SOVIET UNION

SOVIET UNION / СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК.

Soviet Expedition to Mount Everest.
Minisheet issued on 20.12.1982.
Face value: 50 Soviet kopek.
Design: Yury Levinovsky (b. 1933).
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 800,000 copies.
Size: 67 x 84 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. BL160.
- Scott No. 5106.
- StampWorld No. 5034.
- Stanley Gibbons No. MS 5291.
- Yvert et Tellier No. BF 159.
- Zagorski No. BL163.

The first unofficially known Soviet expedition to the Himalayas consisted of six mountaineers, who unsuccessfully attempted to climb Mount Everest from Tibet in October 1952: all of them died in the attempt, which was hidden from view public opinion and even assured that such an expedition had not been carried out.

The expedition commemorating the stamp, in 1982, led by Evgeni Tamm (1926-2008), was successful: on May 4, eleven Soviet climbers reached the summit of Everest by a new route on the southwest face that was recognized as the most technically difficult to date.

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Thanks to Kazimierz R. Leszczyński for his contribution (http://leszkarozdub.blogspot.com).