Author: VK
More than 60 climbers who had managed to reach the summit of Everest were invited to the "Congress of Climbers", conquerors of Everest in the Polytechnical Museum, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the first Soviet and 20th anniversary of the first Russian ascent of the highest point on Earth. Among them were legends of Soviet mountaineering and the strongest climbers of Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
In 2003, on the 50th anniversary of the first ascent, the King of Nepal gathered a meeting like this in Kathmandu. Back then 250 people came to the meeting.
“All of you are attracted by the height, 8848”, Ravi Mohan Sapkota Kopila, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Nepal to the Russian Federation, said. “I know that many of you have been to this peak. Unfortunately, I have not been there, but I am proud that I had a chance to shake hands with many of you and greet you, and I am very confident and I hope that for many years we will be friends united by this peak and greet each other. Nature has provided that Everest is located on our territory, but I want to say that it is the property of the whole world. Together we will preserve our summit. I think that the relationship between the Russian Federation and Nepal will always remain at a level as high as Mount Everest.
175 people from the former Soviet Union have already been to Everest. Among them, 26 people unfortunately are no longer with us, including four people who died coming down from the summit.
The history of the conquest of Everest began 100 years ago, when, after it had been recognized as the highest peak, the first attempted expeditions to this region took place in the 1920s.
Ivan Bogachev, winner of the Lenin Prize in Physics, told about the first organization of an expedition to Everest: “It is necessary to say that the actual program was developed by Evgeniy Abalakov (Soviet sculptor, who, along with other climbers, took part in the defense of the Caucasus and taught at the military school of mountaineering of the Transcaucasian Front – ed. note). In 1948, he received approval for this program from our administration and was supposed to climb Mount Victory in 1948. In 1950 there was to be an exploration of Everest and in 1951 – a climb to the top. This would have allowed our country to be the first to climb Everest. But a number of tragic circumstances led to the fact that the same year, before the start of the expedition, Evgeny Abalakov died.
At the same time a relatively young climber appeared, in Soviet mountaineering, Kirill Kuzmin, and in 1948 he realized that he had to take the place of Evgeny Abalakov. Kuzmin also began already in those years to prepare for this expedition. In 1948, he climbed the eastern peak of Dombai. In 1951 an ascent of Shkhelda was made and his team took first place in the Soviet Union. In 1953, the Central Caucasus was traversed via the Bezengiyskaya horseshoe as a result of 24 days at a height of five thousand meters in the Caucasus and he took first place at the championship of the Soviet Union. In 1956 Kuzmin already came very close to the realization of the conquest of Everest. Together with Evgeny Beletsky he organized an expedition to China, to the 7000-metre-high Muztagh-Ata. The team of Chinese and Soviet climbers successfully overcame all the slopes of the 7546-metre-high mountain, and 31 men climbed the highest point of Muztagh Ata. It was the first joint Soviet-Chinese climb to a 7000-metre-high mountain. Then it was also decided that a joint Soviet-Chinese team of climbers was going to Everest. The program was prepared by Kuzmin, but the officials of the Committee for Physical Culture could not receive permission to climb it for a long time”.
Fritz Vrijlandt, president of the International Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing, told about his ascent to Everest: “In 1990, I met Misha Turkevich at my home in the Netherlands. He spoke about climbing from the south, showed videos, and for us it was phenomenal. As you know, he developed an outstanding new route to Everest. For me it was a shining example. When I met him, for me he was the first representative of the great Soviet and Russian mountaineering. On May 19, 2007, I myself managed to climb Everest, and as I was climbing up, I happened to meet four Russian climbers who were going down. They were the first ones to climb up that season, and we followed their steps. We are very grateful for what they did for us”.
Kazbek Khamitsaev, 3-time climber of Everest, the ambassador of "Sochi-2014", spoke on the uniting force of the mountains: “An evening like we are having today, I believe, is a gift of God. When you see your closest one, you want to live on and on and continue our holy undertaking. I have been 46 years in mountaineering, I worked and I will be working, to serve our beloved Soviet and Russian mountaineering. This expedition in 1995 was called "Alanya - Himalaya-95." It was not easy. There were our strong guys, guys from other teams. But the most important thing there, as with any team – is friendship. From 22 athletes, 8 people climbed it, which is a good indicator. I am happy that I made so many friends there. I have met our friends from Baltic countries. It was there that I fell in love with Nepal, which I consider my second home. It was there that I was able, at the top, to make the first professional videos, I am proud of them, this is a godsend. And the most important thing there was the sky. As if I talked to God. It was cosmos. Every day after morning exercises I go to this sky and pray for you all, for us, and God grant I hope that our summits will multiply. I have celebrated 64 years at Kazbek. And I wish this for everyone”.
“Only 3 routes out of the existing 16 were developed by the Soviet Union and Russia”, Viktor Kozlov, head of the Russian mountaineering team expedition, said. “The first expedition in 1982, when a mountaineering team of the Soviet Union climbed the South-Western wall, they had a stunning route, and none so far have managed to repeat it. In 1996 – the Krasnoyarsk expedition climbed via a new route along the North-Eastern ridge. And in 2004, our team, the Russian national mountaineering team, climbed the Northern wall. And I am sure that in the next 15, and I can even say 20 years, no one is going to repeat the 1982 route of the Soviet team, nor our route, the route of the Russian team – this is how difficult they are”.
Israfil Ashurly, president of the Azerbaijani Mountaineering Federation, told VK about his own Everest.
- How did you become a climber?
- Quite by accident, not realizing it, I became part of one company that was climbing in India. It was my first ever trip abroad. I was asked: "Do you want to go abroad?" I said: "I do." I did not quite understand where they were going or why. I was just told: "Bring sneakers with you, we are going to have a walk." In the end, we had a walk up to a pass 5000 meters high. I liked it and I asked: "Can I do more?" I was told: "Yes." And after six months we went up Kilimanjaro. After that, I decided to take up climbing seriously. Each mountain is interesting in its own way, and every mountain, at least for me, and I think for many climbers as well, with each mountain there is some personal sacramental history connected, their own mountain. Each summit is beautiful in its own way. Probably my beloved region - I like the Caucasus, I love the French Alps, I love the Himalayas, of course. I think that every mountain area is good and beautiful in its own way. There are no ugly summits, there are no unwanted regions. Simply, there are more complicated, colder and more distant ones, as well as more accessible, comfortable and warmer ones.
- How do you feel on Mount Everest?
- I've been there only once, so I cannot say that it is a phenomenon that repeats itself, but it was quite a feeling... It is the roof of the world. There is no point higher. As I stood at the top, I tried to convince myself that there is nothing higher in the world, that I was standing at the altitude where aircraft usually fly, and I had finally fulfilled my dream, which I had had for a long time and which I successfully achieved. I have been preparing for Everest for a very long time, worried, trained, was nervous. When the time came to climb and accomplish the task, I climbed and accomplished it.
I am very pleased that the Russian Mountaineering Federation has found the opportunity to gather Everest climbers, even though they are only from the former Soviet Union, but it is a big event. In 2003, a similar event, but on a larger scale, was held in Nepal. The king of Nepal invited climbers from all over the world to come to Nepal on the 50th anniversary of the ascent of Everest. I am delighted that Andrey Evgenyevich Volkov initiated the gathering of climbers from the former USSR in Moscow today, in this beautiful place. I am pleased that a large number of climbers found a way to accept this invitation and came to Moscow today.
