Anatoly Nikolaevich Bukrejew

Anatoly Bukreev (1991)

Anatoli Boukreev ( Russian Анатолий Николаевич Букреев ;. English transcription Anatoli Boukreev * 16th January 1958 in Korkino , Russian SFSR , Soviet Union ; † 25. December 1997 at the Annapurna , Nepal ) was a Russian- Kazakh mountaineer and mountain guide .

Life

education

Bukrejew grew up in Korkino, a town in the Southern Urals in Chelyabinsk Oblast . After graduating from university in 1975, he enrolled at the Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University and majored in physics . In 1979 he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree . At the same time, he successfully completed a trainer training for cross-country skiing . Then Bukreev went to Alma-Ata , capital of the Kazakh SSR , at the northern foot of the Tian Shan Mountains, where he has since practiced mountain sports .

Solo climbs and expeditions

Bukrejew gained experience in high altitude mountaineering in the Soviet Union at an early stage . In 1970, at the age of twelve, he began his mountaineering and climbing career in the Urals at altitudes between 1600 and 1800 meters. In 1974 he felt his way up to heights of up to 5000 meters, and in 1980 he climbed beyond the 7000 mark for the first time with Communism Peak and Lenin Peak. From the 1980s to 1993 he climbed more than 30 seven-thousanders as a member of Kazakh-Russian teams.

Anatoly Bukreev (1991)

In 1987 he made his first attempt at speed climbing on Lenin Peak, where he needed eight hours for almost 3000 meters in altitude from the base camp to the summit and six hours for the descent. In 1989 he climbed the third highest mountain in the world, the Kangchenjunga , which has four peaks over 8,000 m. Bukrejew was a member of the second Soviet Himalayan expedition, and all expedition participants had been instructed to use additional oxygen above the 8000 limit. In the same month he climbed the middle peak of Kangchenjunga via a new southern route. With speed solos in 1990 - without additional oxygen - he mastered the Denali via the Kassin route as well as the Westführe, the Khan Tengri and the Pik Pobeda .

Bukrejew climbed a total of nine of the fourteen eight-thousanders, mostly without bottled oxygen ( Kangchenjunga 1989 on a new route, Dhaulagiri , Mount Everest , K2 , Makalu , Manaslu , Lhotse , Cho Oyu , Gasherbrum II ). In addition, he was able to climb two secondary peaks with a height of more than 8000 m, these were the Broad Peak and the Shishapangma central summit . He climbed Mount Everest four times, three times as a mountain guide. He was able to climb Lhotse and Dhaulagiri twice.

Up until his death in Annapurna, Bukreev also tackled quite a few 8000ers in the single high-speed ascent style (high-speed solo ascent without additional oxygen).

Mount Everest Expedition 1996

Bukrejew was one of the mountain guides on the Mount Everest expedition in May 1996 , in which eight climbers were killed by a sudden change in the weather. He was the second mountain guide and team member in the team of the expedition leader Scott Fischer and was hired in October 1995 in Kathmandu for an amount of 25,000 US dollars due to his reputation as a high-performance mountain climber.

Bukreev's role in the expedition was presented ambiguously by Jon Krakauer in his book " In icy heights ", which sparked a dispute between Krakauer and Bukrejew. At first only Krakauer's point of view was known to the general public:

• In his book, Krakauer Bukrejew on the one hand denied being able to work in a team and accused him of going it alone as well as a lack of helpfulness, which would have "forced" the expedition leader and other employees into exhausting multiple assignments. He made him indirectly responsible for the death of his colleagues during the descent. On the other hand, Krakauer was very positive about Bukreev's selfless life-saving efforts later in the course of the disaster on the southern saddle of Mount Everest. Bukreev himself had only implemented the acclimatization plan that he had worked out together with Scott Fisher. Bukreev led several exhausted expedition members who had lost their way in the snowstorm and at night and had to bivouac in the open air in storms and temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius, despite the previous effort of his summit climb, back to camp 4 and thus saved at least three lives who would otherwise have frozen to death without protection, food, water and bottled oxygen. Of the six people who got lost on the descent on the South Col and missed Camp 4, five were rescued, mainly through Bukreev's efforts.

• Bukreev's efficiency is also evident from the fact that despite the efforts of the Everest ascent without additional oxygen - which Krakauer also reproached him for because this reduced his efficiency - and despite his rescue missions during the disaster, he single-handedly crossed neighboring Lhotse (8,516 m ) he climbed. However, his social skills in the team as a paid guide were less developed for much weaker, expensive expedition customers. The general accusation can be read from Krakauer's book that Bukrejew was selfishly eager for his fame as a strong high-altitude climber and was not seriously interested in teamwork; During the ascent he stole much of his responsibility to look after paying customers, was paid high as the second mountain guide, but despite his ability, he did not offer the appropriate value for the team.

Because of Krakauer's representations, Bukrejew and the journalist Weston DeWalt wrote their own book " The Summit " about his view of the disaster. Bukrejew and Krakauer subsequently met and settled the personal dispute to a large extent.

Death on the Annapurna

Memorial plaque on Annapurna

Shortly after the publication of DeWalt's book, Anatoly Bukrejew was killed in an avalanche accident on December 25, 1997 during a winter attempt on the south face of Annapurna . Together with Simone Moro and his cameraman Dimitri Sobolew , he had just thought about finding a new route to the summit over the unclimbed east wall because of the avalanche danger in the south face. But since there were no avalanches for a month and a half, the original plan was resumed. The first and only avalanche at 6300 m buried and killed Bukrejew and the cameraman, while Moro survived. Bukreev's body was nowhere to be found. In the vicinity of the Annapurna base camp (4,120 m), with a view of the main Annapurna summit, a small stupa was built in memory of Bukreev, today adorned with countless Buddhist prayer flags.

Records and awards

• David Sowles Award (the highest award from the American Alpine Club , which is given irregularly ), together with Peter Athans and Todd Burleson , for his work in the rescue operation on Everest in May 1996.
• Lhotse climb in record time in 1997: 21 hours and 16 minutes from base camp to the summit.
• Dhaulagiri climb in record time in 1995: 17 hours and 15 minutes from base camp to the summit.
• Pik Pobeda (first winter ascent, first solo speed ascent), Khan Tengri (first solo speed ascent), Mt. Elbrus (record ascent in 1 hour and 40 minutes); all 1990
• First place at Mount Elbrus Speed ​​Ascent, 5642 meters, "Master of Sport with Honors and Order of Personal Courage", awarded by the then President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev .

Works

• The summit. Tragedy on Mount Everest . Paperback, 300 pages, 1998, Heyne Munich, ISBN 3-453-15052-X
• Above the clouds. From the diaries of an extreme mountaineer . Paperback, 288 pages, 2003, Heyne Munich, ISBN 3-453-86126-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The climber years of ANATOLY N. Bukreev
2. ↑ Bernadette McDonald, See you in Kathmandu: Elizabeth Hawley- The Chronicler of Himalaya Mountaineering , p. 217 f.

Web links

Commons : Anatoli Boukreev  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Anatoli Nikolajewitsch Bukrejew in the catalog of the German National Library
• Anatoly Bukrejew - biography on mountain.ru (English)
• Anatoli Boukreev - Legendary Climber Killed on Annapurna (English)
• Anatoli Boukreev - Boukreev's letter to the editor concerning the Everest Expedition of 1996