We woke up half an hour before the 13th day after our arrival in Bazlag. To be precise, woke up is not quite the right word. Four of us in a double tent, three of us lying on our sides, huddled together, and the fourth curled up in a “G” shape at our feet.
ova had started to stir half an hour before the alarm clock and we all supported him with joy. We all gladly supported him. We could not sleep any longer and wanted to move and go.
We gathered one by one. Two of us were lying down, two were rummaging around in different entrances to the tent. We didn’t start boiling tea, just drank a sip from a thermos. You know it would be nice to have a Snickers bar or a piece of bacon, but nothing came out.
We slept fully clothed, so getting ready is to put on our boots and strap on our cats. An uncomplicated procedure that took about two hours of time.
Finally the last latch on the cats is tightened. I’m ready to go. Waiting for the guys. It is very cold to sit and stand motionless. I decide to be the first of our foursome to leave. The others came out in ten minutes.
A few dozen feet up was Aset, also a member of our group. I try to keep up.
All around are going with oxygen. Without – only our group, Aset, Ivan and a couple of Krasnodar inhabitants.
The first hours I walk at a pace with oxygen.
I had replaced the batteries in my BD headlamp with new durasels before the assault. But what is this? The brightness drops sharply, barely capturing the nearest meter of space. After another 10 minutes, the light goes out altogether. This is not good. It is much harder to walk without a flashlight. Suddenly I hear a woman’s voice: “Hi, problems with the flashlight? Take mine, we have a large group, we can share, and you yourself.” Uncomfortable, I’m not going to be able to return her flashlight, most likely we will never see each other again. We got to talking, it turns out she is not a Nepali. I asked if she was a guide. No, she was a climber. For me, some shock that there are ordinary Nepalese who go as commercial clients on the 8,000m. There are also girls. I never took the flashlight, but we swapped batteries. We wish good climbing and the girl and her guide go ahead.
It was an hour and a half before dawn and I had new batteries. It seemed to me the problem was solved. But it was not so. In half an hour or less the brightness drops to almost zero again. And again I’m actually walking by feel… Very slowly it starts to go gray, my eyes get used to it, I don’t need a flashlight. It’s easier already.
I don’t remember the sky at all, and it was beautiful. At that altitude. But I remember the dawn. I stopped at about 8000m, took a few photos with my Pentax and shot video with my iPhone. I could hardly speak.
Around 7 a.m. I meet Ivan – he’s a monster. He had already run up the mountain and was coming down, but he was only 20 minutes ahead of me. He said it would take him two hours to get to the top; there, after the second ascent, it would take him another 10 minutes to climb the peak. I guessed it myself, but his words gave me strength.
How does it go without oxygen at 8000m? Everybody asks. I don’t have the words to describe it. It’s hard. Definitely the hardest steps of my life. The last kilometers of the marathon at an above-average pace come to mind. Only not 20 minutes, but 7 hours. Or climbing Mount Elbrus with my backpack weighing 30 kg and without proper acclimatization.
But it is not important. I can see the summit bastion, the weather is excellent, I feel myself perfectly, as far as it is possible on such altitude. I’m 100% sure I’ll make it. I feel that today the mountain is in our favor. So all the difficulties don’t matter. You just walk the next few steps, try to catch your breath for a minute and go on.
The altitude goes over 8000m, over 8100m, a little bit more and the summit ridge opens. It’s only 10 minutes to the peak!
But I had to rest, the last takeoff was hard. A few meters away from me, there was a small platform with a level path leading to it. But I had no strength to walk, so I collapsed where I was standing. The water in the bottle was almost frozen, only a couple of sips were left. I decided to fortify myself and eat some blueberries. And then they came – the visions! I found myself in the woods, with Snow White and her gnomes – the taste of blueberries evoked a vivid association. When you blink, and you blink slowly, every time you close your eyes you are instantly transported away from here. It seems as if you close your eyes and you’re immediately in some distant and beautiful place! Music also causes visions… in a shaky blurred reality there is only a rope, a jumar and the nearest meter of snow ridge, and around – big halls full of people in dresses…
Uh, concentrating, I turn off the music. That’s where the visions end.
The last 20 meters and I’m on top of Manaslu! Alone! The height according to my iPhone is 8170 meters. By the way, iPhones are the most precise altitude, but they round it up to 10 meters.
I have no exuberant joy, I do not shout with delight. Neither do I fully understand where you are and what it means. There is only a quiet happiness. You look, and you see what few people get to see. You see the earth rounding on the horizon line. And there’s not a peak in sight above you. Extraordinary. You stand. Watching. You don’t realize.
Photo from the summit for the certificate, photo with flags, photo of the couloir, a short video. Everything, we can go down. But then I hear Vovka shouting to me to take photos of them.
I was very glad – guys are on top! I had not seen them after leaving the camp and I was very much worried whether they had not turned back. But here they are! Hurrah! Only Sasha was missing somewhere. Vova and Dima did not see him either.
At an altitude of about 8,150 meters I spent an hour and a half! Without oxygen this is a very long time. My strength was melting away, I wanted to go down quickly, and the guys asked for a couple more pictures with flags. I took quick pics, for that I gave Vova my pics and big gloves in his backpack. We start the descent.
It was hell. It was hell. I’ve never gone down like that before. You walk ten meters and fall on your ass for a few minutes to catch your breath. You get up and stand there for another minute to catch your breath after that titanic effort. We go down a little faster than up. I kept looking at the altitude. And it is practically in place. Some kind of horror. I remember how hard those meters were on the way up. But I didn’t think then that it would be even harder on the way down. There’s ideas of getting off on my butt, but in some places it’s very steep and dangerous, and in some places it doesn’t go. We had to use our legs.
Dima and Vova were almost alive too. We crawl down together. Gradually the height falls, but it is not so easy. No one will get to the camp for you, so every time you force yourself to move.
At the camp Sasha had already made some tea. It turned out that his hands caught shortly after leaving (he had lost his main gloves somewhere) and he returned to the camp.
We did not want to spend the night in the assault camp at 7,450m. We had two hours rest and prepared to descend. At about 16:30 Vova and I start descending. Sasha decides to stay in assault camp, today he has no strength to continue descending. I leave Sasha my suit and gloves, today he will make one more attempt to assault.
Vova and I had to drop 700m up one of the steepest sections of the mountain. Surprisingly, dropping to 7450 and two hours of rest worked very well. We descend very fast and in an hour and a half, before it gets dark, we arrive at the third camp at 6750. Vova’s throat hurts badly, we both cough non-stop. I stoke water and brew Cauldrex. After that we pass out.
In the morning I feel fine. As long as you lie down and don’t move. Although it’s not hard to lie down and move, either. Vova feels bad, very tired and has a sore throat. I melt snow for tea. Today we are waiting for Dima and Sasha to come down.
Guys all gone, we are worried. Here comes Oleg.
In spite of the oxygen, he did not have enough acclimatization and did not go to the mountain. He felt very unimportant, totally exhausted. I gave him some tea, he gave us some fish. He could not eat at all. In 20 minutes Dima came. He has no face, very tired. Although the night in the stormtrooper was excellent, according to him. He falls asleep in the next tent. In couple of hours Vitaly with Anton, they de facto went down from Manaslu on skis. Beautiful fellows!
Instead of “Hi,” all the guys said, “That’s fuсk***. I don’t care, I haven’t left the tent yet, I’ve been warming water all day and I feel fine. Only for Sasha worried.
But now it’s time to go to the toilet. Oh. This turned out to be quite a challenge. Walking smoothly is not so easy, all I had the strength – to go three meters away from the tent, not the usual ten. Yeah, I’d rather lie down and continue boiling tea.
Meanwhile the guys pack up and begin their descent. I look out for Sasha. And every time I hear footsteps I look if it is him. It gets dark. There are only a few lanterns on the way down. In an hour they pass by. I understand that today Sasha will not come. There is no special reason to worry: the weather is fine, there are no technically difficult sections, the fourth camp is full of people. But you’re worried all the same.
But I slept perfectly. The strength was starting to return. I was boiling tea and by the third portion Sasha came down. He made it to the mountain yesterday, congratulations! But he returned to the camp late and spent the night once again in the assault. Three nights at 7450m! It looks relatively cheerful. We drink tea, have a light snack, pack up the camp and start descending.
Backpacks are heavy (under 25kg), but we descend quickly and today we already accept congratulations and have dinner at the base camp.
No one has realized what happened yet, and after a couple of weeks it hasn’t come completely.
Thanks to Mount for letting us in and out.
Thanks to our great seven “bum pack” – great company. Everyone fed each other and helped each other out.
Thanks to nepalka for her kindness and light on the assault.
Thanks to Oxana and Chatura for bringing us all together and giving us a chance to go on a budget for our first eight thousand!
Thank you, friends, for your faith and support.
Thanks to my mom for letting us go without too many questions or admonitions.