24.07.2017

Students from the Filimon Home Boarding School participating in the Step Up Together initiative have returned to Moscow after climbing the biggest peak in Russia.

Zhenya Boytsov, who has cerebral palsy, made it to 5000m, while Polina Rakhmelyuk (who has a right lower limb prosthesis) and Angela Martinovich (who suffers from Central Nervous System disorder) set a record at 5300 metres. That’s why the teenagers decided to show themselves and their peers that each and every person has limitless abilities. In spite of the particular challenges they face, the ascent organiser felt that the expedition’s participants managed the challenge ˜excellently».

Photos and videos taken during the training expedition and on the climb itself have been published on its official Facebook page. The clips on the page show how hard Polina, who has a five kilogramme prosthesis, threw herself into the training on the snowy mountainside.

The Filimon Home Boarding School Director Mikhail Maslov climbed to the very top of Elbrus’s peak (5642 metres). Despite the cold (the temperature reached -25°C), all of the expedition’s participants had only positive comments about their experiences.

«I feel that the impossible has become possible. And where there’s a strong spirit, then it’s possible to step up, little by little. It’s incredible, said Natalia Shaginyan-Nidem, one of the founders of Life in Movement, who also managed to reach the highest peak in Russia.

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2017/07/24/elbrus-zhizn-v-dvizhenii/