Everest(8848) - Page 32

The unique event will take place in Moscow on November 8: All Everest summiters from ex-USSR will be together in one room.

"The Congress of the climbers" will be dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the first Soviet and the 20th anniversary of the first Russian ascents on Everest.

All climbers along the list of summiters are invited to participate. Beginning in 1982, and by 2012 more than 150 climbers from the former Soviet Union have climbed Mount Everest.

7 Summits Club acts as the lead partner in the Russian Mountaineering Federation organizing a meeting of climbers on Everest. It is no accident:

Alexander Abramov and 7 Summits Club had nine expeditions to Everest, starting in 2003. They all ended by reaching the summit. About 100 man/climbing accomplished it. So that members of our expeditions to Everest, the 7 Summits Club members will form a significant part of the invitees.

This event will be the official name is "Congress of the climbers." The exact time and the program will be announced later. But it is clear that it will be about historic climbs in 1982 and 1992, on the climb of the North Face and so on. Climbers will be awarded honorary by signs "Summiter of Mount Everest", there will show pi.

But "Congress" - is not only and not so much a meeting of sumiters, it is, above all, a meeting of climbers with the general public and the media.

We invite all members of the 7 Summits Club, all our friends, all who are interested in this topic!

Watch for information on our website.

"Congress climbers" take place on 8 November (Thursday) in the lecture hall of thePolytechnicMuseum

Moscow, New Square 3/4,

Yuichiro Miura, known as the godfather of extreme skiing, has set himself a new task that would tax most men half his age: Climbing Mount Everest at the age of 80.

The skier and adventurer plans to make his assault on the 8,848-meter peak in spring. It would make him the oldest person to scale Everest.

Miura turned 80 on Oct. 12. He has climbed the world's highest mountain twice since turning 70.

"To challenge Everest at 80 may be the limit for a human being," Miura said. “But I couldn't be happier, especially since the challenge is a mountain peak."

Miura will be accompanied by his second son Gota Miura, 43, and Noriyuki Muraguchi, a 56-year-old photographer who has scaled Everest seven times and holds the record for the feat by a Japanese.

The team aims to reach the summit in mid-May by taking a route from the Chinese side.

Miura rewrote the world record as the oldest climber to scale the Everest in 2003, when, at the age of 70, he and his son climbed the mountain.

Miura again conquered the Everest in 2008 at age 75, which made him the second oldest person to reach the summit after a 76-year-old Nepalese who reached the top around the same time.

Miura has skied down some of the world's highest peaks.

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 Oldest Everest climber seeks new record

 http://www.mmtimes.com

A nepalese mountain climber who already holds the world record as the oldest person to scale Mount Everest told The Myanmar Times last week that he plans to break his own benchmark by conquering the world’s highest mountain again early next year.

Min Bahadur Sherchan reached the 8848-metre (29,029-foot) summit of Mount Everest on May 25, 2008, at the age of 76 years 340 days, a record-breaking feat that has been recognised by Guinness World Records.

Not satisfied with his achievement, he said he is planning to climb the mountain again next February, at the age of 82.

“I want to do something tough that others at my age don’t do,” Mr Sherchan said during a visit to Yangon from September 30 to October 2.

“Most people drink and smoke and giving up the habits that seem too difficult for them. When they get older, there are many factors that make succeeding less probable,” he said.

“But elderly people need to get into the habit of walking, hiking or mountaineering. I want to prove how the wonders will never end for us if we can succeed. That’s why I gave up drinking and smoking, and try to be a role model for other people to aspire to.”

Mr Sherchan said he was a soldier in the British Gurkha Army from 1948 to 1953, and later turned his attention to growing apples on his plantation in Nepal.

After selling the plantation, he started a new career as an agent for hikers and mountaineers in Nepal. He has also worked as a building contractor.

He said he was “very determined” to break his own record and succeed at summiting Everest again.

“If I don’t succeed, I might come to the end of my life. Whether or not I reach the summit, fate will decide. But I have a strong will to conquer it and succeed,” he said.

Mr Sherchan said he reached the peak in 2008 with five other climbers.

“I didn’t have much trouble and the weather was fine too. When I stood at the summit of the highest mountain on earth, I felt as if I was even higher than Mount Everest,” he said.

Mr Sherchan was visiting Myanmar as an honorary goodwill ambassador for Visit Lumbini Year 2012. Lumbini, located in Nepal, was the birthplace of the Buddha and is a popular pilgrimage site.

On December 6th the team consists of: Pavel Shabalin (Kirov city), Alexander Abramov (Moscow), Ilias Tukhvatulin (Tashkent) and two supporters flight in the Laylak valley up to the most difficult wall of CIS Aksu (height overall is 1700 m, average gradient 76 grades). The ascent began on December 8th. After 4 days work, on December 11 the team stared to climb the route via the "cold corner" in capsulate style using the portaledge.

Climbed 45 pitches by the wall on the night 21st to 22nd December, they were on the top. After the cold night on the top, on December 23rd they descanted.

During the ascent the weather was unstable, there were snowfalls once in 3 days. There were no frostbite and hurts though the night temperature reached -20 grade and in the ridge climbers were met by hurricane wind.

Alex and Iljas on the summit

 A film about this expedition

Denis Urubko about Iljas Tukhvatullin

The information from http://www.russianclimb.com/russian/index.html :
8 October, 2012 Annapurna. The avalanche...Iljas Tukhvatullin group was climbing from C1 to C2 yesterday, when the huge avalanche headed down... It happened on 3 p.m. Iljas and Ivan Lobanov have been burried, only one climber was not caught. He tried to find his friends, but it was impossible... He ascended the rest 150 m to C2 - there was the safety place, the air wave only broke the tent... Then he descended to C1 and radioed to BC. Today Gleb Sokolov and his group are asceding from BC to the tragedy place to try to find somebody... It was not the serac crash, the whole icy slope fell down, perhaps as a result of earthquake...

«The engineer-physicist by a trade, ILjas has shown at once magnificent organizational skills. On his idea we have collected old canisters and bamboo poles from which have built graceful - in our understanding - a table and benches round it after district. Looked like the African bungalow. Masts for aerials and flags too were established under the guidance of the representative of sovereign republic Uzbekistan. Sometimes between times it taught us how to develop protection of space objects against defeat by laser beams.

- The most important deal was that IT worked Before an impulse will destroy a cover, but Not earlier, than it will undergo to influence. Do you suppose a problem? And we took this atomic metal inside the inert environment… the Great idea! …

Our engineer has the ten operating copyright certificates. And all has begun with the broken aerial in which Iljas intended to freeze water, to straighten and establish. Also began to tell to us about water dispersion in vacuum ».
It is a small part from my memoirs about Iljas Tukhvatullin. If to take an overall picture of THAT winter expedition on К2 with Poles for ever there will be its smile. He was practical and romantic simultaneously. Always thought of friends, and joked - not painfully, but sharply. It was the relation… so each of us knew that we are in sphere of his attention which could help during the necessary moment. When we established the Second Camp, and moved upwards incredible heavy backpacks, Iljas took the heaviest burden.

Now I look at northern slope of Annapurna with melancholy. To tell the truth, the mountain kind cuts heart, though… but why the mountain?!? Two months ago we talked with Dmitri Sinev about Annapurna. I did not know details of planned expedition. But has told eberything that remembered. And especially rested on thought as has had luck Simone Moro and me on this route. As it was terrible to run on avalanche paths under a greedy sight seracs from above.

And here - I sit, the computer keyboard is thrown, the screen has gone out… I recollect, how flied in an avalanche on slope Gasherbrum. What was I given by that failure? What for has survived? I think, the destiny had the full right to bury me there. But… the luck happened. Tukhvatullin with Lobanov have appeared are not so successful.

I am on the way to C2 on Annapurna (2004)
I do not wish to reproach, cut. But it would be desirable to avoid repetition of such failures further. Why the camp on slope Манаслу has been put in a place of blow of an avalanche? Why groups go on a mouth of Khan Tengri to the most dangerous time? Why on Annapurna’s slope the team has appeared after a mid-day? Why Simone, Cory and me crossed the bottom of Gasherbrum-5 during a snowfall? ask me about last situation as required at once…

The strange feeling arises on revolution of affairs from simple to the difficult. The life flies, as if a wind with aroma of a grass. The world is similar spring кружению flower petals in sun beams, the future is perceived… well, simply perceived! Future. Beauty and ease which boil in blood.
But… suddenly the bus stops, and is found out, that it has arrived into Autumn, and present ask everybody to leave on street. Finish! The route is ended, and an one way ticket. Because such are life realities. And you leave under a rain, go by pools, not representing than to be engaged where to submit a head. In the autumn we have lost friends. Year has stood out - my God! don’t let same other! But contrary to all I know, that will be further. Also I do not wish to turn off from a way on which am happy.

And knowing, that is necessary to me, I will extend from a pack one more card… and will stake everything, that is. Because the victory price costs risk. Because happiness which gives me mountaineering - a touch to cleanliness of the nature, dialogue with strong good people, purpose achievement by own forces, a step sharpness «for a side» and ecstasy freedom. As possible to say - game costs all wax candles.

- Denis, and you want, that your children were engaged in mountaineering? - People often ask at a meeting. - that went on difficult ascensions to «a death zone»?

- Don’t think about! - I avoid. – Not of course!

"Caro DENIS, condivido e partecipo al tuo grande dolore per i tuoi e nostri Amici morti
in monte Annapurna. Un forte abbraccio,
Paolo Valoti

"Le montagne hanno il potere di attirarci nel loro mondo è lì, per sempre, si trovano i nostri amici la cui anima grande aspirava alle alte cime. Non dimenticate gli alpinisti che non hanno fatto ritorno." (Anatolij Bukreev??)

I am nervous a lot for other people. For everybody who goes to mountains by dangerous difficult routes. Please, do not think, that I urge to be engaged in mountaineering in that kind which has chosen for itself. And in that kind which has chosen for itself Iljas Tukhvatullin. But oh, damn! When I hear, that during Civil war in Syria were lost twenty thousand persons, to me it becomes terrible for remained on plains. I am so nervous! It is much worse, than to be lost in mountains where you go at own choice. And it is very bad to read reports about victims on roads to Russia and Kazakhstan on thoughtlessness of the counter drunk driver. These game rules under the name "life" are imposed from outstanding community.

So the thought on death on slope of Annapurna or Gasherbrum restrains with the validity. THERE game rules under the name "life" are chosen by me.

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Another avalanche in Nepal kills one of the foremost CIS mountaineers

Posted by Lindsay Griffin on 15/10/2012

North Face of Annapurna. Light blue line shows the Dutch Rib (and camps) and link up with the Original French Route (red line with Camp 2 marked). Dotted dark blue line is the proposed direct.
The Uzbek mountaineer, Iljas Tukhvatullin, who famously climbed new routes on both Everest and K2, has died in an avalanche on the north face of Annapurna.

This incident sadly comes close on the heels of the Manaslu avalanche that killed, amongst others, notable French guides and accomplished mountaineers Ludo Challeat and Remy Lecluse.

There were only two expeditions attempting the north side of Annapurna this autumn. Tukhvatullin was leading a group of largely unknown climbers from Uzbekistan on the Normal 1950 French Route, while the accomplished Russian Gleb Sokolov, with a stronger team, hoped to share the same route as far as Camp 3 and then attempt a new direct line to the summit.

After a period of heavy snowfall, Sokolov and members of his Russian team managed to establish Camp 2 at around 6,400m on the 5th October. All climbers then rested at base camp before trying to push the route out to Camp 3.

In the afternoon of the 7th Tukhvatullin (54) and team-mate Ivan Lobanov (51) were moving between Camps 1 (around 5,600m) and 2, when they were hit by an enormous avalanche.

This side of Annapurna is notoriously dangerous, with much of the French route threatened by large seracs that have fallen on numerous occasions in the past, setting off avalanches, often with tragic consequences.

However, a third climber, who appears to have been around 150m below Camp 2 when the avalanche struck and was fortunate not to be caught, reported there was no serac fall; simply the slide of a vast section of slope.

Later, other members of the expedition searched the area but reported the depth of debris was huge. Both teams have now abandoned the mountain.

Tukhvatullin, from Tashkent, had notched up many impressive ascents, his name linked strongly with the ace Russian alpinist Pavel Shabalin.

Late in 1998, with Alexander Abramov and Shabalin, Tukhvatullin made the prestigious first winter ascent of the ca 1,500m north face of Ak-su (5,217m) in the Karavshin, one of the most famous rock and ice walls in the former Soviet Union. The three climbed the central line of Cold Corner (6A in summer).

This was Tukhvatullin's fifth ascent of the face at the time, though he would later add the demanding Nose Direct (5.9 and A5), again with Shabalin, in a 16-day ascent.

The following year he made an attempt on the true north face of Jannu, reaching 6,700m on this spectacular wall eventually climbed by Russians in 2004.

The spring of 2004 would find him in Tibet with a large Russian team. Their goal was a direct route up the north face of Everest.

The result was the first independent route put up on the mountain since 1983 and the first time the summit was reached in June.

From a final camp at 8,300m Shabalin, with Andrey Mariev and Tukhvatullin, tried to force the final vertical rock band at ca 8,600m. However, after two days work they decided to bypass it on the left, and were the first of the primarily-Russian team to reach the summit. A second summit party included Sokolov.

In the summer of 2005 Shabalin and Tukhvatullin made a ground-breaking ascent of the north face of Khan Tengri (6,995m). Their acclaimed climb of a direct line up this huge wall, linking three existing routes, was the first time the face had been climbed in alpine-style and the first by a two-man party.

They spent nine nights of the nearly 3,000m-high face, and a further one and a half days were needed for the descent, Shabalin sustaining frostbite. They carried only a single, one-kilogram sleeping bag that they both shared.

In 2007 Tukhvatullin climbed the hardest route on the world's second highest peak. With Shabalin, he made up one of the later parties to complete the first ascent of the west face of K2, a particularly notable effort as the pair had spent three nights at or above 8,150m before doing so.

By 2007 many climbers were rightly criticising the traditional Russian outmoded siege-style tactics, which although achieving staggering success on coveted objectives, did leave true alpine-style ascents of these routes more or less impossible for future generations.

However, on K2 the Russians did scorn the use of supplementary oxygen, and few would question the high levels of technical difficulty of the ascent.

Last winter Tukhvatullin returned to K2 in an attempt to make the first winter ascent. The expedition was eventually abandoned after he had reached ca 7,200m on the south-southeast ridge (aka Cesen or Basque route).

The 7 Summits Club starts the climbing and trekking season in Nepal

Today our guide Dmitry Ermakov flies to Nepal. The plans - trekking to Everest base camp and climbing Island Peak.

Tomorrow, the first group of trekkers departs from Moscow.

They will pass the legendary road to the base camp of Mount Everest, and then by helicopter return to Kathmandu, from where will go to the Chitwan Park. After staying in the jungle, swimming with elephants, the expedition expects cultural program in New Delhi.

The next group on this route is to start on October 28.

Happy Birthday! We invite Vladimir Putin to climb Elbrus! We have been waiting long time for this event. Climbing the highest peak of the country by the President. Thus, he would have started the program Seven Summits, a vacation by a summit – this is a program for 5 years. Well, seventh, Everest – will be after entering on the well-deserved rest.

By that time, we expect that in the Caucasus there will be built 10 new mountain resort, Sochi Olympics will be a success, the border withGeorgiawill be fully open, we will travel to Europe without visas,  we will fly to Kamchatka cheaper than to Turkey.

October 6.

A group of climbers fromNorth Ossetiaclimbed up to one of the unnamed peaks of the Greater Caucasus Range in the region of Digoria. Mountaineers set a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin near the top. On this Sunday the chairman Mountaineering Federation of Republic Kazbek Khamitsaev said:

"On the rock wall near the summit we set a portrait of Putin fixed - size four to six meters, made of high quality plastic," .

Khamitsaev also noted that they will prepare a request to give a name "Peak Putin" to this peak … "Interfax".

Alex Abramov, Alexandr Ruchkin, Dmitry Ermakov, Dmitry Golovtchenko and others

As usual at the end of September, the 7 Summits Club celebrates the birthday of the company. On this occasion, we invite guests and cover the tables.

Alexander Abramov made a short report on the summer season. Lyudmila Korobeshko described the course of the program "Alpari on top of the world." The main guest of the evening, Alexander Ruchkin twice went to the scene to show the most exciting footage of his legendary climbs. Alexey Kabanov told about the ascent of theMatterhornwith Denis Savelyev and Roman Gretzky. Arthur Gladyshev with guitar suited song interludes. And of course, of particular interest to the audience called the first report of the climbing team ofMoscow. They climbed a new route on one and the most beautiful and remote mountains of the world -MuztaghTower.

Vladimir Shataev was presented to a guide of the 7 Summits Club Dmitry Ermakov an icon Snow Leopard. And also gave a rare book, published minimum circulation – about the first oxygen-free ascent of Everest.

Traditional evening meetings of friends 7 Summits Club will be on 27th of September. It will be focused on the end of the summer season and our birthday. The legendary Russian climber Alexander Ruchkin will act as the chief guest. And for the first time, theMoscow team members will present a new route to the summit of Muztagh Tower. Guides of our Club spent the summer on the mountain routes of the world and they have stories to tell. We will also present our future plans.

As usual in September the 7 Summits Club celebrates another birthday. So we will lay the table and, as usual, you will be a raffle prizes and gifts.

September 27, next Thursday, at 20.00 in the store "Aktivny Otdykh" (Bask) at m.Prospekt World ul.B.Pereyaslavskaya, 7

Alexander Ruchkin

Muztagh Tower and the Moscow Team

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

The whole team crossed the border. Now we're sitting having breakfast in Kodari. Here we met Vladimir Zaitsev, who came to make a film about Fyodor Konyukhov. In the evening we will be in Kathmandu. May 28 the first part of the expedition arrives inMoscow. Alexander Abramov and the group of Alpari arrives May 31.

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.

Camp 8300 м

Up to 8300 м

North Col

Alex

Aznor Khadjiev

Sergey Larin

Gulme and Luda

Max Shakirov

Luda next morning

Fyodor Konyukhov

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:

Famous Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov ascended Mount Everest at the age of 60, for the second time in his life, his son Oscar said on Saturday.

"Fyodor Konyukhov as a member of the Seven Summits Club team climbed to the top of Everest in 6:15 local time on May 19, 2012," Oscar Konyukhov told RIA Novosti.

The current climbing is timed to a 20-year anniversary of Russians' first ascent of Everest in May 1992. The famous traveler was among the first Russians who reached Everest top in May 11 twenty years ago.

An extensive traveler, Konyukhov has reached the North Pole three times, the South Pole, the Pole of Inaccessibility. He has set world records by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a rowboat in 46 days, as well as crossing Greenland on a dogsled in 22 hours. He has also made several round the world trips alone on yachts.

Today, the second group of 7 Summits Club expedition reached the summit of Everest. Joe Pratt and Noel Hanna were the first, followed closely by Leila Albogachieva and Vladimir Korenkov (team of Ingushetia). Sergey Bogomolov and Igor Kadochin reached the summit after about half an hour. Now they are going down. We are waiting for them at thecamp ABC.

Seven climbers of 7 Summits Club expedition reached the summit of Everest. It happened at about 5.30 Tibetan time. Alekandr Abramov (4th ascent of Mount Everest), Sergei Larin (5th, it seems), Ivan Dusharin (65 уеars, 3rd time), Fyodor Konyukhov (60), Maxim Shakirov, Ludmila Korobeshko (for all 2-nd), Aznor Hajiyev (1 - s ascent, the first Ingush – north Caucasusmountain people). They were with seven Sherpas. Also, two climbers from Donetsk (Ukraine) went with them in the group.

The second group of our expedition is preparing for summit push next night.

Hello! Alexander Abramov from the camp at an altitude of 8300 meters. We are OK, a few hours later we're going to start our summit bid. The entire first group of seven members and seven Sherpas is here. All are feeling well. There are about 100 climbers are preparing for climb here. Now it would be a meeting of guides in Chinese camp.... We will decide who, when will start. It is necessary that pushed the crowd.

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According to Max Shakirov, the group will start at 8:00 p.m. Nepal time.

The first group of 7 Summits Club expedition reached the camp 7700 meters. Everyone feels good. Sunny, calm, no wind. Beautiful scenery. We drink tea.

This is our team; Alex Abramov, Sergei Larin (guides), Fyodor Konyukhov, Aznor Hajiyev, Luda Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin, Max Shakirov and seven Sherpas. Sherpas start tomorrow very early, to set a camp at 8300 meters. We follow them starting about 4 hours later.

The second group stay to the North Col. This is Sergey Bogomolov, Noel Hanna (guides), Leila Albogachieva, Vladimir Korenkov, Joe Pratt, Nathan Schneider and Igor Kadochin.

The route

The first group of 7 Summits Club expedition climbed the North Col. This is Alex Abramov, Sergei Larin (guides), Fyodor Konyukhov, Aznor Hajiyev and the team of Alpari (Luda Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Max Shakirov). The weather is good, no wind.

The second group will climb to the North Col the next day. This is Sergey Bogomolov, Noel Hanna (guides), Leila Albogachieva, Vladimir Korenkov, Joe Pratt, Nathan Schneider. Igor Kadochin may join them if he will feel better. Unfortunately, Kyril Muraviev fell ill (temperature 39 degrees) and he was sent to the base camp.

The summit bid for the first group is scheduled for 19th of May, for the second - on the 20th of May. The weather forecast is good enough. Almost everyone who is on the north side, plans to climb the summit of Everest for these days.