|
|
|
|
|
|
Mountain photos - amateur
and professional photos of mountains.
|
| Climb > |
|
In 1998, two climbers from St. Petersburg: Valery
Shamalo and Kirill Korabelnikov ascended peak 5013 («Miner») by its North
Face. This peak is situated in Karavshin region, Turkestan ridge. It was
a second climb of D. Sidorov route (1992), 6B Russian Grade, with a variation
in the highest part. The fellows won the second prize in Russian Mountaineering
Championship (technical ascents). Master of sports I. Stepanov was a coach
of the team. Authors: Valery Shamalo and Kirill Korabelnikov, St. Petersburg. All our ascents of the last two years were subject to one general idea. To use a common saying, we are “completing a project in mountaineering”. The ambition of the project is to ascend the most beautiful summits of the worlds, such as Kan-Tengri, Ushba, peaks 5013 and Aksy in Turkestan ridge and, we hope, Pti-dru, K2… Moreover, we aim to climb the hardest routes or complete first ascents on these mountains. Besides, we’d like to explain what mountains mean for us with the help of photo and video, to reflect our feelings at a route. It seems that the photos you bring from an ascent are the way to express our emotions on a summit, to frame and to exhibit your own fever, terror and admiration. At some level of mountaineering, one does not just go outdoors to “climb a little”, but to climb the very route up to the very summit. Why do you need it? What does it amount to? This may be completely perceived and estimated only in a few weeks on the return to a city. An easy trek up to the most beautiful summit can’t content oneself. Only the hard long route, only this extreme backbreaking marathon on a mount bears a sense of unity with nature, mount; gives us enjoinment and knowing that the life is not played away. It brings peace with yourself and external world. To unite with a mount and to come to understanding with it, one need to feel its iced breath and its hot grasps; to touch its vertical deserts and overhanging snow. For many a long day one conceives the mount and gets used to its fickleness, character and manners… It seems that a little more and you comprehend the mount, completely comprehend -
It is said: “winners of summits”. Nonsense. We can’t “win” or “conquer” a summit just because it is impossible. It’s senseless to challenge a mount or to struggle with it. Not as it is stronger or weaker than you, it allows you or not, but as it is - other. It’s made from other leaven; it’s non-human. Its primeval beauty is absolute. Its nature can’t be expressed in our terms. Mount raises us to heavens; it is an eternal enigma. Within the scope of the project we have completed two ascents in 1998: 1. Terms: 20-25 of February. Region: the Central Caucasus. Ascent up to North Ushba by the combination of Kolomychev and Erokhin routes on the ice NW face. The route was rated as 5B (Russian Grade) and won the 5th prize in Russian Winter Championship. 2. Terms: 30 of July - 8 of August. Region: Pamir-Alai, Karavshin ravine. Ascent up to peak 5013 («Miner») by the centre of the NNE face, a variation of Sidorov route (1992). The route was rated as 6B (Russian Grade) and won the 2nd prize in Russian Championship (technical ascents).
Photos made by Kirill Korabelnikov, devoted to the ascent on Ushba, were presented at the exhibitions in Youth Centre (May of 1998) and concert-hall “Zoo park” (June of 1998). Several months passed and on the 15th of January 1999 one could see the photos from peak 5013 at the exhibition in Russian Geographic Society office. The length of the route on the face of peak 5013 is about 1300m, while the altitude difference is 1150m. It means that we deal with a “Big Wall”; there are only about 20 walls of this rank (higher than 1km) in the world. The length of the wall proper part of the route is 1200m with the average slope about 75-78 degrees; the length of 5-6-rated (Russian Grade) segments is about 850m. We had spent 46 hours working on the route, what took 8 days. Twice we spent two nights at the same place due to rough weather. Three of the seven night stops were sitting. In the region, where peak 5013 is situated, there are a number of summits famous with their hardest wall routes, such as Aksu, “4810”, Asan and others. Climbers have been exploring the region since 1986.
The ascent of Sidorov’s team of 5 climbers in 1992 was their second attempt. (Comments by Sergei Kalmykov: Here the authors are not quite correct. Alexander Voronov (Alp-club “Heights”, St. Petersburg), one of the “pioneers” of the region, said that the first shot at climbing the centre of the face was made in 1990 by two teams simultaneously. One of them (of five climbers) was leaded by Voronov himself and the other (of four climbers) was from St. Petersburg too. It was organized by alp-club “Beacon” and leaded by Eu. Maiorov. The teams were ascending synchronously in a distance about 300m from each other. For several days of exhausting work in rough weather both teams were able to climb 10-12 pitches from the bergschrund. When one member of Voronov’s team was injured (an arm was broken with a falling stone) climbers decided to give up. Two years later, D. Sidorov’s team continued exactly this route, started by Voronov’s team, and succeeded at the first try.)
Our team climbed this wall all by ourselves, with no helicopter support and no base camp (if not consider a small tent under the wall). We left the Alpine camp in Karasu ravine and returned in settlement Vorukh 19 days later. All this period we were marooned in a desert region where no help was within reach and any mountain rescue on a wall for a duo (with one injured that case) was uncertain. In spite of a scanty apportionment of 300g (drained weight) per day for a man (compare it with mountain trekking, where a 500g ration is considered “bread and scrape”), starting weight of our packs was about 45kg.
It seems, that our variant is preferable for a team with good ice-climbers and proper ice-tool or “ice-fifas”. In dirty weather rather safe dry-snow avalanches fall down couloirs instead of collapses. Anyway, the route is passed mostly with aid climbing, with ridding rocks of ice and snow. In fine weather Sidorov’s route is sounder as it allows working in climbing shoes, and ice collapses may be left out of account. Almost all modern tools and advanced techniques, designed for extreme ice and rock relief, were required for climbing the route. Artificial anchors were widely used, as well as bolts left by Sidorov’s team. Ascent journal
25.07.98 Our team left the base camp in Karasu
ravine and reached a bivouac in Aksu ravine, under Slesov peak.
2.08.98 We climbed the crux - a wall forty metres high with micro-cracks and overhang in the upper part. V. Shamalo leaded. The weather was dull but with no precipitations. The night was passed on a narrow ledge. 3.08.98 The team traversed to the left and reached snow ledges. Great snowfall began in midday. By 15:00 we pitched a bivy (after a pendulum to the left on a nice ledge we noticed). Leaders were rotating. 4.08.98 After the one only pitch we had to wait out a perfect snow-blast till the evening. We were at a semi-hanging station, covered with a rainfly from our tent. Next, we went down to the previous bivy. 5.08.98 Two pitches were climbed. Snow rocks, verglas. Kirill Korabelnikov leaded. Snowfall began at 10:00 with increasing intensity. In 14:00 we began cutting a platform in an ice flank of a ledge and by 18:00 we managed to make a bed bivy.
7.08.98 We reached the summit at 19:00. Kirill Korabelnikov leaded all the route except the last two pitches (by V. Shamalo). Weather was dull: murky sky, fog, and poor visibility. 30-40 metres far one still could see icy snow rocks and giant icicles, but further only uncertain grey contours were visible. We could hardly believe it to be over some day and that there still were such spots on the earth where it was sunny, warm and horizontal. 8.08.98 The team descended the east ridge of Preobrajenski glacier. Five abseil ropes were fixed while descending the ridge southwards. After it, we bypassed a large icefall from the left and went upward the glacier to the tent, which we left there. The descent took about 7 hours. The same evening we approached Aksu-Rama. 9.08.98 In the morning, we came to our hoard where we left money and documents. No hoard was present. 10-22.08.98 The way home (to St. Petersburg). Comments by Sergei Kalmykov (master of climbing, senior editor of NEVA site)
The ascent of St. Petersburg team (alp-club “Altsport”) won the second prize in Russian Mountaineering Championship (technical ascents). Really, this team was just a duo of Valery Shamalo (master of sports, 33 years old) and Kirill Korabelnikov (candidate master of sports, 28 years old). They had climbed the North face of peak 5013 (“Miner”) in Karavshin region of (Turkestan ridge) for 8 days in August. It was a second climb of Sidorov route (1992, 6B Russian Grade) with a variation in the upper part. This ascent is noteworthy not only for its climbing features, such as extreme difficulty of the route, only two climbers alone, huge weight of packs, etc. It’s safe to say that it was anything but a common sport event; it was the manifestation of spirit, which was beyond sports. It was like a challenge to all do’s and don'ts of climbing society, rather extraordinary in itself. This ascent was subjected to criticism, sometimes slashing, in a circle of St. Petersburg climbers, “filibusterism, suicides, not that sort of things, bad influence on youths…” However, let’s recall that R. Messner complains of the same criticism in his “Crystal horizon”. On the other hand, only those efforts that outstep traditions advance us, advance us to -
The feature we are speaking about was that fellows run an experiment on themselves. It was a pure experiment: “Do we understand the highlands nature? What are we really able to?“ So they went to an examination by nature; they went to their hard as it is task only together. Afterwards, in St. Petersburg in autumn they were told, “radio, rescue team beneath, all kinds of contingencies…” Just as one may ascend Everest “with no oxygen”, but carry an extra oxygen bottle “just in case” or work underneath a cupola with a safety net below, or explore North Pole “by yourselves”, but with a possibility to get immediate help from a plane in emergency, etc. Both situations are risky, but these are different kinds of risk. Rejecting securing, you step into the unknown, put yourself to a new test; the test of your sanity, the test of your knowledge: Was everything done to avoid this “case”? They decided to try themselves in this furnace. Why, Messner had no radio either, and a rescue team was not waiting for him beneath - This wall is not only very difficult to climb but also difficult of approach. It’s in the arm of the south unfrequented side of Turkestan ridge. The expedition, with which our alpinists arrived in Karavshin region (to the north side of the ridge), had finished its work and was leaving home, to St. Petersbourg. They said adieu to it upon the confluence of the rivers Kara-Su and Ak-su and went to the south. They were passing popular with climbers cirque Ak-Su. It, as well as the nearest Asan-Usan, formerly teeming, was desert that time. After they had passed two saddles, on the 5th day, they reached the wall. Just imagine: a small tent, two of them and none around. One glance at the wall and they could have given up. It could be their private decision and nobody would hear of it One day was spent observing the mount, and - At dawn of the 31st of July the duo crossed the bergschrund and got off the ground; the ascent began. So three weeks they were completely isolated from the whole world, with 9 days on the mount, in the most merciless to a human being environment. The team climbed, wearing out rough weather, 1300m of abrupt, often icy, rocks for 8 days, and reached the summit in the evening of the 7th of August. The next day they descended, what was not so easy either. Safe and sound, they still had enough energy to draw ahead of a group of some tourist. The duo proved its right for this risky experiment. Besides, it was not for the first time; the previous winter they climbed the NW face of North Ushba. Their return, the welcome made by people was uneasy; the small hoard hidden in stones of Asan-Usan cirque was ransacked. Probably, locals visited the place and considered wealth of civilization to be useless for these two fellows. All things and, above all, the documents and money had disappeared. Hence, they had to wait for those tourists and borrow 50 roubles (!) at them to pay for a bus to Bishkek. In police, they were hinted that it would have gone hard with them if they had continued annoying officials. So they came away none the wiser. Help came from Kirgyzh KGB - translation by Petr V. Sergeev |
 |
| © 1999-2007 Mountain.RU Mail to: info@mountain.ru |
|
