Alpari - Seven Summits during 300 days!!!

This is Ivan Dusharin from Team Alpari. We’re currently working on Mount McKinley.

I wanted to describe one of our most difficult days of climbing, where we had to make it from 3,200 meters to 4,200 meters – a whole kilometer vertically. We were expecting snow today, so we were pretty excited when we woke up and didn’t see any. Then we started to wonder how we would manage to carry all of our stuff up.

We knew that this would be one of our most difficult climbs, pitting us against a really steep incline. On this part ofDenali, most climbers ditch their sleds and carry their equipment on their shoulders.

Usually this stretch takes a couple of days, but we decided to try to make it all the way in one go. We loaded up two sleds and headed upwards. It wasn’t easy. We had to crawl on all fours, fighting tooth and nail the whole way up. It took us 8 grueling hours to make it to rangers’ camp at 4,200 meters, but we managed to cut a couple of days out of our expedition. Along the way, we passed a number of teams that had started out before we did. I think the only reason we were able to make the climb was that we were well acclimatized to the altitude after Everest.

Our group Luda, Ivam and Max were landing in Talkeetna yesterday. We are waiting for them in Moscow !

July, 1 the team "Alpari on top of the world," Ludmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov descended to the base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. Hence a plane will take them to the mainland any time soon. Climbing can be considered as finished, and finished successfully! Our congratulations to all those who climbed up, and everyone who was fan!

Post to Alpari-life.ru:

Hello, this is Maxim Shakirov.

Our expedition completed its work. Today, we are descended from 4200 m to the airport, where we take an airplane and will be carried to Talkitna. When this happens we do not know, but we know that we went down. All are alive, not to say that healthy. Details from Talkitna. And now we congratulate ourselves on the fourth summits from the seven. We crossed the Rubicon of our project and, in general, satisfied and happy.

And I want to say that nine years ago on the night of 2 to 3 July a very good man gone from us, the climber, the legend - Michael Turkevich. If possible, remember him today.

Hello, embrace.

Alpari team.

Hello !

This is Ludmila Korobeshko from the expedition on Mount McKinley. Literally 20 minutes ago we were still standing at the top. At 5:00 local time, on time in Alaska, we climbed the highest peak in North America - McKinley, 6194 meters. In principle, the weather was relatively good, but there was snow and wind, and it was very cold. But we made it, we're happy ! We still have a fairly long and difficult descent. But we hope that all goes well. Best regards!

Later we received a message that the climbers successfully descended to the high camp.

Hello, this is Max.

Still, we got to the height of the assault camp - 5300 meters, and tomorrow we plan to summit. Because we can expect for good weather to the next season. Visibility on the route is about a hundred meters. Normally, you can go. A bit snowing, sometimes, but rarely the sun looks. Later, however, the sun goes away quickly. From the latest adventure - we forgot a gas cylinder. There is a burner that runs on gasoline, but it barely heats the water. Such are our adventures.

In general, I want beer now….

Alpari-life.ru

Hey everyone!

It’s Lyudmila Korobeshko with “Alpari: On Top of the World”, reporting from Mount McKinley. It’s the 25th of June. The weather this morning was as bad as yesterday, maybe even worse.

When we woke up, our tents were almost completely covered with snow. We had to dig ourselves out. When we sat down to have some breakfast, we heard voices outside the tent. Even in this weather, there were some people brave enough to get some climbing in. We thought we might be able to get a little climbing done ourselves. We packed up our things and headed upwards.

Well… We made it into “Camp Eleven” at 11,000 feet (about 3,600 meters). We’re sitting in camp now, trying to decide what we should do tomorrow. Outside, it looks like the snow isn’t going to let up any time soon.

Alpari-life.ru. Hi ! This is Ludmila Korobeshko from an expedition to Mount McKinley, the project "Alpari on the tops of the world." We are now at an altitude of 3200 meters, just below the camp "11". Today we came here at 1 a.m.. We planned to reach the next camp, but, unfortunately, the weather brought about changes: started very strong snowstorm, visibility is almost zero. Very heavy snowfall, we unearth every 3-4 hours and struggling with torches, that refuse to work.

We have a brave spirit, but, of course, we would like to see the bad weather was over as quickly as possible.

Hey everyone!
Today we’re writing to you from Anchorage. That’s right. We’re already in Alaska! We landed just a couple of hours ago. Ivan and I have already had the chance to experience Alaska’s breathtaking beauty a number of times, but this will be Maxim’s first time.
Even though we landed at 1 AM local time (it’s the middle of the day back home in Moscow, 11 time zones away), we were still able to see Alaska’s majestic fjords, snow-capped mountains and pristine lakes as our plane descended. We’re at about the 62nd parallel here, so the sun is out around the clock these days.

We’ve already settled into our hotel. We really need to get some sleep after nearly 24 hours in the air. It will take some time for our bodies to adjust. It’s still the middle of the day in Moscow.
Tomorrow (or maybe it’s more accurate to say today, as it’s already 3 AM) we’re going to stock up on groceries and equipment. In the evening, we’ll fly out to Talkeetna, our last stop before the Kahiltna Glacier.
Everything’s been going great so far!
Lyudmila Korobeshko, Team Alpari

alpari-life.ru

Photos from Los-Angeles

Alpari-life.ru:

After our trio made it through Stage III of “Alpari: On Top of the World” with a successful climb of Mount Everest, we decided it was time to hold another press conference to let them share their stories. The event, which was held June 6, drew in journalists, Team Alpari partners and renowned Russian climbers.

Alpari Head of Marketing Vladislav Kovalchuk was there to speak on the company’s behalf: “Our employees were there with the team as they climbed Kilimanjaro and next they’ll be heading with them to Mount Elbrus. I think this says something about what this company is all about. And that’s the pursuit of achievement and success.” As it just so happened, our team made it to the summit of Everest exactly 30 years after the first Soviet expedition to the Himalayas. The climbers from Team Alpari proved themselves worthy successors, demonstrating the style, tactics and teamwork that have come to characterize Russian mountaineering.

Everest, the longest and most difficult climb our team will face, really took a lot out of the three of them. After two months of toil and overcoming numerous obstacles, the team finally got to share their tales. Their stories were emotional and filled with vivid detail.

Team captain Lyudmila Korobeshko started by explaining the intricacies of acclimatization on Everest, then confessed how worried she was during the final stretch of the climb, when she was running a fever of 38 degrees (having a temperature this high on a mountain this high can be extremely dangerous). She described how difficult it was making the decision to go ahead with the climb, given the enormous responsibility she bore as the leader. “It was really important to make the right decision. I didn’t want to risk having my body fail on me up there, but I didn’t want to let everyone down either.”

This was Ivan Dusharin’s third time on Everest, but as he pointed out, “Mountains always feel a little bit different, even if you take the same route.” Dusharin believes that it was his persistence and his ability to push through discomfort that helped him this time around. He is planning on writing a book where he will reveal a side of mountain climbing that goes unnoticed by the public at large, including the psychological component. Working on a mountain for 22 hours at an altitude more than 8,000 meters above sea level requires a tremendous amount of willpower. “Your body is going to rebel, but you just have to push through it.”

Team cameraman Maxim Shakirov, who dropped the most weight of the three over the two-month expedition (12 kg!), was asked why there was so little footage from the mountain. Maxim was honest. It was too cold and he was too tired. All of his effort went towards self-preservation. Just falling asleep is tough up there. As he explained, it’s really tough to get to sleep in a cold sleeping bag. To warm your sleeping bag up, you have to heat yourself up first – and that’s not always possible. Maxim jokingly noted, “I was very pleased to find out that I do have willpower.”

Seeing as how there have already been more than ten fatalities on Everest this year, a reporter from the Russian site Sport-Express-Extreme asked the team what they thought about the fact that virtually anyone can get a permit to climb Everest. The growing crowds of climbers on Everest have led to dangerous traffic jams along the main climbing routes as well as increasing environmental problems. Ivan Dusharin, with his years of experience climbing and organizing expeditions provided a little bit of insight on the matter. He pointed out that just a couple of decades ago, getting a permit to climb Everest from the Chinese or Nepalese government meant not only filing a formal request to have your expedition approved, but also providing evidence of your climbing ability. These days Nepal is more interested in the income that the recent inflow of climbers and tourists is bringing to the country.

So what do climbers eat on Everest? This was another question that came up. What does Ivan Dusharin carry in his backpack? During the team’s final 22-hour stretch of the climb, in the extreme conditions of Everest, Ivan took only 1.5 liters of tea and a handful of dried fruit (keep in mind that you typically lose around 6 liters of fluids a day when climbing). Is this some sort of special climber’s diet? Nope. As Ivan explained to the reporters, you don’t really think about eating or drinking when you’re up there. As a side note, when the team returned to Base Camp, they were surprised to discover that the Tibetan chefs there had learned to prepare borscht!

A representative from the Russian Mountaineering Federation asked the team what they were planning to do to recover after a hellish stretch of mountain climbing. Maxim answered that he is returning to his village, where he’ll spend his time mowing the lawn and digging up potatoes. Lyudmila is going to spend most of her time before McKinley at the doctor’s office, trying to get better. Ivan Dusharin doesn’t have time to relax either. He has a lot of work to do in Moscow.

Olga Vasilchikova, a representative from the sporting equipment company Red Fox, after congratulating the team on making it through the tough part, asked how their equipment is holding up. This may have been a strange question coming from someone else, but not from Red Fox, the official outfitter of Team Alpari, who has been there for us every step of the way.

At the end of the press conference it was announced that Lyudmila Korobeshko had already made her way into the record books. It turns out that she is the only Russian woman who has climbed Everest twice.

A journalist from Expert magazine wanted to know how many kilometers our team has climbed so far. We did the math, and as it turns out, they have climbed around 15 kilometers vertically and covered around 150-200 kilometers of ground.

And there’s much more ahead…

Video:

On May 26, the Nepalese embassy in Moscow held a special event to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the first Soviet expedition to Everest.

The Nepalese ambassador to Russia gave some opening remarks. In his speech, he pointed out that Nepal and Russia have long enjoyed friendly relations.

Many of the climbers who took part in the first Soviet expedition to Everest were there to reminisce on their climb three decades ago. Unfortunately, some of the climbers from the team aren’t with us anymore. Adorning the halls of the embassy were pictures of the team and photographs from the expedition. The pictures took those in attendance back to the dawn of Soviet mountaineering, back to the months of training for the expedition and back to their time on the mountain in 1982, when the team rewrote the history books by opening a new route on the mountain; one that no expedition has taken since.

The leader of the team, Anatoliy Georgivich Ovchinnikov also spoke at the gathering, telling some stories from the expedition and describing some of the problems he had to deal with as the team captain.

Edward Vikentevich Myslovskiy, also spoke at the event, sharing some of the emotions he experienced as the first Russian to reach the peak of Everest. Myslovskiy, who turned 75 this year, was actually part of a two-man team with Vladimir Balyberdin, who died in a car accident. Two of the other climbers from the expedition also celebrated their 75th birthday earlier this year: Vladimir Shataev and Roman Giutashvili.

Andrey Volkov, president of the Russian Mountaineering Federation, also addressed the crowd. Volkov, who is among the few in Russia who have climbed both Everest and K2, mentioned his friend, mentor and climbing partner, Ivan Dusharin, in his speech. Volkov then informed the audience that they were in for a real treat: Ivan Dusharin of “Alpari: On Top of the World” was on the line, calling all the way from Kathmandu! Dusharin, fresh off completing his third expedition to Everest, congratulated the Soviet team on their 30-year anniversary and wished them many more years full of life and new achievements. He spoke some about his own experience on Everest and expressed his regret that he wasn’t able to make it back to Moscow in time for the event.

The dinner to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Everest expedition was organized by the Russian Mountaineering Federation and the Nepalese embassy.

alpari-life.ru

News from the Alpari team’s Everest expedition

Lyudmila Korobeshko reporting from ABC (6,400 meters)
Yesterday, on May 19, our team took the summit of Mount Everest. Honestly, two or three days ago I had doubts as to whether it would happen. On the North Col (7,100 meters) there were serious doubts as to whether we would all make it up together: I had a temperature and wasn’t feeling well, Ivan was being bothered by a cough and Max had gotten a little discouraged at the sight of us. If we hadn’t started feeling better he would have had to have gone alone and plant the flags and bring them back all by himself.

I even started to question whether it made sense to go up to 7,700, thinking it might be better to just head straight down from the North Col. That I wouldn’t make it above 7,700 seemed almost certain to me. When on the North Col my temperature shot up to 38.4, the guys thought I might have malaria (I was in African recently where on the last days there I began to get a temperature each evening. On the North Col I was literally shaking for about an hour). Surprisingly, however, when we made it to 7,700, I started feeling better. And the higher we went, the better I felt. Ivan’s cough, however, was only getting worse. By the way, he had told us much earlier that he has had some problems with his lungs for a long time. His doctors even forbid him from making high altitude climbs.

We spent the night at 7,700 meters without any problems. That’s of course if you don’t count sleeping at a 30-degree angle where you and all your stuff are always sliding down, and you need to use ropes to go to the bathroom, which is in full view of the whole camp.

The trek up to 8,300 meters turned out to be difficult: it started snowing and was windy. The tents at 8,300 are even more slanted than the ones below due to the terrain being steeper. Sleeping is out of the question: the best you can hope for is 3-4 hours of relative rest (drink tea, dry your boots, and gather your belongings). The plan was to set out at 22:45. By the way, in order to set out on time you need to start getting dressed at least an hour before you’re supposed to leave.

We started our ascent in total darkness. And just about immediately we came to a steep face which leads right to up to the summit ridge. Ivan was out in front and, it seemed to me, breathing quite heavily. Max was behind, shaking out his frozen hands. And heading up the mountain from behind was a procession of other climbers hoping to make it to the top on this first (and perhaps only) day with good weather. So we had to hurry and not let anyone pass us otherwise we could get stuck in ‘traffic’ at the difficult final pass — we could get too cold and our oxygen could run out. It’s a tough game!

It was freezing cold and gusts of wind just about knocked us off our feet. There were a lot of places where the ground crumbled under your feet, making slipping down the rock face a real possibility. At one point I fell. My ropes weren’t taut and I fell down a couple of meters and tore my down pants. The rest of the way I was walking in a cloud of the down feathers of my pants.

We made it to the top around 5 a.m. It was dark, early and cold. We stopped about 50 meters short of the peak in the hopes that we could wait and catch the sunrise from the peak. But after about 25 minutes we were frozen stiff. We ended up just going to the very peak. And there it was – shrouded in Nepalese prayer flags. We tried to shoot some pictures but the camera didn’t work. Our fingers were freezing and it was still dark.

The wind kept getting stronger and we had only limited supplies of oxygen. We started our descent. For safety’s sake, we needed to try to descend as much as possible, ideally to 6,400 meters. And here some problems began: we kept running into climbers making their way up. You can’t go around them, particularly in the steep places where you have to rappel*-especially at the Second and Third Steps. We waited for 25 minutes above the Third Step, letting other climbers pass. Then we managed to descend, somehow managing without ropes to get around other climbers. Below 8,300 meters, the weather is much worse. At 7,700 meters, high winds tear at the tents. At the North Col we ended up in a snowstorm. By evening we made it down to 6,400 meters. And that’s it.

We did it. It probably won’t hit us until later what we’ve done.

Hi to everybody.

The Alpari Team.
*Rappelling – descent using ropes and a special device called a figure-eight. The figure-eight attaches to the climber’s harness and allows climbers to make rope descents. By controlling the pressure on the rope, the climber can control the speed of his descent.

The project team "Alpari on the tops of the World" launched the flags on the highest point of the planet - Mount Everest.

Maxim freeze your fingers, the doctor makes his shots in the stomach. The most difficult, the third, the mountain let go of our project team with minimal losses.

Here is the Everest is very early in the morning:

First time on the North Col

 Luda Korobeshko on the most exposed part of climb

Altitude 7500 m - impossible to shoot

Max Shakirov in the ABC camp

Today there was a lot of things "at first"

First, we made the first serious acclimatization climb. Hooray! Shegar Dzong was climbed to the top (4800 m). This mountain name is translated as Fortress Xegar and it is very unusual. At its base there is an ancient Buddhist monastery school gelukpa - Xegar. And on the top we met a stupa and prayer flags. The last few tens of meters to go the top led by a very steep scree slope. And from the top we have a stunning view of the Himalayan mountain range and on ...

Yes, yes - this is the second "first" ... we saw Mount Everest. The majestic pyramid with a huge white flag. Probably a strong wind blows the snow off the slopes.

We hope that to the time of our climb the storm will be over.

Tomorrow we go to the base camp of Everest. That is, tomorrow we'll spend the night in 5100. With headaches of course, what would be a good for acclimatization.

Climbing tour on Kilimanjaro, a group of Alpari officers from U.S. was successfully finished. All were on the top, although a month ago no one even thought of it. The weather was favorable, there was no rain during the daytimes, it was just a little wet at night. Snow and hail were only after the climb and a short rest at Kibo Hut. On the climbing day boys proved themselves as true heroes. None of them had never been before even at an altitude of 2000m, no one had any serious training. But all have shown tenacity and reached the summit. At the top the group met three Russian climbers engages in project "7 summits in 300 days" with the support of Alpari.

Artem Rostovtsev – a guide of the 7 Summit Club

Team:

Jaclyn Cole

David Makoso

John Wang

Jacob Plattner

Stan Klebaner

Mushegh Tovmasyan

Alpari-life.ru. Africa… Kilimanjaro… Mountain climbing… These things just don’t seem to mix. But Team Alpari: On Top of the World is already here in Tanzania. It didn’t take long to figure out all of the logistical issues. The Seven Summits Club really knows what it’s doing. We’re already on our way.

It’s the 8th of March. In Russia, people are taking the day off. But we’re headed upwards, forging ahead along the steep and resilient jungle paths. There hasn’t been a single gentle slope or downhill section yet. We have a 1,300-meter climb ahead of us, a special Women’s Day gift. And this is only the beginning.

… An overnight, an early climb, then upwards again. And it’s only getting steeper. In all seriousness, we’ve had to actually “climb” part of the way. There are actually hooks in the rock. There may have even been a railing too at one point. We’re the only ones on this route. This isn’t a path for beginners. It’s really steep. Lyudmila is good at picking out the routes for the team. You can’t take it easy. You have to keep grinding away, even here on Kilimanjaro. We’re leaving the jungle now. We have a spectacular view of the mountain!

Fantastic! The beauty and grandeur of the mountain and the nature of the climb have been impressive. The rocky slopes, the icy ditches left by glaciers… it all feels so natural. Not many people get the chance to see this side of the mountain. We’re already at 3,900 meters. And it’s only been 2 days!

10.03 Today we have our most difficult climb ahead of us. As if it could get any harder! We have to climb to 4,600 meters, and in doing so, circle around to the other side of the mountain. You can’t make it to the summit from this side. Normally, this takes 2 days or so, but we need to do it in one. Oh well. We’re on our way. But wait! There’s a 200-meter rock wall ahead of us. It’s scary, something we’re not used to seeing. But it should be interesting. We’ll just have to climb it. Looking at the wall from the side is frightening, but it can be done. The rocks are monolithic, with passes, steps and safety hooks, so it should be relatively safe. We made it. Now it’s back down again, then up… By the evening, we made it to where we needed to go. We’ll have dinner and go to sleep.

11.03. We left at 1:30 at night to continue our ascent. With yesterday’s difficult climb and our anxiety before our storm of the summit, we didn’t get much sleep. But our commander is strict. We left at 1:30 sharp, the moon illuminating the path ahead of us. It all feels kind of mystical – the stars, the mountain, the glowing moonlight… We’re getting higher and its getting colder. Strange, huh? Africa… cold? Anyways, it’s cold. We’re wearing our down jackets. That helps a bit. But we still have to shake our legs periodically. It’s either that or “I froze in Africa”. And that wouldn’t be too funny, would it?

Just before 6:00 we made it to the brim of the crater. This is where we planned to meet the Alpari US team, which took the classic route. They weren’t there yet. We waited an hour and a half. We were about to freeze to death. Naturally, we were elated when they finally showed up. We continued onward together, reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro (5,895 m) in full strength. Hooray!

The first visual impression of the expedition "Alpari on top of the world." The first batch of photos and a video clip. No comments. Simply beauty. More pictures can be viewed at the project site:

http://www.alpari-life.ru/kilimanjaro/

Early in the morning, the two groups met near the summit. The team of project "Alpari - 7 summits in 300 days" (Ludmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin, Maxim Shakirov) climbed via the route Umbve. Guide 7 Summits Club Artem Rostovtsev climbed with a group of managers of American office Alpari by Machame route. There were in the group: David Makoso, Jacob Plattner, Jaclyn Cole, Mushegh Tovmasyan, Stan Klebaner, John Wang. At 8:00 in the morning, they all met at the top of the massif of Kilimanjaro. And then, two groups together have gone down the Machame route. Congratulations!

Hello! This Artem Rostovtsev from Kilimanjaro. We go already third day. I must say, the company is excellent, very fun people. The guys are from the company Alpari, all Americans, but two of them came from the Union, one of Armenia, one from Ukraine. Today there was a day of acclimatization at Horombo. We went to the Zebra Rocks, and a little higher up, came down to camp. And then we walked down the excellent canyon, even swim a little....

Ludmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov are in a camp at an altitude of 3000 meters. Yesterday's distance was longer than planned for 5-7 kilometers. Just because the rains have washed away the road. At night the monkey stole one shoe of Ludmila, but in the morning it was founded. Today, climbers will be a very long stretch.They want to be on top with a group Alpari led by Artem Rostovtsev...