Gusak, Nikolai Afanasevich

Before the war

Nikolai Gusak was born in 1910 in Moscow. He began climbing in the late 1920s - in 1928 he climbed to the top of the Saber, located in the Ural Mountains . In 1931, Gusak led a ski trip along the passes around Elbrus , and in 1931-1941 he made 13 ascents to Elbrus, including seven winter ones. In 1932-1933, he participated in an expedition that explored the glaciers of Upper Svaneti . In 1934, Gusak worked as a senior instructor in the courses of the Society of Proletarian Tourism and Excursions (OPTE), which took place in Elbrus region , and made several ascents along with cadets ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

In 1936, Nikolai Gusak was in the Pamirs as part of a climbing group, exploring possible routes to climb Stalin's peak ( 7495 m ) - the highest peak of the USSR (later - the peak of Communism , and now - the peak of Ismoil Somoni ). In addition to Gusak, the group included P.N. Alhambrov , Eugene Beletsky , Danil Gushchin , Alexander (Alyosha) Dzhaparidze andIvan Fedorov . They explored the Fortambek Glacier area . In addition, Gusak together with Alyosha Dzhaparidze explored a possible path to the top of Korzhenevskaya peak ( 7105 m ). The results of this reconnaissance were subsequently used by the group of Alexei Ugarov , who made the first ascent to Korzhenevskaya peak in 1953 ^[2] .

In 1937, Nikolai Gusak was again in the Pamirs, this time as part of a large expedition dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution . From Osh, members of the mountaineering group reached the Fedchenko Glacier area and organized several intermediate camps at the eastern slope of Stalin Peak ( Communism Peak ) - along the same route along which pathfinder Evgeny Abalakov climbed in 1933. First Oleg Aristov , Victor Kirkorov and Nikolai Gusak made the first ascent to the peak of Ordzhonikidze ( 6636 m ), located in the eastern spur of the ridge of the Academy of Sciences ^{[6] [7]} . After that, a group of climbers made the second ascent in history to the peak of Stalin ( peak of Communism ). The group was led by Oleg Aristov, and in addition to Gusak, its members included Yevgeny Beletsky , Victor Kirkorov, Ivan Fedorkov and Lev Barkhash ^[2] (according to some reports, Barkhash did not participate in the final stage of the ascent ^{[8] [9]} ). At an altitude of about 7450 m, Oleg Aristov, slipping, fell off the ridge and died, flying about 700 m . The remaining members of the group, unable to go down to his body, reached the top ^{[2] [8]} .

In 1938-1941, Gusak made several ascents in the Caucasus , working as a senior instructor and the head of the educational section of various training camps, hiking and climbing trips. In particular, in 1939 he climbed Northern Ushba , and in 1940, the traverses of Chotchi and Belalakai ^[2] . In 1941, he was awarded the title of Master of Sports of the USSR ^[3] .

During the war

When the Great Patriotic War began , in August 1941 Nikolai Gusak went to the front as a volunteer, took part in the defense of Moscow , and then was sent to the Caucasus, where he participated in hostilities in the area of ​​the Klukhor and Nakhar passes, as well as in the defense of the Georgian Military Highway and other passes of the Main Caucasus Range ^[2] .

In February 1943, Lieutenant Gusak was the leader of one of the detachments sent to remove the fascist standards from the tops of Elbrus and to establish Soviet flags there. The troops united at the Shelter of the Eleven , located at an altitude of 4130 m on the southeastern slope of Elbrus . For a week the storm was raging, the products were running out. In the end, climbers were divided into two groups. On February 13, Nikolai Gusak led the group to the western peak (it included Evgeni Beletsky , Alexander Sidorenko , Gabriel Hergiani , Beknu Hergiani and Evgeni Smirnov ). According to the memoirs of Alexander Sidorenko, on the top there really were snatches of fascist standards, breaking which the members of the Gusak group set the Soviet flag and also left a note on the successful ascent and completion of the task ^{[4] [10]} .

Four days later, on February 17, a group headed by Alexander Gusev went to the eastern peak (it included George Odnoblyudov , Boris Grachev, Victor Kukhtin, Nikolai Morenets, Andrey Gryaznov , Anatoly Bagrov, Nikolai Persianinov, Lyubov Korotaeva , George Sulakvelidze , Alexei Nemchinov , Leonid Kels, Nikita Petrosov and Vladislav Lubenets ) ^[4] . According to the results of a successful operation in 1943, Nikolai Gusak (along with other climbers) was awarded the Order of the Red Star ^{[2] [11] [12]} .

In addition, Nikolai Gusak was awarded the medal “ For Military Merit ” (1943, for the destruction of enemy groups in the Klych Range and the Gvandra River region) ^[13] , “ For the Defense of Moscow ” ^[14] and “ For the Defense of the Caucasus ” ^[15] .

After the war

After the war, Nikolai Gusak continued mountaineering. At the end of 1945, he participated in the search for the group of Alyosha Dzhaparidze, who died in an avalanche on Ushba while trying to traverse Ushba - Shkheld . In 1946, he was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports of the USSR ^[1] .

Since 1946, Gusak is a member of the climbing team of the Spartak Society, led by Vitaly Abalakov . Together with this team, he participated in a series of ascents of the highest category of difficulty, as a result of which in 1949-1960 he became the four-time winner and two-time silver medalist of the USSR mountain climbing championships ^[5] . In 1959, Gusak was credited as a candidate for the Soviet-Chinese Himalayan expedition to Jomolungma (Everest), but the participation of Soviet athletes in it was canceled due to the deterioration of relations between the USSR and China ^[2] .

From 1949 to 1959, Nikolai Gusak worked as an employee of the hydrometeorological service at the Elbrus expedition of the Alpine Geophysical Institute , led by Alexander Gusev . Acting as head of the expedition's rescue service, Gusak wintered several times at the Shelter of Nine on the slope of Elbrus. After that, Nikolai Gusak worked in Moscow, was an employee of the Institute of Applied Geophysics, whose director was also Alexander Gusev. In 1970, Gusak retired ^[1] .

In 1978, Gusak was the organizer and leader of a trip to the places of hostilities on the Main Caucasian Range , whose participants had to go through fourteen passes ^[2] . On August 7, 1978, Nikolai Gusak died of heart failure at the Doctor’s Pass in Adyrsu Gorge ^[16] .

USSR Mountaineering Championships

The data are given in accordance with the information from the book of P. S. Rototaev ^[5] .

• 1949 - 01!   1st place (traverse class), traverse of the Koshtantau - Dykhtau peaks , in the group led by Vitaly Abalakov (Spartak), which also included Valentina Cheredova , Yakov Arkin , Ivan Leonov , Vasily Pelevin , Vladimir Martynov and Yuri Moskaltsov .
• 1950 - 02!   2nd place (technical class), ascent to the central peak of the MPR peak along the northern wall, the head of the Spartak team, which included Vladimir Kizel , Yuri Gilgner and D. Simanovich.
• 1951 - 01!   1st place (technical class), the first ascent of the route to Mount Ullutau along the northern wall, in a group led by Vitaly Abalakov (Spartak), which also included Valentina Cheredova , Mikhail Anufrikov , Alexander Borovikov , Vladimir Kizel , Lev Filimonov and Victor Nagaev .
• 1956 - 01!   1st place (high-altitude class), climbing Pobeda peak on the northern slope, in the joint team of Spartak and the Kazakh climbing club led by Vitaly Abalakov , which also included Yakov Arkin , Pyotr Budanov , Vladimir Kizel , Konstantin Kletsko , Ivan Leonov , Sembay Musaev, Yuri Tur, Ural Usenov and Lev Filimonov .
• 1959 - 01!   1st place (high-altitude class), first ascent to Voroshilov peak (now Akhmadi Donish peak), in a group led by Vitaly Abalakov , which also included Yakov Arkin , German Agranovsky , Peter Budanov , Gennady Ilyinsky , Vladimir Kizel , Joseph Kakhiani , Konstantin Kletsko , Ivan Lapsenkov and Leo Filimonov .
• 1960 - 02!   2nd place (traverse class), traverse of the peaks Razdelnaya - Dzerzhinsky peak - Lenin peak - peak of the 19th party congress, in a group led by Vitaly Abalakov (Spartak), which also included Gennady Ilyinsky , Konstantin Kletsko , Dzhumber Kakhiani and Mikhail Timoshin .

• The Battle of the Caucasus (1942-1943)
• List of Honored Masters of Sports of the USSR (mountaineering)

• Sergey Smirnov , Tales of Heroes. Elbrus , TV channel " Culture " - tvkultura.ru (the story of climbing Mount Elbrus begins at 17.10 s. , See also here )