DUSHARIN:
The same day Piotr Pustelnik and Ryszard Pawlowski reached the upper
camp. Of course they couldn't get a substantial rest. They were not going
to lose a chance the weather gave them. The whole evening they were sitting
in our "Kangchenjunga" drinking tea and taking pictures. Sergei Penzov
was taking medicine and recovering little by little. After long negotiations
with a doctor he was almost beseeching her to give him one more chance
next day. The Polish guys had left at 1 a.m. taking 80 m of the rope with
them. They fixed this rope above 8,200m. At 2 a.m. the group of Penzov
followed them. Getting to the end of the fixed ropes the guys separated.
Sergei rushed up. Igor and Carlos followed him a little bit slower. Misha
Ishutin had stopped after advancing 50 meters. He had no more strength.
It took him two hours to recover and then he slowly went down. Soon Penzov
reached Piotr and Ryszard. The smart Polish guys took a gas-stove with
them, so they had an hour break to drink some hot tea when they had reached
the crest. At 4 p.m. Sergei, Piotr, and Ryszard had reached the summit.
There was such a jubilation in the base camp. Our guys kept yelling "Hurrah!",
and the Polish climbers yelled "Victoria!" The wireless connection with
the summit was not excellent. The batteries had died, and to make them
work Penzov had to warm them in his bosom.
Having taken pictures, the Polish guys started moving down. At 4:45
p.m. Igor and Carlos had reached the summit. Sergei Penzov, being really
cold, went down very quickly and took the wireless with him. He reached
the camp one hour after with Misha Ishutin. Igor and Carlos were moving
a lot slower. From the ABC we could see two dots going down the slope.
It got dark, but Benkin and Buhler had reached the start of the fixed ropes
by that time, and we felt a relief.
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Now there is a straight path to the summit
Sergei Penzov and Ryszard Pawlowski on the summit
Igor Benkin on the summit
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