First prize-winner Pavel Shabalin (left) posing with veteran Edward Myslovsky, the first Russian Everest summiteer (click to enlarge).
Some of the main guests at Moscow's Golden Festival posing for a group picture. The guys holding (Golden) ice-axes are, from left to right: Yuri Koshelenko, Valeri Babanov, and Alexander Oditsov (click to enlarge).
Dmitry Pavlenko, team-member in the Piolet d'Or-awarded climbs on Makalu West face (1997) and Jannu North face (2004), entertaining the audience (click to enlarge).
Kitchen chat after the gathering: Viktor Kozlov (leader of Central North Face Everest climb in 2004 and planning for K2 West face next year), discusses plans with Kazakh, Denis Urubko. All images courtesy of Russian Climb (click to enlarge).
LINKS
|
Khan Tengri North face climbers get the all-Russia climbing award
Posted: Dec 05, 2005 10:33 am EST
(MountEverest.net) The best climbers from Russia - and neighbouring countries - met last weekend in Moscow to celebrate the “Gold of Russian Climbing Festival”. An all-star cast of mountaineers from the East showed up to recant their tales of past expeditions and adventures still to come.
The award for best climb of the year in the high altitude category went to Pavel Shabalin and Ilijas Tukhvatullin for their alpine style ascent of Khan Tengri's North face (a line the two Russian climbers did up the middle of the face up to 6B, Russian graduation).
Mates on Everest, Khan Tengri - and K2?
Pavel and Ilijas were members of the team that opened a new route across the center of Everest's North face. Together again on Khan Tengri, they completed the ascent pretty late in the season. The pair faced tough conditions and both climbers suffered frostbite. Despite amputations in his hands and feet, Pavel has decided to join his Everest mates next summer for an attempt on K2's West face.
The best of the Russian season
The second prize went to Valery Shamalo and Alexey Gorbatenkov, for a 5B grade climb on Kosculak’s North face, in China. While third prize was awarded to a team from the Krasnoyarsk region (led by Vladimir Arkhipov), that climbed Khan Tengri’s North ridge, 5B.
Three other teams were awarded in the ‘technical climb’ category, after performing difficult ascents on Central Asian peaks. Finally, there was a special prize in the ‘Veterans’ category, awarded to Vassily Pechenin, who summited Peak Lenin at the age 73.
Golden ice-axes all around
Philippe Descamps, Editor in Chief of Montagnes Magazine, was among the guests at the Moscow awards ceremony. The mag issues the international Piolet d’Or award and four Russian teams have been awarded the prestigious French prize. The most recent two went to Koshelenko and Babanov for the Nuptse East climb in 2003, and to the Jannu North Face team led by Alexander Odintsov in 2004.
Since its first edition in 1991, the Montagnes Magazine-organized Piolet d’Or has been awarded to Russian climbers four times. Siberian star Valeri Babanov got it twice: First in 2001 for his solo ascent to Meru Central (Garhwal Himalaya), and then in 2003 along with Yuri Koshelenko, for the climb on Nuptse East. The impressive team led Sergey Efimov and Alexander Odintsov, who have been opening new “Russian Big Wall Routes” across the world for years, received the prize for their new lines on Makalu West Face in 1997 and Jannu North Face in 2004.
Russian Pavel Shabaline, 44 (who just changed the spelling of his name to Shabalin in accordance to his new passport), lives in Kirov, the Russian Capital for ice-climbing. Pavel and Ilijas were members of the Russian team who opened a new line on the center of Everest’s North face last year. The feat was awarded one of the Best of ExplorersWeb expeditions in 2004. ExWeb also awarded the Jannu North face's first ascent.
This summer, Pavel was part of a four-member exploratory team who researched K2’s West face, in order to prepare for a 2006 expedition there, led by Viktor Kozlov. The team will attempt to open a new route on the sheer rock and ice wall. Right after K2’s exploratory trip, Pavel and Ilijas climbed Khan Tengri's North Face in alpine style.
|
