All news: April 2023

The head of the Everest expedition of the 8000 Club Viktor Volodin reports from Nepal:

Dear friends, April 20, 2023 is on the calendar. We spent the night today in the glorious village of Dingboche, in the morning we started slowly in the direction of the village of Periche. The trail first led us up, and then traverse through a picturesque gorge surrounded by beautiful highest peaks. And in the end we saw Pumori, it's a big beautiful pyramid. All participants feel well, saturation ranges from 82 to 98. 

The head of the expedition to Makalu Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Nepal:

April 19. Greetings to all from the expedition on Makalu!  Today our team arrived in Lukla and started moving towards Everest.  This year there are new rules - now at the checkpoint immediately after Lukla, documents are checked for a long time and a special trekker card is issued.

Halfway to the Phacking we had lunch and at sunset we came to the Shangri la Resort Sherpa - a cozy hotel among the pine forest and overlooking the neighboring Summits.

Tomorrow we move to the capital of the Sherpas – Namche Bazaar.

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

All Namaste from Dingboche from the group "We are just tourists!" 8000 Club!  Yesterday our friendly team moved from Tengboche to Dingboche at an altitude of 4300 m. All the way we were surrounded by beautiful views of the majestic Ama-Dablam!  According to the acclimatization program, we spend two nights in Dingboche. Here we live in a still relative civilization — with a hot shower and delicious coffee.

New lodges are being built on the route to the Everest base camp, new cafes and coffee shops are appearing, the food in which is becoming more diverse.  Today we had an active day of rest! We had a good night's sleep and after breakfast, taking our time (we are tourists!), we walked to Chukhung, gaining another 400 m in height. The weather pleases, the saturation of the participants is normal!

Tomorrow we move to Lobuche at 4900, and the day after tomorrow we plan to be at the Everest base camp!

 The guide of the 7 Summits Club Olga Rumyantseva reports from Nepal:

Today, the “Beautiful” group in full force made the ascent on Mera Peak. It wasn't easy, but we managed. On the way to the top, we admired Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and other beautiful mountains.  And by lunchtime we went down to Khare.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

 Everest. The team of the 7 Summits Club. Yesterday we made a long journey from Phakding to Namche Bazaar.  In Montjo, we all took a picture together with a model of Everest. Namche is getting more beautiful every year. We met a lot of trekkers here.  In the evening, our team was provided with a separate bar.  That's what they said - it's yours.

With great sorrow we learned about the death on Annapurna of our friend, the guide of our expeditions, Noel Hanna.

The head of the expedition on Makalu Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from Kathmandu from the expedition on Makalu! Today, on April 18, the last two participants arrived - Marina and Valery Babanov. We sent part of the cargo immediately under Makalu (in very beautiful bags). Then part of the group went to buy equipment, and the other part - to get acquainted with the culture of Nepal.

We visited several Hindu and Buddhist temples, saw the world's largest statue of Padmasabhava, meditated in the caves where Padmasabhava himself achieved enlightenment, made three koras around the largest stupa in Nepal.

In the evening we gathered for a gala dinner, which our Ecuadorian friend, Edgar Parra, unexpectedly shared with us. Tomorrow morning, according to the plan, we will start the trek to Everest Base camp.

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

The Drink team group reached the loggia in Khar – at 4900 meters. We walked slowly in good weather and with a light breeze. We had lunch and then went higher, to acclimatize to a height of 5100. Tomorrow the plan is to make a final check of the equipment, conduct classes on the use of jumars and the rest of our toys. And in the evening we decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Dynamo club. Therefore, instead of beer, we drink rum today and justify our name!

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Olga Rumyantseva reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from the upper camp of Mera Peak, where a Beautiful group came today!  We walked along the already familiar path to the first camp, then put on our crampons and continued our journey. In total, we climbed 900 meters. Now we are sitting in the camp, preparing to go out at night to climb the summit.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alex Abramov reports from Nepal:

The team of the expedition of the 7 Summits Everest Club flew to Lukla and reached the Phakding. We live in the best loggia on the route, in Shangri La Sherpa. The whole team has become friends and feels great. Today we are moving to the capital of the Sherpas Namche-Bazaar. The weather is great.

The head of the expedition on Makalu Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Nepal:

Hello everyone from Kathmandu!  Today almost all the participants of our expedition on Makalu gathered in Kathmandu! Almost all of them are Everest summiters, many of them have several eight-thousandth peaks behind them, there are two "Snow Leopards"!

Tomorrow we send some things straight to the base camp Makalu, we buy more equipment and the day after tomorrow we are on the road! Forward and Up!

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

The Drink team group from the approaches to the Mera Peak! Today, a strategic decision was made not to drink rum before climbing summit. So far, only beer and that - on a limited scale. We reached the village of Tagnak 4200m today.  On the way we visited a Buddhist monastery. It feels like they have already acclimatized for this height. A deeper sleep has come to many and rest begins to bring more pleasure.  Tomorrow we go to the last lodge before the climbing part.  Then only up and up to the top. Today, Mera peak is already hanging over us and makes it clear that this is not a simple mountain!  All namaste!

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

The 8000 CLUB team "We are just tourists!" sends greetings to everyone from Tengboche from a height of 3850 m! Today our trekking was 11 km, we passed a section of the route from Namche Bazaar to Tengboche.  In the morning the weather was fine and for the first time in these days we saw Everest, Lhotse and the pearl of the Himalayas — the beautiful Ama Dablam! The members were delighted!

Behind the endless jokes, conversations about mountains and travel, time goes unnoticed.  I would like to say a few words about the guides of our expedition — Viktor Volodin and Pasang.

 VIKTOR VOLODIN has more than 70 routes of the highest difficulty category (5B and 6) to his credit. He climbed Everest twice (the second time on the record Northern Face), as part of the team he passed the most difficult route in the world – the Western Face K2, climbed among the first ascenders to the Middle peak of Lhotse ("Russian eight-thousandth). He climbed all the Pamir seven thousand meters.

 PASANG SHERPA — has been on the top of Mount Everest 17 times. Climbed 9 out of 14 eight-thousandths of our planet! 

We feel as safe as possible in their hands!

 Tomorrow we will go higher, to a height of 4200.

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Olga Rumyantseva reports from Nepal:

 Greetings to all from the Beautiful group from Khare! Today we climbed to the first camp, which is located at an altitude of 5200 meters. Since it's only an hour and a half to walk from the village, we decided to stay overnight in Khare to have a good rest before climbing. 

We spent the rest of the day checking equipment, resting and getting ready to go.

Tomorrow morning we will go to the upper camp at an altitude of 5800 meters, from where we will climb the summit at night.

Message from April 16.

On April 14, the DZF team arrived at the Everest Base Camp. The transfer from Lobuche to EBC took 4 hours. Yesterday we walked along the moraine on which the tent city is located — in fact, the base camp itself.  Our expedition takes place in cooperation with the 7 Summits Club and 8000 Club and that's what Vitaly Lazo tells about the first days in the camp: "The base camp of the 7 Summits Club is a delux level camp! This is the first time I rest under the route in such conditions. To say that I am surprised is to say nothing. Kitchen, recreation area, personal space — tents, sanitary zones, everything is thought out to the smallest detail. To do all this is a lot of work, experience and understanding of the pain points of the expedition participants. Alexa Abramov, bravo!"

 Today Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin conducted classes for our operators — they taught how to move in crampons, what is the ascent and descent of fixed ropes, and much more. And then we went towards Camp 1, through the Khumbu icefall. Beauty! The team reached the height of 5700 m and returned home to DC, where a 5-star lunch was waiting for everyone.

President of the 7 Summits Club, head of the Everest expedition Alexander Abramov reports from Nepal:

News of the 7 Summits Club  expedition on Everest.  Today is the last day in Kathmandu and tomorrow we will fly to Lukla by three helicopters.  First we visited local stores. All the equipment here is 1.5 times cheaper than in Moscow. And you can find everything. The main thing is how to look. And in the evening we had a party with invited friends.

Participants of the Makalu expedition  and employees of the Russian Embassy came to us. Also our office of the 7 Summits Club in Kathmandu.  Now we are urgently going to bed, because the helicopter is at 7 am and we need to get up at 4 am. Hello everyone and wait for photos from the route!

Svetlana Kotlyar, manager of the 7 Summits Club and a member of the expedition, reports from Nepal:

Greetings to all from Namche Bazaar from the 8000 CLUB team "We are tourists!"! Another beautiful day in the Himalayas is coming to an end!  We continue our acclimatization program, today we walked to the Hotel Everest View, gaining 450 m in height.

The morning started with beautiful views, but by lunchtime the mountains were covered with clouds. We spent about an hour on the observation deck, drank our favorite Ginger lemon tea with honey and quickly went down. After lunch it started to hail, but then the weather cleared up and amazing mountain views opened up near our lodge!

Saturation of all participants is normal, tomorrow we go higher — forward and up!

The head of the expedition to Makalu Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Nepal:

 Greetings from Nepal from the expedition on Makalu! The first members of our team finally began to arrive in the capital of Nepal. In the morning, Veronica and Lilia (climbers of last season's Everest) arrived. By the way, these brave girls are planning to make two ascents of 8000 at once - to Makalu and Lhotse.  In the late afternoon Israfil Ashurly arrived in Kathmandu, an experienced high-altitude climber (took part in a dozen expeditions to the eight-thousandth Summits) who is an assistant leader in our expedition.

In the evening we paid a friendly visit to the Everest expedition led by Alex Abramov. All the girls first of all ran to be photographed with the legend of Soviet mountaineering - Sergey Bogomolov. He is participating in an expedition to Mount Everest as a preparation for his main goal - K2 this summer. Early tomorrow morning, the Everest team will fly to Lukla, and we will meet the main part of our team on Makalu.

Экскурсовод Клуба 7 Вершин Ольга Румянцева сообщает из Непала:

Всем привет от самой красивой группы на Пике Мера! Мы провели сегодняшний день в Кхаре. Рано утром все арендовали недостающее снаряжение, после чего мы отправились на ближайшую возвышенность, чтобы научиться подниматься и спускаться по перилам с помощью альпинистского снаряжения. Скорее всего, на восхождении он нам не пригодится. Но, как говорится, учиться всегда полезно. 

Потом мы вспомнили, как ставить кошки на обувь. После этого техническая часть подготовки считалась завершенной. После обеда погода почему-то испортилась. Пошел снег, стало очень холодно. Так мы провели день, разговаривая за чашками кофе.

A guide of the 7 Summits Club Sergey Avtomonov reports from Nepal:

The Drink team is in touch! Today was a simpler day. We woke up in Thuli Kharka, slowly gathered and began to traverse towards the village of Khote. First, through the snow and rocks, the path led us to the descent into the coniferous forest. We stopped there for lunch in the loggia. When we went out, the weather turned a little bad and a light rain began to drip. We were lucky the rain was light and we almost didn't get wet.  We reached the Khote village. In the loggia where we stayed for the night, there is a shower and a coffee machine! We have taken full advantage of these benefits and are resting.

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

 News from the route to Mera Peak.  The Drink team group is acclimating. The radial rotation went down to 4000 meters, the height is already felt. We spent the night in the lodge, then went to the Zatvra La pass. We spent the night in Chukung . Then we came to the pass through deep snow. We go out to the pass. It was really hard, but we did it!

After that, we rest, dry things soaked in the snow.