Everest 2003 North Side Expedition
Russian Adventure Team Dispatch 15

4/24/2003: News from  Russian Adventure Team  Everest expedition from Moscow under the leadership of Alexander Abramov. Alexander Abramov reports from BC, Everest North Side:

“April 23. Hurray! Our oxygen – 48 bottles  - has been delivered. Today is the last day of rest. It was warm and sunny and Slava Pashkov took a sauna before going again to ABC. By the way, Slava is the secret of our expedition. About a month before expedition a guy called and said he’d like to join our Alpindustria Adventure Team to climb Everest. He was not a climber, but a keen hunter. My first reaction was to reject. For the last three months we had about 20 similar offers. But Sergei Zon-Zam (the head of Alpindustria) vouched for him. We had a meeting with Slava, talked for about 3 hours. Why not try? We agreed, that Slava would pay for himself, for a personal guide (Larin) and for a personal Sherpa. We made a deal. I asked him why didn’t he want to start with easier summits. He said what if he didn’t like mountaineering then and would never want to climb Everest after that. Anda it is Everest that is his dream. Pashkov bought all personal gear. I managed to talk Slava into going to the Caucasus, where they climbed Elbrus in harsh February weather together with Sergei Larin. It was a good test. Slava didn’t lose his enthusiasm and went to Everest with us. He has almost become the soul of the expedition. He is very eagerly listening to the stories of experienced climbers. He never complains. He has already been to 7050m and spent a night there. Are there too many climbers who have spent a night over 7000?

If in the beginning Slava’s chances of getting to the summit were 1:20, now they may be 1:2. Let’s follow his progress. Dima Moskalev and Sasha Sergeev haven’t returned from Zhangmu till night. I think, they met there Kozlov’s expedition. So most probably they will arrive tomorrow. And we – 8 of us – will take off to ABC tomorrow at 9 a.m. Vasya Elagin is waiting for us there. Good-bye.”

4/25/2003: News from Russian Adventure Team Everest expedition from Moscow under the leadership of Alexander Abramov.

Alexander Abramov reports : "April 24. Today we made a heroic climb from BC to ABC. It is about 1300m of vertical gain and 20km overall. As it was expected, our two tents in Middle Camp were searched through, but as there they were empty, all the quick-draws had been stolen. Sergei Kaimachnikov was the first to arrive at ABC, he was followed by Igor Tsarev. Abramov was wise enough to go in the middle. The rest came soon after. A lot of short steep slopes on the way to ABC can drive one crazy. You think that after that hill you'll see a camp - but, oops, there is another stone-strewn field. In ABC we met Vasya Elagin. He climbed to the North Col yesterday and tomorrow is going down to BC. The weather according to forecasts we receive will stay bad till May 4. We plan to climb to 7000m first, then to 7500m and, if we are lucky, to pitch a camp at 7900m and spend a night there. But under such weather conditions we don't stand big chances. Bye to everybody."

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