The Camel

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This story happened to me 7 years ago in Kamchatka, during an easy warm-up ascent in the area of so-called "Home volcanoes", close to the capital of Kamchatka – Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky. We got into bad weather and sat in the tents at the foot of the Koryaksky volcano for three days. There was no longer any chance to climb the top, we were trying to get the proper weather window for the descent.

Having decided that anyway we would not go down that day, with my guide-partner we decided to warm up a little and run upwards on the nearest slope. The weather was shit - with charges of rain, gusts of wind and lack of visibility. The route category of the volcano was 3b Russian grade, - the ridge which could be climbed with a certain skill without using a rope – basically it is needed in a couple of places, but you can always find fixed ropes there.

In short, we got up and start climbing very fast - dressed very lightly (I was wearing thermal underwear and a light raincover) - we did not plan to stay on the route for a long time. Neither did we plan to separate with my friend, so we took one navigation kit for two - a walkie-talkie and a GPS navigator.

Right from the camp we took a very high pace of movement and gained 700 meters in one hour, there were still 1300 meters altitude gain to the top - we decided to try to go to the summit. Approximately 500 altitude meters before the summit, my partner decided to go down - he felt tired and got some altitude sickness.

My own condition, on the contrary, was close to ideal, for me it was estimated only 40 minutes to the top. At this point, I did my first mistake. We decided to separate - I gave the GPS device to my partner, and kept the walkie-talkie for myself. Theoretically, the route allowed such a decision - it was almost impossible to get lost while climbing the ridge. But...

Damn, I've been working as mountain guide for over 20 years, also I'm a field navigation instructor…. It would seem that I know all these nuances like the palm of my hand - I have always taught others the basics of security in the mountains. That's for sure, the experience does not protect against one's own stupidity. So starting from this moment, I made several mistakes in a row, leaving almost no chance for life.

I climbed to the top and began to descend, half an hour later I received a message by the radio that my partner was already in the camp.

Continuing the descent, I realized that down climbing the rocky ridge is inconvenient, but along this ridge there was a wonderful snowy couloir. I went down and tried to glide - it turned out just perfect - the dense snow of the couloir snaked down along the ridge, gliding along it was just remarkably beautiful... Being fascinated by the fast descent, I did not notice that the ridge on the right was no longer mine, I missed the branch of the ridge and went away from the correct descent route.

When my altimeter showed approximately the altitude of the camp, I tried to contact the base by radio, but received no answer. It was the first surprise - a powerful military walkie-talkie was supposed to provide a perfect connection, even if I was a few kilometers from the camp. But there was no connection. I climbed some hillock nearby and tried again - the signal was barely getting through, it became clear that my camp was somewhere quite far away from my location.

In short, I downclimbed 2 km of altitude to the completely incomprehensible direction, but obviously not in the direction of the camp. I was very lightly dressed, thermal underwear and a light raincover had been wet through from the time I got to the summit. A moderate wind blew, intermittently with showers of rain. There was no visibility at all – just some 5-7 meters maximum.

All around me was a volcanic desert - a plateau with a slight slope, without any landmarks, covered with black volcanic ash. It was impossible to find any protection from rain or wind here...

Realizing that I descended significantly to the left from the side I needed, I decided to move to the right, maintaining and controlling the current altitude by the altimeter. Theoretically, this should lead me to the camp or close to it - after all, any volcano is a cone, so by traversing its slope it was possible to get to the desired point - that's what I thought. But that also was a mistake - as it turned out later, I went down to the opposite side of the bridge between the two volcanoes - Koryaksky and Avacha - so, the traverse of the slope would take me to a completely different volcano.

I traversed the slope for about three hours, but the radio connection remained exactly of the same quality - the signal level was only 15%, scarcely enough to communicate, but for a 5-watt station this meant a very significant distance.

After a couple of hours, I began to feel tired - almost all the power was spent for the ascent, I did not plan to wander around after the descent. There were no options even to stop for a short rest - it was impossible to find shelter from the wind, so any stop, even for 2-3 minutes, led to that I started to fall asleep. I understood perfectly well to what result would lead falling asleep in such a situation - I had a chance to survive only as long as I could stay awake and move to keep myself warm.

The curiosity of the situation was that I not only committed a serious mistake - I was left without a navigator in difficult weather conditions, but I left a radio for myself - I could communicate with the guys in the camp, but this could not help me to find the way. My friends began searching around - they combed the area around the camp with a wide range, shot into the air from a carbine.

There was no effect. I was too far away. Someone suggested to me going down along any stream to the line of the forest - there at least it was definitely possible to get protection from the wind. But this option for Kamchatka was suitable only as a perverted form of suicide - after descending into the forest, nobody would find me even in the parts - there were too many bears.

In short, after 8 hours of continuous walking, I began to realize the inevitability of my fate - less than an hour remained before darkness. There was no chance to survive the night even in the most optimistic scenario - I was exhausted, soaked through and there were no shelters from the piercing wind on the plateau, unless if I dig some hole in the ground. But, somehow, there was no desire to dig a grave for myself.

I came across a small wooden post, the only sign of human activity during all my 8 hours of wandering. On the column were the numbers 1124 - probably some geodetic mark. I informed the camp by radion about this landmark - to do at least something good in the end, to simplify the task of the rescuers in finding the body.

Also I dictated to my friends the last orders - to whom pass the messages and what to say to apologize. I can imagine what it was like for the guys. Everything looked completely hopeless. The batteries in the walkie-talkie would have been enough for another three hours... The irony of fate was that I could continue to talk with friends almost to the very end.

Suddenly, I heard on the radio the talks of the guys who were trying to search for me - one of them said the word "camel". This word sharply cut my ear - like a flash in my mind – just some 40 minutes ago in a break in the clouds I noticed a strange hill with two peaks, which I mechanically marked for myself as a "camel".

After short conversation on the radio it became clear - they see the same two-headed hill, just from the other side. I immediately felt very strong desire to live.

Having given the command to the guys not to leave the point from which they saw the "camel", I went back in my own footsteps.

The finale of the story is in the best traditions of Hollywood: 15 minutes left before the complete darkness, the fog was thickening, I could barely move my legs beaten into meat... Suddenly, against the background of a slightly bright sky, I distinguish the silhouette of a man. I didn't believe it, I thought it was hallucinations.

In reality, there was no chance for salvation at all, my actions in this accident came from pure stubbornness and unwillingness to accept that what seemed inevitable. Just as a note - the "camel" hill was on the limit of the search zone, the guys reached this hill with no special purpose. Afterwards they could not answer at all why they moved so far in this direction.

Why did I remember this story? The simplest things are always the most relevant - in any, the most hopeless situation, something completely unexpected can happen. The main conclusion from this story - never give up and move forward until the last drop of power.

Here my tale ends ... One who learned the lesson – is a good guy!

The author of the text and photos - Alexey Trubachev

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