South America - Page 40

July 6 team led by Luda Pershina completed their program in Cuzco. July 5 group had an interesting day - we visited Machu Picchu, the sacred city of the Incas, where we spent about 5 hours. Our representatives, Margarita and Olesia, have climbed the Huayna Picchu peak. Then we had lunch in Aguas Calientes and by the train on the narrow gauge went back to Cuzco. In the morning of 6 July Gusakovsky family departed to continue their journey into the jungle. And I studied with Olesia neighborhood of Cuzco. We visited an Indian village, and admired the night streets of the city of the Incas. Now we walk in Lima waiting for the flight home. Hello to everyone! Luba Pershina

The group of climbers from Donetsk (Ukraine) climbed on March 2 the highest peak in South America, Aconcagua. A team led by the president of the Donetsk Regional Federation of Mountaineering, Sergei Kovalev has fulfilled all the objectives of the expedition. Near the highest point, they held a symbolic football match on honor of the future of the European Championships, which will be held Ukraine and Poland, with several matches in Donetsk. According to another tradition, Donetsk climbers left at the top a capsule with coal that obtained in the mines of their native land.

Ascent of Aconcagua was a preparatory stage for the conquest of the planet's highest point - Mount Everest, to be held in April-May this year.

As he stated earlier, Sergei Kovalev, the ascent of Mount Everest will be devoted to the European Football Championship-2012. At the highest point of the World Ukrainian climbers are going to make a symbolic blow to the soccer ball in support of the Ukrainian national team at Euro 2012 championship.

7 Summits Club hopes that the Ukrainian team will be our good neighbor for our expedition in the base camp of Everest.

February, 23 Ludmilla Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maxim Shakirov reached the summit of Aconcagua. The climb has been carried out by the route False Polish Traverse. The weather was very bad, it was snowing. But the forecast for the next few days was even worse. So they had to fight to the end. Now everyone is happy. The next day, a group of friends met them in the Plaza de Mulas camp. The first ascent of the project Alpari - Seven Summits in 300 days, is committed.

Alpari: On Top of the World

Alpari has decided to take on a new challenge for the year 2012: planting the Alpari flag atop the tallest mountain on each continent. To accomplish this feat, we have put together a team consisting of three of the finest mountain climbers Russia has to offer. With this project, we are not only looking to expand our presence across the globe, to each of the world’s seven continents, but also to draw some attention to mountain climbing, a sport which has become something of a passion for many within our ranks.

“Mountain climbing as a spiritual journey… record-breaking climbs as a metaphor for achieving greater success in life,” commented Alpari Public Relations Director Valeriy Tarasov. “This is something we can relate to. Alpari is a bona fide leader in the Forex industry. For us, there is no mountain too high.”

Mountain climbing is already somewhat of a tradition here at Alpari. As recently as 2010, a team of our employees took part in an expedition to Africa, planting the Alpari flag on the summit of Kilimanjaro. Not long before that, there was a trip to Mont Blanc. “Climbing mountains is a great tradition for us; one where we must overcome great difficulties, the cold and harsh living conditions. But we always manage,” said Alpari’s Chairman of the Board, Andrey Dashin.

No one in Russia has ever completed the world-famous “7 Summits” challenge in under a year. Alpari’s hand-picked team is looking to do just that!

We wish them good luck. And good weather.

Hi! Ludmila Korobeshko from the expedition "Alpari on Top of the World”. So now, our team stands on the top of Aconcagua. This is a victory, the first one in our project " 7 summits for 300 days". Unfortunately, the weather is very bad. The forecast was better. But nevertheless, despite bad weather, despite heavy snow, we climbed to the top. And now, at about 12:30 local time, we are on the sunmmit. It was not easy, but we are happy. We're shooting video, photos, relax a little bit and then we will start going down. Best regards !

7 Summits, hello ! Dmitry Yermakov from the base camp Plaza de Mulas in Argentina. Today a team of heroes came down here in the base camp after a successful ascent. The weather turned bad, even at the base camp it is snowing. Therefore, we rejoice that we have chosen the right tactics. We were climbed in the beautiful weather, yesterday was absolutely zero wind, solar, visibility million per million. And now it snows even here. Hello! Dmitry Yermakov.

Dmitry Yermakov rang almost from the summit of Aconcagua. One hour before, his team started to descent from the summit. His clients asked to name their as heroes of Ukraine. That's right, today was a very hard day. According to the plan they will climb tomorrow, but the forecast was good only for today. So they decided to start from 5500 meters, from the camp Nido de Condores. And they have managed to climb to the top. Six climbers and guide Dmitriy Yermakov.

Ludmila Korobeshko, Ivan Dusharin and Maksim Shakirov from Expedition “Alpari - Seven Summits in 300 days”, on this day climbed to the Cholera camp at an altitude of 6000 meters. They plan to climb tomorrow. At noon, they met a group of Sergei Bogomolov, the team of project "Ingushetia on the tops of the world." They all descended from the summit. All members, all seven persons were on the top.

Constantin Tsybunov a head of the group Extreme Planet (Planet Fitness Company), sent a historical photograph. February 20, 2012 14:00 Planet Extreme Team at the top of Aconcagua 6962 m.

9 people led by the guide of 7 Summits Club Victor Bobok. February 21 the team went down to the camp Plaza de Mulos.

Planet Extreme is a team of fitness professionals and amateurs, it's an image project of company Planet Fitness. We have 10 years. We invent and organize extreme fitness journey around the world. Now we carry more than 10 trips per year. We visited over 45 countries and made 70 trips.

Today, February 20th, our team

Alpari - On Top of the World went down for a very short rest at Base Camp Plaza Argentina in 4200. February, 17 we went to the first assault camp at 4900. Drop of 700 meters we have overcome in less than three hours. In the evening a strong wind blew, the night turned into a hurricane. We just kept the tent by our bodies.

Morning of February 18 we changed the plan. Hurricane. We spent the second night in 4900.

February 19th the wind slackened, and we went out in the second camp at 5500. Now we have a rest in the base camp. Plan the following: 21.02 to go straight to 5500, 22.02 in 6000. 23.02 to try clinb the summit of Aconcagua.

Health and mood of the team is excellent. Hello!

Dmitry Yermakovs’ group descended to the base camp. All is okay. They have a rest before going on the climb.

Here, there is also a team of climbers from Ingushetia. Her head coach Sergei Bogomolov informs: "Good day! All, all is in order. We are working according to plan, completed acclimatization. Good wishes to the people of the republic! Best regards, Sergey Bogomolov. "

The group guide Vladimir Korenkov, climbers Visa Yusupov, Aznor Hajiyev, Moussa Hadzi, Leila Albogachiev, Magomed Aushev are ready to go to the climb.

To climb all 21 peaks is my new goal. The “seven summits” I completed 2007. After climbing some of the “second seven summits” and some of the “third seven summits” I noticed that there is simply no uniform list regarding the ranking of the peaks. Therefore, parallel to the climbing, I started a DGPS Surveying project of all controversial discussed peaks. Following table should be considered as PRELIMINARY.

http://skyrunning.at/en

Hello. This is Maxim Shakirov from the Alpari: On Top of the World expedition.

Everything’s going according to plan for us. I wouldn’t really say that we are all in perfect health, but things are pretty upbeat. We have been overwhelmed both by the beauty of the night sky and by the people who live and work here. Let me hand off the phone to the head honcho here, our team captain Lyudmila.

Ludmila:

About our mood… We’re feeling great. Here’s a little bit about where we are at this point. We’re currently at 3,200 meters, in Casa de Piedra, and we’re heading to base camp at 4,200 meters.

Hi to everyone out there who’s following us!

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

Today we are staying in the first camp on our way to the peak. Pampa de Lenas is about three kilometers above sea level. Overall, we have already hiked about 20 kilometers from the entrance of Aconcagua Park through the valley of Punta de Vacas.

The views are incredible. This route is more picturesque than the classic route through Plaza de Mulas. There are fewer people and everything is greener and more beautiful. During the evening we sit with the gauchos, who drive the mules. We cook meat and bake potatoes. We still have about 20 kilometers to go before we get to the next camp.

Ludmila Korobeshko

And now a little bit of Argentinian culture:

Gauchos are part of an ethnic group originating in the 16-17 century. Gauchos were often the progeny of Spaniards and native women from Argentina and Uruguay. Originally, they led a nomadic lifestyle, living off of contraband, theft and the resale of cattle. Near the end of the 18th century, they took to commercial cattle ranching and began to hire themselves out as cattle herders.

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

Hello from Argentina! Four our groups two days ago landed in Mendoza, that is almost entirely occupied by it. Someone came before. Someone later. Everyone was very fun to everyone. Evening, 25 people sat in a restaurant. The next day the team "Planet Fitness" flew in from Bolivia.

Yesterday, four buses were carrying members of the Seven Summits Club in Penitentes. A caravan of mules left in the morning today in the direction of the Plaza de Mulos with our things. Group of "Bolivians" from Planet Fitness with Victor Bobok was put into a helicopter. The remaining members went on foot toward the confluence camp.

“We look to be first in everything we do, both in the mountains and in business.” Alpari

We thought we would go into a little bit more detail about some of the things that went on at the February 8 Alpari: On Top of the World press conference.

Valery Tarasov, Public Relations Director at Alpari opened up the proceedings by drawing parallels between mountain climbing and business. “Striving towards success, towards the top, requires teamwork, overcoming your ego, setting goals and following through on them. These things are all important in achieving your goals and reaching new heights, whether it is in the mountains or in business. We look to be first in everything we do, both in the mountains and in business.”

Everyone taking part in the press conference showed a great deal of enthusiasm for the project, including team captain Lyudmila Korobeshko. “I’d like to thank Alpari for giving us the chance to be a part of this project. I really hope our team manages to set a new world record and complete the 7 Summits challenge in 300 days, taking new and unorthodox routes in the process. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There are a lot of outside factors that come into play in climbing.” Lyudmila also had kind words for her teammates, praising Ivan Dusharin for being one of the “patriarchs of Russian alpinism” and for having a number of difficult climbs on his resume, including K2, widely considered to be among the planet’s most difficult climbs. About Maxim Shakirov, she commented, “He’s not only a great photographer and filmmaker, but also a man who has rung in the New Year atop a mountain more than once.” Ivan Dusharin thanked Alpari for the project, saying that efforts like Alpari: On Top of the World help make the pursuit of mountain climbing “more accessible to people of all sorts. Sometimes this pursuit can turn into your life’s calling. Everyone is working towards their own Everest, whether it be in sport or in life. What’s most important is to set a goal and work towards achieving it.” Maxim thanked Alpari for giving him the chance to film the mountains, the sights he could only dream of capturing on previous climbs.

We asked some of those in attendance what they thought about the project. Here is what they had to say:

Aleksandr Grek (Editor in Chief of National Geographic, Russia): “The 7 Summits challenge is one of the greatest adventures you can experience on the planet. A year is a very short time frame, which makes this twice as interesting. I wish the team good luck. I hope they can pull it out and beat the record, without any losses.”

Alexey Ovchinnikov (Executive Director of the Russian Mountaineering Federation): “I would like to thank Alpari for getting this started. Large-scale projects, unfortunately, are quite rare in Russia. The last time we saw something like this was probably 20 years ago. This is a very serious project, where business is making history in the world of mountain climbing. This is a real challenge, both for the climbers, and for Alpari. I’m sure that with a stellar company like Alpari behind it, this project will succeed.”

Ivan Davidov (Marketing Director at the Expert publishing house, representing Russian Reporter): “This is a bold project with an interesting history behind it. The mountains are a thing of great beauty. Let’s hope we get some amazing footage from the project.”

Andrey Moskalenko (Special Projects Director, Profile magazine): “Our magazine too, has its sights set high, so of course we had to throw our support behind an ambitious project like this.”

Maria Stepnova (Editor in Chief, XXL magazine): “Alpari: On Top of the World is a project for real men. The fact that the team is being led by a woman makes it extra special. The business support for this project also sets it apart, since making it to the peak doesn’t really depend on money. However many millions you may have, none of that matters in the mountains. I hope that this project inspires our readers to be more active, that hearing about the progress of the expedition will get them moving forward.”

There were a lot of questions that came up. How long is this all going to take? What do we plan to do with the footage? Will there be articles about the different places our team will be visiting, about local cultures and traditions? Lyudmila also stirred a great deal of excitement in the room when she hinted that the team might attempt a new route to the peak of Everest. Climbing the world’s tallest mountain is difficult in and of itself, so this news was rather shocking to some of those in attendance.

You can learn more about the project and keep up with the team’s progress on http://www.alpari-life.ru/.

Words are not necessary. All you can express in images. And it will be much more accurate. In the words it is difficult to avoid an official tone, and even some falsehood. We see what it was. We see feelings and emotions, and this is more important. And also we want to soar above humdrum and reality.

Victor Bobok sent photos from his freshest climb the highest peak in South America.

According to Victor call, all team came down to Camp Cholera. Today, they plan to be in the base camp on Plaza de Mulos. We will wait for more information.

Group members: Lily Telenkevich, Andrei Alexeev, Igor Tsepkov, Sergey Dmitriev, Vitaly Simonovic, Mary Dyachenko, Irina Salov, Cyril Muraviev. Guide - Victor Bobok.

Hello! Olga Rumyantseva from Mendoza. Today our expedition to Aconcagua started. This is the first group of 7 Summits Club in this season. Most of the participants arrived in Mendoza by different ways. Now we get together and go try local wines and meat. When the other members arrive, we'll go to the entrance to Aconcagua National Park.

Guide of the 7 Summits Club Denis Saveliev reported. We have two good news from December 14. First: Vyacheslav Adrov set a new record Russia for climbing with a car to maximum height. He climbed with a car on the slopes of Ojos del Salado at the altitude of 5940 meters. And the second news, more modest. Yesterday our group went for acclimatization. But later, we decided that we will not go down and continued climb the slope of the volcano Ojos del Salado. We almost did not notice that appeared on the top. Vyacheslav Adrov, Eugene Astafiev, Lola Moiseeva and Denis Saveliev. At 2 p.m.... It was very, very hard. But we all managed ..

The group has successfully descended to Laguna Verde and drove towards the town of Copiapo.

Hello! This is Denis Saveliev from the Atacama Desert. We are all OK, today we are moving to Camp Verde Lagoon. We are a super team! Yesterday we climbed a small mountain, five thousand meters, which is chosen by Slava Adrov for acclimatization. Its name, unfortunately, I can not remember. We ll feel great today. Greetings! So long !

Ojos del Salado - the most important point in the program of 7 Volcanoes! Because it the highest volcano of the world. It situated on the border of Atacama desert, one of the driest and most unusual places on a planet. The head of expedition - a guide of 7 Summit Club master of sports on mountaineering Denis Savelyev. He came for one day earlier, and today, on 5th of December, he has met all group in city airport of Santiago, republic Chile capital. Today the group has left on the country north, to a mountain foot. The first overnight is in a city of Valesitos.

Members: Vyacheslav Adrov, Evgeniy Astafiev, Lola Moiseyeva. There is a secret which isn't known yet by members: Alexander Abramov plans to adjoin them. They should go on top together with the president of our club.

The group of the 7 Summits Club has passed 9 days of trekking with day drop up to 2500 м, passes with altitude above 4000м. We have visited recently found out ancient constructions of Incas (cities, a fortresses, terraces on slopes for agricultural needs). It was sometimes difficult. Yesterday a long-awaited visiting of Machu Picchu has taken place. All the day long has been devoted to excursions on the city as well as independent survey. The most active memberss have visited "sun gate" - a construction in the east from Machu Pikchu over whom it is possible to observe rising the sun, being in a city. In the evening all group has gone to Cuzco by railways along the river Urubamba.

For the remained 2 days we have planned excursions on ancient capital of Incas - to a city of Cuzco, and sightseeng in Lima.