Three Bulgarians will remain forever on top of world's highest peak, Mount Everest, having reached its summit of its 8840 m altitude. Bulgarians will proudly remember of the first Bulgarian men to successfully climb Everest in 1984, Hristo Prodanov, and his niece, Mariana Maslarova, the first woman to climb the mountain, as well as 26-year-old Hristo Hristov, who has been made an honorary citizen of Smolian.





VELINA NACHEVA



BULGARIA and many mountaineers have paid a very high price for its mountaineers who reached the pinnacle to wave the Bulgarian flag on the highest mountain peak. In 20 years, three Bulgarians have died climbing Evest. They all had their own reasons and having a different goal for wanting to reach the highest point in the world.

Hristo Prodanov, boxer and skilled mountain climber, was the first Bulgarian to climb the top of the world on April 20, 1984. His niece Mariana Maslarova ,43, had a similar ambitions and wanted to become the first woman in the world to climb Everest.

Regrettably, both suffered the same fate.

Hristo Hristov, a 26 year old mountain climber from the Bulgarian "Everest 2004" expedition to the Himalayas ascended via the Chinese Route from North, will also tragically be rembered in history. He was taking part in the commemorative climb dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Prodanov's climb. Hristov, from the Smolian alpine club Karlak, was last seen 50 m below the peak and his body was found at an altitude of 8 680 m attached to a clamp which prevented him from falling down. He might have frozen to death on his way down from the peak while descending on May 22. According to expedition spokesperson Petar Atanassov, Hristov probably died of lack of oxygen, or exhaustion, or exposure. He added that expedition members did everything possible to find Hristov before it was too late.

"Alas, the mountain claims its toll from among the bravest because only they have the courage to challenge it," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passi said in condolences sent to Hristov's family.

Hristov and Maslarova's bodies will remain on the mountain because of local Tibetan belief that the body of a person who died in the mountain should remain there. Sherpas, the Himalayan locals living in the borders of Tibet and Nepal, challenge the mountain routinely when assisting climbers and also deeply subscribe to this belief.

After the expedition's return on June 1 many questions and issues have been raised about why the two climbers met their death. Some who witnessed the expedition have referred to it as a tragic success. "This expedition is a tragic success and my heart is bleeding," said the expedition leader of the 10 people climbing team, Metodi Savov. "The expedition ended with a tragic success. We left a man we all hold dear on the slopes of Everest," he said.

Prior to the expedition's departure, the 10 climbers met President Georgi Purvanov who described the expedition as extremely challenging, because they had chosen one of the hardest itineraries, known as "The China Way." According to Savov, at this altitude everybody decides his own fate alone and nobody can help anybody else.

"Maybe it would have been better if the expedition had failed but Hristov were alive. I feel regret and embarrassment. I am not glad that I ascended the summit," Totev said after returning.

This year four climbers reached the apex of Everest Petko Totev was the first, with oxygen apparatus, and was followed by the other three climbers reaching the top on May 20. These were 46-year-old Nikolai Petkov, 27-year-old Doichin Boianov and active bungee jumper and speleologist) and the fateful Hristov.

Totev is now 45 and Bulgaria's most famous alpine skier. He became the seventh Bulgarian to climb Mount Everest accompanied by Tendy, a Sherpa. His first climbs were in the Indian Garhwal Himalayas, where he conquered two virgin peaks that averaged 6038 m. He is also the first Bulgaria to ski down the northern slope of Peak Lenin (7134 m) and the best known Bulgarian competitor in ski mountaineering.

Savov who climbed Everest in the spring of 1984, addressed the descent of the peak this time as "a return from the world beyond" due to the problems he had. Some members of the expedition did not climb the summit. "They are all well-trained people but the weather was very bad," Savov said.

Maslarova was part of the "Brazilian Russian II Everest Expedition 2004" in spring and became the first woman to almost reach the peak of Everest. Prior to Everest she has conquered Pamir, the Alps and the Caucasus. This year she set a new female altitude climbing record by reaching up to 8 680 m, within 200 m of the apex. The 43-year old Maslarova paid $14 000 to be part of the expedition has been involved with mountain climbing for 20 years. She was one of the nine people to attempt to climb the world's highest peak.

Petkov became the first Bulgarian with two successful climbs. In his first climb in the spring of 1984, he took the Western Ridge or Slovenian Route along the Western Ridge of the summit. He has ascended peaks in every continents of the world, except Antarctica. Among some of his climbs are Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) in the Himalaya, the Great Tango Tower (6,286 m) in Karakorum and Cerro Fitzroy (3,375 m) in Patagonia. Petkov was not alone in his second Everest climb, but was accompanied by Boianov who has conquered the highest points of the Caucasus (Mount Elbrus, 5,642 m), Iran (Demavend, 5,671 m), Turkey (Mount Ararat, 5,137 m), and Mount Kaufmann (7,134 m) in the Pamirs.

Ivan Vulchev and Savov climbed Everest on May 8, 1984, along the Western Ridge, the Slovenian route descending along the classical route to Nepal. Nikolai Petkov and Kiril Doskov climbed the peak on May 9, 1984 taking the Slovenian route.

On May 20, 1997, Doichin Vassilev became the sixth Bulgarian to conquer Everest climbing the top of the world, using the so-called Chinese Way, starting from Tibet.

Since Everest was first scaled by New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953, more than 1300 people have climbed the treacherous peak - about 200 climbers have died on it.