Friends about Terzyul




F r i e n d s a b o u t T e r z y u l

Beshliaga Ruslan, brigade-leader of “Vysotnik” firm, city of Yuzhniy.
I came to Yuzhniy after military service and was absolutely unsure how to live next. 1994 was an uncertain time and I was young and careless. My mother has three sons and a daughter; therefore I could not rely upon her help. After I had been recommended to Slava Terzyul for industrial mountaineering works my life changed radically. I began to work with a team of climbers and understood that it is possible to earn good money honestly. And I fell in love with my work at once – it was varied and creative. This was probably due to Slava: he was a real leader – he could motivate us to work and inspire others with his enthusiasm. When we began to clean up our first vessels I could work two days and nights without rest and he gave me that energy.

Chaplinsky Igor, Master of Sport, Kiev.
A long time ago, I am even afraid to say how long, my attitude to Odessa mountaineering had been formed by Samodid (a famous unofficial Soviet solo climber) who said that in Odessa there are no real mountaineers but only vanity. Of course, it was not true. For a long time I knew M. Sitnik and V. Mogyla. After the Odessians climbed Mt. Kanchenjunga in 1993, they said that on their expedition participated such a Terzik, very strong guy, tourist, just like a bull. I don’t know why he was apprehended to be a tourist (alpine tourism is close to mountaineering sport, it is supposed to pass a route over a number of cols of certain difficulty). Maybe because in his youth he traveled through the taiga alone, without food, without anything, for two weeks. I had met Slava earlier, at the beginning of the nineties.

Kovalev Sergey, Master of Sport of International Class, city of Donetsk.
The first thing that impressed me about Slava was his unusual energy. He was the most bright and active personality on one of the first Himalayas expeditions from Odessa at the beginning of the 90s. I had been ordered to supply some clothes for the expedition and at that time I became acquainted with climbers from Odessa. Later we met at the selection of climbers for the Annapurna expedition in the spring of 1996. It was the preparation of the First National Ukrainian expedition. Slava didn’t win any of the tests requiring technique or physical training. For practice we ran to the top of Elbrus. At the beginning, from Mir station (elevator) to “bochki” (“barrels,” end station), the other runners were ahead. But on the upper part of the route, from “bochki” to the col between the two summits, Slava ran ahead around the others and did not free the trail to his followers, so everyone arrived at the summit together.

Fabrizio Zangrilli, Boulder, Coloradro, USA.
Ever since I met Slava in 1996 in the Gasherbrums, I thought he was certainly one of the nicest guys climbing regularly in the Himalaya. I learned a lot from him on the Gasherbrums, Nanga Parbat and then later on Everest, what it meant to be a leader and what love for the mountains was. Slava opened my eyes to what my limits were physically and mentally; realizing all the time how much stronger he was. I always enjoyed Slava's smile when times were tough in the mountains, I regret never being able to see him lead the way to the summit again. Makalu is a perfect resting place for Slava, one of the greatest mountains together forever with one of the greatest mountaineers!

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photo from archives of V.Terzyul and the authors of the papers
special thanks to Linda Wylie and Julie Kandyba for English version editing
and to "Climbers for Peace" from Northern California for support
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