All news: 10 July 2023

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!