You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.

Dmitry Golovchenko, 40, August 31

In 2001 a young Dmitry Golovchenko joined the famed Demchenko Alpine Club, a group which initially served as a military school in the 1970s. The Club was founded by Alexander Demchenko, a man known for his severity during training, and one who went to great lengths to educate his students on the philosophy of fast and courageous alpinism; quite the opposite of the traditional Russian style of mountain assault, with large, cumbersome expeditions and extensive use of fixed ropes and camps.

By the time Dmitry entered the Club’s ranks it had become an important resource for young Russian alpinists; it was there that he met Sergey Nilov and they became fast friends during their first expedition, in 2002, to the Caucasus mountains. Over the next decade Dmitry and Sergey scrabbled together funds amidst their busy lives to go on sporadic expeditions, slowly acquiring the skills to climb quickly and boldly in the Greater Ranges.

Dmitry’s climbing ability was highly regarded within the Russian mountaineering community in the late aughts, and by 2011 his name reached the international stage with a first ascent on Nameless Tower’s (6,251m) Northwest Wall, in the Karakorum, with Sergey, Victor Volodin, and Alexander Yurkin. They named their route No Fear (VII 5.10d A3; 1,120m)—the Demchenko Alpine Club’s motto. Dmitry returned to the Karakorum, in 2012, where he made the first ascent of the Northeast Spur of Muztagh Tower (7,276m) via Think Twice (ED 5.10 A2 M6; 3,400m) alongside Sergey and Alexander Lange. Think Twice earned Dmitry his first Piolet d’Or (2013). And in the Chinese Tien Shan, in 2015, Dmitry teamed up with Sergey and Dmitry Grigoriev to establish Ninth Wave (ED 5.11 WI5 M6 A2; 1,885m) on Sedoy Strazh’s (5,841m) East Buttress. But the climb that established Dmitry as one of the strongest mountaineers in the world was surely his direttissima up the North Face of Thalay Sagar (6,904m) in the Indian Himalaya: Moveable Feast ED2 M7 WI 5 A3; 1,400m) with Sergey and Dmitry Grigoriev. With this masterpiece Dmitry gained his second Piolet d’Or, in 2017. It’s worth mentioning that Dmitry was a four-time winner of the Russian “Golden Axe” award (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017).

My personal friendship with this extraordinary person happened after another unbelievable climb with Sergey; in 2019, when they made the first ascent of Jannu’s (7,710m) East Wall to the summit ridge. The duo crossed the summital ridge at 7,412 meters and descended the opposite side, down the French line, an aspect unknown to them and after having been climbing for 12 days. They completed the traverse of the mountain and met Eliza Kubarska’s filming team on the opposite side, who welcomed them into their camp and fed them, before they made the long trek back around the mountain to the Russians’ camp. Dmitry and Sergey’s 17-day odyssey was followed live on socials, where I was in daily contact with Anna Piunova (editor in chief of Mountain.ru ), Manu Rivaud (Montagnes Magazine), Victor Gorlov (a friend and former climbing partner of Dmitry, who introduced me to him after this expedition), and others who gave beta to the climbers for their uncertain route of descent.

I exchanged many emails and texts with Dmitry, initially for a long feature I wrote about him for Rock and Ice Magazine. After, I followed Dmitry’s updates during all his expeditions, especially his August 2019 ascent of the massive Southwest Wall of Military Topographers Peak (6,873m) in the Tien Shan, Impromptu (TD 5.10b; 3,000m), with his “brother” Sergey and Dmitry Gregoriev. What made this climb even more difficult and impressive, to me, was the long and tedious approach the trio took, carrying all their equipment themselves.

Dmitry’s climbing goals, at this point, his last years, were extremely difficult and dangerous. He wrote to me about the intention of an attempt of Annapurna III’s Southeast Ridge, but a trio of Ukrainians alpinists beat him to the punch. So, in June of this year, Dmitry confided with me about his goal of a new route on the Gasherbrum IV (7,925m) with Sergey. We were in daily contact when he reached the Gasherbrum basecamp and after a reconnaissance of the peak’s conditions, they opted to attempt the completely unknown Southeast Ridge to the summit and then descend the West Ridge (Bonatti-Mauri, 1958). Dmitry put me in touch with his wife and asked that I relay weather forecasts through an expert friend of mine.

Gasherbrum IV represented a new difficulty for Dmitry and Sergey; they had never climbed so high before, and even the approach through a horribly crevassed glacier was extremely challenging. They began the climb on August 21. Forecasts seemed neither terribly bad nor good, but in reality the mountain had thick fog, strong winds, and bitter cold. Nevertheless, for the next 10 days, they made steady progress in spite of the adverse conditions. They spent more than a week above 7,000 meters and their final communication through sat phone was on August 29, at about 7,600 meters, on the final pitches of the Southeast Ridge before the junction with summital South Ridge. We didn’t hear from them for several days, and when Sergey finally returned to basecamp,  with severe frostbite and in a state of shock, he had horrible news: Dmitry was gone.

During their last tent bivouac, at 7,684 meters, the duo noticed that the tent was unstable on its platform and slowly slipping over a steep drop. Sergey went out to try to secure it more solidly, and with infinite horror he heard Dmitry, still in the tent gathering some equipment, exclaim: “Sergey, I’m falling!” In an instant, the tent with Dmitry inside disappeared into the void, falling all the way down to the glacier below, where Sergey, after a terrible, solitary descent in extreme conditions, recomposed the body of his brotherly friend, wrapping him in the tent and dragging him into a crevasse where he will rest forever. Dmitry is survived by his wife Sasha and two daughters.

Dmitry Golovchenko was an extraordinary person. The climbing community has become accustomed to the idea that each project he announced to the world would be extraordinary. Each peak, each successive achievement of his team, is rather a small story in a big life. A story that serves as inspiration and shows that the possibilities of anyone, even the simplest person, are limitless. And although he stood on various podiums more than once, holding cult awards in his hands, he remained a simple, lively, ordinary guy. Yes, he is not the hero that organizations and media put on pedestals. Not the one who has stars on his chest. He was truly living in the moment here and now, and he was a precious friend for many people.

You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2023 here.