site.bta40 Years Ago Four Bulgarian Mountaineers Conquer Mt Everest on West Ridge

On this day 40 years ago, four Bulgarian mountaineers - Ivan Valchev, Metodi Savov, Nikolay Petkov and Kiril Doskov conquered Mount Everest (8848 m) in the Himalayas. They climbed the West Ridge, called Hornbein Couloir or "The Cruel Way" and descended the South Slope.

"The four brave men conquered the summit on its most difficult, most dangerous and long western edge. The list of the 154 heroes who reached the highest point on our planet now includes five Bulgarian names. The first is that of Hristo Prodanov, who reached the summit on April 20 at 6:10 pm Nepal time, alone, without the aid of oxygen apparatus," wrote the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) on May 9, 1984. 

"Bulgarian mountaineering has achieved its greatest success in its entire history," BTA wrote the next day.