This is an article following in the tracks of international Himalayan expedition in spring 2004 to the peak Annapurna (8091m/ 26545ft) the ascent was made along the route of Bonington, from the Southern face the members of the expedition were:

Pustelnik Peter – the leader ( Poland )
Zaluski Darek ( Poland )
Yuzefovich Paul ( Poland )
Hamor Peter ( Slovakia )
Shtraba Vlado ( Slovakia )
Gablik Martin ( Slovakia )
Markach Alesha ( Slovakia )
Bogomolov Sergey ( Russia )

It's happiness! It's happiness when your tents stay under a serac, under a cornice. But I'll try to tell you everything step by step. On the 18 th of May we had processed the route up to 7200 m , wanted to find a place for a tent, didn't manage to do it and return back to the camp 3. The weather was fine. As our forces run low and the expedition was coming to an end, we decided to have a day-off on the 19 th of May and then to complete a conclusive dash up to the top. Notwithstanding the distance wasn't short and serious technical difficulties were seen. We planned to got up at 0 o'clock and set off at 2 o'clock a.m. Snowfalling had began in the evening and at 8 o'clock p.m. the “first bell” rang: it had closed my tent with snow. I dug it out, spending a lot of strengths on this operation. From 0 o'clock we started preparing for setting off, although snow went on falling. From the both sides of our “pocket” avalanches were running down. At 2.00 a .m. I dug out fixed rope and started going upwards. And at that moment it sighed! It covered me with rather serious avalanche, fortunately I was fastened to the fixed rope, otherwise I could be blown off. Having got out I turned back to our tents, that were becoming covered with snow from both sides. And it was the moment I said: “It's happiness that our tents stay under a cornice.”

And before that day we for about 40days had been staying at the bottom of the Southern Face on Annapurna , we had time to complete four outings. The fifth, the last one was planned in a following way: the leading team was a four-man group Bogomolov-Hamor-Pustelnik-Zaluski, on the next day had to go up Gablik and Markach. Two Sherpas Pemba and Tamang had set off earlier. In the evening before setting off they kindled ritual fire. It was a holy thing for them. The weather was fine and we had to use the chance it gave us.

A day earlier to a Base camp came a fellow, Igor. He had been born in Kazan , that time he lived in Israel . He was traveling around Nepal . He came specially to have a talk with Russians. He said that Maoists were all around, and he knew they were even in Gandrung. It was the place in about 5 hours from us. Earlier I had thought they were in the Makalu region, let Ilinski deal with them. May God grant him good health. And they appeared close by!

- What do they want?

- Revolutionary justice.

- What does it mean?

- When you give them 1000 rupee on revolutionary lawfulness and Saint Annapurna, you can go. In a region of the King path there is especially big amount of them. It is the place where Prince Charles went a round way for 4 days, not far from Pokhara. There are people of ripe age, well-off.

- What an ill luck. It's better to climb to the wall. And then we'll see.

Camp 1 was on the altitude 50000m. The climb was 1 km . Sometimes it was named ABC (Advanced Base Camp). But it wasn't correct. The main signs of ABC should be a kitchen and a cook. And the Camp 1 was ordinary intermediate camp. The point was that it was the bottom part of the Southern ridge and after the lowest icefall there was a grassy slope. So, where there was grass, there should ABC be. We moved not quickly, but with confidence. It could be explained easily – this was our fifth outing. The icefall we passed on-the-move, as usual. Two strips turned out to be difficult to pass we had to repair fixed ropes. Somewhere they tore, somewhere the ice go naked. Having learnt a lesson from the previous outings, we took a lot of snacks with us: rice, eggs, chapatti (local flat cakes) and apples.

Southern view of the Annapurna

Along the strike of the expedition, when we went tracking to the Base camp, it seemed that everybody had a lot of forces, and this fact made us feeling placidity. The youngest member of our expedition was Alesha, he was 22 years old. He was tall, thin and he was rushing along the path ahead of all. In the BC he limbered up on a big stone, doing rock-climbing extensions. And when Martin appeared in the BC (he was delayed a little), there was not a limit for his impetuous energy. We could only remember two heavy snowfalls, when the whole base camp had become covered with 50-sm deep snow in a night, and he run from one tent to another, shaking the snow off, and this continued infinitely. With the guys like them it was possible “to displace mounts”.

Camp 2 was located on the saddle of the ridge, on the altitude 6000 m . The climb was also 1000 m . We set off at 4.00 a .m. It was necessary, because we need tough snow crust to go, and because we had to pass along the higher icefall the wall of the Southern ridge before the daybreak, as when sun began to burn, stone started falling down from this icefall. The weather was fine, but all in all that march took us 8 hours. The organisms were highly mobilized as there were no places to relax. On the altitude like that it was impossible to recover. We went only at the expense of our inner resources. Fortunately we went along the ridge. From the top itself and from the wall stones were continuously falling down with howling. Our tents were not seriously covered with snow, but they were “taking roots” in the snow, it looked like they drowned. The trouble was there were a lot of daws. Their ubiquitous bills tore our packets with provisions. It had been necessary to hide everything.

In the previous outings mostly on that march different problems appeared. When in the third outing we began to put on crampons in a “depot” (a place before the higher icefall, where we left all the metal equipment), Alesha “kicked up a row”. Why did the second group, he said, go always after the first and followed its steps?

So we had to parade our eloquence, and together with Peter with difficulties induced him go farther.

•  You see, Martin is exhausted, Vlado is overtired. Peter is a poor hand at cough. We had simply to drudge silently.

But, it seemed something in him got a break-down. He went trampling snow down only few times, like Sherpas, that went with us. And at the moment, when we were passing the tensest strip along the walls of the Southern ridge, we heard a noise of increasing avalanche. We literally

drove in the relief, some of us – in a rock, some – in a serac. But it was clear that if the avalanche would hit, nothing would be able to save us. A small wet avalanche, that weighted about 50 tons, fell down in 50 m from us. After this Sherpas threw the rucksacks down and started the descent, saying that their gods didn't allow us to go up to the Mount. Again I had to say that all the extra snow fell down there couldn't be one more avalanche. And – can you imagine? – I induced them. But they didn't go as leaders. And we two together with Peter for two hours were “puddling” that deep wet snow, in a fagging out heat, until we hadn't reach the bottom of our counterforce, leading to the saddle. I got tired of everything I was exhausted, although every three hours I drank all “New way” additional forages, all energies. At that moment I lost patience and broke out into tirade:

•  I can be a grandfather for us, and I trample steps for you. And you are young and wick! And, moreover, you are sly – you took few cargos and want to get a lot of money.

But on that moment our adventures didn't end. At the place, that had seemed to be absolutely safe, where we had left our stuffs, snow shovel, ice-axe, we found nothing. There was an avalanche cone. Sherpas, either having rested, or being puzzled with my eloquence, and, most likely, having seen forthcoming outcome, and mainly, safe moving, quickly climbed up along the fixed ropes ahead of us. As for me, on that day I fell down to a bergschrund to feel absolute pleasure.

The third camp we located on the altitude 6800. The climb was 800 m . The extension of the march was 1000 m . The steepness of ice-snow ridge was about 50-60 degrees. The moving took us 7.5 hours. We had talocrural and foot ache, as mostly were going on the front teeth of the crampons. It had already become serious. In the morning we planned to set at 5 o'clock but downwards, beside the Machapuchare, probably above Pokhara, there was a thundery front staying. An impressive view. We thought the weather would be bad. But up to 6 o'clock a.m. the sky became clear. On arriving to the camp 3 we had to recover it. One of the tents had an arch broken. But we repaired it. There were two tents for two persons each staying under a serac. Only snow sometimes could be blown there. Farther we had to fix ropes.

That camp we made with difficulties. Two outings we had spent on creating it. At first Peter and I fixed ropes up to the altitude 6400 m , stumping for two hours in a knee-deep snow only on approach to the snow-ice ridge. Then four together (Peter, Martin, Peter and I) tried to go there with sleeping bags and tents. But on the altitude 6700 m we were caught by blizzard, when omnipresent snow dredge defeated the breath and it was impossible to escape it. And 9-mm ropes on which we were hanging became for us own. Only running down you could rescue yourself. We were constantly covered with dust avalanches, after which we shook out from the rucksacks kilograms of snow.

After such an outing we recovered, repeating the attempt after rest.

Avalanching from Annapurna

Again we set off together with Hamor, Martin and me. On the way Martin, having reached a “forehead” from where snow-ice ridge started, admitted that he was exhausted. Good heavens, what is happening?! It turned out that people, having gathered speed from the Base camp and “flown up” to the altitude 5000- 6000 m suddenly understood that they got “empty”. But we had to give Martin his due, having spent some time sitting on the “forehead” and having come to consciousness, he started following us. And as a result we, having passed the “jumper” and come to another ridge, made a camp on the slope 6750 m .

I felt that it wasn't a proper place. The slope was steep, snow wouldn't be held there, and we made a place for a tent there. And my fears were confirmed in the night. The tent was covered with snow and this didn't make us feel cheerfulness. In the morning Peter went down. He said: “I am overtired, I had antritis”. I went down for 3.5 ropes (each 100 m long), got all the karabiners and extra hooks and brought up left downwards 4 ropes and 9 snow stakes. Martin widened the place for tents and put our tent to another place. We passed one more night, but two together.

And in 100 m above us there was a wonderful bergschrund and above it there was an excellent inflation. So, it was a “pocket” the best there was, it was impossible to imagine better. In the morning Sherpas went to us. I said them : “ Bring your cargo under the inflation ”. They refused . On one hand they couldn't, and feared, one the other hand – they didn't want. So we ourselves went that way and fixed ropes along it, made an excellent place for tents. Darek, Peter, Alesha, Vlado came to change us. Vlado tapped at his breast and said that he would descent the next day. It gurgled in his breast, he coughed. His courage command respect, surely. But if it were pneumonia, he could fly to the world beyond in several hours.

We waited, sat at 6000m for two days. On the second day, at 11.00 Alesha descented to us.

•  Why have you descented?

•  I have no more forces… Peter, give me a cigarette.

What I could say? Peter smoked too, by my attitude towards them was different. But we had democracy, I couldn't resent. Concerning democracy, the expedition was “soft”, loyal, without “tensions”.

It didn't like expeditions with Ilinski. If somebody of his expedition smokes, he always went to the other side of moraine, hid beside the stone three times, and would give a start on every inhalation. If it was necessary, he would upset Boris Sedousov for his redundant aspiration for “disinfecting” stomach, me for obscene expressions in talks, in spite of the age. By I liked this style. Because it was fair and correct, and there were results got.

Peter and Darek for two days processed only 80 meters . And at that moment I had got great doubts in the success of our expedition.

So I had to return the ticket back. And what could I do? The wall stayed and we didn't climb on it. We planned to set off from the camp 3 for processing at 5.00 a .m. But snowstorm along the slope and coldness reduced our blaze. We set off at 7.00. Just above the camp there was a steep rope – of 70 degrees . Mixt . Rocks , ice , snow . Peter was the leader, after him I climbed, and later there were Peter and Darek. The rocks were destroyed . On the day we passed 600 m . We came to the couloir. It was steeper that previous ropes. We didn't find places for tents and turned back to the camp 3. We thought we climbed up to the altitude 7200 m . We came back to the camp after 18.00, being overtired, and made a day-off. We put the tent to other places, made the camp more comfortable.

The decisive set off we planned to make at 2.00. But after the event happened, after the avalanche we had to tell ourselves: “We must remember”. The Mount snapped. We dug out all the night but the element was unpredictable. Its forces exceeded our possibilities. At 8.00 we decided to descent, taking down everything we could carry. In our presence avalanches covered our tents.

Now, when psychophysical exertion fell, I look round and think: “What a nature! Couldn't it wait for a couple of days with its cataclysms?”

The imperfection of the weather forecast depresses me. We heard it two times a day. But no noticeable change could be found. And even when we went from the Base camp down, the Mount still was covered with mist and snow.

And I tell myself once more: “I must remember 8091” .