Climbing is a contagious phenomenon. The love of mountains didn't just pass by Slava
Volkov. He was in the mountains, fulfilled the norms for candidate to master of sports
title, and summitted Khan-Tengri. Now, being in his 50s, he made up his mind to go to the
world of rocks, to test himself one more time and to correct some things that went wrong
inside. It was not a problem at all to get an agreement from the mountaineering club in
Togliatti. The climbers knew him very well and they trusted him.
A misunderstanding was the beginning of all. The mountaineers were going to do their job
and they thought that Slava would be doing the same thing he had been doing on Everest -
making sorties on mountain slopes and working in the base camp. But he had different
plans, and he didn't reveal those until later.
Everything was going all right in the beginning. All together climbers ascended to the
first camp in order to get acclimatized. That part of the route was not complicated from
the technical point of view. But, there were several steep and dangerous sections on the
way to the second camp. Being a considerate and a careful person, Dusharin had thought
beforehand about possible ways of making it safe for Slava to go even though he wished he
wouldn't go. |
Vyatcheslav Volkov on the route
|
|
They got prepared and they went. The experienced climbers' fraternity watched in
perplexity how that elderly stout man walked through the snow, climbed the rocks and
hanged on to the ropes. Something went wrong with their set order of things. It was
impossible for anyone to get concentrated on himself only. There was no automatism in
their motions anymore. They had to think not about themselves but about the stranger. They
had to watch the way he moved and they had to help him. The pressure was growing. |
Dusharin said: "We had already set the second camp on the route, and fixed two tents.
Finally, Slava reached the camp and just fell on the backpack in one of the tents. He
hadn't even taken off his climbing-irons He fell asleep. The color of the tent was
dark-blue. So we had a feeling that Slava was all dark-blue: his lips and his face were
dark-blue. He was just lying there, barely breathing, and he looked as if he was dead. It
was terrible to look at him. He was haggard, spent, and dead tired. The load was too heavy
for him.
The guys looked at him worrying, 'How is it going to be? What should we do?' His condition
was scary. I thought, 'Maybe, everything will be all right after he sleeps.' We were
bothered a lot by his condition. We were all running around doing something: getting snow
and boiling water. He was lying there unconscious for about two hours. Then we started
treating him very carefully, giving him different drinks. He felt a little better in the
evening. Everything went all right then, but I still felt like something we were doing was
wrong. Slava shouldn't come up there. I was to blame.
It was clear that Slava was trying to test himself. He was doing his own thing. Just for
himself. He was testing himself to know his physical abilities after the illness. He is
very proud that he can do a lot, even though he spent a long time at the hospital, having
had problems with his back. He said that he had been walking according to his own pace. He
explained his detachment from the group because he wanted to take photos. These all are
just excuses. Who needs these excuses? He was carrying just his own luggage, as if he was
someone special among the team members. He worked just for himself and not for the group.
Of course, he's got a tremendous amount of will and perseverance, and he performed really
well. But you need to have a lot more over there… There is a limit of human being's
abilities."
Finally, the situation was brought to a conclusion. Being amazed by everything that was
going on in the team, Carlos interfered. His verdict was made with the utmost clarity,
'Nanga Parbat is super, and Slava is not. If Americans had organized the expedition, there
wouldn't have been any chance for Slava to get up here. Till now there are 49 people left
on the slopes of the mountain, and there is no need to have one more.' Slava paused, and
then took off his backpack and sat down. The group started moving. Dusharin was left there
too trying to make Slava understand the situation:
"It was a cruel conversation. I said, 'If you took a detached view on yourself
yesterday, you would call me a killer, because I let you be up here in that condition. But
I don't want to be a killer, you must understand what I mean. If you came with the
expedition having a goal to make an ascent to Nanga Parbat, it was your mistake then. You
are not ready for that. You've got little chance (almost nothing) to fulfill an ascent.'
'Being in Togliatti, I had already known that there would be no way for us to avoid a
conflict. The worse that could happen in the expedition is the break in our relationships.
The result (whether we fulfill an ascent or not) is the lesser point. If one doesn't
understand the whole meaning of the situation, if he doesn't know what mountains really
are, and if he doesn't understand the reasons of my actions, there is no way to keep the
same relationship and to avoid the break. This point is the most terrible one for me. I
value our relationships a lot. But you act as if you are the only one in the expedition.
You don't care about the others at all, and you don't care about the success of the whole
expedition. You behave as if you are a special member of the expedition. You don't carry
any luggage but your own. We need to care and think about you constantly. We have to wait
for you. You drag the expedition. But we didn't refuse you and we took you with us without
any sorrow.'
'You had to make you goals in the expedition clear for yourself. Did you want just to test
and to assure yourself that you are strong, healthy, and able to work? Of course, you've
done that already. You can also do that in future, but you shouldn't disturb others and
injure the safety of the expedition. You don't feel it as deep as the others who lived
their lives in climbing do. If a person is an obstacle to a team and the whole expedition,
he should step aside…'"
We can give Slava credit, because he took everything into consideration, and accepted the
terms. Below in the base camp, there was one more conversation with his younger brother,
who is a lot more hard and definite than Dusharin. Andrei Volkov has a formed point of
view upon such problems:
"Physical conditioning is very important for climbers. It is a necessary requirement,
but not the only one. So, if one doesn't fit, it means that he doesn't fit. The ideal
material is people who are rather short and don't weigh much. As a rule, these are high
altitude climbers of high class. Messner, Krzysztof Wielicki and Ivan Dusharin are like
these people. It gives them good workability high in the mountains. On eight-thousanders
on the way from one camp to another the work that is usually done in 10 hours has to be
finished by all members in a half-hour interval. There is no way there could be a 2...3
hours lag (as it was with Slava). The entire schedule goes wrong then. It is possible to
accept a one-hour falling behind, even though it's too much. Usually it's half an hour,
and everyone gathers together, walking in his own pace.
Now the main thing. The first criterion is rock climbing. Every high-altitude
climber I've ever known has had at least five years of rock climbing school. They all gain
practical experience on rocks. Rocks are the best imitation of everything that can happen
later. Every high-altitude climber is a very good rock-climber, but not every rock-climber
is a good high-altitude climber.
Slava didn't have such schooling. He proceeded directly into mountaineering, and he was in
a pair with Ivan Dusharin. The most amazing thing for me was that his evaluation of the
situation was not an adequate one. His estimation of himself is not an adequate one
either. You should always choose an adequate object for yourself. I don't claim to climb
El Captain, even by the simplest route (most likely, I will fall). But I claim to go in a
pair. I don't claim to go along to Everest using the new route, even though I've done
8,000 meter peaks and I've summitted Everest before. It's not adequate for my level, the
level of Andrei Volkov. Slava has a lower level.
The second criterion is the toughest for me. It's working the first in climbing.
While climbing rocks you always go first: you and your rope. In high-altitude climbing if
you never climbed first to the routes of the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, or the 5th category,
then you are not ready. Slava never worked first on any of the routes, neither on the 2nd,
nor on the 3rd, or even on the 1st category. So, here comes the adequate evaluation: he
never worked the first.
Using the usual language, I'll say that the third criterion is contributing to the
work of the team. Of course, these are common words, but they have a special meaning
in mountaineering. Sasha Dosaev had demonstrated that. You know the story when he said,
'Guys, I've got to stay here.' Having decided not to go for an ascent, he gave the guys a
tremendous amount of help. He cooked food, boiled water. It was a nice return for them. Of
course, they wouldn't have died without him…
There is one more strategy: to go up using all the chances, no matter what is going on.
Sergei Penzov performed this strategy on K2. You can never predict things in such
situations. Everything happens accidentally. Penzov was lucky. But his case was an
exception, because the statistics of the victims of the mountains is increasing mostly
because of this strategy.
These are three requirements of mountaineering. I'll skip the question about the material.
You can successfully climb mountains with a belly such Slava's. But you have to play your
game, the game that matches your abilities. But he wanted to play a big game, he wanted to
play in the world's championship. I said, 'Slava, when we play football in the yard, it is
different. Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, plays fairly good too, and the guys in the
yard… But when there is an official championship, you shouldn't go, because everybody
knows you. Even if you paid money, you shouldn't go with the team. It's not appropriate
and not safe for your health.'"
The problem had been solved and everyone got down to work. The climbers started doing
their job on the mountain, and Slava stayed in the base camp. Everyone got his own result
and got to his own summit when the expedition was over. |
|
