All news: 2019

Victor Ershov, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Argentina:

Hello from the Russian camp on Aconcagua with 4300m! We finally got here, though! We - this group El Fuego (Lights!), and came quite quickly, just 7 hours and 21 km at 1000m drop from camp Confluencia. Great result! And yesterday, in Confluencia we passed successfully medical-check - with all very cool indicators, physicians were surprised. The team members, of course, were tired after two days of difficult walking.  But no worries, tomorrow is a holiday, and finally  internet here it is!

Vladimir Kotlyar, Super-Guide of the 7 Summits Club from Bolivia:

Hola amigos!!!! Vladimir Kotlyar and Irina Zisman continue their journey through Bolivia!!! The second day was great! With the weather we were even lucky, despite the rainy season. We have arrived at the highest mountain of the great lakes of Titicaca! Stunning beauty of nature! We walked around the sun island. Of course we ate fish and tried a glass of Bolivian wine. Then we met an amazing sunset. It rained last night. Adventures continue....

Victor Ershov, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Argentina:

Greetings from Argentina, from a group of El Fuego! This morning we said goodbye to hot Mendoza and went to the mountains, to the village of Penitentes. On arrival, after we gave things to the mules, we went for a walk to 3100m. Tomorrow we will go to the zone without communication for 2 days, we will go to the Confluence camp. And then we will try the day after tomorrow to come to the Plaza de Mulas, in our cozy Russian camp of the 7 Summits…

Seven Summits, hello! Dmitry Ermakov from Kilimanjaro. We reached Shira's camp. Today we are more fortunate. There was even sun and we were able to dry all our wet things. We went up a little bit higher, now we are resting and waiting for dinner. We are doing well and all people are feeling fine. The mood is fighting.

Vladimir Kotlyar, a guide of the 7 Summits Club from Bolivia:

Aloha 7 Summits!!!!  Here are In touch Vladimir Kotlyar and Irina Zisman! We're on the other side of geography, in Bolivia! Today is the first day of our trip, we dedicated it to acquaintance with La Paz, the capital of this distant country. The city impressed us and pleasantly surprised. Especially pleased with the local "metro", or rather the cable car, which replaces it.

Dmitry Ermakov, a guide of the 7 Summits Club in Tanzania:

 Hello! Dmitry Ermakov started working with a new group in Kilimanjaro. Tonight the last members arrived in Tanzania.  In the morning we packed up and now we are at the gates of Machame. Now we will register the group and go higher. The weather is beautiful. Today has even been seen Kilimanjaro in the morning. Compared to the New Year time, there are practically no people  on the route. In General, everything is fine and everything is going according to plan.

On May 8, Alexey Sivkov and Evgeny Lesnitsky, long-time friends of the 7  Summits Club, under the guidance of two instructors, successfully completed an incredible ascent to El Capitan by famous route "Nose".  

The climb took 3 days, including 2 nights on the wall and one night on the top of El Capitan.

January 7, 2018 a team of the 7 Summits Club  under the guidance of guide Alexei Lonchinsky successfully climbed to the highest peak of New Zealand's famous Mount Cook.

The team successfully took advantage of a weather window and advices of new Zealand guides.

Svetlana Kotlyar from Argentina:

 Hello 7 Summits Club from the hot Mendoza!

The Aconcagua-3 team descended to the exit of the Aconcagua national Park.

We checked into the hotel and in the evening we were at a dinner dedicated to our ascent.

 Guides of the 7 Summits Club Vladimir Kotlyar, Andrei Berezin and Viktor Ershov  awarded participants that have reached the coveted summit of Aconcagua 6962!

 It's sad to know it's over. This expedition was special. We became friends.

Yesterday there were talks about the brightest moments, laughter through tears, happy smiles, many words of gratitude.

 And today — walks in Mendoza, rafting and visiting local restaurants with tasting the best Argentine wines.

28 Jan.  The final and culminating part of our journey to the Andes and  ascent of Aconcagua begins.

Today we leave Plaza de Mulas and again climb to the 5500 camp Nido de Cóndores.

The transition took 6 hours, only the weather unlike the previous acclimatization exit - like heaven and earth!  On Nido the sun is shining, a little cool breeze is blowing, almost like on Mulas, maybe a few degrees lower.

 And we waited for another beautiful sunset over Aconcagua, then scattered to the tents and getting ready for bed.

29 Jan.  Transfer from Nido de Cóndores to camp Cólera.

 Climb 500 meters, we have overcome that distance in three hours.

The camp Cólera is very beautiful - it is surrounded by picturesque rocks, and closer you can see our goal — the summit of Aconcagua!

Super-guides of the 7 Summits Club prepared chicken soup. At 6000 -  real masterpiece of Alpine cuisine!  We dined in the open air and discussed  upcoming plans for tomorrow.

We went to the tents around 6 PM, we are saving up for the ascent! Start at 2: 30.

30 Jan.

Team "Aconcagua-3" consisting of 12 people heroically climbed to the highest point of the two Americas - the summit of Aconcagua 6962!

We left camp Cólera at 4 am, the way to the top took almost 12 hours!

 The weather was excellent: only at the site with the traverse the wind was blowing about 40 mph, but in General, the conditions for climbing were very favorable!

 The last climberss went down to the camp for about 10 PM, all the forces left on the ascent. And in the camp we were waiting for a hot chicken soup prepared by Viktor Ershov.

 We woke up on the morning of January 31 and soon ran down to the Plaza de Mulas! Now we are resting, recuperating and accept your congratulations!!!

 From the video clips sent by Alexander Abramov, we have mounted a small video film. This is the story of how on January 27 he and Artem Rostovtsev climbed to the top of Mount Aconcagua.

Details, emotions and colors in the video:

On January 27, 2019, Alexander Abramov climbed the highest peak in South America, Mount Aconcagua,  it was a part of “Seven summits in seven months” project. Artem Rostovtsev, also the guide of the 7 Summits Club, was his climbing partner.  Climbing took place in difficult weather conditions, the summit was not easy.

Svetlana Kotlyar from Argentina:

Hello 7 Summits Club from "Aconcagua-3"!

 Yesterday we had a great day of rest here: we had time to sunbathe, and walk to the waterfall, and pass the medical check.

 At Plaza de Mulas there is almost summer — by 10 am the sun comes out and a cool breeze blows.

 For lunch, our Alpine chef Anya cooked us mushroom soup of real Russian mushrooms, for dinner there was fried potatoes with mushrooms! The team members were thrilled!

 Everyone feels good! Now we have breakfast and prepare to go up. Today again we spend a night at 5500 m in Nido de Cóndores, tomorrow we rise to 6000, and from there we will try to storm the top of Aconcagua!

 Wish us luck!

Svetlana Kotlyar from Argentina: Hello, 7 Summits Club!  Group Aconcagua-3 with you!

Yesterday we made quite a difficult marsh up to the camp Nido de Cóndores, gaining more than 1000 m in height.

The weather changed.  Already in the morning the summit of our "stone guard" was tightly tightened dark gray clouds, and we were blown by unpleasant wind.

 We left Plaza de Mulas at 10: 00 am, less than three hours before we reached Canada Camp.  And then a strong wind came up, by feelings up to 30-35 km/h, and after a minutes it started to snow.

But even in such difficult conditions the group reached 5500 m in six hours! Our super guides say it's a good time!

  In the upper camp there is a large tent-dining room (“Strong hall”), where we were waiting for hot soup and tea prepared by Andrei Berezin! We settled in large comfortable triple tents, walked around the camp.

In the late afternoon the sun came out and you could see how fast the clouds are running over the top of Aconcagua!

Today we spend a night at a new height and tomorrow we run down to the Plaza de Mulas!

Svetlana Kotlyar from Argentina: Hello, 7 Summits Club!

 There is Aconcagua-3 group:  We continue acclimatization rotation on Aconcagua!

 Yesterday we went up to the height of 5000 m to the camp "Canada". We managed it at a good pace in three hours. There we had lunch, admired the views and went down to our Russian camp on Plaza de Mulas, where we were waiting for a hot dinner.

 The weather is bright sunshine and blue sky!  Tomorrow according to the plan there will be a day of rest and then we will climb to Nido de Condores - 5500 m.

 In the Russian camp there are Russian songs to the guitar!

Alexander Abramov from Argentina:

 Today  there was a day of rest and preparation for the ascent. Tomorrow morning I and Artem Rostovtsev go to Nido de Condores.  And today we walked through the camps, went to the Studio of Miguel.

 There we met a Japanese guide Hiro (Kazuya Hiraide). He brought 86-year-old Yuichiro Miura and his son. Son ascended the summit, but Old Miura would not reach 300 m to the summit.

Svetlana Kotlyar from the base camp under mount Aconcagua:

Greetings from the group "Aconcagua-3" from the base camp Plaza de Mulas!

 Yesterday we made a long trek: we gained almost 900 m in height and walked more than 20 km. The whole trekking took about 8.5 hours with snacks and rest stops.

We left the Confluence camp at 8: 00 am. Just a couple of minutes the sun came out and warmed with its rays.

Trekking can be divided into two segments: the first,  so-called "frying pan", a fairly long (about 13 km) area of almost flat surface. Second — is the steep  path to the  base camp.

The weather is good. At these altitudes become warmer — the previously frozen streams melted, and several times we were looking through them the crossing.

The idea that the Plaza de Mulas is waiting for us helped made the way warmer! Anya Ershova (mountain chef) and guide Andrey Berezin have prepared everything for our arrival: what could be better than a hot lunch after such a hard day?

 Service at height level: members of the group live in separate tents, we have our own kitchen and a large tent-dining room, where it is warm and cozy to gather together. Food, drinks, vegetables, fruits, sweets - all this in abundance!

 Today, the plan is a small acclimatization walk.

Alexander Abramov, President of 7 Summits Club from Argentina:

The team of «7 Summits in 7 months” decided to make a new project: "Each of 7 summits in 7 days".

I and Artem Rostovtsev go to Aconcagua for 7 days. Today is the second day. We came to the Plaza de Mulas, height - 4300 m. Health - so-so. But we finally saw our Russian camp on Aconcagua. Perfectly. Super camp. Cheerfully. The neighbors came: Irina Galai, Dasha and the rest…

A group of  the 7 Summits Club headed by Andrey Podolyan made a trip to Nepal, with climbing to the top of Lobuche and Ama-Dablam.  They took the filming of the video very seriously. That was made a great movie. If we can get better through the normal campaign?

Our friends from the  team of  Vasily Yelagin and our friends from the RD Studio led by Valdis Pelsh successfully completed the Antarctic program and returned to the Mainland. Record, unprecedented automobile campaign is successfully completed, we will wait for reports and the main thing – the movie. 

RD Studio: in 1820 the Russian expedition Bellingshausen and Lazarev gave the world the sixth continent. On the eve of the bicentennial of this event, we went to Antarctica to create a documentary about the brightest pages of its history. And at the same time we did something that no one else did: a unique Autonomous auto vehicle run on the ice through the Antarctic Continent! For 38 days we passed 5519 km on all-terrain vehicles "Yemelya" without refueling and replenishment of stocks on the way!