Fantik

This is a story about lone Crimean rock-climber. He was born to be victorious and has held a record, compared to which the gold of any sport competitions is nothing. Generations will change, new champions, pioneers, extremals, that will show their high skills, will appear, but our hero will still be the best and invincible. By the life itself he has earned a right on this title.

Don’t hope for luck here!

Asia

He says he is pagan, and, it seems, he is serious. As a free child of nature, he has chosen ancient gods of earth, water and stones to worship them. He serves them, takes power, that is inconceivable fir us, from them. There only few real heroes. There are sometimes exploits fortuitous, made because of short-lived passion, ire, or compassion. So, as the fate has willed, somebody may also get fame. But sometimes we can come across the favorites of the fate, for whom long real danger, the way out of which doesn’t depend on Providence and demands only absolute inward mobilization, is desirable. The danger, that they negotiate intensify their feelings, accelerate their reaction, make their senses clear, and all in all it acts like magic elixir of life. Man reaches the top of his opportunities and this feeling of transcendental flight can’t be replaced by any kind of earth dope.

Rating life as high as we do, hero is condemned to look for a chance to compete with somebody or something, or for a brink of precipice to go along, or for a rock to climb up. Most of people that surround hero appreciate him as phenomenon incomprehensible, hostile to their peace and everyday narrow-minded sureness, - so, they think that it is better to go by this as quickly as possible. Only a person that has at least small related spangle can stay near the hero.

Jury Lishaev from Simferopol has grown fond of rocks since childhood. Every weekend he tried to spend outdoors, practicing ascenting to low summits, and little by little became filled with passion that was to be the main in his life. Gifted from nature, incredibly hardworking person, Jury was becoming familiar with the technique of rock-climbing so quickly that at the age of fourteen he has won the title of champion of the country between juniors, and at the age of 23 he became the champion of the USSR and fulfilled the quota of the grade “Master of Sports”.

On the mount Krestovaya, at a sheer 90-meters wall, from where Oreanda was seen, he was passed the examination for his first honorary grade. And then – then there again were different trainings, competitions, trips, ascents, prizes – all the things that form the life. Like hundreds of ordinary climbers he worked through technique of ascents and descents, practiced “stretching”, developed power and as a result subdued vertical walls, made ascents to different peaks, got diplomas and medals.

While ascenting, climber thought about stone as something (or somebody) relative, alive, that had its birth, youth and old age. For example: “This crack in winter becomes crowded with snow, in the daytime in spring it melts under sun rays and in the night – congeals and clear piece of ice tears the rock. Here it is possible to seize the jut to replace leg, but it shouldn’t be freighted with all the weight of body: it may not endure it…” It seems that man looks through stone glassy, reads a book, the language of which is clear for only him. And rocks become warm under his hands, and give him all their secrets. It starts to seem that hook, driven in stone, hurts the rock and by this move climber away from nature, disturbs the nearly born harmony, in which there is all the gladness, all the gold of pure awards that are so far from sport. One incorrect thought and the rock becomes forbidding, strange. And again you are only an ordinary climber for it and your life is held up by the driven in hook and by closed locks of karabiners.

Having become imbued with this new, dangerous for himself, but salutary for humanity philosophy, more and more, one day Jury reached a decision, that impressed him with its simplicity and hugeness. He gave up using belaying ropes and hooks! Since that moment only his inner flair has become his belay, this demands learning inscrutable inner world of mountain nature, doesn’t allow looking aside from united work of body and spirit, that is impossible for men, beyond the limits of his customary three-dimensional world. Worshiping mountains has come instead of subduing them.

The Governing body of Federation of Alpinism threatened to disqualify the best Crimean climber, identifying his sole ascents made in “extreme” style as “hooliganism” and “boasting”. Mutineer’s answer impressed even capital bureaucrats: in 1980 Jury Lishaev crushed the documents that certified he was the “Master of Sport”.

Grotto Golicin’s. The New World

Indomitable inner power led him by difficult and wasteful but independent way. The lone climber has become a pioneer on more than 40 Crimean routes, many of which nobody has repeated yet. Jury made ascents to precipices Dgemergi and Medved’-mount, Karadag and the New World, Karabi-Jayla and cape Aia. Only the storms of Ai-Petri there were more than 150! Once on frosty winter day this restless inventor climbed along a 100-meters high ice column on the frozen waterfall Uchan-Su, that was, by the way, the highest in the Europe. Fantik made ascents to Caucasian mounts of the highest grade of difficulty – Ushba, Shhel’da, Ai-Lama, Peak Schurovskogo, mount Kirpich. In the Central Asia he twice made ascents to the vertical wall Jagnoba (overfall of altitudes – 1200 meters), one of the ascents was performed in “extreme” style. He ascented to mounts in Czechia, Poland, USA.

Grotto Golicin’s. The New World

Nearly the half of his ascents obdurate Fantik made without any belay. He was appreciated by cinematographers and in 1996 for one of documentary films he was awarded with a diploma of international festival-contest of alpinist’s films is Switzerland. The second diploma he got on the festival in Moscow, where for about 10 years he worked with J. Senkevich in the TV-programm “Club of cinema-travelers”. Mountains didn’t put in a spot their cult figure and admirer. Four traumas, that he got in different time, appeared as inevitable occasions, faults in worked through rhythm. It seems, that this is not many, paying attention to the fact, that there were about 2000 official ascents (and who will count those ones that were made as training?). This was surmountable. The firth trauma – falling during flight on the parapante (we usually falsely name it paraplane), invented by French, appeared to be fateful. It was the damage of vertebral column, long months of treatment. And the doctor’s verdict - lifelong wheeled chair.

Grotto Golicin’s. The New World

Hard, idle time came. Patient looked at ceiling, and thought about the future that he hadn’t. The irrepressible nature of winner prompted him only two ways – to get up from the wheeled chair or to commit suicide. The second way was easier. But it could become acceptable only after the moment when all the life forces would be ended. Fantik was lying and thinking about the toes that he didn’t feel. He drove heat to them, so passed hours by hours, days by days. Stretching, massages, autohypnosis – and so all the day long, every day from month to month. Fantik was smiling by the head and ears, holding this smile for hours and it little by little relaxed and comforted his consciousness. Fantik pulled up to, scrambled out of wheeled chair and chinned. He didn’t want to forget that in youth could chin 50 times!

After trauma

Doctors encouraged him, smiled by the head and ears too and went away as quick as possible. Can’t they know what injured spinal cord and absence of 3 intervertebral disks mean?

In the evening TV-set was switched on. Fantik asked his wife and daughter to stand him hear the wall and in such a position, holding on the book shelve and table like “on thrusts” in rocky crack, was watching all the film. Hands were growing numb with exertion and the last shots he didn’t conceived.

Only after a year the first results appeared. The death began to give way the line of life began to move slowly from the place of trauma down. Nerves in legs above knees return to life: appeared jerks, pain, itch and ability for the first voluntary moves.

Among all the victories of Crimean extremal the main, the most difficult, and, of course, the most valorous was the returning to full-fledged life, for him – it was returning to life in general. Can we compare all his sport victories with this only – when he made null and void the verdict of traditional medicine and on one day got up from the damned chair! North day without trainings, without hard toil for himself, for his wife and daughter, for all the friends and relatives that wanted to see him happy!..

The Cave of Kruber.

North, rocks didn’t put in a spot their hero. An aircraft made by men – something between parachute and hang-glider – that was the thing that put him in a spot. When you are flying with parapante you can’t rely on yourself only – the flight and, so, the life, depends on intricate air flows. Providence has meddled, the die has cast. Is it difficulty to walk? Instead it is easy to swim! And born for alpinism men selflessly, for long time, swim in any occasion – in summer and in winter, in the sea and in deep stone bath of the river Krasnopeschernaja. In the diving suit he sinks into and passes beyond the siphon of the Red cave, and again the film about him is shot. Is it difficulty to walk? Instead it is possible to climb, repeat familiar desirable routes and get acquainted with new ones. On rock you are working by hands, cling to it, understand it, remember it. The stone also remember its hero and now forgives him for his driven in titanium hooks.

200th anniversary of Simferopol.

North, nobody could even dream about such a thing! Fantik, loved by everybody jester and roughneck Fantik, again went to the routes of the highest grade of difficulty. Now as usual is impossible to meet him at home. Sometimes he is on Karabi-Jayla, sometimes –on rocks of Foros, sometimes on the mount Sokol near Sudak. Not long ago in summer Jury Lishaev made one more pioneer route in the grotto Golicin’s in the New World – from wall to wall, along the ceiling. Nobody before him managed to do this route, Fantik himself didn’t reach a success (or had no time to), too. He did this route only know, with crutches, attached to the rucksack. And once in winter he lonely descented to the mine Bezdonnaya on Chatirdag – to a karst well, that became the wider the lower! Down and up - using a 3 pieces of rope tied together, without anybody’s help, alone… Everybody, who has experienced the ascenting in “extreme” style, will respect the acquaintance with our valorous climber as a great honour. With the help of Fantik it is possible to understand the main idea of all the people go to win: Gods are helping to those, who can hope only on themselves and don’t ask for a help!

The article is published according Jury Lishaev’s permission.