Valery Nikolaevich Khrichtchatyi was a mountaineer from Kazakhstan. He made more than forty ascents above 7,000 meters, including a string of hard winter firsts in the Pamirs and Tien Shan. He climbed Everest by a new south pillar route, Kanchenjunga without oxygen and with only one bivouac, and a new route on the west side of Dhaulagiri.
Mountaineering
1974
*February 23, Lenin Peak. First winter attempt for the Lenin Peak on February 23, 1974. This climb was Valery's introduction to high altitude with his team climbing a bit higher than 6,000 m., although short of the highest point of the mountain at 7,134 m.
1979
*Rossiya Peak, South-eastern face, new route. High altitude technical route has been climbed by SKA SAVO.
1980
*August 10, Communism Peak, South face direct. After two unsuccessful attempts, a team of nine climbers reached the top of the Communism Peak. They spent 13 days on the wall and were the first team to reach the top through the center of the south wall. The elevation from base camp to the summit is 2,800 meters and the central part of the mountain is a 900-meter vertical drop. The team was awarded the Gold medal.
1982
*May 8 Everest, first Soviet expedition, southwest face to the left of the Central Gully. Khrichtchatyi and Kazbek Valiev reached the summit at 1:50 a.m. on May 8, 1982.
1984
*Pobeda Peak, North face. New route.
1986
*Communism Peak. First winter ascent
1987
*First speed scent of peak Lenin Peak. The team of five reached the summit in one push from ABC at 4400m and back in 12 hours.
*Communism Peak. The new route on Southeast buttress.
1988
*January 31 Lenin Peak First winter ascent. Six of the 17 climbers reached the summit
*Pobeda Peak, first traverse of peak Pobeda’s three summits: West Summit, Main Summit, and East Summit and the peak of the Military Topography. It was a prerequisite for the Kangchenjunga expedition 1989.
1989
*Kangchenjunga - three climbs without supplemental oxygen within 15 days.
**April 15 New route, Central Peak - In one daylight team climbed from camp 3 to the summit delivering loads to camp 4 and camp 5.
**April 30 West Peak
**May 1 Main Peak - 3 hours 25 minutes from camp 5 to the summit.
*August 20 Traverse peak Pobeda to peak Khan-Tengri. Traverse included: 15 summits, 73,6 km with average altitude 6,400 m, duration 15 days.
1991
* May 10 Dhaulagiri peak – new route on the west wall with first Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition led by Yuriy Moiseev and Kazbek Valiev. Ascent without use of supplemental oxygen.
* First Snow Leopard award in one season including Malik Ismetov, Sergey Gritsuk and Vladimir Suviga. Valery Khrichtchatyi climbed 4 out of 5 required mountains. Peak Pobeda was climbed in a day and Khan Tengri was climbed in 17 hours, including full decent to the glacier.
* October 7 Manaslu peak, which ended tragically with the loss of three lives of Z.Khalitov, G.Lunyakov, M.Galiev
1992
*Khan Tengri. First winter climb. Entire expedition took 10 days from Almaty and back.
*Everest Kazakh-Japanese expedition to Everest, new route through the Eastern Ridge. Expedition failed due to rescue of Japanese climbers.
Death
Valery Khrichtchatyi was killed in a massive ice fall/avalanche that struck off Chapaev Peak on Semenovskii glacier on August 4, 1993 while attempting to summit Khan-Tengri. Khrichtchatyi’s long-time friend Ilia Iodes and two British climbers also met their deaths. The body of one Englishman was recovered, but the others including Khrichtchatyi were never found. That same summer Khrichtchatyi was planning a solo speed climb of the north wall of Khan Tengri.
Writing
Valery published two books which summarized his copious notes collected throughout his climbing carrier.
Commemoration
In 2003 Khrichtchatyi’s name was given to the mountain pass after Anatoliy Dzhuliy and his team of set a new route to the pass that connects Druzhba glacier located on the upper side of Yuzhniy Inylchak and Tugbelchi glacier.
