Climber Doychin Boyanov and his colleagues name peaks in Karakoram

Climber Doychin Boyanov, who conquered Everest without oxygen in 2004 talked to Slavi Trifonov about his last expedition in the Karakoram mountain range in northeast Pakistan. There, together with Nikolay Petkov and Mihail Mihaylov they ascend previously unconquered peaks in the valley Khan. After that, under their right of discovery the three gave Bulgarian names Vasil Levski, Sofia, Tangra and Rila to a number of unnamed peaks in the Karakoram.

The climbers made their preparation carefully starting in January 2011 when they studied the terrain for a month. Khan valley is special for the technically complicated glaciers and difficult access to them.

This year on their sixth expedition our climbers in Pakistan climbed two unconquered peaks, the higher Vasil Levski 5733 meters high. But it is not the height that makes this peak interesting – pointed out Boyanov – but its technical difficulty. “Vasil Levski peak is so spiky that a person has to stand on one leg,” said the mountaineer.

Surprisingly the one who climbed the roof of the world admitted his fear of heights: “I’m scared, actually a lot. If I must say something about fear, we should look for a way to manage it, and not to live with it. Otherwise it will conquer us”.

As for what need makes him climb higher and more difficult peaks Doychin Boyanov explained: “It has its natural development, it naturally came to me and I hope it does not go away soon, because it gives me a lot, it gives me a reason to become better”. Slavi Trifonov compared Doychin Boyanov with the man who jumped from the “edge of space” Felix Baumgartner, with the words: “You are of the same kind.”

At the end of the conversation Doychin Boyanov shared he will be part of the 21st expedition to Antarctica. Doychin who is teaching climbing in the National Sports Academy will travel to Livingston Island with colleagues from the university.