Kamchatka: The Land of Fire and Ice - Part 6: Above the Cloud, Avachinsky

Part 6

Like what Bryan Adams sings: Something could always go wrong on Cloud Number Nine.

I looked down from where I stood: there was no trail to go down the mountain. The reason why I couldn't be with the rest of the group to reach the summit of Avachinsky was because I had been caught respiratory infection caused by the smoke of Siberian wildfire about one week ago in Yakutsk. I thought by not going up I had avoided the riskiest part of this trek, but I was wrong.

The slope of the volcano was completely covered in snow. The way to go down, well, didn't even seem to exist................

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I knew I wasn't in my best condition.But it was too late to turn back: a six wheel snow truck was already in front of the hotel waiting for me. 

Summer day in Kamchatka were just like everywhere else up north- the sun rose early, and would stay long after you went to bed, then rose again when you just thought you wouldn't be seeing it for a while. 

This time, I happened to be inside a six wheel truck when everywhere was dark.

The truck kept sprinting on the only highway in Kamchatka we've taken so many times in the past few days. It made a sharp turn into a path hidden in the bushes. The truck began to wobble as the wheels were running on uneven surface. When the shake stopped, I noticed that the truck was running on 5 feet of snow....in the middle of July.

Avachinsky

I noticed the head of the truck began to tilt upward - we were climbing a hill. The exposed black and rocky surface dotted among the icy ground immediately revealed that we were already on the volcano. The weather was very foggy, which prevented me from seeing much of the surrounding. About 20 minutes later, we arrived at the base camp: a couple of huts in between the heels of two enormous peaks.
  

We first had some breakfast and tea inside the main cabin of the base camp. At 8 o'clock, our team headed towards the foot of Avachinsky volcano. It was already the end of July, but snow firmed covered the path we were walking on. I looked towards the left, there was this giant piece of rock - even taller than Avachinsky that I had been seeing since I came to Kamchatka. Only through the guide I found out that the name of the volcano was Koryaksky - it was already the fifth day since I first saw it.

Volcanic rocks

Camel Mountain

As we climbed higher and higher, the base camp became smaller and smaller. I looked a bit further, and realized that the foggy condition I just experienced on the way was not caused by fog at all - our truck was traveling through the cloud! The cloud began to fill the valley as we were going up. It was quite a spectacular scene to see!

Koryaksky Volcano

Camel Mountain en route to Avachinsky

Base Camp

Base Camp and the cloud in the distance

Because I still had respiratory infection caused by inhaling the smoke of forest fire in Yakutsk, the higher I climbed, the sicker I became. At 2000 meters, I finally decided that I should probably head back down, although I was only 600 meters way from the summit. I've spoken to many mountaineers, and one advice I often hear is "know when to head back". They all told stories about how people die on the mountain because they chose pride over reasoning. People can always catch up with their regrets, but without life, pride would have very little meaning.

Cloud moving into the valley

The smoking dome of Avachinsky

Koryaksky Volcano from Avachinsky

To make sure I would be alright, one of the two guides decided that he would go down with me. To my surprise, we didn't go down the same way we came up. I knew we did some rock climbing, but it was manageable to me. He insisted that the way going down would be " a lot faster".

Volcanoes of Kamchatka seen from above the cloud

Then I understood what he meant when I was standing right above the inner, curvy slope of Avachinsky.

There was no clear path, and we had to walk on the glacier. The guide taught me how to walk down on a tricky , snowy slope like the one in front of me. I stumbled a couple of times on this "slippery slope". I noticed that the distance between the guide and I had grown significantly. To catch up with him, I lied my body down on the glacier, aimed my feet to a giant boulder some 100  meters down, and slid all the way.....

It might sound fun, but it wasn't pleasant at all when you were sick and tired, literally.  I thought I had avoided the hardest part of the trek by not reaching the top, but I was totally wrong.....

We reached the base camp only one and half hours later. My pants were completely wet (and ripped). The guide was gracious enough to offer me his own spare shorts so I could dry my pants in the chilly Kamchatka wind. Despite the fact that we couldn't communicate that well,  it was another case that human compassion is a universal thing that goes beyond country borders or languages.  

We must waited 2 to 3 hours for the rest of the team to return for that 600 meters. It turned out that one of the members just walked off on his own without telling anyone, and the guide had to call the Rescue Service to search for him.  They eventually found him playing cellphone on the way down.

A camper feeding his sandwich to a wild fox

On the way back, I asked the gentleman from Arkhangelsk who stayed at the same hotel about what were some of the most challenging things for the whole part I missed. 

Russians don't normally smile at people who they are not familiar with. This time, with an awkward smiley face, he pointed at the man who walked off on his own, and his own soaking wet pants. 

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                                                                                       Chapter 11

Ivan entered Eagle's Pharmacy, where he normally exchanged intelligence with the Partisan Organization.  He didn't notice that only 10 meters away, there was someone following him. 

Ivan walked to the counter and joined the queue - and so did the under covered Gestapo officer in black suit following him. To avoid suspicion, the Gestapo officer deliberately let an old lady to be in front of him - so Ivan couldn't realize that he had probably seen the same face just a short while ago at the Hamsin's Cafe. At the same time, it gave him the perfect spot to hear what Ivan say to any people inside the Pharmacy.  When Ivan's turn had come, he walked to the pharmacist and said the communication passcode:" I'd like to get some rubbing alcohol."

The pharmacist, however, didn't give Ivan the corresponding passcode used for confirming identity . She told Ivan that the shop didn't have what Ivan “needed". Then she suggested that Ivan should go to another pharmacy in the city and gave him a referral card. Ivan took the card, but gave it back to the pharmacist immediately and told her that he knew where it was. Then he quickly left the shop, and so did the Gestapo officer.

Ivan purposely kept his pace leisurely slow - he knew that he was being followed. On the bottom of that referral card, there was a small line of words written there: 

You Are Being Followed. Go To The University Library At 15:00 Sharp. 

He gave the card back because he wouldn't leave any incriminating evidence about the fact that the pharmacy was a partisan intelligence exchange on him if he got captured. He knew there was probably already someone in the line trying to see everything he did and hear everything he said.

While following Ivan, the Gestapo officer encountered the reinforcement from SS headed by Bischoff. 

"First Lieutenant, this man we are following has not been able to speak to anyone about the intelligence he collected from Branko." The Gestapo officer in black suit told Bischoff. 

"Good! We need to take care of him at our earliest opportunity!" Bischoff clapped his hands with excitement. He signaled the entire troop of SS members behind him: "When he walks into a less populated area, capture him. We need this man alive! We will certainly learn more about Walter from this man, if he isn't Walter himself!"

(To Be Continued)