SKY'S THE LIMIT

Despite the multitude of Azerbaijanis interested in mountaineering, there is a tiny group of people doing this in the best way possible. Israfil Ashurly has made a great contribution to the development of Azerbaijani mountaineering. He was the first Azerbaijani mountaineer to conquer the Everest and the North Pole. In May, Ashurly, Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Mountaineering Federation, hoisted the Azerbaijani flag over Makalu, Nepal.

Happiness

The planet's fifth highest peak, Makalu (8,485m), is regarded as the most difficult among the eight-thousanders to climb. Israfil Ashurly has conquered Makalu after the Everest (8,848m, 2007), Kanchenjunga (8,586m, 2011), Lhotse (8,516m, 2019), Manaslu (8,163m, 2019) and the Broad Peak (8,051m, 2022). Only 30% of expeditions attempting to get there have succeeded.

The renowned athlete shared his impressions with R+: "I am very happy that the number of peaks I have conquered in my career reach six. Makalu was one of the most challenging missions. Not everyone can make it to the end. We knew the statistics of attempts before starting the expedition, which was scheduled for May 16. When I woke up that morning, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back. I had to take a painkiller to avoid problems during the ascent. At 19:00, we set off on our expedition, which took 9 hours and 30 minutes. We reached the summit, making stops at certain places. The feeling was incredible. You get into some unreal space. We reached the summit at 05:40, almost exhausted. The final distance was literally a crawl. I was so happy."

When you save lives

Ashurly reported that they had saved a man's life while climbing to the summit: "When we were climbing, we found an Indian climber. He was in a critical condition, trying to get out of a difficult situation. He had been missing for days, thought to be dead already. We saved him. Thank God we were able to do it."

Thanks to his experience as a mountaineer, Ashurly has also joined the rescue operations following the recent devastating earthquake in Türkiye. However, he does not like talking about the mission much: "We were at the international ice-climbing festival in Erzurum, Türkiye, together with an Azerbaijani team of climbers, when the incident happened. I immediately decided to join a volunteer group made up of Turkish climbers. Most of our team left for Izmir and from there they returned to Baku. Along with my Turkish colleagues and my mountain guide, Renat Rahimkhanov, I travelled to Hatay province. We reached our destination on the next day and immediately started rescue operations. On the first night we pulled one person out from under the rubble. The second and third days were also quite successful. In total, our team could save 10 people. Nine of them were under the rubble and one was evacuated from the top floor of the building, as he had not had time to leave the building during the earthquake. We evacuated him with a crane."

Promoting mountaineering

As to the opportunities for the development of mountaineering in Azerbaijan, Ashurly said that he was always ready to help young people: "It is an expensive sport. Not like regular sports. It is extreme and risky. You have to be in love with mountaineering. Before starting an expedition, you have to pay for the climbing to get official permission. Unauthorised expeditions are forbidden. The cost of the permit can go as high as $10,000-15,000 just to get close to the mountain and try to climb it. But as soon as you get to the top, you forget all the troubles. I wish the scope of this sport would widen in Azerbaijan. There should be many special platforms and places for training. Mountaineering can become a mass sport only with the state support. One of my missions is to promote mountaineering, including educating children ready to do it decently. I am always ready to help young people. I really want us to have more mountaineers conquering peaks."