Paciencia

November 2021. Three Ukrainians summit Annapurna III. They have just achieved a historic ascent of the Southeast ridge. Fifteen exhausting and risky days of climbing to overcome one of the last great problems of the Himalayas: a magnificent and endless line that had resisted all attempts for forty years and which they baptized with the name of Patience. Mikhail Fomin translates into words what he was able to see and experience on his ascent to Annapurna III, together with his roped partners Nikita Balabanov and Viacheslav Polezhaiko. An ascent that is already a legend and that deserved the recognition of the climbing community with a special mention from the Piolets d'Or jury. Through a very personal story, Fomin reveals to us a past marked by the imprint of the rise of Soviet mountaineering and by the figure of his father and his mentor, who transmitted his faith in love to him. The year 2022 will go down in history for the outbreak of Russia's war against Ukraine. Despite the noise of the Russian bombardments, Fomin does not forget anything, he continues to believe in the mountains, in love, in the fight and in ascents like the one told in this book: the purest essence of mountaineering.