Tetyana Yalovchak has conquered seven peaks and takes veterans to the mountains on prostheses

Tetiana Yalovchak is 45 years old. She is the first Ukrainian to climb the seven highest peaks of the planet. She has swum the Bosporus. She has four degrees and wrote the book "Conquer Your Everest." She works as a motivational speaker and coach. She has only one more volcano to climb to complete the program of climbing the seven highest volcanoes on the Earth on seven continents. This program is new: it was launched in 2011 by scientist Amar Andalkar, who marked the necessary volcanoes on the map. The climbers liked the idea.

LIGA.net talked to Tetiana and found out what it was like to conquer the seven highest peaks of the planet, overcome her personal Everest and start taking veterans with amputations to the mountains.

"No" is not always "no"

She never dreamed of all this. She grew up in Selydove, studied economics in Donetsk, and opened her own travel agency. In the spring of 2014, she packed her summer clothes for a vacation, but she never returned to her house near the Donetsk airport. The Russian military was already there. When she came to, she asked herself: What next? I've lost everything. I have to start over. What if... to conquer Everest?

Nowadays, Tetiana takes veterans with amputations to the mountains. She sets a new goal even when she is still completing her previous achievement. Because when is the right time to do it?.

"What did I want to be as a child? Hmm... You know, I don't remember. But I definitely didn't want to be a cook. My childhood was spent in the town of Selydove, my father worked as a miner and driver, my mother was a cook at school," recalls Tetiana. "Every morning my mother would wake up at four in the morning to bake pies for 1,200 children. She would come home very tired and do housework. I always felt so sorry for her... Once the pies fell out of the hot oven and my mother got severe burns, she couldn't do anything for several weeks. I wanted to live differently." xml-ph-00.

Tetiana recalls how her childhood in Donetsk Oblast influenced her choices in adulthood: "In our Selidove, it was like this: you either connect your life with alcohol and drugs or with sports. I think I was lucky: my brother, who is seven years older than me, is a boxer, so I grew up in a sporty atmosphere. My art teacher also practiced dousing me with cold water. I became curious, and she taught me. My parents did not interfere with my independent development, so that I would not prostitute myself behind garages. We are the generation that grew up with a key around our necks...".

The good habit stuck. Now Tetiana starts her morning with ice water every day. It was dousing that inspired her first trip as a child:

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"My teacher was going to attend a conference on pouring in a big city. She said, 'Come on, come with me,'" says Tetiana. "I was sure my parents would let me go. But I had to ask my dad, and my dad said no. In the evening, I asked again, and again I heard a categorical refusal. I didn't sleep all night. It was supposed to be my first trip, you know? I wanted to go so badly! In the morning, I hear him shaving with an electric razor, taking cologne, rubbing his palms on his cheeks. He goes to the kitchen, makes a sandwich: the bread always smelled like cologne afterwards. He finishes his tea, goes out into the entrance, and I ask again, but with a

That trip was incredible. And it was then that Tetiana realized that "no" does not always mean "no." "Everything can change," says Tetiana. "My dad hasn't been with us for a long time. But high in the mountains, when it's incredibly hard to walk, I imagine that he is with me. He helps me carry my backpack.".

Moving to Kyiv, new life and mountains

After graduating from high school in Selydove, Tetyana felt cramped. She entered the Faculty of Economics in Donetsk and moved there. At the same time, she worked in a travel agency. Later, she opened her own travel business, and it became successful.

Everything seemed to be going well in her life. Tetiana had a good income: an apartment and a house in Donetsk, two plots of land in Crimea. In the spring of 2014, she was going on vacation to Mauritius: she packed a pareo and swimsuit and went to the train station.

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"And there were children crying, women saying goodbye to their husbands – I didn't really understand what was happening," Tetyana recalls. "I took the last train from Donetsk. Of course, I didn't know about it then. I thought that when I returned, everything would have settled down. I worked a lot and didn't pay attention to the news, thinking that the Russians would not be able to capture Donetsk. However, during this time, the Russians entered the city and occupied it. On June 14, I landed at Boryspil airport. There was chaos around. Suddenly, a friend called me: "Yalovchak, what's going on in Donetsk?" And I told him: "I'm not there, I'm standing in the airport

For a few months, Tetiana lived with a friend in Kyiv: housing for "Donetsk" people was reluctant to rent at that time. Eventually, she managed to rent an apartment, but her new life did not begin:

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"It was a very difficult period," says Tetiana, "I was left alone with myself. What to do? What to do next? I even jumped with a parachute to test myself. And suddenly I thought: maybe I should go to Everest? Sport has always been in my life, but the mountains did not appear immediately. I remember when I was a child going to Crimea to pick potatoes with my grandmother, and I looked at the boys and girls with backpacks and guitars. They were so free, their eyes were burning! I went to the mountains for the first time in 2011. I went with my friends to Peru for 21 days. Five of them were spent climbing Machu Picchu

Conquer Everest

Tetyana had no experience of hiking in the mountains, and then they were immediately brought to an altitude of 3300 meters. Mountain sickness immediately set in: "I managed to run to the room, sit on the toilet and pick up a garbage bag. I thought they would leave me and go on the route alone. But at four in the morning we all went out together. I walked on willpower, pushing myself. And in the evening I felt good. Did I want to suffer like that later? No. But I wanted to meet amazing people who can only be found high in the mountains: researchers, scientists, record holders." xml-ph-0002@deep.

At the time, no Ukrainian woman had ever climbed Everest, and Tetiana thought: maybe it was time to do it – to be the first. She had the experience, time, and desire. She hesitated, waited for a sign, and finally did:

"It was in a parking lot. It was raining hard. I was sitting in my car, desperate, because I was lost in life. I didn't know what to do next. I was listening to the radio. There was a reading: a passage from a book. Sometimes you have to get out of a plane at an altitude of 3000 meters, turn the world upside down and conquer Mount Everest. I thought: well, that works for me.".

To raise funds for the expedition, Tetiana went public and organized a press conference. She said: I am going to Everest with an embroidered towel and will be the first Ukrainian to stand proudly on the summit:

"You fool, stay at home, have children!" – that's what I heard," Tetyana recalls. "I was treated like a blessed person... I didn't find a sponsor. But it was 2016: Jamala won Eurovision, Mriya soared high into the sky. How could I not go up? I turned my anger into energy. I needed 70 thousand dollars. I sold my apartment in Donetsk and flew to fulfill my dream.".

Where did this figure come from? The permit itself, a permit from Nepal or China to climb, costs about 15 thousand dollars. Tour operators, depending on the number of services, are now asking from 38 to 160 thousand dollars. Equipment and tickets are another 10-15 thousand dollars .

Tetiana joined an international expedition. At the same time, another Ukrainian woman, Iryna Halai, decided to climb Mount Everest. She saw the press conference and also got the idea to become the first Everest climber. Where the main thing is to survive, competition appears:

"I was shocked, to be honest," says Tetiana, "If I hadn't advertised the climb, she probably wouldn't have gone either. I put everything on this expedition. However... Just before reaching the top, my coach contacted me and asked me to let Iryna go ahead – she had personal reasons. The mountain is not a place for competition. So I agreed and climbed a day after her.".

The expedition lasted 50 days and took place as follows: first, the participants lived for 40 days at an altitude of 5300 meters – in the base camp. They made constant trips to a new altitude for acclimatization. And then the final week: climbing the mountain. 5800 meters – overnight, 6000 meters – overnight, 7000 meters – overnight.

Then the climb continued in a high-altitude suit: very warm overalls and high boots designed for extremely low temperatures. We armed ourselves with oxygen tanks. It was getting harder. Then we reached 7800 meters and spent the night in a cold tent. The next day we reached the altitude of 8300 meters. This is the assault camp: the highest camp from which climbers reach the summit.

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"You can't eat, sleep is out of the question. You sit, rest your feet on a pebble, because there is no flat plateau, and the tent is on a slope," Tetiana recalls. "You wait until 12 a.m. and the assault begins. This time was chosen for a reason: it's an ideal "window": early in the morning you reach the top and manage to descend below the "death zone" the same day. You want to sleep madly, it's dark, cold, hard, but you move towards your dream. At such moments, you realize that life is the most important thing. I did it. I conquered Everest, unfolded my towel. I thought that divine light would pass through me, I would become

Seven peaks on seven continents

On the descent, Tetiana decided that she had failed to become the first Ukrainian here, but she would be the first to conquer the seven highest peaks of seven continents.

"Most climbers die on the descent because they don't calculate their strength. I was shaking, moving sluggishly, unclearly. I wanted to sit down for a nap... But it wouldn't have been a dream. I looked at the bodies of those who had remained on the slopes forever and said to myself: 'Pull yourself together, Yalovchak, or you'll be just as weak.' In the camp at 6400 meters, I finally took off my socks. They were wet with blood: my nails had come off with them.".

Tetiana conquered the Russian Elbrus back in 2013, Kilimanjaro in Africa in 2012, and Aconcagua in South America in 2015. She managed to climb four more of the highest peaks in 2017.

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"The most difficult mountain for me was Mount Denali in Alaska," recalls Tetiana. "We couldn't start climbing for two weeks because it was snowing. It was snowing, all the snow that could fall! Finally, it dawned. We climbed to the top, although it was extremely difficult. On the way down, we were wearing snowshoes. We kept putting a two-meter probe in front of us to set up camp on a solid surface, not on a crack covered with snow. We found a place and sat down to rest. See the picture? It's Alaska at night after a terrible storm during the white nights. There are four of us on the slope: me and three guys

Helping veterans and overcoming themselves

Happy Tetiana finally received recognition and a record for Ukraine. She wrote and published the book "Conquer Your Everest," which does not call to the mountains, but encourages you to follow your dreams. She became a motivational speaker and coach. After the peaks, she plunged into the water: she swam the Bosphorus. Now she is completing the program of the seven highest volcanoes: one more remains. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she put her personal victories on the back burner and is working for one common:

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"I do a lot of volunteering, I visit the military. I really want them to feel supported," says Tetiana. "Another goal of mine is to motivate veterans with amputations to live a full life. I watched a documentary about a British man with an amputation above the knee who was helped to climb Mount Everest. I started to find out that no one does this. So I'm going to do it! Of course, not so high. I thought there would be a line of veterans with amputations to go with me to the mountains... No one was willing. I contacted one organization that deals with prosthetics, another one: maybe someone

The sponsors were again in no hurry to allocate funds for this project. A businessman, a good friend of Tetiana's, supported the project. It was Oleh's first time in the mountains:

"It was very hard for him. But he was not fighting for himself, but for his comrades. He said: 'I am from the Third Assault Brigade. ' And there was so much strength in that! Last fall, Kazbek, 5054 meters high, conquered him. Then we were supposed to go to Kilimanjaro, everything was ready. We had a departure date, but Oleh's chronic illness worsened. I turned to the Titanium Center: they found me Stepan Korobkin. He has a high amputation of his right arm, and we had only a week to prepare. He had never been to the mountains, but he agreed anyway.".

Stepan climbed to an altitude of 5756 meters and set a record for Ukraine: the highest peak climbed by a person with an amputation.

"We were on the expedition for five days," says Tetiana. "For the first three, Stepan was not feeling well: the effects of 32 operations with anesthesia. But he still went on.".

Tetiana herself knows how difficult it is to recover from injuries: she had a torn ligament under her knee. Surgery, long rehabilitation, and a complete ban on any sport. But Tetiana was not satisfied with this:

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"You can't go to the mountains and wear heels. I remember walking with a limp, and some old lady looking at me and saying, 'Oh, you're so young and already crippled.' I didn't agree. I went to the pool to pump up my muscles. Then I went for long walks. Through pain, through 'I can't,' I got in shape. I still like to go for long walks. And without music or podcasts: it's harder. High in the mountains, there's no music. Only monotonous movement. It's really very boring. But by overcoming this 'boredom,' you prove to yourself once again that you can do anything. Because if you don't conquer your Everest, someone will do it for you."