Expedition to Annapurna 

With the time you start to understand
that there are no limits,
that all the existing limits
are only in your head.
It is you who makes the choice.
Our entire future depends on it.
Valery Babanov

The words in the title are neither plain words nor a marketing slogan. They are rather the asserting of true facts.

Stellox has become the main partner of an expedition to the Himalayas. The goal of this expedition is to reach the top of an 8000 m peak. The expedition will take place in spring 2009 and it is to start on March 17 in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal.

There are only 14 mountains on planet Earth that are higher than 8 000 meters. Nothing can live at such altitudes as the concentration of oxygen there is just 30% of the normal. The presence of a human in such environment is restricted in time.

Among those who challenge the Himalayan peaks there is always a small number of mountaineers for whom just to climb an 8000 m peak choosing an easy route is not enough. They have always chosen the most difficult, risky but picturesque routes to the top.

Those people have always pushed the limits of high mountaineering to the level that only they could see. They were the people to create mountaineering and on their own example they managed to display what real courage and strong will are.

The expedition sponsored by Stellox is organized by two mountain climbers: Valery Babanov and Victor Afanasiev. Their plan is to establish a new route to Annapurna peak in the Nepalese Himalayas.

And though Annapurna is the first eight-thousander that a human has climbed up there are less successful ascends than to any other eight-thousander but failures, misfortunes and injuries happen much more often than anywhere else.

Supporting this expedition is not just sponsorship. Annapurna ascent expedition and Stellox, its key partner, have much in common though they seem to be related to completely different spheres –high mountaineering and automotive parts. However things that are in common do exist: these are the determination to reach the top, to overcome obstacles and willingness to move ahead despite all the difficulties.

Day after day, just like the climbers during the expedition, Stellox brand is moving onto the top of spare parts market that has already got enough of pioneers. Stellox is a comparatively young brand on the automotive market however it has already reached its first goal – it has won the confidence of many customers in the automotive markets of Russia and CIS countries.

The success of our mutual challenge – the expedition to the summit of Annapurna – will once again prove that determination and hard work will always be rewarded.

North-western face of Annapurna peak. This is the very face the route to the summit will be established on.

Members of the expedition:

Valery Babanov is a master of sports of the international level, the mountaineer having earned world recognition and having performed a large number of ascents some of which are even hard to imagine they have taken place.

Valery’s companion during this expedition will be Victor Afanasiev, a young and a strong mountaineer. In 2008 these two mountaineers - Babanov and Afanasiev – managed to perform an incredible double peak ascent. They climbed two eight-thousanders in Karakoram mountains – Broad Peak(8047 m) and Gasherbrum I(8035 m) - within less than one month! This is really an outstanding achievement!

Expedition website: www.babanov.com

General partner of the expedition – Stellox automotive parts

Outfit partners of the expedition - Bask, Grivel, Scarpa, Julbo, Beal.