Valentyn SYMONENKO: "Everest is absolutely black this year" 

"What is base camp like?"

"This is the at the edge, rather smooth at that, of the Rongbuk glacier, with a frozen lake on the left and a frozen stream on the right. The outside temperature is about plus 5-10o Celsius during the day and minus 10-15 at night. Every half hour there is such a strong gust of wind that any firmly-fixed tent would literally burst and tear to pieces.

"There were also the base camps of US and British expeditions near us in the same area. Then we were joined by Belgians and Georgians. Five groups altogether.

"I am very grateful to the Chinese Ambassador in Ukraine who furnished us with transport to reach the camp. Moreover, the drivers were local Tibetans. This was good, on the one hand. They know the terrain very well. But a different problem came up at once. The Tibetan language is absolutely different from Chinese, while they turned out not to know English at all.

"A funny thing happened there. We had bought an English-language book on Tibet in which the map clearly separated this area from the rest of the People's Republic of China. Naturally, the Chinese liaison officers attached to us "just in case" immediately confiscated this objectionable material."

"In what way did you differ from other groups?"

"First of all, ours was a purely sporting expedition. The group includes 9 climbers, a doctor, a coach, the leader, and a cook  - 13 all in all. Our foreign counterparts are part of commercial expeditions. Each "amateur" had an instructor attached to him. This goodie cost each participant about 5-7 thousand dollars. Besides, we were also distinguished by another "professional" peculiarity: oxygen-free climbing. We only had 20 oxygen bottles and 6 masks for purely medical purposes."

"What drew your greatest attention?"

"Naturally, all eyes were fixed on Everest. We were struck by the absolutely black color of the mountain. The winter was snowless. Unfortunately, no one can say so far if this is good or bad. What is clear is this: I climbed almost up to 6,000 meters and saw no snow. As became obvious later as we were approaching the northern saddle, this added to our difficulties. Snow is better than ice, which had fully covered this part of the mountain. We had to hew up steps for 300 meters to clear the way. Perhaps it will also be far more complicated in the second part of the expedition than it could be with snow around. We would have to scale the cliffs for they had been exposed."

"What is the time schedule for climbing?"

"The whole expedition is intended for 45 days. The first stage is a base camp at 5150 meters. Then the upper camp at 7200. This stage has three intermediate camps at which we accumulate stores. We were to gather all groups at the third intermediate camp in due time. This was done quickly enough. The team managed to do the job within seven days. After doing this intermediate work, the guys came down for a three-day rest."

"What comes next?"

"There will be two excursions. The first is to climb to 7800 meters, the second to 8300 meters. In fact, this is the third excursion (after 7200 meters). Then there comes the culmination: the guys go to the peak in groups. We divided them into  groups of three. In this case, we had to somewhat break the tradition of group climbing."

"Was the human factor most important when you divided the group into threes?"

"Without doubt. After the guys had cleared the 7200 mark (the last base camp), we were again convinced that the  groups had been selected quite correctly. There was so much complex technical work, and the teamwork within the groups proved to be strikingly effective.

"In principle, our team is always very close-knit. We were together constantly. Immedietely  after conquering Everest, we lock start to discuss in detail our plans for the fall and next year. It is while discussing these plans that we came up with a new idea. After an obligatory scaling of Everest (all the boys were sure of this), we will be storming the peak where Nikolai Bashkirov died, the so-called fifteenth "eight-thousand-meter point." It is 8142 meters high."

"Mr. Symonenko, did you have any emergencies?"

"Funny things, I would say. There was a very interesting case at Kathmandu airport. One of our team members happened to wear an anorak absolutely identical to that of an Englishman. Moreover, they fell asleep together in the airport. The Englishman was the first to wake up, and he matter-of-factly put on our athlete's anorak. Our boy, in his turn, got quite unnerved when he awoke. It all might have been OK, but all the expedition's cash was in the pocket of the Ukrainian climber's anorak. A 'trifle,' isn't it?"

"And how was this problem resolved then?"

"Thank God, all was OK. The Englishman soon found a 'surprise' in his 'new' anorak and, naturally, gave it back to us."