I’ll never come back here

We had already passed this, when Bukreev had held expeditions. If a men wants – let him made his own route and let him run along it for hundreds times. And not along other's fixed ropes, saying after that he is a winner. Unfortunately such we have people nowadays too, both in our country and in foreign countries.

We did everything as we had decided before, we set off from C2 early in the morning. The weather really became fine, at least in the morning.

By friendly team we moved up to the mythical C3 that had not been made yet, it had been planned to be located under seracs under diagonal ledge.

Reality didn't bring us anything pleasant. We didn't find a pass we need and lopsided seracs were as high as five-stored houses and it was disgustful even to stop for a minute under them. But we had nothing to do: fog… Whether we wanted or didn't want, we had to make a bivouac there.

In the evening fog went away and we together with Andrew went to look for a pass. At last we found a route, it was long but it seemed to be not very difficult.

In the morning the situation was so: everyone seemed to be preparing to set off, but nobody hurried to go forward. I came across it in international camps as well as in Himalayan expeditions. And I knew that I should cut it just that time. I had to go forward, the others would follow me.

The closer we came to the serac the steeper the slope became. Ice was very hard. Crampons and ice-axes jumped away, we had to bit twice.

I passed ten meters, put an ice-screw, and felt that it would be better to remove the rucksack. It was not a vertical wall, but something like gigantic steps. So we started fixing ropes, organizing belay on ice screws. In one place it seemed to be logical, but in fact the slope became overhanging. I got angry, thought that with the help of crampons and ice-axes – bam-bam – and would find myself upwards. Fig. I fell down. But Andrew held me.

Fernando watched how I tried to pass the strip, shouted – “Let me climb there!”

I got tired and let him.

He climbed as I had done and stopped at the same place.

At the moment Iniaki appeared. I was surprised. What the time was that he had come up with us.

Having changed Fernando, Ochoa with the help of two ice screws passed the overhang and disappeared beside the extreme. Some time later he returned and said that it was possible to go there, but ice screws were necessary.

Feeling that there were no more persons who wished to work, I went down, gathered ice screws and climb that way up to the end. It was past midday.

Having consulted with each other Andrew and Ivan shouted me to decent, as we would pass the night on the same place.

When I came to the place where we passed nights, I met there Edurne with Sherpas and Iniaki with Horia. Horia was sleeping, he was exhausted with sleep. They were ready to descent, saying that they couldn't consider a place where it was unknown what was forward, to be a route, and that the place near seracs was not a place possible to pass the night. In general they were right. The previous night we passed very nervously, we reacted to any noise.

Later the guys said that along one of the tents a piece of ice run. Fortunately, nobody was in it. We were lucky. Roulette!

At last Edurne with his group and Ochoa with his workmate went down.

Further the situation developed unpredictably at all for me. There were four of us in two tents. At about 8 o'clock p.m. I felt sharp pain in eyes.

Strange feeling was changed by wild anxiety. When I had analyzed the situation, I understood, that I had scorched the eyes while was processing the route.

We had set off early, the sun hadn't risen yet, I hadn't put on the glasses. Then I had fixed the rucksack and had gone on working. I had put on the glasses only when I had turned back to the rucksack, it had been at about 11 o'clock. So, I had “caught whitecaps”.

I suffered all the night long, the pain exhausted me. I began to apply old brew. But the brew wasn't good, it gave only color. It didn't help me. I swallowed different tablets, but they didn't alleviate my pains, too.

In the morning, being down, I sat in the tent and saw only fog in front of me. Lokk saw my sufferings, sympathized and said that he would join me when I would go downwards.

But little by little everything fell into places. We came to agreement that the guys would go up and try there luck three together, I would sit in the tent in C3 and wait for them.

So we decided in such a way. I had sat in the camp by 9.00, had breakfast. Thought that it would be noisome to sit. I would suffer the pain, and way down was along the tracks and fixed ropes.

I began to descent. The snow was fine, rough. I got to a dangerous strip. I tried to pass it as quickly as I could, by hands, as the sun shined with might and main. But in general total indifference came to me. When I came to L2, I felt sick. It meant that psychical exertion began to low.

The march to L1 I made faintly, through fog, along snow became limp. Rucksack, after I had put it off in the C2 and take that camp off, pressed me up to the end. I fell asleep in the depot where we put off our harnesses, high-altitude boots. But, only on will-power I came to the BC.

I felt overtired, exhausted, I understood nothing.

The communication with C3 was bad. I didn't know what the guys were doing.

And Iniaki got new idea. He wanted to repeat a spurt up to the top in 20 hours. Ferran thought Ochoa was mad.

They together with Horia had set off at 4 p.m. on the previous day. And at 11 a .m. the next they were in BC again, they were excited, stared wide-eyed. They came across an ice fall, just after he bergschrund. Pieces of ice of about 5 meter long flew in several meters from them. We felt that puzzled them a lot. It happened at 3 o'clock in the night. Horia fell asleep just when they arrived to the camp.

By the evening three guys descended to the camp, they were cheerful, but dissatisfied.

The mount made meaning perfectly plain. We couldn't reproach ourselves.

On one hand the expedition wasn't successful, on the other – rather successful, everybody was alive.

But I won't ever come to the Annapurna from this side.

BC on the Northern side f Annapurna ,

The 27 of May 2007.

P.S. But, unfortunately, the mount got its way. On the 28 th of May, when I flew fro the BC, between two flights of MI- 17, a small army helicopter arrived. He was looking for 4 soldiers that had gone to find disappeared communication officer a week ago, and haven't shown their worth by that moment.