원정 개요

Galina fell on 13 Oct near BC Icefall and disappeared; don't know if she died. Climb ceased in search and on 14th all down from high camps; former Soviet Union climbing ethics did not allow for climbing after a member dies or disappears.

Ena and Galina to top with other 3 on 13th. Galina fell on descent at about 7400m at traverse at 7:00 pm; no one saw her fall. She should have been in camp 10 minutes after others but never came and search did not reveal any traces. No other summit bids: first searched, then no heart for it. Leader to C3 but health not good, arrived late from Pokhara and ended expedition staying in BC. Ena, Galina and Lebedev were not on expedition's permit because their trekking agent failed to keep promise to add their names when money arrived summited and when realized they were not, leader told all members not to speak in KTM their summiting (correct reports published in Ukrainian papers).


Dhaulagiri I (1994) Autumn 1994 Ukrainian expedition led by Valenia:

This team gave a false report to the Nepalese tourism ministry, and at the time I got some information from the Ukrainians and other teams who were on the mountain at the same time; part of this information was incorrect. This September (1999), I interviewed one of the leading climbers from this expedition, Victor Pastuk, who had come back to climb Xixabangma later that month), and he gave me data that I am confident are correct. He said: "The summit was reached on 11 October, 1994 by Igor Svergun and Gennady Lebedev; they were followed to the top on 13 Oct by Vladimir Gorbach, Igor Chaplinsky, Vladimir Lanko, Miss Tamara Ena and Mrs Galina Tchekanova. (Ena, Lebedev and Tchekanova had not been included in the orginal list of members given to the tourism ministry because the expedition did not have enough money to do so at the start of the climb, and their trekking agent failed to pay when the funds did turn up, so their successes could not be revealed at the time.) Tchekanova is assumed to have fallen on her descent from the top at about7400m at the traverse by those coming down just ahead of her, and she should have joined them in C3 at 7320m ten minutes after them. She never arrived and the search for her produced no traces of where she went. No more attempts were made to go to the top; ethics of the Soviet Union and its successor states do not allow a climb to continue after the death or disappearance of a member.


Original Notes (1994)

1st summit bid by 3 members, but only Svergun to top because not well acclimatized; Svergun on top only 10 minutes, very windy returned to C4 same day; had left C3 5 am; reached BC 12th at 21 hrs. 2nd party better acclimatized than 1st one (had made C3 and then descended) and left C3 for top at 5:30 am and reached top at 12:10 pm.

No attempt on Annapurna - no time or money.

28th Oct: official explanation of Tchekanova's death is that she disappeared at/near BC; only 9 members were in climbing permit; she, Ena and Lebedev were not. Expedition is not admitting to any summit success after 13th, but Tanets reluctantly says "maybe more members did succeed." Besides 12 climbers there were at BC a journalist and an elderly climber who managed BC. Expedition was not highly disciplined or tightly structured: people who wanted to come and who paid, came - everyone climbed unroped, independently of others.

French and Belgian Dhaulagiri teams heard 3 Ukrainians lost between summit and C3 17th or 18th Oct. Tanets: only Tchekanova is dead.

1 Nov 94: Sedov of Belarussian Kangchenjunga expedition, staying in same small hotel as Ukrainians and having talked with them, says four Ukrainians went to summit on same day; including Tchekanova, which date he doesn't know - summiters were Tchekanova, Ena (also not on expedition permit), leader Valenia and Vasilenko - only Tchekanova died.

15 March 96 - according to Chultim of expedition's trekking agency, last summiters (on 18 Oct?) were Ena, Tchekanova, Bershov (deputy leader) and Vasilenko, according to team's Sherpas - Valenia never went to BC, stayed at Jomsom throughout climb.


Email to Eberhard Jurgalski from Mstislav Gorbenko - 12 May 2005

Dear Eberhard!
> On 11.10.94 G.Lebedev, I.Svergun have reached the top of Dhaulagiry
(North-East crest).
> On 13.10.94 - V.Gorbach, I.Chaplinskiy, V.Lanko, T.Ena, G.Chekanova have
summited.
> S.Bershov and G.Vasilenko haven't reached the top of Dhaulagiry in 1994.
> Best wishes, Mstislav Gorbenko.