these parts. Only planes.

The difficulty is made up of glaciers, huge crevasses, deep snow. And absolutely unexplored areas are dangerous for the passage of cars.

Exploration is carried out on specially prepared cars “Arctic Truck”, which successfully run in East Antarctica, where there is thick ice and fairly flat terrain. But it have never been to the Antarctic peninsula, which consists of a mountain range with a complex terrain.

This exploration is part of the plan for a round-the-world automobile expedition along the meridian through the 2 Poles of the Earth, which we are going to make in a year. The circumnavigation is unique. Not a single car has been able to drive through 2 Poles North and South and cross 5 continents (Europe, Africa, North and South America and Antarctica).

Now we are exploring Antarctica, and on March 1 we are leaving for Canada for automobile exploration of the possibility of traveling through the Northern Islands of Canada and access to the Arctic ice.

Artem Rostovtsev, super-guide of the 7 Summits Club from Antarctica: Hello, Seven Summits! I congratulate you on the beginning of winter, on December 1st! This is Artem Rostovtsev. Our group has just descended from the summit of the Vinson Massif. All went well. Today it turns out that for the first time in almost two years someone has been on the top of Antarctica. There were 9 people in total. These are two rangers, three climbers from the ALE company and four people from the 7 Summits Club company. And it looks like a fresh wind blew and the mountain slammed shut…

Photos from the expeditions of the 7 Summits Club of previous seasons...