Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Iron Curtain and find their way across the Soviet Union to climbers planning
trips to the Pamirs, Tien Shan and other great Asian mountain ranges inaccessible
to the West.
These corners of Asia are now popular destinations for international climbers,
but before the break-up of the Soviet Union, they were accessible only to climbers
from the Eastern bloc and a few Westerners taking part in official visits. As a high-
altitude training ground, these ranges north of the Himalaya were the first object-
ive for the most ambitious climbers from the East. They are serious mountains, al-
most on the same scale as the Himalaya. Realistically, for many climbers living be-
hind the Iron Curtain, they were the only high mountains they were ever likely to
visit because of the costs and permits required to go elsewhere. All prices were
fixed at levels the workers could just about afford with club and communist party
support. But you had to be a good climber, or very well connected, to be put for-
ward for such a trip.
To travel outside the Soviet bloc was another huge jump. In Russia, you had to
reach the level of 'Master of Sport', with a record of hard ascents in both winter
and summer. Few managed this and if you were not a party member, you were
walking a fine line with the authorities. I think
I met only one top Polish climber who was also a member of the Communist
Party. If there were more, they kept the fact well hidden. Certainly Andrez Zawada,
and as far as I can tell all those who went on his expeditions, were quite the oppos-
ite. Some were supporters or members of Solidarity, and some ended up in prison
cesses and Polish mountaineering brought national pride and kudos. The upper
echelons in the Communist Party, those who managed the national profile in
sport, recognised that the rebellious and independent nature of Polish climbers
was valuable when it came to bagging summits. And there was always a deal to be
made when it came to supplying items from Asia that could not easily be bought
behind the Iron Curtain.
Hence, Andrez Zawada and a few others were allowed out of the country with the
support of the government and with just enough hard currency in their pockets to
finance the foreign part of the trip. The zloty had no value as a tradable currency
outside Poland, although Polish climbers would, of course, always try to convince
unsuspecting shopkeepers in far corners of the world that it did, but usually with
no success. The official Polish bank rate in the mid 1970s was about ten zloty to the
dollar. With hard currency, you could buy luxury goods only available in 'dollar
shops'. Sanctioned by the communist party, these were supposedly open only to
diplomats and foreigners visiting Poland, but there were ways for connected Polish
