Hristo Prodanov ( bg, Христо Проданов) (24 February 1943 – 21 April 1984) was a
Bulgarian mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
. Prodanov was the first Bulgarian to climb
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
, doing it via the most difficult way—the West Ridge—as well as alone and without oxygen. Prodanov was the first person to climb Everest in April, when the weather conditions are generally too bad for an expedition, and also the thirteenth person (the first person from the West Ridge) to climb Everest without the use of bottled oxygen. Climbing the summit at 18:15 local time, he had to descend overnight and got lost shortly after that. On the next afternoon, he reported he had lost his gloves and soon would be unable to hold the radio button long enough to talk. His body was never found.
Prodanov was still a student when he became involved in mountaineering. He began work as a
metallurgical
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
in
Kremikovtzi AD
Kremikovtzi AD (Кремиковци АД) was Bulgaria's largest metalworking company. The construction of its facilities began on 5 November 1960 and the first production capacities were put into operation in 1963 to produce cast iron and coke ...
in 1976. He had his first 7000 m ascent on 6 August 1967 when he climbed
Lenin Peak
Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Peak ( ky, Ленин Чокусу, ''Lenin Choqusu'', لەنىن چوقۇسۇ; russian: Пик Ленина, ''Pik Lenina''; tg, қуллаи Ленин , ''qulla‘i Lenin/qullaji Lenin'', renamed қулла ...
. He had previously climbed several peaks in the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
.
His major successes were related to
Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...
(1976) and
Lhotse
Lhotse ( ne, ल्होत्से ; , ''lho tse'', ) is the fourth highest mountain in the world at , after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu ...
. In 1981, he was the first Bulgarian to climb Lhotse without the use of supplementary oxygen.
His niece, Mariana Prodanova Maslarova, attempted to climb Mt. Everest (without the use of supplemental oxygen) on the 20th anniversary of her uncle's death. Maslarova died of exposure at 8,700 meters, exactly 20 years and 30 days after her uncle.
Climbs
8000m ascents
*
Lhotse
Lhotse ( ne, ल्होत्से ; , ''lho tse'', ) is the fourth highest mountain in the world at , after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu ...
(8516m) - 30 April 1981, solo, without oxygen
*
Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
(8848m) - 20 April 1984, solo, without oxygen
7000m ascents
*
Lenin Peak
Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Peak ( ky, Ленин Чокусу, ''Lenin Choqusu'', لەنىن چوقۇسۇ; russian: Пик Ленина, ''Pik Lenina''; tg, қуллаи Ленин , ''qulla‘i Lenin/qullaji Lenin'', renamed қулла ...
(7134m) - 2 August 1975, 28 July 1982, 6 August 1982, 13 July 1983, 2 August 1983
* Communism Peak, today known as
Ismail Samani Peak (7495m) - 29 July 1980, 24 July 1983
*
Peak Korzhenevskaya
Peak Ozodi (russian: Пик Озоди), (until 2020 Korzhenevskoi Peak, russian: Пик Корженевской) is the third highest peak in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. It is one of the five " Snow Leopard Peaks" in the territory of th ...
(7105m) - 28 July 1979, 31 July 1979, 8 August 1982, 29 July 1983
*
Noshaq
Noshaq (also called Noshak or Nowshak; is the second highest peak in the Hindu Kush Range after Tirich Mir at . It lies on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The north and west sides of the mountain are in Afghanistan whereas the south ...
(7492m) - 30 July 1976
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
* North face of
Matterhorn
The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...
(4471m) - 21–26 September 1974, together with
Trifon Djambazov
* North face of
Grand Jorasses on the
Walker Spur (4208m) - 30 July - 1 August 1967, together with
Atanas Kovandzhiev
*
Petit Dru
The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It is situated to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French.
The ...
(3733m), Bonatti route - 16–18 July 1967; "Route of Guides" - 3–8 September 1977
*
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and ...
(4807m), Freney Pillar - 15–16 July 1969
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...
*
Pillar of Ushba - 25–28 July 1970
*
Traverse in
Shkhelda (4320m) – 24 July – 1 August 1973
Awards
Prodanov received several awards, including:
* No. 1 Bulgarian Mountaineer for the 20th century.
* "
Hero of People's Republic of Bulgaria" (1984 – posthumously)
* "
Georgi Dimitrov" order (1981; 1984 – posthumously)
* "
People's Republic of Bulgaria
The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...
", second class (1977)
See also
*
List of 20th-century summiters of Mount Everest
Mount Everest, at is currently the world's highest mountain and is a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. This is a list of people who reached the summit of Mount Everest in the 20th century. Overall about 1,383 people summited Evere ...
*
List of people who disappeared
References
External links
Climbing Everest Voted Bulgaria's Sports Event of 20th Century
1943 births
1980s missing person cases
1984 deaths
20th-century Bulgarian people
Bulgarian mountain climbers
Heroes of the People's Republic of Bulgaria
Missing person cases in Asia
Mountaineering deaths on Mount Everest
People from Karlovo
Summiters of Mount Everest
{{climbing-bio-stub