The idea of this blog

is pretty muddy in general.




It is kind of created not for the growth of personal popularity in the Internet - five years ago I successfully deleted my profiles from all the social networking sites - Odnoklassniki and others. Some of the photo albums I've uploaded on Google+, some videos - on YouTube, and I did it as an experiment. The experiment showed, that social networking activity isn't so necessary to me - it takes time, you need to comment photos, because it is not always easy to understand what is it shown there on the photo. 

I achieved no increment from that kind of activity - neither mental nor material. I hardly ever watch photos taken at the time of travellings to different parts of the world, especially after their quantity exceeded 50 thousand. Maximum what I do - is deleting photos with obvious defects. Subject to the foregoing, it has been 5 years since I stopped taking a good camera with me, I shoot using an ordinary camera, my cell phone or just don't shoot at all.




But the trip to Everest is a special case. It's a long absence at home and at work, and my friends and relatives (maybe) will be interested in the progress of the expedition, and it will be difficult and expensive to write individual letters from the mountain to each of them, and how Сhinese internet will work remains to be seen. Taking all that into account the creation of such news resource for the period of the project is reasonable. So, the main purpose is a replacement of the standart means of communication (e-mail, Viber,  Skype, phone) for the people who are not indifferent to my destiny, especially considering the fact that there are a lot of scary stories about Everest - Green Boots, etc.

When creating a blog it is not quite normal to start it with the post "Arrived to Katmandu, everything is ok". You need to kind of introduce yourself, to tell who is here and what for. That is why there are these introductory posts, photos, comments.

Preparation started six months before the expedition. That time it was opened with the 75-kilometer bike ride on Zavolzhye. Friends of mountaineers and the guest from Denmark - Flemming Ethelfeld - took part in it.

There is one interesting peculiarity in ski running for a long distances (and the same is in bike riding). For example: it is planned to go for a distance of 42 km - it's a quite big exercise stress and a good training. While you are full of power - you count kilometers (or circles) left behind, they are easily passed - 10, 15, 20, 25, 30... After awhile your power comes to an end - it depends on many factors, but this always happens on the long distances. And after that it is a countdown - you count kilometers left until the finish - 7 km are left, 6, 5... Oooh... Damn, oooooooh...

The same is in life. Until the middle of it you count the years passed since the moment of your birth. Then you just don't like to celebrate you birthdays anymore, because you don't like the number of years. And then you begin counting the years - how many are left until the end of the distance - trying to save your power.

But you can try to push the middle of the distance closer to an end, and you can do it in ski running and bike riding as well as in life. Some people succeeded in that. In that case the biggest part of ones life is on the rise - and that is important, because a life on the rise is a completely different life! 

By the way, here is the husband of Irina Vidro - Vladimir - in 2007 he invited me to that Everest trekking from which it all started :)

Irina Vidro tought me to push the limit of the possible. It happened three or four seasons ago in the winter forest at the time of ski running. Until that time I've been already keen on ski running for many years - the benefit of living near the forest. It's not sport, it is more like physical training to feel good. An ordinary distance used to be 15-18 km and used to take a little more than hour: I used to be tired, very satisfied and I used to think that it was the limit of possibilities. After half an hour I used to be out of power, an the pleasure used to give way to sweat and hard work.

At the time of that short but memorable meeting (not long ago Irina confessed that she doesn't even remember it) she told me, that it is possible to go on ski for a longer distances - for two or even three hours non-stop... It seemed incredible, but after I tried, I found out that I just need to make a little effort to keep running. Now I usually run on ski for the distance of 25-30 km, and I can even run for the longer distances. The secret was simple: for going on ski for the longer distances you just need to keep going on ski more - that's all. In general there are no secrets at all.

Physical training

For some reason it is considered that before preparing to Everest it is important to train oneself. I don't know how is it properly, but the change of my familiar lifestyle has touched mostly the drinking of alcoholic beverages: since the 1st of January I have reduced its consumption approximately 5-10 times. Now I drink about as much as can drink the citizen, who do not fall under the definition of an alcoholic. Concerning physical training, historically the active lifestyle in general is usual for me: bycicle riding in summer, skiing 2-3 times a week in winter, two-hour hiking all the year round and every day. Taking into account that I'll need an endurance, I started to ski for the long distances - 25-30 km. Not long ago I even tried my powers for the distance of 50 km. What is good in Saratov - it is the fact, that you can ski almost until the end of March.

The long-term visiting of the 'World Class' sports club was discontinued a couple of years ago to have the time for Wushu which I practiced for six months then. Before the ascent of Everest I decided to recommence visiting the gym (twice a week), now at "Forte Club', and also for hiking now I take a backpack (17 kg - light weight, 3 hours / 23 kg - heavy weight, 2 hours) every 2-3 days.

To the question of a purpose again

It is interesting to analyse the differences between the statements of common people, who have been in the mountains, and the statements of mountaineers. When explaining the reasons of what drove them to climb the mountains, the common people mention the following things:

• a love for the mountains, romance;
• a hard challenge, an opportunity to exhibit bravery, inaccessible in ordinary life;
• a noble risk, a challenging goal, sometimes even performing some kind of a “mission”.

At the same time the same people tend to ascribe to the other mountain climbers (even who effect an ascent, using the same routes) completely different motives:

• unbridled vanity;
• an excess time and money to be spent;
• selection of simple well-trodden routes, where even a beginner would pass;
• an escape from everyday life (wife, real problems, work, etc.)

In contrast to common people, mountaineers don't make differences in assessment of their own actions and actions of other mountaineers, double standarts are not so strongly pronounced.

In general, an ascent of Everest is a highly selfish act. If the person says, that he dedicates the ascent to the woman he love, to his children, to his job - think, if it's good for the woman he love, for his children, for his job (2 months of absence + the time for a rehabilitation)? The answer is clear without saying. But in our society, where people do one thing and proclaim another, it is customary to find "reasonable" excuses.

As for me personally, the reason of the ascent of Everest is not an achieving of something external with the help of Everest, it is some kind of inner achievement. Everest is only a background, only an entourage for some kind of change inside of you, your personality, something, that in general could happen in other conditions.

Since an ascent is a part of life, then the aim of an ascent - is an ascent itself, as the aim of life - is life. When one ask a question about a purpose it is possible to draw an analogy with sexual intercourse. Of course, sexual intercourse for different individuals could have different purposes: to express ones love, to spend the time with pleasure, to escape from inner loneliness and fear, maybe to get some kind of domination over the partner, or even to earn money. But if to avoid these interpretations of these specific facts and to speak in general - the purpose is the intercourse itself.

To cum during intercourse is good, even very good, of course, but hardly anyone wants to cum without preceding procedures. From the other hand, if everything was great, but for some reason without cumming - no trouble. The same with mountaineering: a summit without its conquering lose meaning, but the ascent without conquering the summit - don't. Like Pasternak: "But wins and losses of your battles you have not to discern on it".

Funding and sponsors

When you get money for the project financing - sponsors doesn't care a damn about your inner change. Foreigners want the outer side - a flag on the top, press-release, etc. Since you take a responsibility for the result - the result is necessary. My experience of working on 'Everest-2015' project shows, that this is an unrewarding task: foreigners don't want to sponsor the project, because we are Russians and wage war with Ukraine; Russians don't want to sponsor the project to no one knew they have money. It is interesting, but the people who actually gave basic money for the project asked not to mention them anywhere, not to advertise the logo of the company and not to write about them on no account.

It has been 6 months since the moment when the final decision about the Expedition was made, and now only one month is left prior to the expedition. This decision is long matured - its origins are in 2007, when Bogomolov and I climbed Kala Patthar for the first time and I saw Everest from the last and the most popular among trekkers view points:

7 years is a good time to carry the desire; since the time of that first Himalayan trekking my previous activities such as mountain skiing, hunting, fishing, diving have been replaced by mountain walking. At first I didn't like how I felt at the altitude. At that time I got mountain (high-altitude) sickness at the time of the overnight stop in Lobuche (4 950), and, after ascending Kala Patthar and the base camp on the same day, I had to descend quickly. Now I find it funny: every dinner I smoked a good Cuban cigar, drank a bottle of red wine and wondered really - why did I have a headache? Now, after the range of research and experiments, I found out, that both are contraindicated for my body. For the first time it became clear on Kilimanjaro, when at ascent we decided to hide two bottles of whisky in thickets in order to not drag them up and because of their uselessness. 

We needed whisky for the descent to celebrate my 35th anniversary, but at descent we didn't even think about opening them and celebrated my birthday with tea. And so over the past years, slowly ascending from Kilimanjaro to Ojos del Salado, now I decided to ascend Everest. It is a great challenge for the person who is afraid of heights...

People have different attitude towards such projects. So do I. It is difficult to explain rationally the readiness to devote 6 months to prior preparation and 2 months to actual Expedition, in which you'll really endanger your own health and life, plus you'll pay a lot of money for all that. What will you get in return? Everest is a mental problem, it is more deep inside of you, than outside of, and you solve this problem inside of you as well. All the more, you have enough time for it.

The vast majority of my friends do not even remotely imagine what it's like - mountaineering, approximately half of them mix up Everest with Elbrus (and yes, approximately 20% of this half are sure, that I have already been on Everest). The complexity of explanation made me spit upon it - why, after all, I need to explain anything to anyone... It is the highest point of the world, I am 41 year old. Why not? Besides, Everest really stuck in my head: during rebranding two years ago, mountains took a dominant position in the corporate style of Gazovik, the slogan changed to "The ascent. Strive to achieve!" and Everest graced the cover of the industrial gas equipment reference book (replacing the regulator RDG-50) which have passed through 5 publications since 2002 with circulation of more than 15 000 copies.

In general, to be honest with myself, Everest at the cover of the reference book is a clinical diagnosis, there is no need to go to the psychotherapist. By the way, what would you think about the person if you know the following facts about him:

- he has 4 children, he loves reading more than anything;
- he has visited more than 70 countries, he has hunted bears in Russia and antelopes in Africa, has caught marlins in Australia, has scuba dove in the seas all over the world and has conquered the highest mountains of different continents;
- for the last twelve years he has deliberately refused to watch TV (there is no TV sets in his house); 
- for the last three years he has deliberately refused to have a personal car in Saratov (there is an office car though) and, when he goes back home, he walks around this city by foot (though the city isn't so clean as European). And although he has no car - instead he has... a horse for riding;
- he is a self-educated person: he wasn't able to graduate from an institute, he doesn't have higher education, he wasn't able to finish the МВА courses and he doesn't feel ashamed because of that. And he works - sometimes distantly, sometimes at the office - getting a great pleasure from the work process itself.

All of that is about me. If we consider the social norm as something that is taken as a pattern of behavior by the majority of our citizens, then here we can see with the naked eye an obvious and quite serious deviation.

I won't write about Sergey Bogomolov. Sergey - is one of the most respected and famous Soviet-Russian mountaineers. I am proud, that we have a serious experience of joint ascents.  The fact, that we go to Everest together, is wonderful!