All news: 12 May 2025

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

 Greetings from the Elbrus region! Today, as part of the acclimatization, our new super-group "Krasavchiki" went out along the slopes of Mount Cheget to the cafe "Ai" (2700 m). The weather was different, we caught rain, snow and sun, and also saw an avalanche from the wall of Donguz-Orun (4454 m). It's good that we were on the opposite slope of the valley. Tomorrow we will go up to our assault camp National Park, where we will continue preparing for the ascent.

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Evgeny Fedyunin reports from the Elbrus region:

 Hello everyone! A new group of the 7 Summits Club was named "Snow and Freedom". We began acclimatization on Mount Cheget and climbed to the famous cafe "Ai", at an altitude of 2750 meters. There, the participants got acquainted with local delicacies of chebureks with lingonberries and herbal teas!  The weather was not at all pampering, visibility was limited, it was raining, even snowing at times. But we saw a giant avalanche from the wall of Donguz-Orun.

After lunch, we rented the missing equipment, then rested and prepared for tomorrow's move to Elbrus!

Take care of yourself!

See you in the mountains!

Good weather and good luck to everyone!

May 12 Dhaulagiri

Namaste to everyone from Nepal from the Dhaulagiri Lovers Club group! Report for the past period.

 May 7 - moved from BC to C1. A little faster than last time - in just 9 hours. The icefall melted, the cracks became wider.

 May 8 - moved from C1 to C2. By evening we learned that the advance group had been walking from C2 to C3 for as long as 12-14 hours... This made us a little... wary. We felt that our plans could change. However, we were told by radio that the plans were in effect and the advance group (the hanging team and the combined group) was ready to go on the assault in a few hours. Around midnight we were woken up and told that plans had changed and the upper group had decided to spend an extra day in the upper camp.

 May 9 - woke up late. Anyway, it was a forced rest day at 6200... Celebrated Victory Day and Igor Smirnov's birthday. Walked up a bit.

 May 10 - early rise and exit at 5 am to C3. The crossing turned out to be really tough - a snow-ice slope with falling snow. By the end - 35-40 degrees. There was nowhere to rest at all. We got there quickly - in about 10 hours. But we were exhausted. The camp is not conducive to rest and recovery at all - a tiny area at an angle of 25-30 degrees. The tents are crooked, it is impossible to walk between them without crampons and self-belay. There are 3-5 people in each tent. Boiling water is a huge problem. By this time, the ropers and climbers from the international team had just started to return from the summit (their journey to the summit took 15-20 hours).

In the end, we decided to leave after 9 p.m. We slept for 2-3 hours (whoever could). And by 10 p.m. we somehow got out of the tents. And immediately a steep snow-ice slope. We passed it in an hour and a half. Then the ridge. And then - an oblique traverse. All the ropes are under snow. Everything needs to be re-tracked and the ropes dug out. Snow above the knee. We walked very slowly. And then the wind picked up. We all hoped that it would die down. But it only got stronger. It was very cold. After 2 hours of fighting the wind and snow, the Sherpas said that it was dangerous to go further in such a wind. And we ourselves realized this. So we decided to turn around.

There were many adventures on the descent, including an avalanche, which miraculously only touched us with the edge. By the evening of the same day we were already at the Base Camp.

May 11 - today. We are already on our way to Kathmandu. We are resting and exchanging impressions in Pokhara. We decided that even if we go to another mountain, we will keep the previous name - "Dhaulagiri Lovers Club".

Namaste everyone! Today "Abramov's Favorite Group" woke up in Dingboche a little later. Because part of the group decided to finish the climb and return to Kathmandu by helicopter. The remaining participants went out and trudged to Chukung in a couple of hours. After lunch, we checked the weather and our health again and decided to stay here for a day. And go to climb Island Peak on a reserve day. After lunch, we held part of the training on the use of mountaineering equipment. At the end of the day, it started snowing and we finished the training to continue it in the morning! The goal of the day was to learn how to jumar well and, most importantly, to rest after difficult days. Everyone has fully recovered and began to feel much better. Now we are moving to the assault camp of Island Peak and at night we go to the assault. Everyone is ready, the weather promises to be good, a little luck remains and everything will be fine.

This was Sergey Avtomonov, the guide of the 7 Summits Club.