AZERBAIJANI ARCTIC

From now onwards, the Azerbaijani flag will wave over the North Pole. This was made possible by the Last Degree international expedition, in which Azerbaijani mountaineer Israfil Asurlu took part. The explorer of Mount Everest, who has ascended many of the planet's legendary peaks, tried his luck with an expedition on skis this time; it ended successfully, although for Israfil himself it could have been over before it even started.

Bathing in the Arctic Ocean

The expedition was really quite a difficult one. First, the team reached a place called Longir at Spitsbergen. The task which the group had set itself was to ski to the North Pole. The group arrived first at the Barneo drift ice base and then flew by helicopter to within 120 km of the North Pole. On the second day Asurlu suffered a broken ski and he had to use snowshoes (small platforms attached to his boots) for the rest of the journey. "It is not easy or comfortable to move in them but, as it were, I had no choice. It was also very difficult to cross dangerous sections of thin ice in them because they have a smaller area of contact than skis. While negotiating a six-metre crack on the sixth day, the ice which my companion had crossed easily broke under my feet. As a result, I went up to my waist in freezing water. I managed to carefully get onto the ice without breaking the edge and crawl across the danger zone, dragging a 70 kg sleigh. Luckily, despite the low temperature                (-34oС), I managed to avoid frostbite and illness. I shuddered to think that the sea underneath was 4 km deep… But I consoled myself with the thought that I had bathed in all four oceans, including the Arctic Ocean," said Asurlu.

Thus, Israfil has visited both the North Pole and the South Pole, where he ascended Mount Vinson, as part of the Seven Summits programme, four years ago. The mountaineer admitted that he had decided to head for the Arctic during his visit to the South Pole. "While in Antarctica in 2005, we spent a week near the Patriot Hills airport waiting to leave the white continent. Due to a gale, the plane could not get to us from Chile. There were a lot of people at Patriot Hills waiting for the flight. They were on expeditions from various countries. Some of them had stormed Mount Vinson, while others had participated in skiing journeys to the South Pole. There were also people who had taken air trips. One day we were visited by a cheerful and boisterous bearded man who inspired optimism and a good mood in everyone."

This was the well-known polar explorer and director of the Arctic and Antarctic Institute, Viktor Boyarskiy. In Soviet times, Viktor worked as a glaciologist at scientific stations in Antarctica. Later, he crossed the whole of Antarctica by dog sledge and repeatedly visited both poles, both independently and as the head of an expedition. Viktor was the inspiration for and creator of the Barneo drift ice base. This base enables expeditions heading for the Arctic to land closer to the pole. "Our encounter soon turned into friendship. Viktor was the catalyst who infected me with the idea of visiting the North Pole. For various reasons (frostbite treatment, preparations for an ascent of Mount Everest and the birth of my son) I postponed my trip to the Arctic for three years. But this year everything worked well and of course I am happy about this. My trips to Antarctica and the Arctic had different goals. In the first case, it was a mountaineering expedition and in the second case, a skiing expedition. While everything to do with mountains was settled in me long ago, the current expedition opened new horizons and new plans for the future… but, in any case, let's not rush ahead with announcements," Israfil said.

Everest is not the limit

The fame of our countryman Israfil Asurlu, who now lives in Moscow, has increased in recent years as he has climbed the highest peaks of every continent. His ascent of Mount Everest was the apogee: Israfil was the first Azerbaijani to climb this famous mountain, hoisting the flag of his country on the highest peak in the world. With this ascent alone, he went down in the history of national sport.

"Every expedition has its complications. For example, while ascending Mount Vinson in Antarctica, we were caught in a storm which caused us many problems. We spent almost 24 hours trapped by the bad weather in a small space between cracks in the rock. There are many myths about the accessibility of various peaks which have little to do with reality. For example, the outstanding climber of all time, Reinhold Messner, once called Elbrus a skiing mountain, attaching little importance to it. Nevertheless, Elbrus constantly takes its toll, killing at least seven people every year. In 2002 I witnessed another careless expedition which killed some climbers. Czech climbers, against all the rules, set up a tent above the saddle of Mount Elbrus, which is not recommended. The tent was blown away overnight and they froze to death. Rescuers were transporting their bodies down the mountain as I was climbing. Sometimes it seems that the peak is just around the corner. It is extremely difficult to tell yourself to turn back when the target is just two steps away. People who make such a decision despite the cost, pressure and a lost season are spiritually very strong. It is a special art - to turn back in time," thinks Israfil.

Over the last nine or ten years, Asurlu has invested all his energy in the Seven Summits project. Although it began somewhat spontaneously for him - the climber had a stopover in Australia, from where he headed to New Zealand to ascend Mount Cook, but he managed to ascend Mount Kosciusko (Australia's highest point) as well. After that, the climber decided that he needed to join the Seven Heights project. "As a matter of fact, I was a member of this programme earlier and, as part of the programme, I visited Mount Vinson (Antarctica's highest point), Aconcagua (South America's highest point) and McKinley. The trip to Everest was the final stage of the project - a kind of finale. The trip to that height was a step that had to be taken - not just for me personally but, first and foremost, for our country because, unfortunately, Azerbaijani climbers are not well represented on major expeditions. We are little known at great heights, although the Azerbaijani school of mountaineering has a rich history. There are guys with wonderful physical ability, but they lack international experience and training. Possibly, my trip to Everest will cause an upsurge in interest in mountaineering in our country," hopes the conqueror of mountains.

In climbing Everest, Israfil reached a new stage in his mountaineering career. "It was the first 8,000 metre peak for me. I did not know how my brain would behave at such a height, how my lungs and heart would deal with the pressure and how my body would work. I did not know if the peak would let me in. Now that the expedition is over, I can say that everything went off successfully. This being the case, why should I stop? I have to go farther. Actually, at a height of 3,500-4,000 metres, the human organism works in unusual mode. The change in pressure and level of oxygen cause hypoxia and mountain sickness, reducing your stamina, increasing your pulse and making you feel dizzy. Even small wounds do not heal up at such a height. You can survive mountain sickness only by acclimatizing well. What I like is the phase of the struggle against the height. Of course it feels very hard but the height probably acts like a drug. No-one can say exactly what is so attractive about mountains, because there is nothing there but ice and snow. Many people say you could spend this money on a good holiday under the sun and palm trees. But before you descend, you are already thinking where you want to go next. I don't know how to describe what mountains give me. Perhaps they make me stronger. Communication with nature? This too, of course. The mountains are the most ancient thing on Earth. They stood when we did not exist and will probably stand when we no longer exist," Asurlu concluded.