Of course, it’s impossible

This is a book about people: pioneering mountaineers, making the most difficult ascents in the mountains, travelers, long months, alone, crossing the oceans, explorers, wading through the ice and polynyas in the bitter cold to the North Pole. All of them, risking their lives, doing the impossible and unthinkable simply because for them, that is life itself. What they love wholeheartedly and give all of themselves to the cause to which they are devoted without a trace. They may not always be able to answer the question: “why?”, maybe because they live a new life every time they go on another “hike” and when they come back, they are different. Unfortunately, or fortunately, time is unstoppable, a generation of talented, daring, who love the path they chose in their time and selflessly gave the best years of their lives to it, is leaving. Despite the fact that their bright records and discoveries are already in the past, few people in the world are able to repeat their achievements. The groundwork has been made for many decades ahead.

The book presents the author’s black-and-white portraits of legendary mountaineers and world-class travelers. Many of the heroes were photographed in the cities and countries of their residence or temporary location. More than 200 pages describe legendary expeditions and personal first-hand stories of the participants, which will forever remain in the history of world mountaineering. The book includes unique color photographs (portraits and landscapes) taken by the members of the expeditions themselves, some of them at altitudes above 8000 meters.

Author and Idea: Vadim Aksentyev