Anatoly Bukreev: On the one hand, I realized how much I know about high-altitude mountaineering, on the other hand, how much I still don't know... Tragedy with one of the best climbers in Russia, with one of the strongest and most experienced.
Don't you think that it was precisely because he was experienced that Bashkirov took on such a responsibility, and could not remove it even in such a difficult condition? After all, he said that he was sick - before going on the assault?
Anatoly: I can describe the situation. We returned from climbing Everest together with the Indonesians, where we were consultants, trainers and rescue team. Vinogradsky Evgeny, Volodya Bashkirov and I - we participated in such a large extraordinary national Indonesian event, which took a lot of energy from us. I don’t know about Zhenya and Volodya, maybe it was easier for them, but after last year’s tragedy, when they dumped a bunch of criticism on my shoulders, when I did everything possible to save people, it was very difficult for me. It seems that I was in the heroes, and at the same time I made some mistakes, according to many. Then the best climbing guides died, the best and most experienced. The same Rob Hall, who climbed for the fifth time and died on the descent with a client - he was responsible for others, weaker ones. The weaker ones also perished. The storm unequivocally cut people off from life, not understanding who is strong and who is weak. It began, people lost the possibility of visibility on the descent, remained at a height, which led to a fatal outcome. During last year's tragedy, I saved three people, but I did not use oxygen. They say it's my fault. But I was in such a shape, I climbed three eight-thousanders last year, the last (Manaslu) 2 months before Everest, I had such a huge acclimatization, a form when I felt that I did not need additional oxygen. This year the situation after the car accident, after I didn't train, had 2 surgeries - it's completely different.
You face unforeseen situations. Last year, the best, strongest climbers died. Scott Fisher - I consider him the best high-altitude climber in America. Rob Hall was an Everest expert, he was the head of Adventure Consultants, and it was a firm known all over the world, he took many clients to the top of Everest, ensuring safety, And then his two clients died, the guide died and he himself. This is during a storm. I worked in this situation, did what I could, pulled out clients, making extraordinary decisions that were at odds with the decisions of conservative guides. For example, I did everything in my own way, in a different way, and this helped me survive, and I saved others. But these extraordinary decisions of mine are in no way consistent with the experience of Western climbers. We had a lot of disagreements with climbers who are considered monsters (Todd Burleson, Ed Vistours, who is already on Everest for the fifth time - here they are now right there in the BC) They began to criticize me. In the States, in huge publications in magazines (Life. Climing, etc.) there was a lot of positive and a lot of negative about this.
And therefore, in the current expedition, I had a very heavy burden of responsibility. The expedition squeezed everything out of me, ate it psychologically. Bashkirov, too, I think, this expedition squeezed out an incredible amount of strength, because he spent all the preparations, held all this event. I was a consultant. I did not advertise my physical problems, that I had 2 operations in the States, I sat there and organized all the equipment and material and technical preparation of the expedition. Volodya was in Nepal and coached the team.
And then, we have an unforeseen situation. Usually we come to the expedition, carry out acclimatization, and make our sports ascent, give all the best. Here we got acclimatization and gave all the best with the Indonesians, and tried to save strength for our most important event. Bashkirov and his team were going to make a traverse Lhotse - Lhotse Shar. And I gathered with my Italian friend Simone Moro for the Lhotse-Everest traverse. If we passed it, it would be of great world significance, on a par with the traverse of the Lhotse massif.
We thought this holiday would bring a positive moment, and there would be a better chance of success in the next event. It turned out the opposite. Having gone down to Kathmandu, after a hard, huge work, we abruptly dropped altitude and found ourselves inactive for 12 days. It's like stopping a horse at full gallop. Or your car rushes at a speed of 130 km per hour, and slow down sharply - what will happen to the car? The same thing happened to our bodies, I think so.
Everything was very similar, both for me and for Volodya. During the traverse, after one-third of the work done from what needed to be done, I was not far from staying forever in the mountains.
Volodya had the same. At the first stage, we kept in touch and interacted with the Russian expedition. We hoped to spend the night in camp 4, but it turned out that we didn’t have a chance, and we started immediately from camp 3. And already in the 4th camp I saw that the Russian team started having some problems that should have been resolved before the start of the traverse, and this again laid a burden on the shoulders of the leader, the strongest and most experienced climber. At 4 in the morning we approached camp 4, when the Russian team was already leaving, and we decided to rest for a couple of hours, since there would be a lot of people on the route, and we would really need a rest after a continuous four-hour work. We stopped with Simone and I noticed something unusual with my health, and after this rest I was not in the form that I expected. I connected this with the fact that we usually did the preparation before the assault in a different way. Now our body was not ready for this - we broke the normal training schedule that I followed for 20 years, Volodya his 25 years.
Bashkirov took on such a task - he couldn’t tell the guys - here you go, but I won’t go, because I was sick. He took up this traverse, prepared it for 4 years - he could not help but go ...
Anatoly: Take Kanchenjunga for example. (meaning the traverse of Kanchenjunga - the second Soviet Himalayan expedition - ed.) To go on a difficult route, the best climbers trained, did not work for 2 years, were selected so that the best from each region got into this twenty, and these 20 people worked on the traverse. There was a powerful two-year training, there was a selection of the best from the Soviet school of mountaineering, which in the high-altitude class is one of the strongest in the world.
And then we went this traverse. What a mood was... What preparation I had... What preparation the team had... And now I compare the Kanchenjunga traverse with the Lhotse-Lhotse Shar traverse. These are identical tasks. It is difficult to say which is more difficult: Kanchenjunga is taller and longer, technically more difficult here. There everything was thought out, technically secure, but here not everything is so technically prepared. I'm not saying anything bad about the guys - I just don't know. I know well what I was worth 6-7 years ago, what I am worth now. I can appreciate, for example, the training of the same Koroteev, or Bogomolov. Youth - well, what conditions do they have now - and what conditions did we have, for example, in the national team ... When we lived in Escher, we trained 3 times a day, ate 20 rubles a day, which I don’t even know how many thousands will be with current money ... I don't know money... But it was a lot of money...
Do they usually go down to rest before climbing?
Anatoly: Yes, they go down. Sometimes you come down after hard work at a height and get on the rise, but after the rise there is always a decline. If you hit the time of the decline (and our health goes along the sinusoid), then you fall into such a decline that your health and defenses in the body are two times lower than usual. And here we are in the middle of a downturn. Every person has certain health problems. My bronchitis worsened, my nasopharynx was blocked, I felt in a painful state. Throat problems worsened in a matter of hours. I left camp 3 from a height of 7200, feeling great, approached camp 4 - Volodya Bashkirov was just leaving. I asked him how he was doing. I don't feel well," he replied. I, - I say, - am also not in order. I'll rest and see how I feel. I will work according to my well-being, but something is not in the state in which I would like to be. The same sound came from him. So we exchanged these words.
We rested for two hours. Simone is 10 years younger than me, he is a strong climber, but not very experienced, and I carried the entire backpack to the traverse. I thought that maybe the problem is due to the weight of the backpack that I carry a lot. At 8300-8400 we already caught up with the Russian team, went around, and I left my backpack to go to the traverse later.
Are you the first to climb Lhotse Main?
Anatoly: Before us only Babanov got up. And someone else. Gleb Sokolov. I kept telling Simone - don't rush, we still have 2-3 days of hard work at great heights. Left the backpack - it did not get any easier. Well, already ahead of Koroteev, ahead of the Bashkirs. Bashkirov, I see, is making a film - everything is fine. Bashkirov - he is always in himself, he never advertises his weakness, you can never tell from him how he is - Bashkirov is Bashkirov. We exchanged words with him. I say: "Something I'm sailing away from the real world, it's bad for me, either I've lost acclimatization, or I've got a disease." In the complex, everything worked out. The correct training schedule was broken and chronic diseases became aggravated. Ask for help - yes, they have enough problems of their own. But just in case, I warned that I could stay here on the descent. If they see that I am lying somewhere in the snow, so as not to be surprised ...
And Volodya says to me: “Listen, I had a temperature at night, and I didn’t feel well.” I asked: "How are you now?" "Normal," he says, "only a very big weakness." He tells us - come in, I will still wait for the last ones, Pershin will probably be the last there, I will wait for Valera, and you go through.
We went up the hill, I climbed on autopilot to the top, filmed there, and I already feel - I'm in such a state - I'm dropping the camera case. “Simone,” I say, “let’s go down to the backpack, I feel bad, we’ll decide what to do there.” The only thing that can help in such a situation is a quick drop in height. If you stay on top, the condition worsens rapidly.
On the descent, I stopped next to Volodya, I told him: “I don’t know if I’ll go down, or I won’t go down.” Well, they have their own problems.
Of course, when I saw that Bogomolov was getting up ... And Bashkirov was set up in such a way as to wait for everyone. Bogomolov was getting up late. In principle, it was impossible to get up so late ...
When you went down, what was Bashkirov's condition, did he get worse?
Anatoly: I didn't pay attention because I was bad myself. Simone told me that Volodya's eyes had changed dramatically.
Bashkirov was without glasses at that moment?
Anatoly: He periodically took off his glasses and worked with the camera. He remained silent about his condition. He said that he would wait for the last one and he had to shoot at the same time.
It was evident that he was not feeling well, but a weak person, when he feels bad, he cannot rise, cannot work. A strong person can work at the level of a weak one. Therefore, the risk of dying in a strong person at a height is much higher than that of a weak one. Because the barrier works for the weak, and he does not go further, but the strong overcomes himself ...
In addition, Simone and I worked in pairs and could quickly descend. But Bashkirov was forced to stay. On the one hand, this is an excuse for yourself - to stop. On the other hand, he lingered at the height, and this aggravated his condition. And it seems to be easier. When a person freezes, it seems to him that he is warm and well, he simply leaves the real world. The same is true at the height - you really float away and stop assessing the situation.
It was 12 o'clock when Bashkirov last got in touch. He had to start descending, maybe he needed help, but he told the guys to continue working on the route, fix the ropes. He himself was still at least 5 hours to the summit. What does it mean? He didn't get in touch anymore. Didn't appreciate yourself?
Anatoly: First, I didn't appreciate it. Second, he was in charge of the group. He had to evaluate the group. Let's say I'm holding an event, I'm climbing with the team. I drop out, but the idea remains, the group must continue to work.
Why didn't he admit that he felt bad and didn't ask for the team's help?
Anatoly: Well, we're talking about 12 o'clock, but he got really sick, maybe at 5-6 or at 8 o'clock.
When did you talk to him?
Anatoly: At 4 in the morning in the camp, at 13-00 before the summit and somewhere at 14-14.15 on the descent.
Bashkirov and I climbed Everest, gave the same effort, carried out all the preparations in the same way, had the same rest below and fell ill in the same way. I don't think it's a coincidence. My condition also changed in a matter of hours. I went to this traverse as a super test, I believed in this success, I was ready for it. After 4 hours, approaching the tents at 7900, I doubted the success of the event. After another 2 hours I felt bad, after another 2 hours I was floating away from the real world. The same with Bashkirov. Simone is more observant, he burns that when we talked with Volodya at 13-00, he smiled and was in order, and an hour later his condition changed dramatically.
As for the rescue work - was there such a case on the eight-thousander when the guys went up the mountain, then went down to the tents, then again actually went halfway up for a rescue, and at night? Here you are on Everest - you climbed the second time ...
Anatoly: I worked for three days in a storm with no visibility. When all the experienced Sherpas refused to work and even leave the tent. And in general, I know what the height and the rescues after the ascent are. I had to do this after Everest. I managed to save people when I worked without oxygen and climbed Everest. After that it's hard to explain - people have no idea what I could do. It's just unrealistic - in terms of well-being, in terms of costs. Last year I had to be on the verge of these three days ...
You go into the risk zone, you can save, or you can stay ... Therefore, decide on this ... Well, foreigners, they simply did not understand when they found Bashkirov's body 100 meters from the tent, on a rope - they do not understand that the guys worked and they did everything they could ... And when the man had already died, and there was nothing to help him, they went down to the tent and began to fight for their lives.
Then they went up to him again?
Anatoly: Yes, then it’s just to pay respect, to wrap the body, so as not to be left without attention. What they could do, they did.
In the Himalayas, they are now trying not to go into the risk zone, there are many commercial events. They try not to risk anything, and not to be in a situation where they need to save. If you find yourself in a situation like we did last year, then you made a mistake. Wrong with the weather. It means that you are inexperienced, and as a result of your inexperience, someone dies. But in the mountains, if you don't take risks, you have very little chance of success. And let's say that this year 6 people died from Russia, a lot for the season. This is a notable event, anti-advertising, so to speak, for Russian mountaineering.
I was surprised when I looked at the lists of participants on Makalu. Only Efimov had 4 eight-thousanders.
Anatoly: This is a big problem. Whoever has no experience, no matter how technically trained he is ... If there is no experience, the risk of dying increases, plus if you are strong, but inexperienced, this is even more dangerous. You will easily climb into a dangerous zone, and grunt there. Without experience.
Here, you see, people are experienced, there are a huge number of chances - and they die, over the past year on classic routes ... The strongest and most experienced people die - because they work more, plus responsibility for others eats up energy - and you remain at zero .
The death of Russian climbers also confirms your words that the strongest and most experienced die?
Anatoly: More precisely, the strongest and the weakest are more likely to die, and in the middle - it is somehow simpler. If a person, plus everything else, also bears the psychological burden of responsibility for others ...
For a long time, Russian mountaineering was only in Russia, only in the USSR, and abroad they climbed only with their own people. Now it seems that the gates have opened - and the preparation has deteriorated sharply. People are leaving like...
How's the last chance?
Anatoly: Yes, they live like the last time. After working for the last 5 years, I also thought about what I used to do and what I would not like to do now. I compared myself to Western climbers. They never take risks. They have a credit card, a bank account, a house in California or somewhere on the islands. He has a good life, he came to rest. Someone's mistake can lead to the death of another person. In the mountains, you need to depend only on yourself, on your own strength, so it is immoral to expect someone to help you at a high altitude.
Is it easier to work in a team?
Anatoly: When you work in a team, it's easier. You climb together, you carry loads together.
Last year I did what I thought was an extraordinary act when I saved people. Not a single guide, even from neighboring ones, came to the rescue. Yasuko Namba died - no one came out to help. I brought oxygen to three - three survived. Yasuko Namba was there, but she didn't have oxygen. I only gave oxygen to my clients (I only had 2 bottles free). I pulled one on my shoulders (helping - she was able to walk) - 400 m we walked 40 minutes, strong headwind, 40 minutes we walked on level ground. I just carried her. Charlet Fox. It is better not to get into such situations. Now she does not remember and does not understand it. A professional can evaluate, but again, a professional will say - why did you get into this situation? You should have foreseen it. If you hit, it's your fault.
Last year in the West, magazines widely covered the tragedy on Everest. We will have something written - six people died in the season ...?
Anatoly: As for the West, I realized after last year's tragedy that any tragedy, any mourning attracts the press, television. Media are greedy for tragic cases. If our climb to Everest had gone off without a hitch, no one would have remembered. And now they remember what good people were - as they usually remember after death. In the West, it is also connected with making money. Having done what I did, you expect some kind of attention, respect, and there, on the contrary, they began to inflate this tragedy. Trumpet about it. Yes, there are many deaths. Last year we made a flawless ascent in the Himalayas, returned home, in a minibus we get into a car accident where a 24-year-old young climber dies - there are a lot of different situations ...
And in the West, after last year’s tragedy, I don’t like a lot, because people make big, crazy money on this, presenting events the way America wants, and not the way it really happened. Now Hollywood is making a film, I don’t know what they will make of me - with some kind of red star, with a flag in their hands - and how they will present it to American society - it’s clear that it will be completely different ...
Did they talk to you about it?
Anatoly: Yes, they are trying to come to an agreement, yes... it doesn't matter... I would like it to be different in our country, as in the West, when people make only money out of any negative event. And they forget about everything when it comes to millions of bucks - you can turn the story any way you like..
Everest base camp, Nepal, May 1997
Primary source (video recording of the interview) © Viktor Kozlov 1997
Text (edited): © Elena Laletina 2002
Photos: © Gleb Sokolov 1997
the site learned the secrets of the biography of Anatoly Bukreev, whose feat became the basis for the Everest blockbuster.
"It was a feat"
Commercial expeditions to Everest in the spring of 1996 turned into what went down in history as the “tragedy on the Chomolungma”. Then several groups simultaneously rushed to storm the "roof of the world", the members of which paid up to $65,000 for this pleasure. Almost everyone was able to get to the top under the guidance of experienced guides. Few were lucky enough to go down in time: a gale-force wind arose of such strength, as if, according to the survivors, “a freight train is rushing over you wagon after wagon.”
“So far,” the Wall Street Journal wrote after those events, “none of the guides, clients or Sherpas found the courage to leave the camp, Boukreev alone went upstairs several times. At night, at an eight-kilometer height, he walked through a raging snowstorm and saved three climbers who were already on the verge of death ... What he did has no analogues in the history of world mountaineering. The man, whom many call the "tiger of the Himalayas", immediately after climbing without oxygen to the highest point of the planet, without any help, saved the freezing ones for several hours in a row ... It was a real feat.
The feat itself is told in the film, where, in addition to the Russian guide, there are many other characters. And the "Interlocutor" tried to find out what kind of person Anatoly Bukreev himself was, who conquered almost all the eight-thousanders of the planet.
“I wouldn’t go with him on reconnaissance”
“The fact that he saved people, the way he did it, is, of course, beyond praise,” the climber Vladimir Shataev, who knew Bukreev, shared with the “Interlocutor”. But there was also a downside to all of this. He worked as a guide and received $25,000 for it. For this money, he had to tie shoelaces for clients. And he had his own goal: participating in commercial expeditions, he got the opportunity to engage in mountaineering himself (in the 90s it was difficult in a different way). So it was at that time: he was the first to reach the top, and then immediately descended. Later, of course, he justified himself that he had come down to come, if necessary, to help, to bring tea or oxygen. But seeing that the clients were delayed and no longer had time to go down in time, he had to turn them down even earlier. He did not do this, and heroism came later.
Shataev met Bukreev a year before the tragedy in the same place, on Everest:
- He was then with another group and came to my tent to ask permission to use the railing that we hung. I remember even offering money, which was new for us. We, of course, allowed it, but instead of money we asked them for a rope, which we did not have enough: in the mountains it is more needed. Our second meeting took place a few days later: when we arrived at a height of 7500 and opened our tent, we suddenly saw Bukreev in it. It was a shock. After all, he could at least ask permission on the radio! You see, on Everest they constantly steal, especially during the descent: glasses, some other things. Oxygen cylinders are especially popular, so they are usually labeled. And it is not customary to enter other people's tents without asking. And either he didn’t have his own tent, or he didn’t want to put it up, so he decided to spend the night quietly in ours. He felt more comfortable that way. In general, he was a defiant individualist - I would not go into intelligence with such a person.
"The best skier among mountaineers"
- And I would go, - Yervand Ilyinsky, the head coach of the Kazakhstan mountaineering team, does not agree with his old acquaintance. - It’s just that Shataev didn’t know Tolya well. Boukreev was a cool guy, responsible. He came to us in Kazakhstan from Chelyabinsk in 1979, when he was 21 years old. At first I studied with rock climbers, but there specific training is needed, from the age of 5–7, and Tolya was a skier before that, where, as in mountaineering, endurance is important. So the climbing coach recommended him to me, said he was a strong guy. And I already drafted him into the army - into the sports company. After the service, he remained at CSKA, trained in my expeditions and constantly helped his teammates in them: if it’s hard for someone, he will definitely unload his backpack and carry it himself.
According to Ilyinsky, Bukreev, speaking of his endurance, called himself "the best skier among mountaineers and the best mountaineer among skiers":
- A physicist by education, he played the guitar, wrote poetry. But I didn't forget the skis either. At one time he was even a cross-country skiing coach for schoolchildren. It worked out well. And then he went into commercial mountaineering - then there really was no other way to go to the mountains.
“Anatoly had a difficult situation,” explained Ivan Dusharin, vice-president of the Russian Mountaineering Federation, who met Bukreev shortly before his death, on his way to Pakistan. “Sometimes he even had to work as a simple porter on other people's expeditions to earn a living. Already being a famous, iconic (expensive) guide, he most often spent money on his sporting, interesting ascents from his point of view. The mountains were his life.
"He was mentally hard"
At the end of 1997, the mountains became his death - Anatoly Bukreev fell under an avalanche.
– Strong climbers often die on commercial climbs. After all, there is a queue of wealthy tourists who have no training on Everest. And all responsibility falls on professional guides. This is wrong, - says Vladimir Bogdanov, a friend of Bukreev, who sews clothes for climbers. - We met Anatoly when he began to take equipment from us. We helped him fly away, met him. Often he even lived with us - he could seem withdrawn, but this is not from arrogance, but from inner vulnerability. When we talked with him after the tragedy on Everest, for example, he was depressed. Anatoly believed that he had done a good deed, saved people, and in America a book was published in which they wrote that he abandoned everyone and quickly went down before the hurricane, although he simply followed the order of the group leader. It was morally difficult for him from this criticism.
The role of Bukreev was played by actor Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson / Frame from the movie "Everest"
Boukreev even became a co-author of the book "Ascent", dedicated to the events of 1996 (it was published with the help of Bogdanov). The second edition is now ready. Surely it will disperse: when a Russian saves the Americans, it's always nice.
/Behind the scenes
Fuck Bukreev button accordion
Climbers are generally satisfied with the film "Everest".
– It can be seen that good consultants worked on the picture – there are no jambs, – explained the director of the Higher Mining School Alexei Ovchinnikov. – And the equipment is authentic, and the relief. I have been to Nepal several times and immediately noticed that they were filming on location. Even the overalls on Bukreev - as in life, blue and yellow, in the colors of the flag of Kazakhstan, whose citizenship he had. And his traditional cockerel hat. So the details were taken care of. When the American rough version of the picture was shown to Russian climbers a few weeks ago, all the heroes had real photographs in the end credits, except for Bukreev. We pointed this out, and in the final version, already in Russian, the photograph appeared ... True, there was such a moment, but not offensive, but rather cheerful: in one of the scenes, Bukreev plays the button accordion, although in fact he played the guitar. As representatives of the film company told us, the idea to replace the guitar with the button accordion came to the mind of the performer of the role of Bukreev. For some reason, he decided that this would better convey his Russian soul.
The role of Bukreev in Everest was played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson, an actor from Iceland, who admitted: “The character itself shocked me. The more I learned about him, the more he captivated me. Much of it explains the fact that he is Russian. More precisely, he considered himself a Soviet man. It seems to me that he was simply sure that this was his mission (probably, Gagarin felt the same way when he went into space): proof of the strength of the human spirit, which became the meaning of life.
ASCENT
Translation from English by Petr Cepreev
B A C K MCHMO MOCKBA, 2BBK 75.82 B 90
Bukreev A. N., G. Weston De Walt
B 90 Climbing: Transl. from English. - M. : MTsNMO, 2002. - 376 p., 16 p. ill. ISBN 5-94057-039-9
The book is dedicated to the tragic events of 1996 on Everest: it is a mournful, heroic story of the death of five climbers on the highest peak in the world. The unique rescue operation described in the book has no analogues in the history of world mountaineering.
"Ascent" is the testimony of one of the main participants of the expedition - the outstanding Russian climber Anatoly Bukreev, who in detail, day after day, describes the course of events, trying to understand the causes of the tragedy. Anatoly Boukreev himself, shortly after writing the book, tragically died in an avalanche while climbing Annapurna on December 25, 1997, 1.5 years after the events described.
Cover photo V. Nevorotina
Maps and diagrams drawn specifically for the Russian edition
FROM. Maktskevich
Copyright © 1997 by Anatoli Boukreev and G.Weston DeWalt
© BASK, Russian translation 2002 © LWylie, V. Sedelnikov, V. Nevorotin
ISBN 0-312-20637-2 Photographs, 2002
ISBN 5-94057-039-9 (Russian) © S. Maktskevich. Maps and diagrams, 2
The mountains have the power to call us to their lands
There forever remained to lie our friends with you
Reaching for heights people of great soul
Don't forget those who didn't come from the heights...
Anatoly Bukreev
The publication of the book "Ascension" is dedicated to the memory of
Anatoly Bukreeva
Vladimir Bashkirov
Dmitry Sobolev
Yasuko Namba
Ngawanga Topshe
Scott Fisher
Andy Harris
Doug Hansen
Bruce Herod
Rob Hall
Chen Yu Yang
Alex Davis
Yervand Ilyinsky
Terry Le Monchek
Simon Moreau
Harry Neptune
Bob Palace
Diana Taylor
Linda Wylie
Betty Wild
Jen and Shirley Fisher
Jenny Fisher
Rinat Khaibullin
From publishers
Let no one dare to judge Icarus for his insane flight, just as no one dares to judge the Sun that has melted his wings.
Daniil Andreev
It just so happened that our work for the last twelve years has been constantly connected with extraordinary people: leaders of mountaineering, polar, yachting, parachute expeditions, strong athletes, solo travelers. Helping such people, you unwittingly become an accomplice in their risky projects. Many have become our friends.
In memory of our dead friends Anatoly Bukreev and Vladimir Bashkirov, we decided to translate and publish this book in Russia.
Sergei and Vladimir Bogdanov BASK
Translator's Preface
Translated publications on climbing topics come out with us infrequently. All the more symbolic is the appearance in Russia of such a book as Ascension. Among the many publications published in the West and now coming out in our country, Ascension stands apart.
The fact is that one of the co-authors and the main character of the book is our compatriot Anatoly Bukreev, one of the best high-altitude climbers of the twentieth century. Life turned out so bizarrely that he had to write a book in English. Forced to express himself in a foreign language, Boukreev completely concentrated on the accuracy of the presentation of facts, not caring too much about the sophistication of style. When translating, we tried to preserve his manner of narration. As in the original edition, Anatoly's words are in italics in the book.
In addition to the complete translation of the book "Ascent", this edition also contains the memoirs of Anatoly Bukreev's friends, written by them specially for this occasion.
In conclusion of our brief preface, I would like to note those who helped the appearance of "Ascension" in Russian. First of all, this is Vladimir Bogdanov, a friend of Anatoly Bukreev and the head of BASK, a leader among Russian manufacturers of mountaineering equipment. Without his initiative and support, the publication of Ascension would simply have been impossible. We are especially grateful to the wonderful literary editor of the book, Polina Kuznetsova, and Stepan Maktskevich, who created all the illustrations and diagrams for the Russian edition. Ivan Yashchenko reacted with great interest to the idea of publishing Ascension in Russian, who organized the preparation of the book for publication.
I would also like to thank all the members of our mountaineering community who have provided great assistance in the translation of Ascension, in particular Vadim Beshanov (Kharkov), Alexei Dmitrenko (Limassol), Rinat Khaibullin (Alma-Ata) and Sergey Shibaev (St. Petersburg).
Petr Sergeev
Preface to the Russian edition
The book of Anatoly Bukreev is a canvas of the tragic events of the spring of 1996 on the southeastern ridge of the world's greatest mountain of Events, during which several groups of climbers rushed to the top, catching a window in the weather. The highest point was reached by 27 people, but on the descent, five disappeared in a storm, and two more received severe frostbite. Events that entered the history of world mountaineering as an example of both irresponsible decisions and unparalleled heroism. Events where the destinies of a millionaire and a postal employee were intertwined; where a dying climber bids farewell to his pregnant wife on a satellite phone and chooses a name for his unborn child with her; where the one who lain under the snow and ice for 12 hours, abandoned by his partners, remains alive.
"Ascent" is the testimony of not just an eyewitness, but one of the main participants in these events.
The statistics of climbing to the top of Everest suggests that it has always been difficult to conquer it. Since the 20s of the twentieth century, expeditions with tons of cargo, staffed by a climbing team of two to three dozen people, have been sent to Nepal. Climbing the mountain was reminiscent of the siege of a medieval castle, on the outskirts of which a camp is set up and week after week the besiegers again and again attack the walls and plumb lines, breaking through the fog and blizzard.
From the moment when Hillary and Tenzing first reached the peak point of the Earth's altitudinal pole in 1953, and until the end of the 90s. peak reached 1161 people. 151 died, if counted from the day of the first ascent to the summit, and 175 - taking into account the very first attempts. The statistics are such that approximately one in five stays forever on the slopes of the giant
Often these are people who have devoted many years of their lives to the art of mountain climbing, who have traveled long paths from the peaks of the Alps to the giant Himalayan ups. life.
Tarpaulin jackets and sisal ropes were replaced by gore-tex jackets and synthetic fibers, but the essence, in general, remained the same: work at the limit, in an atmosphere where oxygen is one third less than down in the valley.
The equipment was improved, the psychology of the climbers changed. There are practically no white spots left in the world, and what seemed inaccessible yesterday is now perceived as ordinary, and a week later it is replaced by new events in the news feed. But, like 50 years ago, you can only get to the top of Everest with your own feet. Step by step. Showing uncommon patience, will and courage.
Of course, the more inaccessible the fruit, the sweeter it is. In 1985, Texas millionaire Dick Bass pays for the services of guides and with their help climbs to the top of Everest. The idea that climbing can also be bought was finally approved in the West in the early 90s. There are commercial expeditions that undertake to do everything to ensure that the client gets to the top. They take care of the organization of the expedition, the transfer of participants to the base camp, the organization of the path and intermediate camps, the escort of the client and his safety net all the way up and down. The client comes with an oxygen machine, and all this pleasure, growing in price, currently reaches 50,000~65,000 dollars.
But no amount of money can buy weather, wind, snow. The client is guaranteed services and assistance, but not reaching the top. And there is no safe return clause in these contracts. The element of the mountains is such that the most experienced and skillful are sometimes unable to resist it. This is evidenced by the fate of many "stars" of mountaineering, and the author of this book - too ...
It was on such a commercial expedition that Anatoly Bukreev was invited as a guide.
Anatoly was born in 1958 in the Chelyabinsk region. However, for many years he lived at the Mountain Gardener state farm near Talgar, and after the collapse of the USSR, he remained in Kazakhstan, taking the citizenship of the republic. Anatoly gets into the mountains at the age of 16 and ten years later becomes one of the strongest high-altitude climbers in the country. The first eight-thousander of Boukreev is the third peak of the world - Kanchenjunga. In the process of preparation, Tolya invariably takes first place in the qualifying "races", climbing both Elbrus and Communism Peak faster than all applicants. Then in 14 hours he climbs to the top of Lenin Peak.
Humanity tends to experience the illusion of its own omnipotence. The planet has been mastered, a huge space station is operating in Earth orbit, where you can go as a tourist. It seems that things that are called extreme, in fact, are not - all this is nothing more than an advertising ploy of travel companies.
The process of losing such illusions is always extremely painful. And along with illusions, you can lose your life.
By the early 1990s, climbing the planet's highest mountains had gradually turned from a business for the most trained professionals into a form of tourism for wealthy gentlemen and ladies looking for thrills.
By paying $65,000, you could go to the Himalayas with an experienced guide, climb Everest, and then amaze your friends with unique photographs and feel chosen.
Few of the wealthy lovers of mountaineering took seriously the paper that they signed before the start of the expedition. In it, the tourist confirmed that he was aware of the mortal risk of this enterprise. It seemed to be just part of an exciting game. But the terrible tragedy that broke out on the approaches to the summit of Everest in May 1996 reminded us that the mountains do not forgive disrespect for themselves.
Anatoly Bukreev is a national climber, also known as a writer, photographer and guide. In 1985, he became the owner of the title "Snow Leopard", conquered eleven 8-thousanders of the planet, making a total of eighteen ascents on them. He was repeatedly awarded various orders and medals for his courage. In 1997, he won the David Souls Club Award, which is given to climbers who saved people in the mountains at the cost of their own lives. In the same year, he died while climbing the Annapurna summit together with cameraman Dmitry Sobolev during an avalanche.
Biography of the climber
Anatoly Bukreev was born in 1958 in the small town of Korkino in the Chelyabinsk region. I started dreaming about climbing mountains when I was still at school. At the age of 12, he became interested in mountaineering. He made his first ascents in the Urals.
In 1979, Anatoly Bukreev graduated from the State Pedagogical Institute in Chelyabinsk. He received the specialty of a teacher of physics, and in parallel also a diploma of a ski coach. It was in his student years that he made his first ascent into the mountains, he conquered the Tien Shan.
Work
In 1981, Anatoly Bukreev moved to Kazakhstan, where he settled near Alma-Ata. The hero of our article begins to work in a youth sports school as a ski coach. Over time, he becomes a mountain instructor in the CSKA sports society. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he decided to stay in Kazakhstan, and not return to Russia, having received the citizenship of this particular republic.
As part of the Kazakhstan mountaineering team, Anatoly Bukreev, whose photo is in this article, climbed the seven-thousanders of the Pamir. In 1989, he joined the Second Soviet Himalayan Expedition led by Eduard Myslovsky. Its participants submitted at one time the traverse of all four peaks of the Kanchenjunga massif with a height of 8,494 to 8,586 meters.
For this outstanding achievement, the climber Anatoly Bukreev was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, as well as an International Master of Sports. In addition, he was awarded the Order "For Personal Courage".
In 1990, the hero of our article travels to the United States to conquer the 6,190-meter high McKinley, located in Alaska. As a result, he climbs it twice: first as part of a group, and then along the so-called western ridge alone.
To the Himalayas
In 1991, the climber Anatoly Bukreev was invited to represent Kazakhstan on the First Expedition to the Himalayas. In the autumn of the same year, he climbs to the top of Dhaulagiri, which is 8,167 meters above sea level. Then the highest point of the planet also submits to Anatoly Bukreev - Everest, whose height, according to official data, is 8,848 meters. He will climb this peak three more times in his life. In the Himalayas, he becomes a guide and high-altitude escort who is hired by all kinds of expeditions for professional advice.
President of Kazakhstan
There is in the biography of Anatoly Mitrofanovich Bukreev and a unique experience of climbing mountain peaks in the company of the President of the State. It was he who was chosen as an accompanying and personal guide by Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev when he went to Alatau. When climbing the Abay peak, which is 4,010 meters above sea level, Bukreev personally accompanied Nazarbayev throughout the entire route.
Such an action was timed to coincide with the mass alpiniade, it took place in the summer of 1995. In the same year, Russian climber Anatoly Bukreev goes on two expeditions to the Himalayas. In them, athletes set themselves an ambitious goal: to conquer all the peaks, the height of which exceeds eight kilometers.
Anatoly Bukreev is making new ascents on Cho Oyu and Manaslu, which he has never been to before. Alone, he climbs Lhotse, then Shisha Pangma, and finally Broad Peak. As a result of this voyage, Boukreev actually becomes one of the most famous, strong and talented climbers on the entire planet.
Everest tragedy in 1996
In May 1996, the name of Bukreev is regularly found in the Western media in connection with the tragedy that happened on Everest. Today, the events that took place there, at least one of the versions, are well known thanks to the dramatic disaster film Everest by Baltazar Kormakur, which was released in 2015. You can also meet the hero of our article there, whose role was played by the Icelandic actor Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson.
As you know, in 1996 it was Boukreev who was one of the guides in the American commercial expedition, which was organized by the company under the original name "Mountain Madness". They were led by Scott Fisher.
The company was engaged in organizing the ascent to the top of Everest for its clients, who paid quite a lot of money for this. As it turned out later, simultaneously with Fisher's expedition, which included Boukreev, a New Zealand commercial expedition of the company called "Adventure Consultants" also went to the top. It was led by the famous New Zealand climber Rob Hall.
In the course of the work of both companies, a number of organizational and tactical miscalculations were made, which led to the fact that some clients of both groups, as well as their leaders, did not have time to return to the assault camp before dark after conquering the summit. The camp itself was located at an altitude of approximately 7,900 meters above sea level on the South Col. At night, the weather deteriorated badly, which led to the death of eight climbers, including Fisher and Hall, and two more people were injured.
Ambiguous, often contradictory opinions appeared about the role of Bukreev in this expedition. In particular, one of the New Zealand members of the expedition named John Krakauer, who was a journalist and managed to survive during that conquest of Everest, indirectly accused the hero of our article of starting the descent from the mountain before everyone else, without waiting for his clients. Although at the same time Boukreev was their guide, which means he had to accompany them at all stages of the journey.
At the same time, Krakauer stated that later, having learned that the expedition members were in a catastrophic situation, it was Bukreev who went alone in search of freezing and lost clients, despite the blizzard that had begun. Anatoly managed to save three members of the expedition, in the middle of the night he dragged them to the tents of the assault camp right during a snow storm.
At the same time, Bukreev was still accused that, having gone to the rescue of the victims, he saved his clients without helping the Japanese woman Yasuko Namba, who was from another group, but her condition caused more serious concerns.
Boukreev's version
In 1997, it became known that the hero of our article is not only a talented climber, but also a writer. In collaboration with Weston De Walt, the book by Anatoly Bukreev "Ascent" is published. In it, he outlined his own vision of the causes of the tragedy, describing everything that happened from his point of view.
For example, in this book, Anatoly Bukreev states that one of the reasons for the death of some of the expedition members was unsatisfactory preparation, as well as the recklessness of both dead leaders. Although they were professional climbers, their actions did not correspond to the conditions in which they were.
For example, in this book, also known as "Everest. Deadly Climb", Anatoly Bukreev stated that poorly trained and middle-aged people who did not have the necessary experience to make such a difficult and dangerous transition were taken on the expedition for a lot of money. In this, by the way, Boukreev and Krakauer do not contradict each other, insisting that it was unprofessionalism and poor physical fitness that caused the death of so many people. Immediately after the release of the book by Anatoly Bukreev "Deadly Ascent" became a bestseller. Like the work of Krakauer, it has been repeatedly published in Russian.
You can also get a complete impression of what was happening on Everest at that time based on the book of the American actor and climber Matt Dickinson. On the same days, he was on the north side of Everest, but he did not take direct part in the affected expeditions.
Victims
Eight people became victims of the tragedy on Everest. From Adventure Consultants, these were:
- Expedition leader Rob Hall from New Zealand, who died on the South Slope due to radiation exposure, hypothermia and frostbite.
- Guide Andry Harris from New Zealand. Death occurred on the Southeast Ridge, presumably in a fall on the descent.
- Client Doug Hansen from USA. He died on the South Slope, most likely falling on the descent.
- Yasuko Namba from Japan. Died on the South Col due to external influences.
From the company "Mountain Madness" only the head, American Scott Fisher, died.
Also killed were three Indian-Tibetan border guards: Corporal Dorje Morup, Sergeant Tsewang Samanla and Senior Constable Tsewang Paljor. All of them died on the Northeast Ridge due to frostbite and exposure.
Consequences of the tragedy
In early December 1997, Boukreev was awarded the David Solus Prize, which is given to climbers who saved people in the mountains at the risk of their own lives. This award is given by the American Alpine Club. The courage and heroism of Anatoly was appreciated even by the US Senate, which offered him, if desired, to obtain American citizenship.
In 1997, the first film dedicated to the events that took place on Everest was released. They became a picture of the American director Robert Markowitz called "Death in the mountains: Death on Everest". Markowitz filmed it based on Krakauer's book, ignoring other existing sources. The tape caused a mixed assessment among professional climbers, as well as viewers and film critics.
Last ascent
In the winter of 1997-1998, Boukreev planned an ascent to the summit of Annapurna at a height of 8,078 meters above sea level. He went to conquer it in conjunction with climber Simone Moro from Italy. They were accompanied by Kazakh operator Dmitry Sobolev, who scrupulously recorded all stages of the ascent on a video camera.
On December 25, 1997, the expedition members made another exit in order to process the route. All three, having completed the necessary work, returned to rest in the base camp. During the descent, a snow cornice collapsed on them, which provoked a sudden snow avalanche of great power. In an instant, she swept away all three members of the expedition.
The Italian Moro, who was the last in the bunch, managed to survive. The avalanche dragged him about 800 meters, he was seriously injured, but managed to get to the base camp on his own to call for help. Sobolev and Boukreev died on the spot.
A rescue expedition from Alma-Ata was sent to search for them. It included four professional climbers, but they failed to find the bodies of Sobolev and Bukreev. In the spring of 1998, the climbers repeated the search operation in the same area, hoping to find the dead and bury them, but this time too, everything ended to no avail.
The materials that Sobolev managed to shoot were included in a 40-minute film about Boukreev called "The Unconquered Peak" in 2002.
The memory of the climber
In Kazakhstan, the climber was posthumously awarded the medal "For Courage", including in the list of the country's best athletes in the 20th century.
Not much is known about Bukreev's personal life, but he had a girlfriend, a public figure and doctor from the United States, Linda Wiley. She was very upset by the death of Anatoly. It was on her initiative that a stone pyramid in the traditional Buddhist style was installed at the foot of Annapurna. On it is written a phrase that Boukreev himself once uttered, explaining why he took up mountaineering, why mountains beckon him:
Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambitions, they are temples where I practice my religion.
In 1999, Wiley became the founder of the Boukreev Memorial Foundation, which helps young climbers from Kazakhstan conquer McKinley Peak, located in the US state of Alaska. With the help of the same fund, young Americans have the opportunity to go to the northernmost seven-thousander on the planet - Khan Tengri in the Tien Shan system in Kazakhstan. This is not only assistance to novice athletes, but also the development of relations between the two countries.
For example, in 2000, the Boukreev Foundation became the main sponsor of the American-Kazakh expedition, which set off to conquer the Himalayas. It was from her that the career of the most famous modern Kazakh climber Maksut Zhumaev began, who became the second person in the territory of the former USSR, who conquered all fourteen 8-thousanders.
Wiley herself published the book "Above the Clouds. Diaries of a High-Altitude Climber", in which she collected entries from mountain journals and diaries of Boukreev himself, made from 1989 to 1997. The book is equipped with a large number of photographs of the hero of our article.
In 2003, the Italian climber Simone Moro, who survived an avalanche, wrote the book Comet over Annapurna.