Ingushetians climb Everest

by VK

Ingushetia will send its first expedition to Mount Everest in late March. The expedition is currently climbing Aconcagua in South America, the tallest and most complicated peak in North and South America.

Visan Yusypuv, head of the expedition, said that the climbing will be the best gift for the 20th anniversary of the multinational republic. “We have received all the necessary equipment for climbing. It will be our second peak after Kilimanjaro. Then we will rest for 20 days, but the main goal of our expedition is to reach the peak of the world – Everest – to plant the flags of Russia and Ingushetia. I would like to thank all our compatriots, everyone who put effort into realization of our expedition, who could say that our little republic has mountain-climbers with the strength and will to climb the peaks. Alpine tourism, which used to prosper in our beautiful region in Soviet times, is being reborn. What we are doing today is support for Putin’s project for development of the tourism cluster in the North Caucasus. We are glad to make our contribution to the development of our region and give an example to young people,” Yusupov said.

“Our team is international. Sergey Bogomolov, our coach, is a world alpine legend, he won the Snow Leopard Premium four times. Only two alpinists in the world have such achievements – Reinhold Messner and Sergey Bogomolov. Bogomolov climbed 13 out of 14 mountains of 8000 meters in height; only K2, the Savage Mountain, is left. With his firm and calm attitude, Bogomolov inspires confidence in our success. Vladimir Korenkov, our instructor, climbed Everest in 1995. The team consists of Leyla Albogachiyeva, who is an example for young girls and boys; Musa Khadziyev, a very notable mountaineer who climbed Kazbek, Elbrus and Kilimanjaro in 2011; Magomed Aushev who climbed Elbrus and Kilimanjaro; and Aznor Hajiyev, a very strong and skilled alpinist who was recommended by Yunus Bek Yevkurov himself. Kilimanjaro is considered to have a very complicated peak, Chinese, Australian, South Korean and South African groups have failed to reach it with us, while we managed to do so, with the help of the skill and experience of Aznor. When we arrived from Kilimanjaro, Yunus Bek Yevkurov gave us an excellent reception. I told him that we hoped that the team cohesion we built up would help us reach complicated and hard peaks,” Yusupov says.

Leyla Albogachiyeva said that she does not like the expression “to conquer mountains”: “You cannot conquer them, you need to love them and make your climbing. Each mountain demands respect. When I reached the peak of Elbrus, the feelings I had cannot be expressed in words. Kilimanjaro was much easier than Elbrus. It is hard to say why. Last year, I brought three memorial plates, so my the total weight of my equipment was 42 kg. One plate was dedicated to Medvedev and Putin, the second to the 20th anniversary of Ingushetia, the third to Akhmad Kadyrov. We set six flags at the top, including the flags of Russia, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. We also raised the flags of Russia and the Caucasian republics. I am proud to glorify my republic.”

Vestnik Kavkaza interviewed the alpinist.

- Why did you choose the profession of a mountaineer?

- Actually it is not a profession. I am a teacher, alpinism is my vocation from God. I was lucky to visit Kabardino-Balkaria in 1998. I was interested in how much time it takes professional alpinists to climb Elbrus, so I asked them. They said it takes 10-11 hours. I said: “That is no big achievement. I could climb it in 2 hours. We had a bet I did not want to lose and as a result I reached the height of 5,100 meters in sneakers, a jeans shirt and tights, the place was called “kosa”. It is at the entrance to the saddle between two peaks of Elbrus. Then I had to go down due to the cold. On my way back I met an interesting expedition from Karachay-Cherkessia, they were the first to take horses up Elbrus. Part of the expedition was left behind, three were next to Shelter N11, the last stopping place before reaching the peak. I asked them what they were doing there with horses. They said they were having an experiment and to take them to Elbrus. I was thinking about borrowing a hat and coat to continue climbing. But they were the ones to offer me to join their expedition. At first I did not believe it. Only after a few hours, when we dried our clothes, had lunch and when the rest of the expedition came up, did the alpinists request their supervisor to allow me to join. The Old Man, as they called him, was absolutely opposed to it at first, but when a third expedition member requested it, he wanted to have a look at me. When I approached, he recognized me, I outran their group a few hours ago. I thought they were some kind of athletes, but were crawling like turtles. He asked whether I were a master at sports. I said I was not and that I was just a teacher. He could not believe his ears, he decided to allow me to join the expedition. Then in 1998 we were the first to take horses to the eastern peak of Elbrus. Then we repeated the attempt and took them to the western peak after a year...

You see, if a man has never been to mountains and has not felt what every alpinist goes through at the peak, he would never understand it, the feelings cannot be described by words.

- Are you ready to climb Everest?

- If the weather is good, we will do it. We will arrive there in late March, May is the best time for climbing Everest. Alpinists that have visited the peak told various stories, including ones about passing dying members of other expeditions without giving any help. There is a great alpinist in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ionikh Eduard Alexandrovich, my tutor. When he told me that, I said I would not be able to pass them. Then he wrote a letter to my republic, in which he said that only two things could prevent me from climbing to the top – bad weather and rescuing. “In other cases, I am 90% confident that she would make it,” he wrote. I wish us good weather and to reach the peak of Everest, to demonstrate to the world that Russians can do it.