It has proven a little difficult obtaining details of Mount Sidley 2026 climbs this season. As far as I can tell, the information that I set out below is accurate. As ever, I am happy to correct any inaccuracies. In addition, if any of the team members whose ages I do not have read this, I would appreciate it if they could make contact with me.
Unlike last season, when there were two separate trips in December 2024 and January 2025, this year there was just the one trip. Three separate teams were on the mountain. Mount Sidley showed its different faces with some difficult weather faced by all of the teams.
Ukrainian team – summit 19 January 2026
First, there was a Ukrainian team. This was led by guide, Valentyn Sypavin, who is with Alpomania. Valentyn Spavin also completed the V7S with this climb. The others were:
- Viacheslav Kryvosheia
- Margarita Diachenko
- Mykhailo Perehania
- Nina Alekseeva
Here is Margarita Diachenko’s Instagram post. This post includes a couple of remarkable videos. The first was taken from the plane as the team was leaving. The video shows the ALE team on the summit. The second is a video taken by the ALE team of the plane.
And here is an Insta post by Mykhailo Perehania which shows some of the conditions the team faced.
Russian team – claimed summit 20 January 2026
Second, there was the team from 7 Summits Club, all Russian. 7 Summits Club have conducted a remarkable series of trips to Mount Sidley over the years. They have placed many clients on Mount Sidley’s summit.
This year the team was led by guides Alexander Dorozhukov , who claimed completion of the V7S, and Artem Rostovtsev.
The other members of the team were:
- Elena Stepanenko
- Sergey Fedkin
- Dmitriy Pilshchikov
- Alexander Obukhov
- Alexander Dorozhukov
- Ekaterina Riazanova
- Petr Vakhterov
- Olga Mokhova
- Akhat Sitaliev
All the non-guide members (except one) claimed completion of the V7S with the Mount Sidley 2026 climb. The exception was Akhat Sitaliev who claimed completion following an ascent of Ojos del Salado on 4th February 2026. Here is the post about the Ojos climb.
There were two other team members who did not make the attempt.
Readers will note that that I have mention “claim” in this post so far as the Russian team is concerned.
Here is the 7 Summits Club report that confirmed the “successful climb”. And here is the report of one of the guides, noting the difficult conditions the team faced.
However, I have it on good authority that this team did not make the summit, largely (presumably) because of the conditions it encountered.
As I make clear on my main V7S page, I take claims of ascents at their face value. I do this unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary. I am not in a position to check myself as I do not demand GPS tracks, photos and witness statements. So, I include the names here on my list with this caveat.
ALE team – summit 20 January 2026
Finally, there was the ALE team which was led by Pedro Binfa (Chile) and Viviana Callahan (Chile).
The team also comprised:
- Betty Rucinska Grygiel (Romania) who completed the V7S with this climb
- Shuvam Chatterjee (India)
- David Concannon (USA)
- Matthew Fleischmann (USA)
- Kryspin Mitura (Poland) who completed the V7S with this climb. He has also completed the Seven Summits
- Dawid Michalski (Poland)
Pedro Binfa kindly provided me with this video of the team on the summit.
Here is Shuvam Chatterjee’s Instagram post. From the information in my possession he only has Damavand to climb to finish the V7S.
I will update my Mount Sidley summit and V7S completion lists when I have a moment! [Likely to be in a month or so’s time as I am off travelling]
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