The team members:
1. Vladislav Terzyul, leader
2. Vadim Leontev
3. Vladimir Pestrikov


The team in BC.

The classical route to Lhotse is the couloir of the West wall which comes from the Khumbu glacier, the same route that leads to Everest from the south. The common part for both mountains is the Khumbu icefall. Then higher, at approximately 6200m in the “valley of silence,” the high altitude hidden cirque between Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, the ways separate. On the glacier before the icefall at 5300m is Everest Base Camp. There one finds base camps of many expeditions to Everest and Lhotse. This region is very popular. Besides climbers, members of commercial expeditions and professional guides, a lot of tourists and travelers from all over the world come here to take a look at the highest peak of the planet. Everest BC is a pretty variegated place. During a season more than two dozen expeditions settle down there. Terzyul didn’t avoid fun here: he started with a small scuffle. As soon as he found a place for camp and set down tents for our BC he was told that they stood on the trail. A giant tall Spaniard fought him but was defeated, and as soon as he learned that was dealing with one of the world’s best high altitude mountaineers, he reconciled.

Compared with the others the Ukrainian expedition looked unusually modest: the team numbered three members only. Financially, it was not expensive, and lightweight - about one ton of expedition material had been delivered to BC by the team members and four porters. High altitude sherpas hadn’t been hired. Everything for the intermediate camps had been carried up by the climbers themselves. The quantity was minimal because the team climbed in alpine style; they used ropes by turn, didn’t fix ropes on the route, and didn’t use supplementary oxygen. The climb went well and finished successfully: all three members summited. From a sports standpoint they looked effective in comparison with commercial and other expeditions working in this popular region.

An atmosphere of commerce and competition dominates in Everest BC. Terzyul himself strictly followed the sportive style of climbing but supported commercial mountaineering as a different phenomenon: “The mountains influence people positively. If someone has a possibility and ability to climb mountains and is in a position to hire professionals to help, why not.”
The highest mountain of the planet has always attracted people, but now it is no wonder to climb Everest. Therefore it is honorable to beat a special record: the age of the climber, physiological characteristics, speed of climb, time spent on the summit, style of descent and so on.


The Ukrainian team and the oldest woman climbed Everest, Tamaya San just came down after her climb.

Scheduling of climb (V.Pestrikov):
"04.12.02 - the team came to BC
04.17.02 - setting up C1 above Khumbu icefall at 6100m
04.18.02 - reached 6400m and set up C2


Lhotse, C2.

04.25.02 - the next ascent, Terzyul and Pestrikov set up C3 on the West face of Lhotse (7200m).


The route from C2.

Today the weather got worse abruptly which resulted in the death of an English climber and serious frostbite for several sherpas and western climbers. The team made the decision to come down and relax before the final ascent.
04.28.02 - Leontev, then on 04.30.02 - Pestrikov and Terzyul left BC for Dingboche (3600m) “green zone” - the rest area familiar to Ukrainian climbers since the first Soviet Himalayas Expedition in 1982.
05.05.02 - after a good rest the group came to BC and on 05.08.02 left for the summit.
05.11.02 - Terzyul and Pestrikov brought up tent, gear and stuff for C4 to 7800m then descended to C2 to relax shortly.
05.14.02 - the team again came up to C3. It took them 4 hours instead of 7-8 during the first ascent. So they got acclimatized and felt optimistic before attacking the summit. On this day the first team reached the summit. It was especially good news because this first was achieved by the Russian-Saint Petersburg expedition (with the use of supplementary oxygen). Next day our group came to C4 and set up camp.
05.16.02 - at 6:30 a.m. the team started from 7800m. The weather was favorable for climbing, but closer to the summit it got windier; due to soaring snow dust visibility was reduced. But it could not prevent climbing and at 15:00 the Ukrainian banner was flapping at 8516m over the mountain.


SUMMIT!

The bunner of city of Odessa on the top of Lhotse, in the background is snowy slope of Everest.

Having spent around half an hour there the climbers began to descend at 15:30 to C4. On that day Vadim Leontev got to C3 in order to start removing it the next morning. On the following day all the stuff from C4 and C3 had been taken down to C2 without any sherpa’s assistance.
05.18.02 - with heavy backpacks, over 30 kg, each member of the team successfully passed through the Khumbu icefall and came down to BC. After setting out from BC and trekking to Lukla the team flew to Kathmandu on May 23, having finished the expedition successfully.”

The team of climbers in Kathmandu.