LITMIR.BIZ

      In summer, we made a decision to conquer active Plosky or Flat Tolbachik Volcano. We were told that it had already stopped erupting, and we going to find it out. We carefully prepared for the trip: we took a 6-wheeler ATV, bought some provision, and hired a professional guide. At first, nothing seemed to threaten our journey.

      Tolbachik is about 500 km from Petropavlovsk. We left on Friday evening and arrived on Saturday afternoon. After the arrival we camped, set the tents, and made fire. Kamchatka weather hailed the travelers with rain, fog, and wind. However, it didn’t spoil our mood. Next morning we reached “Yuzhny Proryv or Southern Break” – the lava streams left from previous eruptions. The whole day we were enjoying a unique mosaic of plants, rocks, and lava caves. It looked like the moonscape had come off futurists’ paintings. The guide showed us the ground where such space equipment as the moon and mars rovers, and the Venus ATV, were tested. The day was full of positive emotions. Actually, everything was too good on that day…

      After a 15 kilometer cross-country walk, we returned to the base camp. Later that evening, the guide unexpectedly suggested ascending the cone to see if there was any volcanic activity as the bright lava glow can easily be seen at night. Six most curious of us volunteered for the sight.

      The guide assured us that the ascent and decent would not take more than 3 hours. As it turned out later, we put too much trust in the guide.

      We left the camp and took a trail, quickly climbed along the hardened lava flow, crossed it, and reached the cone. A majestic view opened on to us – the crater was spattering fiery streams of magma from the bosom of the earth; the explosions made the slag under our feet vibrate, and we could see clouds of sulfur in the air. All this amazed us. We took some photos of ourselves against the slope and soon began to descend.

      Then true adventures started…

      A thick fog suddenly appeared from nowhere. We lost the trail and, as it turned out later, took the wrong turn. Having realized our difficult situation, we tried to find the trail making stops and resuming the walk. Several times we ran into an impassible rocky wall. The trail, as if in a scary tale, completely disappeared! We started arguing about the right way. Everybody made a completely opposite suggestion. The guide refused to admit he had been leading us in the wrong direction. He insisted that we should go straight on. According to his opinion, we had to descend as low as we could “as down it was not as cold as at the top”. We were slowly moving down on an old lava flow jumping over huge boulders. Meanwhile, it was far into the night. A strong wind was blowing, and we felt exhausted. Nobody was ready for such an adventure.

      First, we took the guide’s words for granted, but when at about 2 a.m. we saw our footprints again, we finally realized we had been moving in rounds. This time even his weird reasoning that he “definitely saw this place in a calendar photo” didn’t assure us. To crown it all, he appeared to have neither a map, nor warm clothes, nor water. One girl was tired and could hardly move. Suddenly, she screamed falling from a rock to the ground. What could we do? Luckily, she was fine, but almost nobody had power to proceed. We stopped and appealed to the collective mind.

      Accidentally, we found out we could make a call! We phoned our familiar mountain climbers, who were in city at that moment. They “cheered” us by saying that the coverage meant we were in a different place, not where we were supposed to be.

      They also told us some basic rules: stick together, look after each other, and keep the spirits up. Our friends oriented us how to find the trail. In our opinion, we took the only right decision, which might seem illogical in the mountains, – to return to the place on the cone where we got lost and either stay there waiting for help or start finding the trail again and go down. Our guide was flatly against it saying we could freeze and totally get lost there. This moment was crucial.

      All of a sudden, the sky became clear for an instant, and we saw a flash of red light at the far top and heard a distant roaring. It was the crater. After this “message” we confirmed in our decision, turned round, and slowly began our next ascent on that crazy day. From time to time we turned the torches off in complete darkness and looked forward to another eruption, which signaled us the right way, and kept on crawling up. Some of us were encouraged by the idea that the rescue team from the base camp might be waiting on the warm cinder top of the cone.

      By the morning we had reached the top of Tolbachik and later found the trail. It looked like nature took pity on us clearing up the star-spattered sky and showing a young crescent from behind the mountains. Every now and then checking our way, we had come to the base camp by 6 a.m. absolutely worn out, where the people were sleeping in peace.

      We experienced all delights associated with mountaineering – the night ascent to the active volcano, a search for the way back in the fog, communication with mountain climbers and so on. We are looking forward to next year to ascend Kluchevskaya Sopka Volcano!

      The hunt

      Kamchatka. Spring. The fourth year of studying at the Institute. Get bored at German. Receive a message from a mate, “need an interpreter for hunting with foreigners”. A language practice with native-speakers is all a student can dream of. “Deal”, – I replied.

      Next day we pick up the hunters at Avacha Hotel. The group consists of a Norwegian, two Germans, two Swiss, and a family couple from Argentina. They arrived in the peninsular known as a habitat of Kamchatka brown bears. Everyone is hoping to get a good trophy for their collection.

      In the Yelizovo airport we take a helicopter and fly to the north of Kamchatka. The MI-8 is being flown by Sikorsky, one of the most experienced pilots in Kamchatka. Snowcapped peaks of the Sredinny Range slowly pass under the helicopter. The dales are cut by winding frozen rivers. There is not a living soul within hundreds of miles. A Martian landscape!

      After the two-hour flight we disembark in the middle of the snow-covered field. The snow is knee-deep! In Petropavlovsk it’s almost summer. I look a bit weird in sneakers.

      “First, we should fix the antenna!” – says senior gamekeeper Petrovich. We assemble the unit of about 15 meters high and slowly set it upright. At the last minute the antenna tilts and then falls. We check if everybody isn’t hurt. We started again, and this time we managed to fix it with spreaders. Then we set the tents. To celebrate the arrival we treat ourselves and the Germans to a Martell Cognac.

      The clients are worrying about the hunt. They check

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