The number one Alpine climber for the twentieth century was elected on Sept. 13 with a humble celebration at the press club hall in Sofia. The late Hristo Prodanov, who was the first Bulgarian to climb Mount Everest in 1984 and died tragically during the descent, was unanimously elected by the Bulgarian Alpine Club survey and the specialized magazine for extreme sports `Na ruba' (On the edge).

The second position went to Nikolai Petkov, who also climbed Mount Everest in 1984, after Hristo Prodanov. Third place was for Doychin Vassilev. The founders of Bulgarian alpine tourism, professors of the National sports academy in Sofia, Georgi Atansov and Encho Petkov, were also in the top 10.

"The first thing which comes to my mind is that Hristo Prodanov is not here to receive his deserved prize," said Nikolai Petkov, chairman of the Bulgarian Alpine Club, who has climbed all the highest peaks of the continent and participated in the most difficult climbs in Bulgarian alpinism. He stressed that, according to him, these rankings are relative and to a great extent are the reflection of individual preferences.

"As with every ranking, this is relative as well, because it is very difficult to compare the achievements of each different mountain climber," said Doychin Vassilev, who has climbed peaks as high as 8,000m, including Everest.

Fifty-six-year-old Vassilev thanked his predecessors and said that he accepted the award as an acknowledgement of them as well. He was sure that that if they had lived in freer times, they would have achieved more than their students. "But so it is, everyone with their times. As we were sorry for Gundi, that he could not play in Europe, when he was in his heyday, thus we can be sorry for our predecessors," said Vassilev. He was referring to the famous Levski central forward and Bulgarian footballer Georgi Asparuhov-Gundi, who in the 1960s was unable to transfer to the biggest European teams.