Author: Nagovitsina Elena, Chelyabinsk

The female two-man team on Bodkhona

In summer 2003 a female two-man team (Elena Nagovitsina, Chelyabinsk, and Svetlana Baskakova, Tashkent) climbed the western face of Bodkhona (5138 m), Fanskie mountains, via F.Zhitenev's route 6À-graded and won the first place in the Championship of the CIS. The ideological inspirer, and also a support side of this ascent was Rufina Grigoryevna Arefyeva - the master of sports on mountaineering, the organizer of the Championship of the CIS in the Fans, the director of the center "Vertical - Alaudin". It seems, that last years the camp "Vertical - Alaudin" appeared the center of development of female mountaineering. And we would like to say a lot of thanks to Rufina Grigoryevna for that. Her special power, passionate enthusiasm and constant dynamism draw active and not ordinary people. These qualities plus experience and professionalism are the best catalyst for an embodiment, both the most impudent ideas, and the ordinariest educational tasks.

In " Vertical - Alaudin " it is the ordinary thing when a female team has a training climb via 3B-graded route and confidently and reliably works on the route in the Fans that are famous their technical difficult routes. As for me it was my first ascent in a structure of only the female team on the routes of 5-6 categories graded at all. But by this time the ascent on Bodkhona, western face, seemed predestined and had certain stage sense. Till now I've treasured up in my memory the first image of Bodkhona. We were young arrogant climbers-beginners and had trainings in the mountaineering camp "Artuch". Heavy loaded we moved after the instructor on dusty Alaudin track approaching to our first route on Chimtarga 4À graded. A view that opened in the lateral gorge bewiched and forced to stop. The proud and majestic mountain, with a snow-covered top lost in clouds, made a strong impression. Steep ice-covered walls, hanging glaciers did not betokened easy ways to the summit. This impression of power and force amplified, when our instructor told, that the championship of the USSR on mountaineering in a technical class ran there. The mountain for such competitions must correspond to the star status.

Five years later, we already hardened climbers, but to tell the truth, seedy, battered and beaten a little bit in mountains by this time, began to admire on Bodkhona, as the object of a possible ascent within the frames of Russian Championship. The perception of the mountain changed from the aura of inaccessibility to sports attractiveness, but did not loose its charm. During the same time a familiar all of a sudden presented me a x-copy of the report of 1971 about first ascent of the west face of Bodkhona made by the team led by F.Zhitenev. The report was read like the fascinating history-adventure literature with corresponding surroundings: making wooden wedges under the route, old repaired boots, galoshes with red small lamps on white breeches with stripes, one-step and two-level eiders, hammocks with foam plastic pads. The dream became to be more and more concrete, but our plans could not come true that time. Vague and dangerous times of first half 90 years in Tadjikistan forced us to forget about the Fans for some time.

Last July, 1999 our three-man team were at the camp "Artuch" located in Samarkand. But after unexpected meeting a picturesque woman in a white suit and a straw hat we changed our plans and appeared at " Vertical - Alaudin " mountaineering camp and that woman, Rufina Grigorievna, became our kind angel and also a trainer - adviser, careful and reliable rear. Would you imagine our feelings when, having descended late at night after all the day fixing the route on Parandas you found out in the empty tent the fried eggs carefully packed for preservation of heat, hot water after climbing. We could not believe that we found the place you were not shaken out money where sportsmen and climbing ascensions were in their good graces. After ascent on Parandas in the two-man team with Tamara Zueva, a very strong girl-climber from Moscow, we decided to climb Bodkhona via Zhitenev's route. And for the first time I got under the mountain - my old dream. Two of us and one young observer had tens kilogram of gear, six 50 meter-ropes, two tents, gas and gasoline, food, a videocamera and a telescope. The low part of the wall up to the first talus ledge has some variants of the possible route.

The left one - classical and labour-consuming, on abrupt steep fissures and corners. Right one - fast below and dangerous upper, on a simple relief that leads to the abrupt plates without edges and any opportunity to make reliable belay station. Without reflecting we chose the right variant because the weather and hardly bought return ticket draw in, and the steepness and multidifficulty of the classics were frighten off. But, having making four pitches, we retired back, leaving rappel loops. The sharp feeling that we could get into a pretty mess and to get stuck on the wall allowed to persuade Tamara rather quickly to replace Zhitenev's route on the classical one 5B-graded via the northwest buttress. That we safely did and snowfall and subsequent ice-covering of the rocks in last two days of our ascent only confirmed, that adventures on our head we had passed. In August, 2003, four years later, the situation repeated to a certain extent. Again the female two-man team, Svetlana Baskakova, a very strong climber from Tashkent, and I and our observer, a young perspective climber Elena Ishtubaeva brought a lot of gear, ropes, food, two tents, gas and gasoline in the camp under the route. The dream mountain did not the Himalayan giants any more, did not press its power and greatness, and more likely seemed to smile ironically and friendly. All our ambitions somewhere disappeared and motivations changed. Friends from the former team of fleet sportsmen have a rest exclusively on overseas resorts for a long time. And new unrecognized yet young climbers only show their teeth and grits their jaws for a while. Fans have come to life and are full of people. And we had another unexpected problem: we were painfully choosing from two attracted variants of an ascent route.

Earlier looked closely Zhitenev's route (via the left part of the western face) made a competition unduly forgotten because of the underestimated difficulty and this year restored in the rights of the 6 "A" N.Vlodarchik's route (via the right part). N.Vlodarchik's route was not repeated last ten years, and probably more. In the camp we had a luck: we managed to receive a consultation of Edward Valiulin from Tashkent who had climbed N.Vlodarchik's route many years ago. But nevertheless we chose Zhitenev's route with a classical left variant below because we had enough time and we wanted to check up our possibilities. After two days of fixing the rope we were going to take off. The weight of our luggage was too much, it nearly killed us. But its is tether side of climbing in two-man team. Weather favoured, it was sunny and cloudless. Not without effort we climbed the wall for three and a half of days finally appeared, on an equal big site, so-called spending the night above the chimney that had a fuse, frightening description. We climbed it marvelously without any problems. But then it started sleet snowing. Fog and strong wind added the picture. Well, we thanked a lot that such bedlam did not beginwhen we were climbing the wall. The rest two day we spent in indefatigable struggle with the cold, got frozen us up to bones, with the ice-covered rocks which transformed the fourth category of complexity of the brute to sixth one, with sleet, promptly covering all around, with gas that did not want to burn in any way but only hissed and, at last, with a dense fog.

As though, the dream mountain did not hasten to let us go back. But at last it took pity and allowed to admire surrounding landscape from five-thousandth meter altitude. The last meters we rappelled at light of lanterns. And then we went somewhere downwards on an infinite glacier. And there was a dense fog around and flakes of sleet that we already did not pay attention to for a long time. And when the next doubts about correctness of our way started to overcome strenuously, we heard a human voice. Instants of pleasure and euphoria were great! We got the rests of our camp, dry clothes, gas, food, it was already our home. The camp of club Demchenko team was settled right here and tomorrow they were going to start their ascent. Sleeping camp met us surprisingly hearty. And a nice-looking guy treated us with a huge Tadjik flat cake with a cap of hot Nescafe coffee. My God, what a pleasure! It is worth going to mountains for the sake of such moments.