Vitaly Lazo

In September 2017 Vitalij Lazo and Anton Pugovkin climbed Manaslu without supplementary oxygen and made the first freeride descent from the top of an 8000+ meters high mountain performed by Russians. The oxygen-free ascent was dedicated to the Kamchatka Himalayan expedition of 1993, in which 2 participants died on this route. This was the first project of Death Zone Freeride a Russian team that aims to climb and ski several eight-thousanders without using bottled oxygen.

On July, 3, 2019 Russian climbers Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkin, and the Italian Cala Cimenti, reached the summit of Nanga Parbat (8125 m), the iconic eight-thousander. The ascent was made by the Diamir face and without using bottled oxygen. A descent from the top was performed on skis from an altitude of 8080 meters. This expedition is the third project of Death Zone Freeride, a Russian team that aims to climb and ski several eight-thousands without using bottled oxygen. In 2017 they skied from the top of Manaslu and in 2018 they attempted to do the same on Annapurna.

As part of the Freeride in the Death Zone project, in 2018 Vitaly Lazo and Anton Pugovkiny attempted to climb and ski Annapurna, one of the most dangerous 8,000, without bottled oxygen. Vitaly and Anton failed to climb the summit, but considered the expedition a success as they managed to come back alive from the peak. In 2017, the freeriders successfully climbed and skied down from Manaslu (8163 meters) on what was the first Russian ski descent from an eight-thousand without bottled oxygen.