After each ascent Dusharin and Volkov tried to analyze where they were in their
mountaineering career and where to go next. The adventures in conquering the 8,000 meter
peaks has lost its attractiveness. Now they need to think of a new motivation in each
trip, not only purely sports achievements.
Dusharin: "For me the ascent onto Nanga Parbat showed that in principle 8,000 meter
peaks do not differ greatly from other mountains. An ascent to an eight-thousander follows
a normal process, it doesn't really matter if you go an extra 100-300 meters. We tested
ourselves and understood that we were all prepared for such projects. It isn't interesting
just shifting to another peak that is also 8,000-meters high. Now it is necessary to
enliven each expedition so that it will be interesting for everyone, not just our team.
Volkov: "It is not interesting for us to multiply climbs: to go onto Shishapangma,
then Cho Oyu and Dhaulagiri. I can confess that I want to participate in these
expeditions, however, I do not shudder at a mere thought of it. Sure thing that we want to
do what we can do. Eight-thousanders are not predictable and there is always something
interesting there. Together with Ivan Dusharin we plan to implement a couple of good
doublets. There are appropriate double routes: Gasherbrum I - Gasherbrum II or Cho Oyu -
Shishapangma. In all honesty, we would like to be tough guys and make a triplet somewhere:
Broad Peak - Gasherbrum I - Gasherbrum II. They are all located side by side and, roughly
speaking, you can make them from the same base camp.
For us, mountaineering gradually is becoming a publicly open business. We would like to
share what we have accumulated with others. All this is interesting and instructive, not
only for mountain climbers. It is necessary to do a follow-up, to make a film, write books
about it and make Web presentations. This consideration is increasing, however, it is
interesting for Ivan and myself. It's a pity that it doesn't matter to anybody else. I
made sense of it recently after K2 when I seriously got involved together with Ivan in the
expedition organization. Some time later I began thinking about it as of professional
activity: everything should be thought over in detail, to do a follow-up, arrange meetings
after expedition, cherish dreams for a new contract. It is a scope of work in which an
ascent is just a small portion. |
Alexander Dosaev and Andrei Mariev near the 2nd camp
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We then encountered problems with our team reinforcement. At first, we had a very big club
and lots of events took place. There were a few teams of different qualification which
were able to go on a trip. But later, commencing with Everest, our relationships broke
off. The club exists as it is and our team exists as it is. When we plan our activities we
do not think much of children from the club. But now once again we want to become a member
of the club, so that the others could catch up with us. We a sort of saw the world and now
can come back and try to get other people involved in this big game in which we got mixed
up. It has its meaning. You can train good climbers only if you take young people on a
hard trip with you. |
As for me, I wish to go on technically complicated trips. Next summer we are going to
climb Changabang in India. It is a gigantic superwall plunging steeply 1,700m from the
summit. We are now launching the mechanism of arranging and selecting people. But those
people won't be exclusively the members of the club. We will probably engage outsiders. We
had big ideas about Changabang and Ivan and I had to think over the schedule of
preparation. Broad Peak, Shishapangma would not force us to think in this way. Probably we
would sit tight till summer. I keep myself in good physical conditions permanently and
train at least twice or three times a week. I understand that 1 hour of jogging and 12
hours of work are not equal. We parasitize on old reserves of a gigantic amount of
training. It won't work with Changabang. We thought over the system of intensive
preparation. Also we need to climb up the wall with a platform in Crimea during winter. |
We'll never be able to deploy this project ourselves. It is clear for us. That is the
reason for our getting into the world of television business where we might find financial
support etc. We realize that it is a very sophisticated world with its producers,
directors, screenwriters and us as actors. They want to shoot a film of our climbing up
with a "pretty" budget. The excitement about our travel is a portion of a big
game, a great concern to many people. We are a bit scared of all this, however we get an
opportunity to enlarge the circle of persons around mountaineering, to find a new sense in
our activities." |
Ivan Dusharin is shooting a mountain
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