Antarctica

  Artem Rostovtsev: the next tourist season in Antarctica has ended. We went skiing with a group under the "Last Degree" program to the South Pole, climbed in full force on two consecutive expeditions to the top of the Vinson massif. And there was also one successful ascent of the 7 Summits Club group on the Sidley volcano under the leadership of Lyudmila Korobeshko.

Everything went great. We didn't lose anyone, we didn't forget, we didn't freeze them. The equipment was packed in storage on the glacier and in Punta Arenas until the next season. And we brought a lot of impressions and photos/videos with us.

 The second group on Vinson. Some photos.

According to the information received, today the group of the 7 Summits Club under the leadership of Artyom Rostovtsev reached the summit of Mount Vinson and descended safely. The ascent took place in a normal mode, all participants and two guides reached the highest point. Unfortunately, this year it was not possible to establish a stable connection with the groups that were in the Vinson area. But we will be waiting for full information, photos and videos upon the team's return to the Union Glacier base.

Photos from the first group of this year

On January 4, the team of the 7 Summits Club climbed the highest volcano in Antarctica, Mount Sidley (4265m). The assault exit from the camp (2900) to the camp (2900) took about 13 hours. Four people completed the Seven Volcanoes project with this ascent. Now the list of Russians who climbed all seven volcanoes has grown from 8 to 12 people. There are 43 people in the World, Russia is much ahead of everyone!

The Seven Volcanoes program has been completed: Nikolai Tomchak, Oleg Pipkov, Evgeny Fedorov and the expedition leader Lyudmila Korobeshko. The rest of the ascent participants are 1-2 Summits away from the completion of the Seven Volcanoes program. This is the first Kazakhstani to reach the top of Sidley, Yuri Lukyanov. As well as Sergey Vasiliev, Igor Rebelsky, Andrey Kravchenko and Vladimir Solovyov – all Russians.

Artem Rostovtsev, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

 Hello Seven Summits! These are the far South, Antarctica. Vinson Massive, expedition on Mount Vinson with Artyom Rostovtsev. Yesterday we moved from Union Glacier to Base Camp and today we decided to go straight up to Low Camp. We're fine here, we're alone – no more commands, no one bothers us. The plan is to spend a couple more days here, but we will look at the weather. Everything is fine with everyone. The group feels fine, the participants are motivated. We will relax and then continue to storm the summit.

 Photos from Punto Arenas

Lyudmila Korobeshko, a guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Punta Arenas (Chile):

 January 12. Greetings to all from Punta Arenas from the DDT group (Drink Dream Team) - aka "Empanadas", aka "expedition to Sidley".

Late yesterday evening on January 11, after a one-day delay, we flew from Antarctica to the Mainland - more precisely, to Punta Arenas.

A solemn awarding ceremony was held with diplomas and medals. Each participant of our expedition was awarded two diplomas (for Sidley and for the South Pole) and two medals (a small silver one with Sidley's image and a large one for Antarctic programs).  That's why we celebrated the end of the expedition on a double scale. Joyfully.

Most of the group left today for home. The other part went traveling. Nikolai is going to have a long trip to Patagonia. Sergey and Andrey plan to explore some remote corners of Chile - Easter Island and Pedro de Atacama, and then go to the highest volcano in the world - Ojos Del Salado. We will wait for news from them.

So the adventure continues!

 Portraits of the participants of the Sidley expedition:

Evgeny Fedorov. 7 volcanoes completed the project by climbing Sidley. Now he's staying in Antarctica - he's going with our next group to climb Vinson. Plans to close 7 Summits.

Andrey Kravchenko. Sidley became the fifth volcano out of seven. He goes to Ojos del Salado with our group since January 19th. Plans to close the 7 Volcanoes project. And 7 Summits in the future

Nikolai Tomchak. Sidley completed the 7 Volcanoes project. The best shots from our expedition belong to him.

Igor Rebelsky. Sidley became his 6th volcano. He plans to complete the project of 7 Volcanoes within a year. Ojos remained.

Sergey Vasiliev. Sidley became his 6th volcano. He is currently flying to Ojos and hopes to close 7 Volcanoes. According to the results of the expedition to Sidley, he promises to release Sidley beer.  He introduced the tradition of releasing beer at the end of each expedition to the next volcano. We are waiting for "Sidley"!

Oleg Pipkov. After Sidley he closed the 7 Volcanoes project. We are waiting to see what else he will surprise us with!

Yuri Lukyanov became the first representative of Kazakhstan in Sidley. Before that, with the Last Degree Program he reached the South Pole. He plans to close the 7 Volcanoes project this year. His project also includes to finish 7 Summits (6 out of 7) and 14 eight-thousandthers. In the spring he comes with us to Dhaulagiri.

Vladimir Solovyov is the soul of our team, as well as the heart and engine. He was at the origins of the 7 volcanoes project for part of the current team (he assembled the team on Kilimanjaro 3 years ago). And three years later, part of that team successfully completed the 7 Volcanoes project, and some are still in the process of completion.

 We are waiting for the return of the 7 Summits Club group from Antarctica, which climbed the summit of the highest mountain on the continent. Among the climbers who have visited the top of the Vinson Massif, there is one representative of Chinese Hong Kong, whom we call Bob. His full name is Tsang Long Kit. With our help, this brave young man became the record holder of his native Hong Kong and the whole of China – he became the youngest climber to climb all the highest peaks of all continents. "Seven Peaks" at the age of 20, great job! Good luck, many successes with your life and new heights!

Lyudmila Korobeshko, the guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

January 10th. Greetings from Antarctica, Camp Union Glacier, from the group "Empanadas or Chilean pies" expedition to Sidley!

We are still on Union Glacier at 79 degrees South latitude in Antarctica. Yesterday, January 9th, we had a busy day - both our groups and the whole camp celebrated the birthday of the guide of the 7 Summits Club Artem Rostovtsev. In the afternoon we organized a picnic with a walk to the Drake Icefall. Along the way, we were lucky to see the Il-76 take off with a team of our friends, Russian pilots. Then we wandered through the blue labyrinths of the icefall for about an hour, took pictures and at the end arranged a buffet in honor of Artyom. 

In the evening, dinner was already celebrated globally with toasts, cake and special Antarctic cocktails from Chilean chef Patricio, who has already worked with us twice on Everest. The evening ended with a music lovers club - everyone shared their favorite romantic song.

Today, January 10th, according to the plan, we were supposed to fly to Punta Arenas. But the weather turned bad. Moreover, it even snowed - an extremely rare phenomenon in Antarctica (after all, this is the largest desert on our planet).

We really hope to fly tomorrow…

Artem Rostovtsev, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

Huge Antarctic greetings to all! The day before yesterday, having caught a sunny windless weather window, the whole team climbed to the top of the Mount Vinson, yesterday we already went down to the base camp and today, squeezing into the weather window again, we safely flew to the comfortable Union Glacier. And then we were reunited with the team of Luda Korobeshko, who returned from the summit of the Sidley volcano.

Lyudmila Korobeshko, a guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

January 8th. Greetings from Antarctica, the Union Glacier Camp from the Empanadas group, the Sidley expedition! As you already know, we have successfully climbed the summit of our dreams - Sidley. And, since we were in Antarctica, we decided to fly to the South Pole. The guys spent the night right at the Pole and happily returned to Union today. Now we are here waiting for our departure to the Mainland.

 And now another group of our club has just returned from Vinson. A couple of days ago, they successfully climbed the summit under the guidance of our Antarctic super-guide Artem Rostovtsev.

So now we are having a joint gala dinner and celebrating our victories.

Congratulations!  On January 4, Lyudmila Korobeshko, Oleg Pipkov, Nikolai Tomchak and Evgeny Fedorov completed the Seven Volcanoes program with a successful ascent on Sidley Volcano.  We are waiting for your return!

 We are not surprised that there are so many Russians on the list of climbers to all the highest volcanoes on all continents ("Seven Volcanoes"). The secret is very simple. In a practical sense, this program was brought to life on a global scale thanks to the idea and activities of Alexander Abramov, as well as the entire 7 Summits Club. Russians visited Sidley Volcano exclusively as part of our groups, or joined mixed teams on our behalf.

   List of Russians who completed

the Seven Volcanoes program:

 1. Vyacheslav Adrov (Russia) (52) January 18, 2013 Mount Sidley

2. Alexander Abramov (Russia) (47) September 13, 2013 Mount Giluve

3. Olga Rumyantseva (Russia) (36) December 9, 2013 Ojos del Salado

4. Vitaly Simonovich (Russia) (42) December 19, 2013 Ojos del Salado

5. Liana Chabdarova (Russia) (28) January 12, 2015 Ojos del Salado

6. Andrey Filkov (Russia) (49) September 16, 2015 Damavand

7. Vladislav Lachkarev (Russia) (42) January 15, 2019 Mount Sidley

8. Oleg Mezentsev (Russia) (39) January 18, 2020 Mount Sidley

Plus

 9-12. January 4, 2024 Mount Sidley

Lyudmila Korobeshko (49)

Oleg Pipkov (54)

Nikolay Tomchak (45)

Evgeny Fedorov (51)

 Currently, by country: Russia – 12 representatives, Great Britain - 5, Australia and Romania - 4 each.

Artem Rostovtsev, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

Hello, Seven Summits! This is Artem Rostovtsev. We are currently at Vinson Base Camp. We've already gone down. Everyone is alive, healthy and happy. Yesterday there was the summit. Now we are waiting here for someone else from the teams that are going up now, on the descent. When the plane will be completed we will to the Union Glacier. We hope to be at Union Glacier tomorrow afternoon and meet with our Sidley team there. Greetings from the snowy Antarctica!

 Photos from previous expeditions

Lyudmila Korobeshko, the group guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

On January 4, our team climbed the highest volcano in Antarctica - Sidley (4265m). The mountain turned out to be much difficult than we expected. The assault from camp (2900) to camp (2900) took about 13 hours.

But they set several records at once. 4 people completed the Seven Volcanoes project. Now the list of Russians who climbed 7 Volcanoes has grown from 8 to 12 people. There are 43 people in the World, Russia is far ahead of everyone! Our "new seven volcanoes": Nikolai Tomchak, Oleg Pipkov, Evgeny Fedorov and I, Lyudmila Korobeshko. The first Kazakhstani is Yura Lukyanov at the top of Sidley.

For Sergey Vasiliev, this is the sixth volcano out of seven. And there is a chance that he will also complete the project soon, since after Sidley he is going straight to Ojos del Salado. Sidley became the sixth of seven volcanoes for Igor Rebelsky, and the fifth for Andrey Kravchenko. Another participant of the trip, Vladimir Solovyov, gave us a great meeting at the assault camp and filmed the best reports about our ascent.

In the spring, we plan to hold a party where we will present special medals for 7 Volcanoes in a solemn atmosphere.

Artem Rostovtsev, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, sends from Antarctica:

Hello, Seven Summits! This is Artem Rostovtsev, climbing the Vinson Massive. We are now at High Camp, an assault camp. ... It so happened that we got here on time and then found the strength to climb to the top. We have already descended from the summit and we have a second night in the assault camp. And tomorrow we plan to get to the base camp, hoping to fly to Union Glacier. Greetings to all from snowy, cold Antarctica!

Photos from previous expeditions

Lyudmila Korobeshko, guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

Hello everyone! This is Lyudmila Korobeshko, the expedition to Sidley. Now we are already at the Sidley base camp. The day before yesterday we successfully went to the top and yesterday we went down from the High Camp to the base camp. We're going to fly to Union today. And then the guys had a new idea.  Our program ends on January 10th, when we are scheduled to fly to Punta Arenas. So, we have 4 free days. We decided to fly to the South Pole to celebrate Christmas there.

Photos from previous expeditions

Artem Rostovtsev, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, sends from Antarctica:
Hello, Seven Summits! This is Artem Rostovtsev. You've already forgotten about us, but we're still in Antarctica. We're going to Vinson Massive. Yesterday… Was it yesterday? Yes, we finally moved under Vinson. Today we have already made a dash to the Low Camp. We settled here, and then we think about going further to the top…

Photos from previous expeditions

Lyudmila Korobeshko, guide and director of the 7 Summits Club from Antarctica:

Good afternoon! Greetings to all from the Sidley assault camp from the group "Empanades — Chilean pies". Today is January 3rd and we are at the Sidley assault camp. Yesterday, January 2, we arrived at the base camp at an altitude of 2200, approximately, on a large plane. We spent the night and literally just came to the assault camp. Leaving at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, at 12-30, by 9 pm, not quickly, but with heavy sledges, we came to the assault camp at an altitude of 3000. Everything is fine with us. Now we are setting up a camp and tomorrow we want to go climbing. So keep your fingers and fists on us. Tomorrow we are going to storm the highest volcano in Antarctica — Sidley. Everything is fine, the whole team feels great.

Photos from previous expeditions

Lyudmila Korobeshko, the group's guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:

January 2nd. Greetings from Antarctica from the Union Glacier Camp! In just a couple of hours, our group on Sidley should fly away. The flight takes about 4-5 hours. On the mountain, and indeed within a radius of 700 km, we will be alone… This is also a unique expedition to Sidley.
Yesterday we all flew to Antarctica from Punta Arenas. Immediately upon landing, we were met by an American climber, David (he is the first American to close the 7 Volcanoes project). He asked us to contact James Stone, who keeps world statistics on 7 Volcanoes, and inform him about those who complete the project in our expedition and also send an updated route trek.
Artyom Rostovtsev, who recently returned from the Pole, met us at the camp itself. He's going to lead the group to Vinson now. We were all well fed, had a tour of the camp, then we set up tents and made wishes - for many it was the first night on a new continent - in Antarctica. The Antarctic white night passed quietly.
It's almost noon now. We have to leave for Sidley in an hour. There will be no Internet there anymore - we will make satellite calls. Follow our messages. They promise that it will be very cold this season in Sydney. According to the forecast, up to -45 at the top …

Artem Rostovtsev, a guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Antarctica:
Greetings for all Seven Summits from the group going to the Vinson Massive. The guys waited for the flight to Antarctica for an extra two days in Punta Arenas. Today, the band finally reunited at the Union Glacier base. But again there is a hitch, Vinson's base camp is in the clouds and the flight there by small plane is delayed until morning. Hopefully no longer...

Lyudmila Korobeshko, guide and director of the 7 Summits Club from Chile:

Hello everyone from Punta Arenas Airport! Happy New Year to everyone! Yesterday, for us, the intrigue lasted until the last moment. In the morning we lived in a waiting mode for departure to Antarctica. At 6 p.m. Chile time (it's midnight in Moscow), we decided to relax a little and celebrate the New Year ... and then the flight was announced. More precisely, we were informed of the departure time - earlier on the morning of January 1. So we didn't celebrate for long - we had to prepare for departure. But according to the Chilean tradition, we put on yellow underpants for the New Year. And everything worked out.
We are already at the airport, preparing for departure. We hope to send you greetings from Antarctica from Union in 5-6 hours.
See you soon! Lyudmila Korobeshko.

Lyudmila Korobeshko, a guide and director of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Chile:

December, 31st. Hello everyone, still from the edge of the world - Punta Arenas!
Yesterday, at the very last moment, our flight to Antarctica was canceled. The weather is unstable. In order not to waste time and get used to the south, we went almost 100 km to the south - to the San Isidro Lighthouse on the very edge of the mainland of South America. On the way, we visited Fort Bulnes, a reconstructed village of the first settlers, walked through the magical Patagonian forest and the coast along the Strait of Magellan.
In the evening, we were informed that there was a chance of a flight. We rushed to pack our things, but at the last moment we were given the hang up. So we're back in standby mode. We don't know yet where we will celebrate the New Year.
Nevertheless, we sincerely congratulate everyone on the upcoming year and send the warmest greetings from the edge of the world! May everything work out for you and us! We keep our fingers crossed and three legs at the monument to Magellan.