Asia - Page 35

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 11th. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Today was an eventful day.  First, finally, the weather has improved. The sun came out (although it was snowing all night, which was not in the forecast).

Secondly, we held a meeting of the leaders of all the expeditions to K2 about the joint hanging of the fixed ropes. We agreed to join our efforts. So according to the general plan, a joint team of route workers will start above Camp 2 on July 14.

Thirdly, our first group of trekkers arrived in the evening. We thought they would be completely exhausted after so many transitions in the rain and snow. And they turned out to be cheerful. We arranged a joint buffet and dancing. Many were previously familiar with joint expeditions. And some people have just met. Uncle Vitya (Viktor Volodin) brought a rare copy of moonshine of his own production. Dasha brought us the most long-awaited - coffee and a little tequila.

Tomorrow we go up  for three nights. Trekkers will most likely go towards the Gondogora La pass in the hope that it will be opened (the weather has improved after all).

Svetlana Kotlyar, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Pakistan:

  Greetings to all from Skardu! Today our team had a very busy day! We decided not to waste time waiting for permits, and after breakfast we went by jeep to Deosai National Park!  We spent two hours on the road, which turned out to be very picturesque: alpine lakes, gorges – stunningly beautiful nature!

Deosai is the second highest high-altitude plateau in the world after the Tibetan one. It is located at an altitude of more than 4000 m at the junction of the Karakoram and the Western Himalayas. From the 4000 m mark, as acclimatization, we walked a little higher, up to 4200.

The plateau is known all over the world for its rich flora and fauna. And we were lucky enough to meet a huge groundhog here today!

After the walk, we refreshed ourselves and drove back to Skardu, where another member of the group, Valdis Pelsh, was waiting for us. He will be walking with us to the K2 base camp for the filming of the film "The High Altitude  Gene-2". We listened to his fascinating stories all evening!

In the evening, joyful news came — we received permits! Now the whole team is assembled and tomorrow early in the morning we will start in Ascole!

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

Greetings to all from the slopes of the sacred mountain! Today we finally gathered together in the city of Dogubayazit. We collected all the remaining things, distributed souvenirs, waited out the downpour and moved to the slope! While we were walking, the rain started several times, we got a little wet. But then the sun came out and dried us out. About four o'clock we arrived at the camp. We settled in tents, had lunch and rested.  In the evening we had a little wine and are trying to agree on the name of the group. There is no final decision yet. Tomorrow we will go to the assault camp for acclimatization. The weather is promised to be good, so they should not get wet. 

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Dasha Sivova reports from Pakistan: July 10th.  News of the 7 Summits Club group "Me and my young team".  We're at base camp! The GenKa2 group welcomed us very warmly, they gave us a real holiday!

Daria Sivova and Super-guide Viktor Volodin.

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

 Greetings to all from the first camp of Lenin Peak from the group "Everything is going according to plan"! This is where our ascent really begins. Today was a good five-hour walk from the base camp. A little tired, but everyone is happy. The northern slope of the mountain and the peak of 7134 opened in all its glory. Today is the first night at 4300, we are waiting for interesting dreams. Tomorrow, according to the weather and the condition of the participants, we will continue our acclimatization.

Hello everyone from Pakistan! Guides Svetlana Kotlyar and Alexander Spirin are in touch!  Today was not an easy day for us. We met the participants of our program at Islamabad airport early in the morning.  Since the morning, heavy rain has been falling in the city, we were warned that if the rain does not stop, we may not fly to Skardu. An alternative option, to spend two more days on the road by car after a tedious flight, was not even considered.

We decided together that it couldn't rain forever and went to the waiting room. After a couple of hours, the sky brightened, our flight was delayed, but we still managed to fly to Skardu! We are sure that this flight will be remembered by the participants for a long time: our fellow travelers from Pakistan cheerfully sang local songs throughout the flight, accompanying the singing with cheerful dances, and at this time stunning views of Karakorum opened behind the porthole!

Skardu is the former capital of Baltistan, it is one of the tourist centers in Northern Pakistan. Now there are quite a lot of travelers, tourists and climbers from all over the world. When we arrived at the hotel, a hot lunch was already waiting for us. After settling in and having a little rest, we went to Cold Desert — a high-altitude desert near Skardu.

Very beautiful location! Here at sunset you can ride with the breeze on jeeps or horses!

Having received our dose of adrenaline, we returned to the hotel, where our Pakistani friends treated us to a delicious barbecue! Tomorrow we plan to visit the Deosai Plateau, walk around the local market and get permits.

Super-Guide of the 7 Summits Club Valery Myasoedov reports from Tajikistan:

Greetings from Tajikistan! The first group in the history of the 8000 Club gathered in Dushanbe to pave the way to one of the most popular summits of the Soviet Union, Korzhenevskaya Peak, 7105 m and Peak Communism, 7495 m, now called Ismoil Somoni Peak. The city greeted us with an unbearable heat of +39, even the Tehran heat seemed cooler. In this program, the helicopter drop-off to Moskvin's Glade, to the Base Camp for both Summits, occurs several times a season, with enviable irregularity.  Therefore, we can say that we were lucky, right now, at night, we are heading to the village of Jirgital, located 200 km from Dushanbe, and early in the morning we fly to the Base Camp.

A welcome dinner was held at the Iranian cuisine restaurant (again an association with Tehran!), next to the hotel. Delicious, satisfying and in huge quantities, we took the uneaten with us to lunch boxes, it will come in handy on the road! We also managed to congratulate our dear Olga, the manager of Aksai Travel, on her birthday. The next report, I hope, will be written already from the Base Camp on Moskvin's Glade, 4200 m.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 10th. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2!  The weather has improved slightly today. But clouds and gusty winds still prevail. K2 in the clouds in the morning. After breakfast, we rearranged the tents after the snowfall and attended a puja at Gareth Madison. Then we had a bath day

We had burgers for lunch. Last night they brought two beautiful bulls.... Today, as a women's team under the leadership of Kristina, we cooked a great dinner - soup with meat, Potato Crumbs with minced meat and Greek salad.

It is unclear whether it will be possible to get out tomorrow - the weather is still very unstable and the slopes are avalanche-prone…

The heads of the expedition to K2 Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov are in touch.

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

Greetings to all from the Lenin Peak base camp from the group "Everything is going according to plan"! In the best traditions of one of our guides, Dmitry, we started the morning with morning exercises and, of course, with coffee. We successfully drove fat marmots and walked along the crest of Petrovsky Peak up to 4000 m. The weather pleases with warmth and sunshine, although it was blowing on the ridge, as always, but not for long! Now we are resting, packing up and preparing for tomorrow's exit to the first camp. They promise the sun! In the evening, there was  a traditional gatherings with a guitar!

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

Greetings from Kyrgyzstan from the friendly team "Everything is going according to plan"! Today we bought everything we needed, left the hot city of Osh and arrived at the hospitable Achik-Tash base camp under Lenin Peak! The weather greeted us with a light rain. Having had a delicious dinner in the new dining room, having sorted out the plans for tomorrow, we moved to the bar to sing songs! Tomorrow, according to the acclimatization plan, we will climb 4000m to the crest of Petrovsky Peak.

 The guide of the 7 Summits Club Dasha Sivova reports from Pakistan:

The team of the 7 Summits Club "Me and my young team", walking along the trekking route to the base camp K2, successfully reached the camp Goro 2. This is one of the most beautiful tent camps!  There was no rain today. The sun greeted us. Camp Goro 2 is located right on the glacier. All participants are healthy. Everyone is very, very happy. Today we have already seen Gasherbrooms and Broad Peak. We all decided that this trek is the most beautiful and definitely worth it to pass it!

Nikita Slotin, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Kyrgyzstan:

The group (as yet untitled) gathered for Lenin Peak today in the resort town of Osh. Today we managed to get acquainted with the bars and restaurants of the city, and of course cool off in the pool under the scorching sun! We changed money, bought SIM cards, checked equipment, got to know each other, who went where, who had what mountain plans. Tomorrow we leave for the base camp, and finally enjoy the coolness of the mountains!

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 8. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altittude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Happy holiday to all - the day of family, love and fidelity! We continue to have the heaviest snowfalls. Today the snow is even stronger than yesterday. And continues to sweep.

For breakfast, to somehow cheer up, I took out  the last pack of coffee. This is a big deficit in Pakistan. We drank in the morning and cheered up. We hope that in a couple of days our trekking group led by Vitya Volodin and Dasha Sivova will come to us and bring us coffee. We are very worried about the friends - since we have such severe snowfalls here, they should now be heavily watered with rain at the crossings, plus the rivers could overflow their banks… But, hopefully, they will be able to get to us.

We were informed today that the Gondogoro La Pass has been closed for about a week. And there are a lot of groups in Concordia waiting for it to be opened. We hope that in a couple of days the snowfall will stop.

Today, after breakfast, our doctor Andrey Selivanov (he is also an instructor-guide) conducted rescue work classes in the mountains with improvised means. Very informative, interesting and useful. We also remembered some of the nodes and beat the situation, what to do in case of loss of equipment when moving along the fixed ropes.

There was a rumor that our tents in Camp 1 were blown away by the wind... Eh, the weather would have been nice sooner. Then we will go up to the upper camps and restore order.

The heads of the expedition to K2 Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov are in touch.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 7. All salams from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Today was Groundhog Day. It snowed all night again and continued to fall all day. In the morning after breakfast we sat and composed poems about our base camp. For lunch, our chefs pleased us with pizza and PAKORA, a national Pakistani dish of potatoes, boiled eggs and onions.

After lunch, a quiet hour was arranged. And before dinner, guests came to us - Garrett Madison (the leader of Madison Expedition), two Frenchmen from Broad Peak (one of them has already climbed to almost 8000 on Broad - there are no fixed ropes yet) and our friend, who is now going to K2 with Nims. There is nothing special - very heavy snowfalls - it is impossible to go anywhere. So they go to visit each other.

The heads of the expedition to K2 Alex Abramov and Lyudmila Korobeshko and the expedition doctor Andrey Selivanov are in touch.

The team of the 7 Summits Club, led by the guide Viktor Volodin, "My young team and I” started today the walking part of the route to the K2 base camp. The group, overcoming the heat, climbed to the Jola Camp at an altitude of 3159 m. Tomorrow we have to go to Paiju. Today we celebrated the birthday of one of the participants Anton Smolsky.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 6. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2!

Yesterday we came very tired after going to C1, so we slept without hind legs. Woke up covered with snow, barely dug out. The snow continued until lunch. Then it stopped a little and avalanches began to descend from K2 and Broad Peak. In the half hour that the snow stopped, the most hardened managed to wash in the shower.

In the morning, before breakfast, Kotlyar and I did exercises and brewed the last half-pack of coffee - we have to pamper ourselves with something. We enjoyed a cup of coffee with croissants. Instead of French croissants, we have Pakistani azoki.

Before lunch, we gave interviews on the results of yesterday's release. The RD studio team does not let you relax - they constantly take everything off. Today, even my morning yoga was filmed with a hidden camera. They also plan to take pictures of what each participant does in his free time in his tent. And how Louis (a high-altitude operator) draws pictures at an altitude of 5000.  By the way, Louis is not only an operator, but also a cool climber. He climbed K2 and other 8000. He worked a lot with Carlos Soria as a partner and high-altitude operator.

In the mountains to the stars can be reached by hand. Mountains fulfill dreams! Our climbing night started at 04:20, we started from the Base Camp at an altitude of 4200 meters.

The full moon illuminated the mountain peak of Demavend. Everyone was in anticipation and expectation. The weather favored us and our group "Deniski" went out to storm.

After completing one third of the climb, our team divided into two groups: fast and active, and measured and calm. 

The way to the top of the first group took 8 hours. The second group stood at the top of the Demavend at 12:50. Total: On July 4, 2023, the Deniski team of the 7 Summits Club in full force ascended to the summit of Demavend (5671m), the highest volcano in Asia!  The ascent was 100% successful!

Tired, but happy, we went down to the Base Camp at 17:00. There we were waiting for a hot delicious soup from our super chefs.  It is noteworthy that on the day of our ascent, Demavend Day is celebrated in Iran and in the evening we heard an ancient legend from our local guide Hamid and admired the fireworks.

Guides Valery Myasoedov, Evgeny Fedyunin, Olya Startseva.

Salaam from the group "Me and my young team" from Ascole!  Today we went to the alpine settlement of Askole at an altitude of 3300m. The journey was not fast — more than 6 hours on off-road vehicles on a serpentine through rivers. There are few places where you can get such an experience!

 The road ran along the Valley of the Shigar River. Dust and stones were replaced by a riot of green color. You drive along the serpentine, all around are sheer cliffs, rocks and the dirty Shigar River ... and roses from nowhere ... and then green oases of firs, apple trees and apricot trees.

Ascole is a place where civilization has not reached. In addition to well-equipped camps for climbers, the simple life of the Pakistani people flows here.

By the way, the people here are incredibly colorful. Men and children are happy to allow themselves to be photographed, but not women. Women hide and ask to pass by. We have set up our first tent camp and are preparing for tomorrow's march to Jola Camp. The transfer from Ascole to Jola Camp will take 6-7 hours, 17-18 km.  It's too early to say, but so far trekking to K2 can compete in beauty with trekking to the Everest Base Camp.

P.S. The GenKa2 climbing team is looking forward to us at the Base Camp, which is very nice!

Most likely, today we are the last day with a stable Internet. Wish us good luck and stay tuned!

Viktor Volodin and Daria Sivova are in touch.

Guide and director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Pakistan:

July 4 and 5th. All salaam from Pakistan from the participants of the expedition to K2 "High Altitude Gene 2" or briefly GenKa2! Yesterday we went to acclimatization in ABC. We walked briskly through the icefall 2 hours from Base camp. We ate and went to bed early.

It started snowing immediately in the evening. By midnight, we were specifically swept up. At 3 we woke up, had breakfast and at 4 in the morning went up in a complete blizzard. With each rope, the slope increased. I had to trail - 10-15 cm of fresh snow fell. Small avalanches were coming down the slope. After 8 a.m. we got out to Camp 1 at an altitude of 6100. There are 6-7 tents stuck here with difficulty. The wind increased almost to a hurricane. So we gratefully stumbled into the empty tents that the Sherpas allowed us to enter. We sat for half an hour, drank tea. We discussed the further ascent to Camp 2. To which our Sherpas shouted with one voice that it was extremely dangerous and it was necessary to go down while the force and the weather allowed.

As a result, we were dumped down into the ABC and then into the Base Camp. The snow never stopped. More precisely, it ended only on the approaches to the base. Here a snowman named Genka was waiting for us for lunch, carefully sculpted by our film crew to our delight.

Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow we rest.

Photos by Arno Ter-Saakov

The group "Me and my young team" from Skardu are in touch! We got the permits! Hurray! Tomorrow morning we will start to Askole by jeeps. And the day after tomorrow — we have a transfer to Jola Camp.

Unfortunately, most likely tomorrow is the last day when we will have a stable connection. According to the plan, we should arrive at the K2 Base Camp on July 11.

And what happened today? To be honest, it's even good that we stayed in Skardu for another day, because today we visited the Deosai National Park.  Deosai, or the Shadow of a Giant, is the second highest high—altitude plateau in the world, 4300m. Acclimatization was successful! The climb is 2000 meters. In a word, we are well done!

We will not paint for a long time about the beauty of this place. Photos  will say everything for themselves!

Daria Sivova and Viktor Volodin are in touch!