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ALPINDUSTRIA: RUSSIAN ADVENTURE TEAM EVEREST 2003 Normal route, Tibet Expedition chronicle:
6 April, 2003 Alexander Abramov reports from Kathmandu: Our running around Kathmandu and packing things seems to be an endless process. The corridors in our hotel are crammed with our loads. But finally everything is packed and put on a truck v 4 tongs of food and gear. Today the 12th member of our expedition v Pushkarev v joined us. Nobody knew him before, but he turned out to be a nice guy. Valentine Bozhukov visited us today v he came to talk us into using his invention v liquid oxygen. It is pored into bottles, evaporated thus creating the pressure of 300 atmospheres. But I consider this to be dangerous and don't trust it. Kaimachnikov and Litinckiy should be in Lhasa by now, enjoying Chinese cuisine. Igor Tsarev is constantly filming everything and assembles the film on computer then and there. Almost everyone bought a whole howl bag of extra gear. Tomorrow, April, 7 at 7 a.m. we are leaving for Tibet. Good-bye to everybody and good luck 5 April, 2003 Alexander Abramov reports from Kathmandu: Hello everybody. I am reporting directly from our hotel with a splendid view of night Kathmandu. We have bought almost all foodstuffs. But it is problematic to find good lighters and matches. At 12:00 we went to Russian Embassy, where we spent 2 hours in a very pleasant conversation with the Russian ambassador v Valery Nazarov. We were given the symbol of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take it to the summit of Everest. Vasya Elagin has arrived v so were are 11 now. But the entire team will gather only in BC: Volodya Pushkarev arrives tomorrow but two people v Kaimachnikov and Litinskiy v leave tomorrow for Lhasa. Tomorrow is our last day in Kathmandu. Visas and permits are ready. Finishing touches and we are off. Best regards. 3 April, 2003 Alexander Abramov reports from Kathmandu: ?At 3 a.m. Delhi time our group of 10 arrived at Delhi airport. We still had 16 hours before our connection flight to Kathmandu. We all felt very tired and sleepy v the result of crazy months of preparations for the Everest expedition. It was a good thing that back in Moscow we had already planned to visit Tadge-Mahal v one of world's wonders. It took us 4 hours (200km) to get there v all the way there we all were sleeping, snoring heavily. But we never regretted it v the sight was tremendous: impressive snow-white marble temple inlaid with semiprecious stones. The way back to Delhi passed as if in a dream. In the airport we found Sergei Larine and Bidzina Gudzhabidze v they both stayed at the airport and merely survived those 16 hours. The checking rules at the airport are very strict, they are fighting terrorism: they even confiscated my lighter. And here we are - in Gauri Shankar hotel, Kathmandu. It's 1 a.m. We fell at home here. This place is very familiar to us v our two previous Himalayan expeditions v Cho-Oyu 1999 and Everest 2000 v started here. Tomorrow we'll be busy doing the final preparations for the expedition. But this will be tomorrow. And now the boy is bringing us some tasty Nepalese food. So I finish my report here. Bond appetite. " 2 April, 2003
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