Mountaineering is an international phenomenon. Organizing international expeditions is
very common for Western countries. Russian climbers are trying to move in that direction,
too. For example, there was an international expedition to Nanga Parbat in 1997. It was an
unusual expedition, since one of the members of the expedition was an American and didn't
speak Russian. It was clear that Carlos would have some difficulties communicating with
people of different mountaineering traditions. |
Vodka is from Russia of course!
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Volkov: "Not every American could perform the way Carlos did after he joined our
team. He is an easily adaptable person especially when he has enough time to think and get
prepared for changes. Carlos understands and accepts a lot of things. He is an
intellectual mountain climber. There are not many people of that kind. Of course, there
are some limits. For example, in some extreme situations he follows certain schemes of his
own. In contrast, we use our own. So..." |
Dusharin: "From this point of view, Carlos is not a typical Western climber. I have
worked a lot with foreigners at the International Climbers' Camp in the Pamirs. Carlos is
very different from them. Those foreigners were the professionals who went to the high
camp to get altitude climbing experience. Usually such professionals are very ambitious
people. They start to distinguish you from others only after they understand that you are
at the same level as they are or higher. But Carlos is very careful and understanding. He
is different from those people. He is closer to our way of thinking."
Volkov: "He is a highly qualified professional. It would be enough just to say that
Makalu's West Pillar is on his resume. Every climber knows what that means. No further
comments are necessary. Carlos is an experienced alpinist and a very good ice climber.
Climbing is his life. He is firm and knows what he wants. He always tries to stay fit, and
spends a lot of time at it. His physical training is very important to him. Unfortunately,
he cannot jog due to a former frostbite injury, which resulted in a partially amputated
toe. (He starts limping and can't push his foot evenly.) He can still ride a mountain
bike, swim, and cross-country ski. He is a skillful alpine skier.
He is truly a professional, but what does this really mean? Actually, he doesn't make his
living that way. No one pays him for summitting 8,000 meter peaks. He works with different
kinds of agencies, companies, and the press to organize climbing expeditions. For income,
he organizes training seminars for management departments (topics include: making
decisions in extreme situations, teamwork, and achieving goals with few resources). His
training seminars are rather popular." |
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