BURSTAccomplished Russian alpinist Nikolay Totmyanin died on Aug. 11, at the age of 66 after falling ill during a descent from Pobeda Peak (Jengish Chokusu, 7,439 m) on the Kyrgyzstan-China border. Despite his efforts to descend quickly, he was admitted to intensive care in Bishkek on Aug. 10 and passed away the following morning, as reported by Anna Piunova of Mountain.ru.
Totmyanin, a nuclear power engineer from Saint Petersburg, had a remarkable climbing career spanning decades, with over 200 ascents across the Caucasus, Pamirs, Tien Shan, Alps, Himalaya, Karakoram, and North America. His achievements include 27 climbs graded 5A, 10 graded 5B, and 63 big-wall climbs.
He summited Pobeda Peak multiple times and was renowned for his oxygen-free ascents of major peaks, including Everest (2003, 2006), K2’s West Face (2007), Dhaulagiri I (2008), and Kangchenjunga (2011). His first ascent of Jannu’s north face in 2004 earned him a Piolet d’Or, and he received the Snow Leopard award several times for summiting all five 7,000-metre peaks in the former USSR. Totmyanin was also honuored as a Master of Sports and received Russia’s Golden Ice Axe.
His death marks a significant loss to the mountaineering community, given his extraordinary contributions and pioneering spirit in high-altitude climbing.
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