Expedition "Montenegro-Alaska, 2012, Denali 6.194 m"


VISITATION OF THE COLDEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD

                                    Dragan Bulatovic, highest top-Denali

The real meaning of mountaineering means that the mountaineer does not see the mountain as an opponent, because in that case any attempt to conquer the mountain will be doomed to failure.

A team of mountaineers from the Hiking Club "Climbers of Montenegro" formed by Dr. Dragan Bulatović, leader of the expedition "Montenegro-Alaska 2012" together with its members Milan Radović and Aleksandar Djajić after 23 days of cold weather and overcoming various obstacles, managed to climb the highest top in Alaska - Denali. Two crewmembers, Zoran Čelebić and Boris Prljević had given up ten days before the goal achievement. In an interview with the team leader Dragan Bulatović, we reveal details of the rise and the passion that leads the mountaineers to the so called “the path less traveled."

What attracts you to mountain climbing and extreme sports?

It seems like a simple question, but it is difficult to give a simple and comprehensive answer. People who have not had a chance to experience the magic of the mountains at least once have stand on a mountain top, will probably never understand what is it that makes the alpinist to replace his home with the uncomfortable heat and cold of the tent, that despite the blizzards and other difficulties ascends along the precipitous cliffs to the tops, which from anyway has to come down quickly. As for everything else that people deals with, the need and desire to practice mountaineering, climbing and other extreme sports has its own rational and irrational side, or as Freud says, all we do, say, think, is an expression of our mind - conscious, subconscious and unconscious.

For success it is important that rational and irrational are not opposites, but complementary to each other i.e. rationally placed irrational in the framework of reality. The need and desire to expand our own horizons through experiences related to the excitement and adrenaline are something that is always present in me since childhood and motivates me to practice extreme sports. Through these experiences, I discover the nature, other people and move my own borders. I think that I can freely say that it became my way and style of living. Inhuman times which we live in transforms our lives into a struggle for mere existence, accompanied by everyday stressful situations, so climbing and mountaineering experiences which I have, help me easily to overcome common life situations, because now the everyday problems does not look so serious and are easier to be solved.

Is it possible to make a difference between courage and risk in the extreme sports?
Yes. The risks are always associated with the existence of one or more hazards and more or less are present in all human activities. Courage is to win fear and decide to take risks and accept the responsibility for the possible consequences. The extreme sports are activities with a high level of risks, but the risk can be controlled if it’s acted in accordance with the rules and if the decision of risk taking is based on an objective assessment that requires extensive knowledge and experience. Of course, it happens that the alpinists make decisions based on their own intuition, which is a characteristic of people with great knowledge and experience. With mountain climbing and other extreme sports can successfully engage people who are physically healthy and psychologically stable. In climbing, there is no other person or a team as an opponent, but the main opponent is overcoming of the natural forces and obstacles. Here, the mistakes are not paid with losing of the game or not scoring on the table, but the price is much higher, sometimes is paid with life itself. The right understanding of mountaineering means that the mountaineer does not experience the mountain as an opponent, because in that case any attempt to pre-conquest would have been doomed to a failure. How can a man win something as magnificent as the mountain? That is why the real alpinists do not conquered mountain tops, but they are fascinated by their beauty to elevate them, physically and mentally. They respect the mountain and its laws, make a good estimate of the subjective and objective dangers, they are able to perceive their own strengths and weaknesses, and in accordance with that, they make right strategies and tactics. The only sure way to success in climbing is just like in all the other sports and general activities, going step by step from lower to higher, easier to harder, less to more demanding and finally from less to more dangerous. This is how knowledge skills and competencies acquired that enables an effective control even over the most dangerous situations. Of course, there are people, unfortunately like in Montenegro, not only in mounting climbing but also in all spheres of the social life, who want to go the shorter way bypassing some of the "lessons" and I call them "optimists without coverage." They can easily engage in the greatest challenges, and their optimism and believe in success are not based on their own quality and realistic possibilities, but on a crucially factor connected with happiness, that is, of course, necessary but not sufficient condition.


Aleksandar Đajic, Dragan Bulatovic and Milan Radovic, highest top - Denali

How long did the preparation for Denali’s ascent lasted?
It was a very challenging project, both in terms of organizational-technical and psychological and physical preparation of the climbers. The preparations have lasted for more than a year, and were particularly intensified from September 2011. Even then, we started the administrative procedures for obtaining permission for the expedition from the American side, booking airline tickets, accommodation etc. We have begun efforts to establish communication with the Montenegrin diaspora in Alaska, which today consists of a very successful and influential business people, whose grandfathers came from Montenegro during the golden rush.
When it comes to mental and physical preparations, we had a reasonable plan for the ascents, which in because of the lack of finances we mainly implemented/realized on our mountains. There were very exacting, marathon, exhausting climbs in winter conditions, with a large difference in height (which was often over 2000m) and length of tracks that sometimes was passing more the 40 km. In addition, we have diligently collected from various sources of information about the coldest mountains in the world, tips and experiences from people from the Balkans who have climbed on this top. As always, the hardest part of the work related to the raising of the necessary finances from sponsors and donors, because we live in a society where the corporate social responsibility has not been affirmed as a value, so for this rather ventures generally the wider community do not have any understanding. So we knew what we should expect on Denali and according to that we were seriously preparing. Thanks to the teamwork and dedication in setting of the goal to all team members, we greatly did all the aspects of this expedition, which finally resulted with great success. For the first time any Montenegrin alpinists climbed the highest top of North America. I am proud of the team in this expedition, and the fact that I am on the head of the Mountaineering Club "Climbers of Montenegro", which has the capacity to successfully implement the most demanding expedition around the world.

As leader of the five-member team, you had a big responsibility with the fact that Denali is the coldest mountain in the world, where the temperature reaches 60 degrees below zero. Have you had problems with frostbites?

The whole time I deeply believed in my team and our ultimate success. The kind of responsibility we are talking about, it is enough just to look at the map where Denali is located and analyze the success of statistics in attempting to climb this top.
"What we dream, we can do" long time ago became my life motto. However, to pass the road from dream to reality, there were two conditions. The first was that we must firmly believe in our dreams, and the other was hard and systematic work in the realization of our dream. Of course, on this way we have to respect the laws of nature, other people and their results, as well as our own principles.
During the whole expedition, we followed by a very bad weather conditions. Nevertheless, we have progressed very quickly, so we the ninth day of the expedition we already arrived in the C5 camp at an altitude of 5.235 m, which to someone it seemed simply unbelievable. However, it was too early for the final climb. Already the bad weather got worse, so we had to descend to camp C4 (4.350 m) and wait for another chance to climb to the top, which appeared only the 21st day, on 14th of June 2012. The whole time we were exposed to an extremely low temperatures ranging from -30 to -35°C in the C4 camp, from -40 to-50° C in the C5 camp, where in the final climb, according to a report rangers had a subjective feeling of-58°C at the top. That part at the top, those fifteen minutes while we were taking photos, was a painful experience because we had to remove the gloves. Fortunately, we did not have serious consequences, only Milan suffered a few minor frostbites on the fingers of one hand, which were quickly and successfully cured.

What was the hardest thing during the 21 days spent on Denali’s’ top?

There were many difficult moments, but after a successful story, they are quickly forgotten. It was important that my team was physically strong, mentally well-prepared, previous experiences have taught us to be patient, we waited, and at the end, we grabbed our opportunity. In particular, the news about injuries and deaths of other mountain climbers especially felt hard. There were difficult days not at all liable to the climbers, with lots of new snow accompanied by strong winds, with many avalanches and other difficulties. Perhaps the hardest day was the 13th of June, my birthday, away from my family and children, who I was particularly missing. There was no birthday cake, but instead there were "ice cubes" in abundance. That day, in fear of the bad weather announced by the rangers, all the expeditions got back in Camp C4, our team was the only team that stayed in camp C5. It was a difficult but good decision. The next day we went alone to the top through the deep snow, despite the terrible cold and the danger of avalanches, and after nine hours, we were already standing on the top of North America. It was a hard and a very long day. The next day was also difficult when we descended to camp C5 through C4 at camp C3. The health problems with the lungs exacerbated further more my condition.


How many tops have you won so far and which of them was the most difficult?
I do not know the exact number. In my career so far I have gone to all the major Montenegrin tops in the summer and winter conditions, on some of them I worked with colleagues and opened the first directions. In addition, here I can mention almost all significant mountain tops in the region. The major European and world tops that we climbed are: Mont Blanc, Gross Glokner and Gran Paradiso on the Alps, Europe's highest top- Elbrus on Caucasus, Ararat in Turkey, Damavand in Iran, the highest top of South America - Aconcagua, one of the most difficult tops in the world Manaslu 8163 m on the Himalayas (the first successful climb of the Montenegrin mountaineers above eight thousand meters, 2008) and of course Denali. These last two are definitely the hardest. Which of them is harder is difficult to decide because they are different on many aspects and it is hard to compare them.

What are the plans for following rises?
First, I will go on a holiday than new expeditions. Denali expedition was part of a larger project "Seven Summit", which refers to the rise of the highest tops of all seven continents. So far our climbers stood on four (Elbrus, Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro and Denali), there are three other upcoming conquers (Everest, Kirsten Pyramid and Vinson Massif), but it all depends on the wider community, i.e. from potential sponsors and donors. I would like to thank those who supported our expedition to Alaska, "Montenegroerlajnzu" Company "13 July - Plantaže," the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, the Commission for the allocation of funds for NGOs, Parliament of Montenegro, the Directorate of Sports and Youth, as well as a number of public and private companies and other institutions that have donated smaller amounts. We all thank sincerely and share the joy of the mutual success.


The most significant climbs at the highest tops in Europe and in the world that our climbers performed in the last eight years are:
• 2004 and 2009 Caucasus, which was seized Elbrus (5.642 m) the highest European top.
• 2005, 2008 and 2010.Mont Blanc (4.810 m) - Expedition to the highest top in Western
Europe.
• 2006 Ararat (5.165 m) - "International Victory Climb to Mount Ararat."
• 2007 Damavand (5.672 m) - highest top in Iran and in Middle East.
• 2008 Aconcagua (6.962 m), highest top in the world outside the Himalaya mountain range.
• 2008 Himalayas-Manaslu (8.163m), the first Montenegrin mountaineers climb to the top over the eight thousands of meters.
• 2010 Kilimanjaro 5.895 m, the highest peak in Africa.
• 2010 Great expedition "Alps 2010". Conquered the peaks: Grossglockner 3798 m, Gran
Paradiso 4.061 m, Mont Blanc 4.810m and Jalovec 2.654 m.
• 2011 Gran Paradiso 4.061 m (Italy), the Carpathians (Romania).
• 2011 Expedition Alaska 2012. The first Montenegrin alpinist that conquered Denali 6.194 m
highest top in North America and the coldest area of the world.

Meet our people in Diaspora

With Bob Hadukovic

In addition to sport results, the expedition "Alaska 2012" has had another important task. We have established contacts and met with the Montenegrin diaspora in Alaska, because we believe that sport is a very important part of cultural dialogue between the countries. From this aspect, our mission was completely successful. To the wider public is less informed of the fact that during the "golden rush" a large number of Montenegrins came to Alaska in search for a better life. Some of these pioneers, like Job Hajduković, played a significant role in the history of the youngest American states. Their descendants are now successful and influential businessmen. After the expedition, we had sincere and meaningful meetings with some of them. The contacts were established through the American writer and journalist Judy Ferguson from Fairbanks, which visited Montenegro few years ago and on that occasion, the Montenegrin Matica published her book "Jovo Hajduković the pioneer of Alaska." The book talks about the life and the role that this adventurer, born in a village of Utrg in Crmnica, played in this distant land. After him, the mountain in Alaska was named Hajduković. With his brother ‘s grandson Milo, Bob Hajduković we cordially met in Anchorage and on this occasion, as a symbol of friendship and historical ties between the two countries, we gave him the Montenegrin flag, which we have previously presented on the highest peaks of Montenegro and North America. Mr. Hajduković is co-owner and CEO of the airline Era Alaska, which has a fleet of 76 aircraft, nearly 800 employees and an annual turnover of 140 million dollars to the North American market.
For our stay in Alaska to be more pleasant and comfortable helped Pekić Branka, who was born in Kolašin, and her son Elijah, who gave us, among other things, luxury sedan Toyota and brand mobile phone. In Angela’s house, Banka’s daughter organized wonderful party in our honor, which was attended not only by people originally from Montenegro, but also from other former Yugoslav republics. One of the organizers of this party was a prominent lawyer from Anchorage Ted Stepović, son of the former governor of Alaska, Mike Stepovich, during whose mandate from 1957 to 1959, Alaska from territory status gained the status of a state. On the party was Matt Carson, who had sent us greetings from his grandmother Anđa Geraghty from Fairbanks, who is originally from Berane.
We thanked for their hospitality and invited them to come to Montenegro and be our guests. We have given those appropriate gifts, premium vines, brochures about tourist offers of Montenegro, and several copies of "Renome".

(RENOME no. 6.)

Interview: Dragan Bulatović, alpinist
Interviewed by Radmila Krgović



 
 
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