The climber Alexander Gukov is Capasen after a week on a mountain in Pakistan without food and fuel. Nobody managed to go through his route

Russian climbers got into trouble on the approach to the top of Latk-I-a height of 7145 meters-in Pakistan. Sergei Glazunov broke and died, and his partner Alexander Gukov without gas for the burner and without food remained at an altitude of 6100 meters. He had no chance of going down on his own, the rescuers have reached him only a week later. A year ago, the Gukov expedition failed on the same route.

Update . On the morning of July 31, it became known that Alexander Gukov was saved .

"We take food for five days and leave for a gap"

The climbers of Alexander Gukov from St. Petersburg and Sergey Glazunov from Irkutsk began climbing Mount Latk-I (the main peak of the Latka Massive in the Pakistani Karakorum) on July 10. According to Anna Piunova, the editor-in-chief of the portal about the mountaineering of Mountain.ru and Gukov’s girlfriends, the expedition was originally included Brother Evgeny Glazunov, but when tickets were already bought and visas were received, he refused to go due to family circumstances. “Of course, Zhenin refused the situation. The three are easier to go than together, because it’s easier to carry a load and move in general, ”Piunova told Medusa.

On July 15, 40-year-old Gukov and 25-year-old (according to other sources, he was 26) Glazunov sent a message that they had left heavy things in the basic camp at an altitude of 5.5 thousand meters and the next day they plan to start the assault on the top. Puunova says that Gukov wrote a message: "We take food for five days and go on a gap." They agreed that if something goes wrong, Gukov will send Piunova from a satellite phone a SOS signal and indicate the height at which they are located. According to the editor -in -chief of mountain.ru, when the climbers “went on a gap”, 11% of the battery’s charge remained on Gukov’s phone.

Piunova says that on July 22, climbers from a camp at an altitude of 6.5 thousand meters said that they plan to get to the top the next day. However, a day later, Gukov and Glazunov were able to go through only “two ropes” (each length of each - 50 meters) and sent a message “we couldn’t, let's try anymore tomorrow”. “We figured that two more days should definitely be enough for them to climb to the top. But they [long] did not get in touch, ”says Puunova.

On July 25, a helicopter with rescuers made a flight of a mountain and found out that the climbers are alive. “An hour after flying, we came to SOS from Sasha - and [then] it became clear that Seryozha Glazunov crashed. Three more messages came: “Serega flew away”, “I hang on the wall”, “I need help. I need evacuation,” says Puunova. Gukov did not have ropes for descent: they stayed in the backpack at Glazunov, most of the supply of gas for the burner also disappeared - but the tent was preserved.

Gukov turned to a safe comb, where there could be no avalanche and rockfall, and stayed there, says Puunov. According to her, on July 25 there was a weather suitable for a rescue operation, but the helicopters that were supposed to pick up the climber "flew out late, they missed two hours of good weather."

“Sasha was in touch with me, began to be angry, said:“ Why didn’t they fly out before? And what are they flying down? I am at an altitude of 6300. ” Since then, the weather has deteriorated. We set Sasha to a quick solution to problems. We told him that salvation would take a maximum of six days, but we ourselves were sure that we would save him much earlier. Today is the sixth day, ”says Piunova.

From then until the evening of July 30, weather conditions have not changed-helicopters still cannot get to Gukov.

The northern route to Latk-I has been stormed since the 1970s. Unsuccessfully

For the first time, Latka-I submitted to the Japanese expedition in 1979, which ascended to the top from the south side. But no one managed to conquer the mountain along the northern route; The Americans got the closest to the goal in 1978: they rose to a height of seven thousand meters.

According to Anna Piunova, it was she who inspired Gukov a few years ago to conquer Mount Latka-I. “Sasha then won the Golden Ice Roof reward and thought about what goals to set for himself,” says Puunova. - I told him that there is such a mountain, such a route - and for 40 years no one can conquer it. He was very caught in this idea. ”

For the first time, Gukov tried to conquer Latka-I in 2017. Then he, along with Valery Shamalo and Anton Kashevnik (both from St. Petersburg) rose to a height of 6.8 thousand meters.

The 55-year-old Shamalo told Medusa that this mountain is the most interesting of the unresolved tasks for climbers. More than 50 times, climbers tried to reach its top along the northern route. “She has some features that are not visible at first glance,” says Shamalo. - In this area it is very difficult to acclimatize. In order to acclimatize normally, you need to make more than six outputs to a height of six thousand meters. ” According to Shamalo, many neglect this: “They go up to 5.6 thousand meters once, and that’s all”; This is not enough to work for a long time in difficult conditions at high altitude.

Shamalo says that on Mount Latka-I is a very unstable weather and a complex microclimate. Even in good weather, no clouds fly from where and accumulate under the top; clarifications rarely happen; Due to poor visibility, it is very difficult to work. Often you have to wait for the weather, which is why climbers lose time; As a result, when the climber is near the top, he lacks products and gas, says Shamalo.

When warming, powerful rockfalls begin here. In the upper part of the mountain, which from below seems to be a simple snowy slope, is a complex relief. When you get there, Shamalo says, it turns out that this is a steep wall. Snow settles on it, which is why it is difficult to go further: to find a stable surface, you need to test the wall for a long time.

“What Sasha Gukov was mistaken in, I don't know. Perhaps he was excessively hoped for Sergey - Sergey walks very quickly. Or maybe he calculated everything perfectly, but the weather or anything was let down - this is mountains. From here it is impossible to imagine what exactly went wrong with them, ”says Shamalo. According to him, Glazunov was "an excellent, strong athlete."

Shamalo remembers well the height at which Gukov is located (6100): “I think that it is on the [snowy] shelf [in the tent], and there are steep rocks around. On the left, the snowy edge is unpleasant, it is even more difficult to move on it than on the wall, it is more difficult to insure. Therefore, we left there to the right. "

In 2017, Gukov, Shamalo and Kashevnik did not reach the top of the mountain due to the fact that the weather worsened sharply, and Shamalo fell ill with pneumonia. In addition, the climbers ended in gas and frostbite began - after the descent, several phalanges of fingers on the arms and legs were removed from Shamalo.

Shamalo said that it was the hardest when they went down from the base camp. He himself almost could not go, and the guide brought him a horse. “The horse turned out to be a plain, I was not used to the mountains, I didn’t want to go in steep areas at all. In one place, we flew four meters along with him. In flight, I managed to take my legs out of the stirrups and jump. I didn’t even break anything, ”said the climber in an interview with the website russianclimb.com. Shamalo made the final segment of the path on his own, and Gukov made him injections of the hormonal anti -inflammatory drug dexamethasone so that he "does not bent from edema."

After failure in 2017, Gukov hoped to conquer Latko-I "next time"

In 2017, Gukov wrote on the blog on the website Mountain.ru: “We would have done this, I know this, but the weather made its adjustments.” According to him, during their ascent to the mountain “with the exception of the first two days of the ascent, something poured from the sky every day”: “The forecast was good for as long as 10 days, but it did not correspond to reality at all.”

After the expedition, Gukov concluded: “One now I know for sure: Latka-I is real for the northern comb. Complex and exhausting, but real. ” He still promised to conquer the mountain: “This time they did not rise, but I think that we have every chance to do this next time.”

Irina Kravtsova