VOLKOV:
I had never had such a difficult walk. Snow was melting under the shining
sun. We spent 40 minutes to cover the last 30m. We got to the place where
we decided to set a 2nd camp. I got a heart attack and Ivan had troubles
with his stomach. The high altitude climbing clearly shows your weak points.
It took us 4 hours to set a tent, and then we crawled into it, took medicine
and ate some jelly. We felt a little bit better. The night was not an easy
one. We didn't manage to get a wink of a sleep.
In the morning we spent 4 hours preparing the area to set a tent more
thoroughly. At the same time Ivan was trying to dig a cave. In a while
we finally decided to go down. We quickly abseiled in 3 hours. Taking into
consideration our sad experience, the other guys decided to go up to the
2nd camp only after bivouacking in the 1st camp. We met Udin's group at
the bottom of the mountain. The guys from Novosibirsk decided to move to
the first camp somewhere around evening. They reached the second camp on
the 21st of July, and started digging the cave and clearing away the area,
working like bulldozers. They had to build up a new cave, because they
couldn't found the one built by Ivan Dusharin. They had done a good job
having prepared a place for an overnight staying for three people, confirming
their reputation of thorough settlers.
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Andrei Volkov ascends from the 1st camp
Sergei Penzov near the second camp tents
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