Dhaulagiri I | 1996 NE Ridge

A Russia expedition to Dhaulagiri I in 1996 via NE Ridge, led by Anatoli Mochnikov. Summit reached on 21st October 1996. 13 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1928
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID DHA196305
Peak ID DHA1
Year 1996
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 NE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Russia
Leaders Anatoli Mochnikov
Sponsor St. Petersburg Dhaulagiri Expedition to Dhaulagiri I
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 89th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Lithuania
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1996-09-24
Summit Date 1996-10-21
Summit Time -
Summit Days 27
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8167
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 13
Summit Members 1
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(24/09,4400m),C1(26/09,5800m),C2(27/09,6600m),C3(12/10,7200m),C4(20/10,7400m),Smt(21/10)
Route Notes C1 at NE Col C2 on NE Ridge C3 on NE Ridge C4 at snow cave till winds destroyed its thin walls. On 21st Oct summit bid from C4 by Mochnikov, Astanine and Maiorov at 7:00 am; Astanine and Maiorov turned back at 8000m at 4:30 pm when still 3 hours below summit, fog and wind came up and Mochnikov had already climbed much faster, been to top and now rejoined them in his descent. All 3 returned to C4 that night, Mochnikov at 6:00 pm and other 2 at 7:00 pm. 22nd all 3 all the way to BC in wind and and cloudy alternating with sunshine. Had only 3 good days of weather (19-21 Oct). An earlier summit party had been unable to move above C4 because of fierce winds - spent night of 16th in cave here and then descended. Most left BC and returned to KTM leaving only 21st Oct summit party and Choustrov brothers. Dhaulagiri 1996 Autumn by A. Moshnikov and S. Shibaev (from Russian website) On Sept 13, 1996 13 people left the Moscow Railway Station in St. Petersburg for a long journey. 10 days later they were at the foot of Dhaulagiri, where they made their base camp at an altitude of 4700m. The Japanese Swiss Austrian fellow mountaineers cheerfully greeted the arrived rivals. Only Bart Vos, a Dutch looked with suspicion. This was his third attempt to climb the peak. He was robbed here during this last climbing in 1995. He blamed the theft of Bulgarian climbers, and certainly he did not see much difference between Bulgarians and Russians. The Petersburg's team climbing was agreed to follow the classic Swiss route over the north east ridge. The 21st Oct was the last of the three days allotted. At 7:30 in the morning three (Astanine, Maiorov and Moshnikov left the assault camp at the 7400 mark. They carried n oxygen. The gap between the leading Moshnikov and the two other alpinists gradually increased. Anatoly headed to the north east ridge. When he reached it, he got a severe wind blow on the face that made him to change his mind and continue on the unfamiliar, but sheltered, northern side. When in the vicinity of the summit, he tried once more to climb up the ridge, he was held off by a huge cornice. No sinews, no time left to get it over. Got to descend a little, loosing the precious metres of altitude, retreat a little, and then climb again. At 15-30 there was no where to go up 8167m. That evening Moshnikov put down in his dairy: The Mountain... Capitalized. It is only for a while that will receive if you became part of here, learnt her ways, and live in peace with her. The summit is not just a pile of stones snow and gusty winds, and all the world underneath. There is more to it; yourself and your solitude. You did it in defiance of everything and everybody, but once again you just overcame... yourself. It is impossible to overcome the Mountain. The air which always in short supply .. The wind that presses icy palm tight to your mouth. The wind does not know that you are human... the frozen snow is resounding under your weight, and your nerve tips seems to be bared, and you are listening to the moans, whispers, ropes. They extinguishing senses drive you up, where there is nothing at all. But, Lo there is nowhere to climb up any more .. Don't believe it! This is just the beginning. Descent... Fog has rolled suddenly, like a bolt from the blue as usual. Where to go? All got mixed up. Familiar places you passed just a couple of hours before have changed beyond recognition and look hostile. By 18 o'clock they descended to the assault camp. The two Anatolys met in descent had opted not to take risk the lit hours would certainly have been not long enough for them to return to the tent. The next day, having dismantled the tents on the way, they reached the base camp by 10 o'clock in the night. Now it will take them a day to Jomsom than a flight to KTM and then to Moscow. Leaving the camp, they took just enough packet soups and tea to last a day. They had no way of knowing that that there will be a trap on the way that will hold them for five days. Snow had started last night, and they watched the blanket of snow grow up beginning from 20 cm to 1.5 m. The cosy green terraces became avalanche threatening hillsides. They only managed 1-1.5 km a day. On that day three, when after two mountain passes, their route came to run along a canyon edge, they had to stop altogether. They were lucky that had overtaken Bart Vos on their day two march, and the Dutch who had, after his third (and again vain) attempt, to retire from Dhaulagiri hesitatingly joined them. Bart had a primus and fuel, and they had tea and packet soups. 23.10. It's hard to rise in the morning; all is aching, convulsions, completely exhausted. Got to straigthen gradually and, avoiding sharp motions, to crawl out of the tent. A grey morning, no slightest hope for a sunshine. Austrians... hardly can be expected to start early. It is drizzling. Dragged ourselves to the pass. Thought we couldn't stomach gnawing all the time, moving with difficulty, feeling bad. Perhaps overstrained myself leading all the time, but the old rule "lead until someone else comes to the fore" stll holds. Just below the pass I felt I couldn't manage any more and proposed to halt for the night. Another came to the fore. Made the pass, descended a little, and stopped. Snowing was becoming increasingly heavier. Drank some spirit. A little better. 24.10 In the morning - fog and snow again. Got trapped. A faint still lingered ... then died. Started at 8:00 without breakfast. Distressed, nothing visible around, located the path as the blind to. It is only the feeling of no return that drives us forward, 4 exhausting hours and there was a tent! Cold greetings, but ... hot coffee some noodles and life starts glimerring again. Now Bud is with us, Bud knows the way. Winged, we climbed the pass, and no visibility further, heavy snowing again. The mountain sides imperceptibly become steeper and steeper, the surroundings inexorably turn grey, wind blew, we got scared. Fog, snow storm, we got completely lost 4 o'clock. This is the final curtain. 25.10. Did not rise up since morning. All is quite clear. Planes, like boats, wait no men, and we have missed our train to get to the airport in time. There is a hope still, supposing it clears but.. the thick opaque milk of the fog is becoming something beating against the tent and here you are got to dig ourselves up again. We are at the edge of an avalanche collector and hear the "first trains" of avalanches go down from the steep slopes. Luckily, at a certain distance from us, though not too far away; they say, one will never hear one's avalanche, as well as one's stone. Drank the remaining spirit. A little better, but of course not very long. 26.10 Still lying. Silence. The snow rustles. Nothing to eat for a quite a while. Ransacked everything in search of a couple of mislaid candies; nothing, except medicine. Tried to play cards and strangely enough the foolish game helped divert. 27.10 Saw a clearance in the morning and crawled out. All but powerless to pick up the rucksack. Something happened to your constitution, and you reach the bound, beyond which there is a threshold of indifference to your fate only an idiot is going to climb these slopes. Bud promises a plateau soon, and seems to doubt his own words... but still tramples. Got to fight in earnest now, all joking aside for the lives for many more things. The night is coming, Bud, glad, declared again that the plateau is already soon but I do not recognize the surroundings. Halted. 28.10 Snowing from the morning, powerless to get up, though it is quite to Marfa village. Bud stimulates his primus already startng since 6 o'clock, burning the fuel down: filled up the thermos, that was all. Today is a decisive day: "to be or not to be." Feebleness it is that to humilate. Last nght Kostya was bad: he had eaten 6 tablets of codeine to suppress feeling of hunger and seems to be suppressed himself a little. Were giving him tea having burnt down the last remains of canned gas. The night was hard. Started nevertheless. Bud proposed to unload Kostya: to carry his belongings is easier than to carry himself. The beginning was very hard... It is cold though the sun is seen through the clouds and there is a visibility. Bud is leading and trampling like the steam train, but the slopes are dangerous. The crest is very close but we are crawling like snails waist deep in snow. Twice I changed the socks because the toes got frozen. There nothing exists in the organisms. For all that reached the crest, its easier to go down. Not far to forest, will make, Made.. At last, after the deathly silence of the Snow Queen's world we hear sout of yaks bells and birds cries. The forest smell, the village this time escaped. By the end of the sixth day they got to the first village then a day later were in Jomsom. Not less then three hundred tourist group caught by the same snowfall wre accumulated in the village to wait for flights for KTM. Our heroes could spend there more a couple of weeks waiting, but fortunately, the Dutch who knew everything and everybody here and during the journey together changed to better his opinion about the Slovonic nationalities, found out a "local aouthority" and they got to start with almost the first flight. PS. That fall nobody had conquered Mt. Dhaulagiri except for the Peterburg expedition. In spite of that the path was made and the ropes were fixed.
Accidents Ivanov 2 frostbitten fingers and might lose tips
Achievement -
Agency Mountain Trekkers Service
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2456334
Year 1996
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) ne ridge

Members

13 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Konstantin Astanine M 1963 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Manager of building work Details Other expeditions
Alexei Chevelev M 1957 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Building-work executive Details Other expeditions
Alexei Choustrov M 1958 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Nikolai Choustrov M 1954 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Mikhail Gavrilov M 1964 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Building engineer Details Other expeditions
Viatcheslav Ivanov M 1951 Russia Climber Valdai, Novgorod, Russia Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Ruta Kripaityte F 1967 Lithuania Climber Pinava, Lithuania Physiotherapist Details Other expeditions
Evgeni Maiorov M 1957 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Engineer Details Other expeditions
Anatoli Moshnikov M 1953 Russia Leader St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Nikolai Pimkin M 1963 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Sports shop director Details Other expeditions
Dmitri Sergeev M 1963 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia Construction engineer Details Other expeditions
Viktor Stepanov M 1962 Russia Climber Novgorod, Russia Building-work manager Details Other expeditions
Guri Tchounovkine M 1934 Russia Climber St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Russia President of mountaineering organization Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
DHA196305 AAJ Shataev, Vladimir - - 71:290 (1997) -
DHA196305 HIGH - - - 175:92 (Jun 1997) -
DHA196305 - - http://www.cetneva.com/eng/our-travels/12 - - -
DHA196305 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199729001/Asia-Nepal-Dhaulagiri-I-Ascent - - -