Climbers are the only people on Earth who go upward in the literal sense of the word. To the very sky! Mountaineering is always a victory over oneself, as over an earthly being. Our review contains stories about climbers who managed to somehow stand out from the brotherhood of these amazing people.
1. The Russian who climbed the highest peak in Europe with a 75-kilogram barbell on his shoulders
Many climbers have conquered the highest peak in Europe - Mount Elbrus (5642 m). But no one has been able to replicate the ascent of Russian powerlifter Andrei Rodichev. He recently became the first person in the world to climb a mountain while carrying a 75kg barbell on his shoulders. Even in the gym, not everyone can lift such weight, but an athlete from the Murmansk region achieved the impossible. The journey to the top took 8 days.
2The Nine-Year-Old Boy Who Climbed the Highest Peak in the Western Hemisphere
In 2013, a 9-year-old boy from Southern California became the youngest person in history to reach the summit of Argentina's 6,962-meter Aconcagua mountain. This mountain is the highest peak in the western and southern hemispheres. Tyler Armstrong of Yorba Linda reached the summit on Christmas Eve 2013 with his father Kevin and Tibetan Sherpa Lhawang Dhondupa. It is worth noting that the sheer cliffs and cold of Aconcagua have led to the death of more than 100 climbers, so climbing this peak requires special permission.
3. The 80-year-old Japanese man who became the oldest person to conquer Everest
In May 2013, 80-year-old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura became the oldest person to reach the summit of Everest. Miura has previously summited Everest twice, at the age of 70 and 75. The last ascent was greatly complicated by the fact that Miura had significant health problems. From 2007 to 2013, he underwent four heart surgeries. Miura also broke his pelvis and left femur in a skiing accident in 2009. To prepare for the grueling climb, the Japanese specially trained in Tokyo on a treadmill, which was installed in a specially equipped room with a low oxygen content.
4. The first man without arms to climb Everest
Miura was not the only record holder on Everest in 2013. That same year, 30-year-old Nepalese-Canadian Sudarshan Gautam became the first person to climb the Earth's highest mountain with two amputees. The first double amputee to summit Everest was New Zealand climber Mark Inglis in 2006, but he had two prosthetic legs. Gautama lost both his arms in an accident at the age of 14 while flying a kite in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. The snake became entangled in power lines, after which the boy received severe burns on both hands. “If a person wants to do something, disability is not a hindrance,” says Sudarshan Gautam, who climbed Everest without using prosthetics.
5The Polio Survivor Who Climbed the Himalayas in a Wheelchair
John Magee suffered polio as a child and was unable to walk for 50 years. Now the Argentine is learning to move with the help of bionic legs. In July 2015, he completed an amazing journey in a lever-powered wheelchair through the Himalayas in northern India. For 15 days, Maji traveled through the mountains, rising to a height of 5600 meters.
6. The first married couple to conquer the Seven Summits together
Susan and Phil Ershler became the first married couple in the world to conquer the so-called “Seven Summits” - the cherished dream of every climber. This list includes the highest peaks of all parts of the world: Everest (8848 m, Asia), Aconcagua (6962 m, South America) Denali (6190 m, North America), Kilimanjaro (5895 m, Africa), Elbrus or Mont Blanc (5642 m and 4810 m, respectively, Europe), Vinson Massif (4892 m, Antarctica), Jaya or Mount Kosciuszko (4884 m and 2228 m, respectively, Australia and Oceania). The Ershler couple completed their “Seven” on May 16, 2002, climbing to the top of Everest.
7. The first paralyzed woman to conquer the highest mountain in Africa
In September 2015, 21-year-old South African Chaeli Mycroft, who suffers from cerebral palsy, became the first paralyzed woman to successfully climb Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro. The ascent to the mountain lasted five days, and preparation for it took three whole years. On August 29, Chaeli and seven climbers began their climb, but two team members turned back halfway. The others, including Mycroft herself in a wheelchair, made it to the top.
8. The only blind person to conquer the Seven Summits
On May 25, 2001, Eric Weihenmayer became the first and so far only blind person to reach the top of Everest. In 2008, he climbed Mount Jaya on the island of Papua New Guinea, completing the Seven Summits program. Thus, the 33-year-old American became the first blind person to conquer the highest mountain peaks on all seven continents. It took Eric 13 years.
The last straw in the cup of patience was the next publication of such a list in a well-known and respected group? dedicated to rock climbing.
And oddly enough, the first on the list was the wonderful science fiction work of the Strugatsky Brothers - Hotel “At the Dead Mountaineer”, which has only the most distant and indirect relation to the mountains. I had no less questions about other works from this list.
My patience was overflowing due to the fact that this is not the first time I have come across a list like this on the Internet; at first it amused me, and then it began to annoy me. Apparently, the list was made by people who did not even bother to familiarize themselves with the contents of the books, but who looked for information by title.
I decided to make my TOP list of books about mountains and mountaineering.
At first the task seemed easy, that it might be easier to sit down and write a list of books about mountains that you personally liked. Many of these works sink deeply into the soul, as they tell about great deeds and terrible tragedies, reveal the best and worst human qualities, make you empathize with the heroes and try on situations for yourself.
I thought that preparing the list would take an hour at most, but the more I remembered, the more difficult the choice became, and the amount of work grew.
It turned out that it is quite difficult to write about books read over the past 10 years and choose the best ones.
As a result, I selected 11 books that I want to briefly talk about and recommend for reading (you can download the texts here), but this is not an exhaustive list at all, this is just the beginning, I will supplement it and update it as I read worthy works.
Books about mountains and mountaineering that are worth reading.
as of November 21, 2016
- Vladimir Shataev “Difficulty category”
- Maurice Herzog “Annapurna – the first eight-thousander”
- Reinhold Messner "Crystal Horizon"
- Evgniy Abalakov “On the highest peaks of the Soviet Union”
- Vladimir Sanin “White curse”
- Jon Krakauer "Into Thin Air"
- Bukreev A.N., G. Weston De Walt “Ascension”
- Tenzing Norgay “Tiger of the Snows”
- Herbert Tichy “Cho Oyu - the mercy of the gods”
- Yuri Rost “Everest 1982”
Gusev A. M. “Elbrus on fire”
Friends, if you haven’t found your favorite book and think it should be here, write about it, I’ll read it, it’s likely that it will appear on the list.
One of best books about mountains and mountaineering from what I have read. Small volume, written in easy, engaging language.
A very personal autobiographical narrative about the achievements and defeats of Soviet mountaineering that passed through the life of the author, told without any propaganda pathos characteristic of the literature of that period, captures the enthusiastic reader from the first page and does not let go until the last.
2. Maurice Herzog “Annapurna – the first eight-thousander”
Cover of the 1953 English edition of the book Annapurna - the first eight-thousander A book by the legendary French mountaineer Maurice Herzog about the first successful ascent of an eight-thousander, accomplished in 1950.
The narrative, at first a little drawn out and confusing in the part describing the work of the expedition to find ways to climb Annapurna, is transformed from the moment the assault on the summit begins.
Victory and tragedy, joy and excruciating pain - everything merges into a single ball of narrative.
I will never forget the description of the agony experienced by the author on the mountain during the doctor’s struggle to save his life. Probably one of the scariest texts I've ever read.
“Annapurna - the first eight-thousander” is, in my opinion, an indisputable masterpiece of mountaineering literature.
Photos and illustrations from the book “Annapurna – the first eight-thousander” 3. Reinhold Messner “Crystal Horizon”
Cover of the book “Crystal Horizon” by R. Messner The only one translated into Russian out of more than 50 written, the book of the great mountaineer, Reinhold Messner.
Talks about preparing for and climbing Everest – solo.
4. Evgniy Abalakov “On the highest peaks of the Soviet Union”
A book by an outstanding mountaineer-researcher, one of the strongest climbers in our country in the first half of the 20th century, Evgeniy Abalakov. Consists of diary entries about expeditions and ascents made by the author, as well as a number of articles, reports and essays written by him in the period from 1931 to 1947.
The book reflected many of the main achievements of Soviet mountaineering of that time.
Download a book:
5. Vladimar Sanin “White Curse”
Vladimir Sanin “White curse” A work of art telling about the dangerous work of avalanche workers in the Elbrus region. The prototype of the main character of the book (Maxim Uvarov) is N.A. Urumbaev - avalanche glaciologist, head of the Elbrus educational and scientific station of Moscow State University. G.K. Tushinsky.
The book is written in a captivating way in easy language, characteristic of Vladimir Sanin, was read by me in one night, I opened it and could not close it until I finished reading it.
6. Jon Krakauer “In the Thin Air” + 7. Boukreev A.N., G. Weston De Walt “Ascension”
I deliberately put these two books next to each other, because it is impossible to talk about one and keep silent about the other; these are works about the same tragedy that occurred on May 11, 1996 on the slopes of Everest.
The books were written by two direct participants in the events and in some places reflect diametrically opposed points of view on what happened.
Many copies have been broken in the discussion of what happened, there are ardent fans of Jon Krakauer’s point of view, and no less (especially in the post-Soviet space) people support Anatoly Boukreev.
In any case, both books deserve attention, and you can only accept someone’s point of view after familiarizing yourself with both views on the tragedy that occurred.
8. Gusev A. M. “Elbrus on fire”
This book stands apart from all previous ones, and most books about mountains in general.
The mountains and climbers are shown in a completely unique light - against the backdrop of the fighting of the Great Patriotic War.
It was the detachment under his leadership that, in the most difficult conditions in the winter of 1943, removed the fascist flags from the peaks of Elbrus.
By the way, friends, this insert is a small advertisement for my work, something that gives me the means to subsist and travel, and is also the result of travel, because it is in wildlife, in the mountains I find inspiration and new ideas for my jewelry workshop:
Take a look, I think this is a great idea for a gift for yourself or your enthusiastic beloved friends :-)
9. Tenzing Norgay “Tiger of the Snows”
Tenzing Norgay “Tiger of the Snows” "I am a happy man. I had a dream and it came true, and that doesn’t happen very often to a person. Climbing Mount Everest - my people call it Chomolungma - has been the deepest desire of my life. Seven times I got down to business; I suffered failures and started over again, again and again, not with the feeling of bitterness that leads a soldier to the enemy, but with love, like a child climbing on his mother’s lap,” said Norgay Tenzing.
An amazing book about one of the first people to summit Everest in 1953, Sherpa Norgay Tenzing.
The book is written in the words of the illiterate Tenzing - James Ramsay Ullman, and tells the story of a simple man who devoted himself to the mountains, and the story of his highest achievement - the ascent of Everest.
10. Herbert Tichy “Cho Oyu - the mercy of the gods”
Cover of the Russian edition of the book Cho-oyu - Grace of the Gods by Herbert Tichy October 19, 1954, 2 Europeans (Herbert Tichy, Josef Joechler) and 1 Sherpa (Pazang Dawa Lama) climb to the top of Cho Oyu (8201 m) for the first time.
The fifth of the fourteen eight-thousanders has been “conquered.” The ascent was made in an alpine style, unusual for the Himalayas of that time, by a small group (3 Europeans, 10 Sherpas)
11. Yuri Rost “Everest 1982”
Yuri Rost “Everest 1982” A magnificent publication, richly illustrated with photographs and maps, about the first Soviet expedition to Everest in 1982.
Consists of an essay by journalist Yuri Rost, as well as memoirs and diary entries of direct participants in the ascent.
When reading the book, you need to understand that this was a big propaganda project and the texts of the book have been verified and edited.
However, it cannot be denied that the result of the expedition was the passage of the most difficult route to Everest, and became the personification of strength Soviet school mountaineering.
We decided that all our club employees will talk about their path in mountain life. Perhaps this will be interesting to someone and encourage them to take up mountaineering and rock climbing, or just active recreation in the mountains. And for some reason they said that the president must be the first. I agreed. Well, it’s not difficult to write a few sentences. But it didn't work out. I started to remember, and here it is:
_____________________________________________________
My journey to the mountains, like most, began in childhood. Vague desires and unknown dreams arose there. They were shaped by my favorite authors whom I voraciously devoured - Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, James Fenimore Cooper, Raphael Sabatini, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Jack London, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry... Their heroes were travelers and daredevils; unprecedented adventures awaited them. I loved these books. Favorite characters are Nathaniel Bumppo (aka Pathfinder, St. John's Wort, Hawkeye, Leatherstocking - the hero of Cooper's pentalogy) and Captain Blood ("The Odyssey of Captain Blood", "The Chronicles of Captain Blood", "The Good Luck of Captain Blood") by Rafael Sabatini. And of course, the heroes of all the novels of Dumas, Jules Verne and Jack London. I also read any science fiction that I could find.
….I can’t understand how they live without reading all this. A person without these books must turn back into a monkey. But no. They live. The iPhone in your hand probably replaces the stick that made a man out of a primate. Fine motor skills and all that...
In a village in the south of Ukraine there was nowhere to put my energy and aspirations, so all that was left was school and books. An excellent student, an activist, chairman of the squad council, deputy Komsomol organizer of the school, and the ultimate dream was a camping trip with a real overnight stay. With a tent, by the fire... But there was nothing like that at school. We organized our own trips in class, but our parents, of course, didn’t let us go further than the outskirts of the village. Therefore, I plunged headlong into the world of books.
At the age of 15, after graduating from an 8-year school, I entered a legal college and came to live in Armavir. Krasnodar region. Thus ended childhood and independent life began. Right at the beginning of the school year, I went on an excursion to Dombay. In Soviet times, excursion bureaus organized such weekend trips en masse - a ride up the cable car to Mussa-Achitara, a couple of duty legends about separated lovers, barbecue, photos, and on the way back, animals in the Teberda Nature Reserve. But, for the first time in my life I saw the Mountains. I was in Romania when I was 13 and lived in the Tatras for a few days, but there were really high mountains here. With snow in hot October, with open spaces, with unattainable peaks. And I fell in love...
It was still two years before I really got to know the mountains, but the process of turning me into a mountaineer began then. The report has arrived. I continued to study, read, and mastered the new world of independent living. He lived in an apartment, cooked, washed and cleaned himself, planned his own budget. Sometimes he could live on two rubles for a week on a bet. And even at that time, Vysotsky’s realization came. As a child, I could not understand why my father loved the songs of Vysotsky so much, this singer of all sorts of drunkards and other unpleasant personalities. I had a tape recorder “Snezhet-203” and several tapes with recordings by Vladimir Semenovich. And Masha, whose father or uncle, I don’t remember, was treated for alcohol addiction in the same clinic as Vysotsky, also studied with me at the technical school. This seemed to allow us to almost touch the legend.
...All this, it would seem, has nothing to do with August 1989, when I made my first ascent, but this is not so. My whole previous life led me to the mountains, and when this happened, I was ready, they took me lukewarm, and I had no other way...
In the spring of 1989, during my second year at the technical school, I suddenly learned that a tourist club was being formed at the technical school. It was like a bolt from the blue. I ran and found out that the circle was already working, that they had already gone somewhere to the rocks (that’s awesome!) and were going to do more. The circle was led by a young tourist, Lesha Lomakin, and a gaggle of girls from our technical school. I quickly signed up. We trained at the city stadium. They just threw things on the benches and ran, then warm-up, horizontal bars and all sorts of organizational issues. At the same time, the mountaineering section from the pedagogical institute was engaged. And there were practically only young men there. Of course, all our girls looked in that direction. In general, after a very short time, our circle at the law school ceased to exist, and the mountaineering section was replenished with students from UT. My first trip is Turkey. I liked it super! And then almost immediately we took part in the touriada in Arkhyz. We walked for 10 days along the passes to Abkhazia. I was even accepted as a tourist at the end of the hike - I received my share of initiation into tourists with spoons on my ass. This hike was very difficult, but also incredibly interesting. These were my first mountains, where I had to learn a lot. What I remember most was the snow activities and long treks along the snowy terrain. And when I sat down to put on my backpack on the first exit, I couldn’t get up with it and fell on my back.
...I found my first mountaineering coach, Alexei Stepanovich Krasnokutsky, for only a couple of months. We can say that he didn’t even have time to be my coach. So, a couple of classes at the stadium. Then I could not yet know that it was I who would make him a grandfather. Alexey Stepanovich flew to the USA, and the section was headed by arrester Yura Bendrikov. At first he became my senior mentor in mountaineering...
Summer was approaching and the words “climbing camp”, “trip”, “shift”, “newbie”, “discharge worker” were increasingly heard in our conversations. I had to go to an alpine camp. It was terribly scary. I had to go alone. Somewhere in Karachay-Cherkessia, after some villages Uchkulan and Khurzuk, there is a mountaineering training and sports camp “Uzunkol”. There, climbers from all over the country, using trade union vouchers, hone their skills. In Karachaevsk I boarded a regular bus to Khurzuk and saw that half of the bus was our brothers - young, cheerful, with backpacks. Among them were experienced climbers. They, like demobilized soldiers, spoke loudly, confidently, gave their assessment of everything, in general, with all their appearance they showed that they understand the life of mountaineers. One girl had a cord woven into her braid. It was unrealistically cool, so it seemed to me then.
My first shift at Uzunkol was an endless stream of new knowledge, impressions, and emotions. At the end of the 20-day shift, on August 26, 1989, we made our first ever ascent to the peak of Eastern Myrda, category 1B of difficulty, having fulfilled the standard for the “USSR Climber” badge. The ascent itself was easier than all previous training. And before the mountain we had a test hike through 2 passes for three days. After the summit there was initiation into mountaineering. This is a super-tradition of Soviet mountaineering - laughter, joy, jokes about accomplished “badges” and, of course, the climber’s oath: “... if work, study, family interfere with mountaineering, give it all up... all perishable foods (stewed meat, condensed milk, girl ) give it to the instructor...the chicken is not a bird, the badge is not a climber..." and a stamp in brilliant green on the forehead at the end. This was the case in all the camps of the USSR. But seriously, this centralized system mountaineering training was available only in the Soviet Union. And if we compare not the leaders, but the masses, then, of course, we were much better prepared. We didn’t even have the concept of “guide-client”; everyone was preparing for independent ascents.
About money. A climbing tour for a 20-day shift cost 48 rubles. And every fourth voucher issued to the team is free. A scholarship, for example, at a technical school is 37.50 or 45 rubles, if you study well, at an institute it is 50 rubles. A 14-day trip to a ski camp (accommodation, meals, instructors) cost 24 rubles.
Equipment was a separate matter. He simply wasn't there. No, of course, there were beautiful (already like a pipe, and not round like koloboks) backpacks of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions, boots of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions, harnesses from the St. Petersburg shipyard, trigger petals that could be broken by hand, but there was nothing for free sale. Mountaineering tourists all sewed their own backpacks, sleeping bags, down jackets, tents, and harnesses. The future owners of Red Fox (Alexander Glushkovsky and Vlad Moroz), Bask (the Bogdanov brothers), Sivera (the Fisenko spouses), Equipment (Dmitry Valuy) and thousands of other craftsmen worked in the depths of this shortage. In Krasnodar, many people used and still use equipment made by Sasha Gritsenko. This was a huge layer of information closed to outsiders - where to buy or get parachute silk, straps for harnesses, down, the first membrane fabrics, accessories, how to sell products or how to buy the necessary equipment for yourself. In Moscow there were spontaneous markets (shocks) for skiing and mountaineering clothing and equipment. Everyone who went from the periphery to Moscow on any business, no matter what, was supplied with money and orders for equipment.
I remember my pregnant wife Olya dragging a bundle of several rugs across Moscow to the train. Every trip I made to the capital was like this. And one day I asked a friend to bring me some harnesses. I gave him my phone number and he made an appointment with the Muscovite in the metro, and he kept worrying about how he would recognize him. But everything turned out to be simple - a Muscovite was walking along the subway... with a warbler on his butt! My friend is not a climber, but he saw this attribute from us, so he clearly understood that it was him. It was Andrey Vasilyev, the owner of the Vento company, which would become famous throughout the country. These were the times when the heads of manufacturing companies personally came to the station to send equipment to the regions, and then, with a guide in an envelope, receive payment. The romantic period of the birth of a business around the outdoors...
….And one more thing – from the equipment and clothing one could understand the level of the climber. In conditions of shortage, good equipment could only be acquired over a very long period of time. Time was spent searching for information, sewing, complex transactions and intrigue to get some cherished piece of clothing. Without exaggeration, this took years. And while you were collecting equipment, you were growing in mountaineering, or vice versa. Therefore, in the camp you could immediately see who was in front of you...
In December 1989 I went to a ski camp. Almost all alpine camps became ski camps in winter, and you saw the same faces in them as in summer. Almost all climbers were fond of skiing. I took my first steps in this business in the Elbrus region in the Baksan mountain camp. It was also love at first sight and for life.
The atmosphere in the ski camps was amazing. Our entire audience is mountainous. In the dining room, where the entire shift (several sections of 10 people each) gathered for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, there was a clear hierarchy in which only your level of skating was taken into account. Honor to advanced and good skating teams best places, the newcomers sit quietly and look into the mouths of the aces. The boxers’ principle “Tryndi is no more than its own weight” is secretly observed. Telling jokes and laughing loudly is “allowed” only to those who perform technical miracles on the slope. Money, titles, and many had high academic degrees, movable and real estate, didn't matter.
In the 89-90 season, I went skiing to the mountains 6 times. Of these, 3 times were on trade union vouchers, although by law one person could use a trade union voucher only once a year. I rode in the Elbrus region, Tsei, Lago-Naki. By the end of the season I felt like an ace. I've never ridden so much in my life. The senior dischargers from our section, looking at this, pronounced a verdict on me - I will ski, mountaineering is not for me...
...Then in December an interesting event happened in Baksan. A rehabilitation training session for our super-mega-cool climbers took place at the base of the camp. It was a national team Soviet Union. There were only two Himalayan expeditions in the USSR - Everest-82 and Kanchenjunga in the spring of 1989. These were, as a rule, the same climbers, because... the difference between these two events was only 7 years. These were monsters, human heroes. Selection for this team took place for several years throughout the USSR. If you remember the mass participation, you can imagine what the competition was like to get into at least the republican team, but there’s nothing to say about the national team. There were so many nerves, intrigues, dashed hopes and even broken destinies. This was the elite. With all that it implies - fame, honor, titles, material wealth, connections, opportunities. But an elite that made itself. Each person on this team was a leader and a separate combat unit. Khrishchaty, Bershov, Turkevich, Vinogradsky, Pogorelov, Valiev, etc. I don’t remember everyone who was in Baksan at that time, but I definitely remember that there was Valiev, Turkevich, Bershov. At that time I was just a “badge”; in the summer I made the first ascent in my life, and I still didn’t really understand the mountaineering life of the whole country. We were invited to some evening with cool climbers, so I went. They sat on stage and talked about Everest and Kangchenjunga. It was only later that I realized what kind of people I saw at the same time in one place. Then I sat and calmly perceived the situation, namely, I understood that the Himalayans were sitting in front of me. Well, it's kind of like aliens. I saw that there were several steps between us, and I calmly, without any tragic wringing of hands, understood that I would never take these few steps. Well, miracles simply don't happen. Here I am with my 1B and here they are - in the spotlight with crazy success in the Himalayas. Not everyone can be a hero, someone has to sit on the sidelines and shout “Hurray”. I had the book “Everest-82” from Alexey Stepanovich and I knew what they went through. There was a gap between us. In a few steps...
...After 11 years, with Sergei Bershov, one of these legendary climbers, I climbed Everest as part of our Kuban team, surrounded by our Krasnodar monsters. You have to set crazy goals, and there are millions of chances that they will come true...
The next year, 1990, I again got a ticket to Uzunkol. Remembering the previous season, I decided for myself that if it was scary, I would quit this activity. It was scary, but I realized that I wouldn’t give up. This time I made 5 ascents. From fragments of memory, pieces of that summer emerge:
... We are approaching the Myrda overnight camp, and we are overtaken by a guy and a girl, cool first-class athletes. The girl had headphones in her ears and was walking to the music. “Damn,” I thought, “this is how you should walk!” Buying a player was a very big problem back then. Since then I always go with a player...
... Returning to camp after another ascent, we learned that Tsoi had crashed...
...When climbing the Trident before the peak, the instructor walks on an inclined slab without a safety net, and we walk along the railings. I can’t understand how he’s not afraid...
...They closed the 3rd category a few days before the end of the shift, there is still time. Igor and I from Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk) “buy” Korolenko unofficially for 10 rubles and go to Uzunkol Peak - he gets a kick out of it, and we get a bonus to our rank...
That year, 1990, I graduated from technical school and entered the Armavir Pedagogical Institute. Slowly our section began to disintegrate, and I was left alone at the institute, which I entered for the sake of the mountaineering section. It's a shame.
In 1991, I received a 30-day trip to the Adyl-Su alpine camp. It was one of my best seasons, oddly enough... And sad.
...There is no section, I am alone. I’m going to Krasnodar and some guy named Akhtyrsky in a club on Ofitserskaya gives me a ticket to Adyl-Su. Then we will often meet with Oleg Alexandrovich...
...During training and preparation for the first ascent, Andrei from Yeisk told me that there is an adhesive group - Chaif...
...On the training doubles (Trapezium, 2A) 4 of our friends die. Of the five who escaped, only one Andrei remains alive. There were two sections of us - the badges and we, the third-class ones. A stone came from the instructor’s foot and tore off our two, they intertwined their rope with the rope of the three from the badge department, tore them off, flew into a steep snowfield, and down there, on the bergschrund, they all crashed. Our Levitskaya Lena from Zaporozhye and three guys from Kyiv, from the badge department. Transport work all day long. We're like robots. We don't understand anything. I give the glasses to the doctor who comes up. At the end of the day, something is dripped into the eyes, it burns...
...We're leaving for Nalchik. We meet the children's parents. For the hundredth time, at their request, we retell how it all happened. We feel guilty that we are alive. We hate the whole world. The three of us stuck together - Vitek Gursky (Lena was his girlfriend), Yurka Dzyadyk from Lvov and me. Morgue. Smell of formaldehyde. Naked guys. Each one has a pigtail on the belly (seam after opening). Let's get dressed. We seal them in coffins. We return to camp...
...The depleted badge department is leaving for home. We have a girl (I don’t even remember her name) from St. Petersburg, she was with me on the climb, she says that she’s had enough of mountaineering. And the three of us decided to stay and walk...
...After the debriefing, they write off our instructor and give us some young Petya. Only after the internship. We told him - don’t touch us, Petya, and we won’t touch you. So they went. I don’t remember him at all on any climb, except Elbrus. 8 peaks. One by one. Without rest. Sometimes two a day. We have forgotten all the safety rules. I went all the way to the rope. I knew Vitek Gursky would catch me in any situation. He is a wrestler and diver. I believed him. And Yurka Dziadyk will always support you with his humor...
...When I was awake from fatigue, I remembered how Lena sang with a guitar:
A river flowed past,
The clouds were floating somewhere,
A man was walking, there was a road
It's not easy, it wasn't easy.
And the man dreamed of
That he will build a house somewhere,
And happiness will settle with him
In a house alone, in a house alone.
If you happen to be tired,
He always hummed
Your favorite song,
The one that I sing, the one that I sing.
The house, as everyone has known for a long time,
This is not a wall, not a window,
Not even the chairs at the table,
This is not a house, this is not a home.
Home is where you are ready
You come back again and again
Fierce, kind, gentle and evil
Barely alive, barely alive.
Home is where you will be understood
Where they hope and wait,
Where you will forget about the bad things,
This is your home, this is your home...
...The 20-day shift ended, and out of the 30-day shift there was only our section, and the entire composition of the camp changed. Everyone who arrived could not understand who we were. Why does the head of the training department send a bus to meet us when we are returning from the climb, and the three of us are traveling in an empty bus? Why do we climb whatever peaks we want? What are these privileges for? Then someone quietly told them the price for such an attitude, and they left us alone...
...The last peak then was Elbrus. I was covered on the Oblique Shelf. This Petya told me that Yurets and I would rest in Sedlo, and he and Vitko would go to Western, and then together to Eastern. That's what I should have said! It was as if the miner was gone from me. As a result, he went to Western with me. Vitek, it turns out, had burned his eyes the day before, and when the sun came out, he could not go further because of the pain. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. The instructor, Yura, and I went to Vostochnaya and then we all went down together...
...We descended from Elbrus on August 19. Second day of the Putsch. Everyone in the camp gathered in front of the TV. And the guys and I fried some potatoes and drank vodka. It felt like we had lived for several years. The next day we got to Nalchik, then, standing in the aisle of a regular bus, we drove to the Ministry of Water. Standing for several hours in 40-degree heat? Yes Easy! In a full bus, backpacks next to us, we stood - tanned, dried by mountain winds, matured, in worn-out T-shirts, callous in soul and body - and talked loudly, for the whole bus, as if we were alone. Nobody made any comments to us. And I really wanted to shut someone up, find someone to blame and lose my temper. There must have been something in us. We parted ways at MinVody. I was returning home as if from war...
That year, in December, I still managed to go to the Elbrus training and methodological center in the same Elbrus region and train as a ski instructor. This was the last issue of this center. That December, the Soviet Union disappeared. We found ourselves in another country.
It's 1992. There was no section. There were no vouchers, just like the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions (All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions). It’s not clear what to do. Somehow I got in touch with the Saratov climbers and went to their training camp in the Elbrus region. I didn’t have time to go anywhere with them, I just took part in classes. I also had a chance to wander around the Adyl-Su gorge myself. I remember how I spent the night alone at the Spartak overnight camps. It was even creepy. A huge night starry sky, silhouettes of mountains and not a soul. This morning I woke up to a strange sound. I looked outside and saw that I was in the middle of a herd of wild goats, and some of them were chewing on the awning of my tent. Probably, after all these adventures, I decided that, well, solitary walking was okay, I needed to create a company.
I arrived in Armavir and at the beginning of the school year, after going to the collective farm, I decided to enroll at the institute and revive the section.
This is where the short separate story of the climber Oleg Afanasyev ended, and another, more interesting, although closely related to the first, story of one club began.
P.S. In 1993, when our section was one year old, we came to the Krasnodar training camp at Elbrus. And in the camp I met Yurka Dzyadyk. He went there with his Ukrainian climbers. Yura brought with him a memorial plaque in honor of Lena Levitskaya, and we went to install it on a stone near the path to the Green Hotel. On the way back, I admitted to him that I wanted to turn the section into a club. He began to fantasize cheerfully:
Just imagine, years will pass, you will have a club, an office with an armchair, pictures with mountains will hang on the walls, your own gym, and you can also build a climbing wall!
You are an idiot! I'm serious, but you're kidding me!
P.P.S. When I wrote these lines, a stupid thought came to my mind - maybe I could try to find Vitka Gursky through my classmates? A few seconds later I was looking at the photo on his page - two daughters, winter dives, the same healthy devil...
...Maybe computer technology will not allow them to turn back into monkeys, maybe they will somehow live without Fenimore Cooper?...
Climbers' stories about climbing Lenin Peak
I know how best to introduce my guests to the beauties of Alibek. Along a narrow forest path I lead them to the “academic” house behind the Alibechka River, climb with them to the second floor and open the door to the wide veranda. There are exclamations of surprise and delight.
In front of the terrace lies a wide clearing. The snow has just melted, and the grass is like a smooth emerald carpet. In autumn it will be colorful with white and light purple crocuses. Now is the time for black tulips to bloom, and they are clearly visible among the greenery. Behind the clearing, centuries-old fir trees lined up in a regular semicircle. It seems that their tops touch the dazzling white snow fields and blue glaciers of the Main Caucasus Range. The pyramid of the beautiful Belalakai is eerily steep against the dark blue sky. Thin silvery threads on opposite slopes are waterfalls, the sound of the river is muffled. And above all is the sun, dazzlingly bright and gentle at the time of the belated high-mountain spring.
What do you think about all this? - I ask a fragile, slender woman. Behind the gilded frames of glasses there are lively eyes: this is a doctor from Dushanbe, mountaineer V. Moshkova.
It’s beautiful, of course, but it’s too picturesque and not entirely real,” she answers after some thought. - I prefer the harsh and solemn beauty of our Central Asian mountains. They are simpler and clearer. No, I’m not talking about the Varzob mountains, I’m now thinking about the panoramas of the Alai Valley...
Yes, I was at Lenin’s peak, it seems like it was a long time ago! My son is now six years old. He knows dozens of mountain flowers. This is the third summer after Lenin Peak that we have been coming with him to the mountaineering camp. The most difficult steps for me were the last steps before the summit. Before this, the height was somehow not felt; there was no time, all the time in motion and work. At camp 6200 m I had a terrible dream: I lost my backpack with air, woke up, gasping, in anxiety. A few meters from the target, she could only take one step at a time, then she had to catch her breath for a long time. I made it to the round last, fourteenth. The hands are shaky. To keep the group in the viewfinder, she pressed the movie camera to her nose, held her breath and almost lost consciousness from suffocation. Anvar Shukurov hugged me and kissed me. “Well done, Valya, you’ve made it, but we’re at the top of Lenin Peak!..” I can’t say a word. When I lost my breath, I felt tears running down my cheeks.
The overnight stay at 6800 m on the descent went somehow unnoticed. The main events, we did not expect them, came the next day. During snowfall and fog we walked down almost the entire terrace. The traffic slowed and then we turned back. The guys did not dare to go on the steep descent into the neck to the dome at 5200 m - they were afraid of avalanches. We walked back two-thirds of the terrace and stopped for the night on the sites where Odessa residents had spent the night the night before. The flat snow shelf here is 200-300 m wide; in the morning we made sure that our four tents were set up in a row a hundred meters from the steep part of the slope.
By 9 pm it was not yet dark. It was kind of gray and it was snowing continuously.
Volodya, make some tea,” I asked my husband. He got out of the tent and, using two Phoebuses, began to heat water for everyone in our common large saucepan. In the next tent they turned on the Speedola. The audibility is excellent. Leonid Utesov was performing some song. Then, I remember, an exclamation; “Guys, there’s an avalanche!..” Something soft pushed me hard, enveloped me, pushed me again in the neck and head, and carried me and my tent down the slope. After all, ice discharges and death are very close below! There is only one thought in the mind: something will happen now, what will happen?!
And then a stop and silence. The creaking of footsteps somewhere below, and the voice of Volodya Mashkov: “Guys, how are you?..” He noticed the dark fabric of the tent protruding from under the snow and began to tear it; got my head again. Then I hear Belkin’s voice: “Everything is fine, I just can’t breathe...” Everyone got out unharmed. Only Abulaev has a small wound on his forehead. The neighbors got more, their tents were set up more firmly, on ice axes, but we secured ours on empty tin cans dug into the snow, and we were less crushed.
Then there are arguments about where to sleep. Ivan Ivanovich Lindt, the oldest of us in age, is for the construction of the cave. Most spend the night right there, in snow pits; anyway, the tent poles are broken. We hoped that there would be no new avalanche. We even managed to sleep at night.
Volodya said that he realized the danger at the last moment. He remembered the sound of a light pop, a wave of cold air and a soft blow throughout his body, then he was spinning and carried down. At his first breath he felt sharp pain from thousands of ice needles entering the lungs. When I got out of the snow, I discovered that one foot was bare and I had a flashlight in my hand. Its beam illuminated the smooth, lumpy snow. Volodya immediately wandered up the slope, came across our tent and dug us out from under the snow.
And in the morning there is a difficult descent. The snowfall stopped, but a fierce wind swept the snow, and an ice crust froze on our faces. We warmed up and came to our senses only at the Lipkin rocks.
Yakov Arkin does not remember when he finally formed the decision to storm Lenin Peak from the upper reaches of the Lenin Glacier along a new route - “head-on” along the northern three-kilometer wall in the direction of the cliffs of the pre-summit takeoff. Perhaps even during the first expedition to Lenin Peak, organized by the Spartak society in 1952, when he and his comrades failed in organizing the traverse Lenin Peak - Dzerzhinsky Peak. The ice-snow slopes of the northern wall of Lenin Peak did not seem insurmountable to him then. In the Caucasus, during “wall ascents,” Spartacists had to overcome much steeper sections and solve more complex technical problems of ascent and descent. It was clear that here in the Pamirs the main difficulties would be the altitude and, possibly, avalanches.
When Yakov Arkin participated in the delivery of food to the Razdelnaya peak, where the Spartacists were supposed to descend from Lenin Peak on the way to Dzerzhinsky Peak, traces of numerous avalanches crossed the northern slope of the peak. Later, the roar of avalanches from the wall more than once reached the tents of their high-altitude camp 6700 m on the eastern ridge of Lenin Peak, where the climbers were forced to wait out the bad weather. From there they had to retreat to save the life of a sick comrade.
The experience of climbing Pobeda Peak in 1956 was decisive. The Spartacists managed to achieve success through a systematic siege of this formidable peak, the attempt to storm which more than once ended in a tragic outcome. Now the possibility of a sharp deterioration in the weather at any stage of the ascent was taken into account. The climbers decided to equip reliable shelter caves with sufficient supplies of food and other necessary things in the thickness of the snow slope every 400-500 m of altitude. It was possible to wait out bad weather in them for several days and provide reliable shelter from avalanches. The new tactics brought success, and Ya. G. Arkin and his comrades adopted it here, on the northern slopes of Lenin Peak.
V. M. Abalakov, at the head of the Spartak team, made his third ascent to Lenin Peak from the Krylenko Pass in early August 1960, and Ya. G. Arkin began preparing for the assault on the northern slope of the peak.
The base camp of the climbers was the moraine near the Lipkin rocks. The first refuge cave - Camp No. 2 - was created at an altitude of about 5000 m along the usual route to the Razdelnaya peak. From here we turned exactly in the direction of the summit; their landmarks were two spurs east of the highest point of Lenin Peak, called Rocky Paws.
From camp No. 2 we walked in high-altitude shoes on hard snow. They managed to set up camp No. 3 at an altitude of about 6000 m. Only in the evening did the climbers manage to complete the construction of the cave. The wall of the peak rose in front of them, steeper and more menacing. The danger of avalanches here became real at the slightest deterioration in the weather. High-altitude camp No. 4 was equipped at an altitude of 6500 m. After spending the night there, the climbers, leaving a four-day supply of food, went down to rest.
The assault on Lenin Peak along a new path under the leadership of Ya. G. Arkin was undertaken by G. L. Agranovsky, Ya. V. Dyachenko, I. G. Kakhiani, V. A. Kizel and L. N. Filimonov; all of them, with the exception of L.N. Filimonov, had already been to the highest point of the peak. In 1958, L.N. Filimonov had to transport a sick Chinese climber down.
The climbers spent the night in high-altitude camp No. 4 twice. Twice they went out in the direction of Rocky Paws to set up the last, fifth high-altitude camp, which was dug into a steep snowy slope at an altitude of about 5800 m.
Yakov Arkin did not deliberately force the ascent; good storm camp equipment could make all the difference. While his comrades were finishing the finishing of the cave, he, together with I. Kakhiani, undertook a hike to the Rocky Paws. The reconnaissance of the path was justified; two climbers managed to lay a trail on a steep slope for several hundred meters. As we approached the rocks, there were more and more frequent rockfalls; large fragments of rocks fell down and rushed very close.
The troubled sleep of the climbers on the eve of the assault at one in the morning was disturbed by a menacing roar. Yakov Arkin, a veteran of World War II, was momentarily reminded of the roar of artillery barrage. Maybe an avalanche?! The climbers huddled in their sleeping bags, awaiting further events, but none came.
In the morning, when the slanting rays of the sun fell on the slope, they went out for the assault. The night incident was explained simply: a huge gaping crack about two hundred meters long cut the trail laid yesterday by two climbers; it formed a sheer step three meters high. It took a lot of time to overcome this unexpected obstacle that arose as a result of the night movement of ice.
The last climb of the slope was the most difficult. Joseph Kahiani came forward; he had to cut more than two dozen steps into the solid firn. The climbers reached the summit at two o’clock in the afternoon on August 15, 1960, and in the evening they safely descended to their assault camp No. 5. A new path to Lenin Peak was laid (A few days later, in the footsteps of Ya. Arkin’s group, they made the new path to Lenin Peak ascent with two intermediate overnight stays O. V. Abalakov and I. Fedorov The route of ascent to Lenin Peak, laid by the group of Y. Arkin, is now called the Arkin path).
In the statistics of ascents to Lenin Peak, one can note the ever-increasing number of mountaineering trips on the slopes of this giant of the Trans-Alai Range, starting in 1960. The development of mountaineering here was greatly facilitated by the creation of a support base for the “Dugoba” mountaineering camp on the northern slopes of the peak. High-altitude mountaineers coming to Fergana could now arrive in the Alai Valley at the foot of Lenin Peak on the second day and receive high-altitude equipment and food at the base. Well-organized transport and communications made the task of climbing this peak even easier; The material costs of expeditions also decreased significantly. Under these conditions, the average time required to climb Lenin Peak (including acclimatization hikes) was reduced to a month, along with the days of arrival and departure from Osh or Fergana. But this can best be judged from the experience of the 1967 ascents, in which the author of these lines was able to take part.
Thirty years later
July night 1967. The engines of the turboprop airliner are noisy. The full disk of the moon is visible on its starboard side. The horizon is obscured by darkness. Without much effort, we can imagine that we are flying somewhere in space. Our only reference points are the Earth's satellite and rare stars. Brownish-yellow spots of the desert float under the plane, then the waters of the Aral Sea. We are approaching Tashkent.
I can not sleep. I think that my eighth journey to the Pamirs and fifth to the foot of Lenin Peak is beginning. In 1946, our first post-war expedition to the South-Western Pamirs reached these places by train from Moscow only at the end of the fourth day. We escaped from the unbearable stuffiness in crowded carriages on the roof of the carriage. Some of the inconveniences of such a journey were compensated by the relative coolness and the spectacle of a swarm of locusts on the fields near Kzyl-Orda. And now in less than three hours planes take us from Mineralnye Vody to Tashkent.
The plane lands at the Osh airfield. A group of people is approaching us. Dark suits, ties and hats convincingly indicate the official duties of those greeting people - after all, in the high-mountainous Osh the heat is over 30°, and such an outfit can only be worn in emergency circumstances. Among those greeting us is a picturesque figure in trousers, a colorful untucked shirt and a black Uzbek skullcap. This is Arik Polyakov! I am ready to swear that he was inseparable from the same skullcap during our hike to Lenin Peak in 1936. But now he is already a venerable, somewhat plump Ariy Iosifovich. He has the difficult responsibility of providing economic support for the alpiniada. When the meeting ceremony, mutual introductions and greetings end and I am finally convinced that my companions are climbers from the GDR, Polyakov initiates me into his concerns.
There’s a lot to do,” he says, looking worriedly somewhere to the side, over my shoulder; I know very well that this manner of conversation is typical of Arik when he wants to tell his interlocutor something important - Cargo is arriving, participants of the alpiniad are arriving, we need to negotiate in the regional executive committee, with border guards, and then there are difficulties with cars... Tomorrow on a Moscow plane Czechs arrive, Bulgarians, possibly Italians, Yugoslavs travel by train to Andijan. Yesterday, Shalaev’s economic group and the head of our headquarters, Boris Romanov, and several climbers left for the base camp. Hurry up to the city, get involved in business,” he finishes.
I don’t recognize the outskirts of Osh - they have changed so much in the ten years that have passed since my arrival here to train participants in the future assault on Chomolungma. The car rushes us past the long buildings of a textile mill under construction. I hardly recognize the city center - it has changed so much. Nearby are blocks of new five-story buildings, their silhouettes almost covering Mount Suleiman. On the site of the sports ground, where in 1958 a team consisting of Chinese who were part of our expedition to the river. Karadzhilgasai fought a sports battle with the Osh volleyball team, a modern stadium was built. The premises under the stands are at our disposal. In the rooms there are stacks of boxes, mountains of down jackets and trousers, ice axes, boxes with radio equipment. In the lobby there is a multi-voiced conversation, familiar faces of veterans of high-altitude mountaineering and athletic youth who intend to test their strength in high-altitude mountaineering for the first time.
On Polyakov’s advice, I “get involved in things.” In front of me is a mountain of business papers. We are starting to compile lists of mountaineering participants traveling to base camp at the foot of Lenin Peak on the third day; I have been entrusted with leading this group.
The decision to hold an anniversary alpiniad on Lenin Peak, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, was made by the USSR Mountaineering Federation in March 1967. Two hundred to two hundred and fifty climbers were to take part in it, including forty-two from the socialist countries of Europe. However, the information available to our headquarters in Osh indicated that the number of participants in the alpiniad would be much larger. Telegrams arrived at the Osh stadium with the short note “Lenin Peak” notifying the departure of new participants and entire teams from Dushanbe, Alma-Ata, Grozny, Nalchik, Riga; The request for groups of climbers from Italy and Austria to come to Lenin Peak was granted.
The mass ascent to Lenin Peak was supposed to end with the installation of the state flags of the USSR and the countries participating in the alpiniad. The idea was born to install on highest point peak is a monument depicting the great founder of the Soviet state. V. M. Abalakov, a veteran of Lenin Peak and a three-time climber to this peak, took an active part in the development of its design.
The trainers of the alpiniad had to be experienced high-altitude climbers. Many of them have already visited Lenin Peak and other seven-thousanders of the USSR. With some of them I laid out routes in the Pamirs and Tien Shan, and with I.D. Bogachev I climbed Muztagata in Western China. I am sure that we will not have disagreements in the choice of climbing tactics: it was developed during the expeditions of 1936 and 1937, brought success and has stood the long test of time. After all, five hundred and twelve people had already visited Lenin Peak from 1928 to 1966. But how can we manage numerous teams and groups of climbers? After all, more than two hundred climbers will go to storm the summit - a number unprecedented in the world practice of high-altitude mountaineering. How to distribute these groups along the ascent routes known to us in order to make it safe and ensure proper interaction of groups in conditions of bad weather, illness or other misfortunes?
But answers to these questions must be sought on the spot after summarizing the experience of reconnaissance and acclimatization trips.
First news from base camp. B. T. Romanov radios: two reconnaissance groups of the alpiniad, based at the foot of Lenin Peak in the Alai Valley, in a branch of the Dugoba mountaineering camp, made their first ascents to the peak. They walked to Lenin Peak from the east along the classic route through a snow dome at an altitude of 5200 m.
But why didn’t they climb to the goal from the west, through the Razdelnaya peak, as I asked them when we parted in Leningrad, in order to make a detailed reconnaissance of the ascent routes for the alpiniad? The next day, following in the footsteps of the Leningraders, a group of six climbers with the participation of K.K. Kuzmin climbed to the summit; I rejoice at the success of my friend and companion on the Pamir expeditions - after all, this is his third ascent to Lenin Peak.
Representatives of the alpiniad and city sports organizations meet climbers from Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia at the airfield, and later a group of Polish climbers led by Stanislav Biel arrives. He immediately sat down to compose the next correspondence for the Polish press. Stanislav Biel is an experienced high-altitude climber; he has participated in two Polish expeditions to the Hindu Kush and climbed seven thousand-meter peaks.
I have long established strong friendships with many foreign climbers. A. Avramov graduated from the USSR school of mountaineering instructors in the Caucasus at the end of the 50s. Now he is an Honored Master of Sports of Bulgaria, his credit includes climbing the most difficult peaks of the Caucasus and the Alps. Among the Czechoslovak climbers are Karl Herman; just two years ago we made a memorable winter ascent with him in the High Tatras to the top of Lynx, which was visited by V. I. Lenin in 1913.
Together with V.A. Tikhonravov, a member of the Alpiniad headquarters, we meet the Yugoslav delegation in Andijan (it’s only two hours away by car). Its leader, Miha Potocnik, is the chairman of the Slovenian Mountaineering Union. As part of the Yugoslav group, the only woman among foreign participants in the alpiniad so far is the charming Barbara Shchetinina; she is traveling to the Pamirs with her mountaineer husband. There will be at least twenty female climbers of the Soviet Union in the alpiniad. All of them will have to go through the difficult trials of high-altitude climbing. Thirteen women have already visited Lenin Peak. The first of them is engineer from Leningrad Ekaterina Mamleeva.
You are asked to come by climbers who arrived from Lenin Peak, the duty officer reports. - Their car is in the square in front of the stadium.
I rush up the stairs. A group of climbers is surrounded by a dense ring of mountaineering participants. I hardly recognize Stroganov, Shvedchikov, Bakurov, Sivers and others. They have all lost weight, grown beards, their hiking clothes are covered with road dust, there are traces of severe burns on their lips, face and neck - the Pamir sun is merciless on the snow fields of seven thousand meters above sea level.
From the stories I find out the details of their difficult ascent. By the time they arrived at Lenin Peak, the winter and spring snow had just begun to thicken. They had to pave the way from camp to camp on the slopes of the peak in deep loose snow, trampling down a trench up to a meter deep.
How are the avalanches? - I ask impatiently.
They begin to descend at altitudes from 5,000 to 6,000 meters, reports Roman Stroganov. “The most grandiose of them, up to six hundred meters wide, descended before our eyes to the foot of the Lipkin rocks and blocked the entire slope leading to Razdelnaya. That's why we didn't go to the peak from the west. We managed to dig one cave at 5200 meters. It's been hard for us...
You can easily believe this when looking at the tired climbers who left the camp at Lenin Peak just last night. The climber standing next to me convinces Lena Nikolaeva, who arrived in Osh yesterday:
Going to Lenin Peak is crazy... I would probably try again, but why would you do that?! Think for yourself...
I’m finding out the details of the ascent of K.K. Kuzmin’s group. He set off to storm the peak without an acclimatization trip. Returning to base camp, he said: “You can’t go to Lenin Peak like that!” To some extent, K.K. Kuzmin’s haste is explained by the fact that in his pocket there is a plane ticket that should take him to Egypt in a few days. Kirill, as a hydroelectric engineer, takes part in the construction of the Aswan Dam. Kuzmin's phenomenal endurance helped him out, but not all was well in the other group of student climbers. V. Nadbakh and V. Shelaturkin caught a severe cold during the acclimatization trip.
In the eyes of the beginning high-altitude climbers I read the confusion caused by this meeting. I know that at these moments each of them is faced with a question that needs to be answered in the near future: how will I feel higher than my usual heights, will I cope with the difficulties of climbing or will I go down without reaching the goal? How did the guys standing in front of me have to do this?..
Now the word is up to us, the coaches and organizers of the alpiniad. We must guide its participants step by step through the difficult trials of the harsh life of high-altitude climbers, the hardships of acclimatization trips, and the considerable efforts that must be invested in organizing intermediate camps. And we must bring each of them to proper sports form and instill confidence in their abilities.
The hours of farewell to Osh are coming. Osh retains the flavor of an eastern city, which was destined to stand for many hundreds of years at the crossroads of roads connecting the upper reaches of the Syr Darya with the regions of Inner Asia. Foreign guests and our climbers, who come to the Central Asian republics for the first time, do not part with photo and film cameras. They admire the colorful national clothes of the local residents, the tall felt white and black hats of the Kyrgyz, and marvel at the equanimity of the venerable gray-bearded elders making their way through car-crowded intersections riding on donkeys.
The last purchases at the Osh bazaar have been completed, backpacks and boxes have been packed. In the morning, six cars with eighty mountaineering participants leave the stadium, cross the bridge over the noisy Akbura and drive out onto the Pamir Highway. The outskirts of the city are behind. On a steep slope, a group of mourners wave their hats to us: these are the leaders of Osh public and sports organizations- our hospitable hosts. There are two hundred and seventy kilometers of road ahead.
Along the path that is well known to me - now it is a comfortable asphalt road - our caravan is slowly drawn into the mountains. Few villages are left behind. On the slopes of the valley there are flocks of sheep:
the zone of summer pastures of the Small Alai begins. Already a good hundred kilometers separate us from Osh, but even here we see touching signs of attention to us, climbers. There is a poster by the road: “Greetings to the participants of the international alpiniad to Lenin Peak from the Alai cattle breeders!” In response, joyful exclamations come from the cars.
In the afternoon we begin the ascent to the Taldyk pass. Cars crawl slowly along the serpentine road. Here is the pass.
The Alai Valley greets us with a strong cold wind. We stop the cars at the first turn, where we have a view of its vastness. Haze covers the distance of the wide valley, it is difficult to distinguish individual peaks. But the view of the ice wall of the Trans-Alai Range is stunning. Those who are visiting the Pamirs for the first time look at the grandiose panorama with amazement. Their faces reflect delight, confusion, distrust - is everything that lies in front of us real?!
Then we drive along the right bank of the Kyzylsu. This part of the Alai Valley is now plowed in places: the crops of rye, barley, and fodder grasses are growing green, which are intended for livestock remaining for a difficult winter in the side valleys of the Alai Range.
We spend the night at the designated place before the crossing. We start at sunrise. In the stormy waters of one of the Kyzylsu branches, the engines of two cars stall and they are sucked into the sand. The state farm tractor driver comes to our aid in time. We wander for some time in search of crossings across the Achiktash branches and finally get out onto a well-trodden track leading in the direction we need.
The haze is clearing. The panorama of Lenin Peak opens before us in all its grandeur. The sun's rays illuminate the glaciers from the east and highlight all the details of the relief. Even from a thirty-kilometer distance, I can clearly distinguish the cornice on Dzerzhinsky Peak that I remember from 1936 and the formidable wall over which I swung on the rope that connected me with Vanya Fedorov. As if on a relief map, I show attentive listeners the directions of the classic routes to climb these peaks.
Another two dozen kilometers of travel along long climbs and slopes of ancient glacial moraines. Lakes, near them there are yurts - the dwellings of cattle breeders - Kyrgyz and Uzbeks; there are also herds of sheep, cows, horses and yaks. Five-thousand-meter peaks are approaching and growing, with which the spurs of the Trans-Alai Range end. Another lake, near it there are climbing tents and a radio station mast. This is a branch of the Dugoba mountaineering camp. Without stopping we overcome the last climb and find ourselves in a huge wide clearing. On the right, in the lowland, among thick grass, a stream with clear spring water flows. Several tents lined up to the left of their antennas of two radio stations. People are running towards us, ahead of us is Boris Romanov, tanned and weather-beaten from his first Pamir campaigns, alpiniad coach M. A. Greshnev and others. Even further to the left is the surface of a gentle river route, I recognize it - after all, here in 1936 we received the planes of Lipkin and Shaparov! Then, a year later, from the same clearing we launched a new assault on Lenin Peak, which brought us victory.
Scientific, successful with methodological... literature can produce reproductions of portraits of writers, illustrations for works, genre paintings, photos ...
