April,20 - Hristo Prodanov is Becoming a Hero, Climbing Mount Everest Without the Use of Supplementary Oxygen

Mighty and beautiful, but equally treacherous, many climbers have perished on the slopes of  the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest. One such unlucky soul was Bulgarian climber Hristo Prodanov. On 20th April 1984 he became the first climber from his country to summit Mount Everest and the first climber to scale West Ridge solo without the use of supplementary oxygen. Sadly Prodanov lost his life while descending from the West Ridge. (explorehimalaya.com)

On April 20 1984 Prodanov ascended Everest via West ridge. He was the sixth man to climb Everest solo, the 13th without oxygen and the eight to climb west ridge (59 ascent, 159th  climber on the top) . He remained on the summit for a half hour and began the descent down the west ridge proper, which had not been done before. At 9:10 P. M. he contacted Base Camp and said he would bivouac because of darkness. The following day, April 21, Prodanov had voice contact with Base Camp although his voice was weak and the words could not be understood. At 7:45 a click of the switch of his walkie-talkie was recorder for the last time. No sign of him was ever heard again.(everesthistory.com)