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the time of that first Himalayan trekking my previous activities such as mountain skiing, hunting, fishing, diving have been replaced by mountain walking.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!