Biography of Fyodor Konyukhov is the life story of a unique and incredibly gifted person. Most people know him as a brave and indefatigable traveler, who has conquered the highest mountain peaks and single-handedly crossed the oceans. However, long-distance expeditions are not his only hobby. In his free time, Konyukhov draws paintings and writes books. In addition, he is a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP).
Childhood
Fedor Konyukhov was born in 1951 in the Ukrainian village of Chkalovo (Priazovsky district of Zaporizhzhya region). His parents were simple peasants. The mother of the famous traveler Maria Efremovna was born in Bessarabia. She devoted her life to raising children (except Fedor, 2 more sons and 2 daughters grew up in the Konyukhov family). Father, Filipp Mikhailovich, was a hereditary fisherman, his ancestors lived in the Arkhangelsk region. During the Great Patriotic War, he reached Budapest with Soviet troops. The elder Konyukhov fished in the Sea of Azov and often took little Fedor with him. The son liked to fish with his father. The boy with great pleasure helped Philip Mikhailovich pull fishing nets out of the water and carried out his other tasks. Already in those days, Konyukhov's journeys began to beckon. Being in a fishing boat on the high seas, he often peered into a distant horizon and dreamed of sailing to the opposite shore.
First sea voyage
Fyodor Konyukhov fulfilled his cherished childhood dream at the age of 15, having independently swum in his father’s fishing boat the Sea of Azov. For his first expedition, the teenager was preparing for several years, learning to row, sail and sail. In addition to traveling, the young Konyukhov was seriously interested in drawing, athletics and football. He also loved to read. His favorite writers were Jules Verne, Ivan Goncharov and Konstantin Stanyukovich. The idol of a simple village boy was the famous Russian naval commander Fyodor Ushakov. Reading the biography of this great man, Fedor dreamed of repeating his fate in the future.
Education, army service
In high school, Fedor already knew for sure that he would devote his life to the sea. After graduating from school in his native village, he entered the Odessa Naval College, where he received the specialty of a navigator. This was followed by study at the navigator-navigator in the Leningrad Arctic School. After his graduation, Konyukhov was drafted into the army. He served in the Baltic Fleet, where he was selected for a courage in a special detachment intended to be sent to Vietnam. Arriving in Southeast Asia, Fyodor served as a sailor on a boat for 2.5 years providing ammunition for Vietnamese partisans. After the demobilization, Konyukhov Fedor Filippovich studied as a carver-incrustator in Bobruisk vocational school No. 15 (Belarus).
Beginning of expeditionary activity
Konyukhov made his first serious journey at the age of 26, repeating exactly the route in the Pacific Ocean that Vitus Bering followed during his Kamchatka expeditions. A huge distance Fedor sailed on a sailing yacht. He refused comfort and repeatedly risked his life, but the dangers did not frighten him. The brave traveler decided to make the transition under the same conditions as his predecessor, Bering, who plowed the ocean in the first half of the 18th century. Konyukhov managed to independently reach the shores of Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Commander Islands. During these expeditions, the knowledge and skills that the Odessa Maritime College gave him more than ever were useful to him. And he was able to survive in difficult natural conditions thanks to unconditional faith in God.
Conquest of the North
Since childhood, Fyodor Konyukhov hatched the dream of independently reaching the North Pole. It took him several years to prepare for this expedition. He spent a lot of time in Chukotka, where he learned to survive in extreme conditions, learned the secrets of dog sledding and learned the science of building ice huts. Until that moment, how to make a single trip to the North Pole, Konyukhov several times managed to visit it as part of group expeditions.
Independent conquest of the North began in 1990. Fedor went skiing, carrying a large backpack on his back and dragging sledges with food and equipment. The journey was not easy. During the day, Konyukhov had to overcome many obstacles, and at night he slept directly on the ice, hiding from the harsh arctic winds in a tent or sleeping bag. When only 200 km remained to the end of the route, the Russian traveler fell into the ice hummock zone and almost died. Having miraculously survived, he reached the cherished goal 72 days after the start of the campaign and became the first person in history who managed to conquer the North Pole without any help.
Antarctica Expedition
In 1995, Fyodor Filippovich made a solitary journey through Antarctica. He reached the South Pole on the 59th day of the expedition, solemnly setting the flag of the Russian Federation at the end of the route. The biography of Fyodor Konyukhov indicates that during this expedition he conducted many important studies on measuring the radiation field of the southern continent and finding the human body in extreme weather conditions and lack of oxygen. Based on the experiments and studies he subsequently created several scientific works that made an invaluable contribution to the study of Antarctica.
Conquering the highest mountain peaks
In 1992, Konyukhov, as part of the implementation of the program “7 Peaks of the World”, made a solitary climb to Elbrus - the mountain, which is the highest point in Europe. A few months later, together with the famous Russian climber Eugene Vinogradsky, he conquers the highest mountain peak in Asia and the world - Everest. In January 1996, during an expedition to the South Pole, Fedor Filippovich ascends to the highest point of Antarctica - the Wilson Massif. In the spring of the same year, the traveler climbed Aconcagua - the highest mountain in South America. In 1997, he conquers alone the highest points of Australia and Africa - Kosciuszko peak and Kilimanjaro volcano. In the same year, Konyukhov completes the program with a heroic climb to Mount McKinley in North America. The brave traveler managed to climb to the last peak in company with the climber Vladimir Yanochkin. After the conquest of McKinley, Konyukhov became the first native of the CIS to successfully complete the 7 Peaks of the World program. In 2012, Fyodor Filippovich, together with a group of Russian athletes, makes a second climb to Everest, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the conquest of the mountain peak by Soviet climbers.
Travel by land
The fascinating biography of Fyodor Konyukhov was not without long land expeditions. In 1985, he hiked along the Ussuri taiga along the route laid by the Russian traveler Vladimir Arsenyev and his guide Dersu Uzala. In mid-1989, on the initiative of Konyukhov, the Nakhodka-Moscow-Leningrad bike ride was held, in which athletes from the USSR and the USA took part. One of the participants of the bike ride was the younger brother of Fedor Filippovich Pavel. After 2 years, the traveler organized the Soviet-Australian off-road race, which began in Nakhodka and ended in the Russian capital. In 2002, Konyukhov headed the first caravan expedition along the Great Silk Road in the history of our country. It passed through the desert territories of Kalmykia, Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory, Volgograd and Astrakhan Regions. The second stage of the expedition, which took place in 2009, covered the route from Kalmykia to Mongolia.
Sea adventures
The conquest of the North and South poles, climbing the highest mountain peaks of the world and hiking are only an insignificant part of Konyukhov's travels. The main passion of Fyodor Filippovich since childhood is the sea, and he has remained faithful to him for life. Zaporizhzhya region has the right to be proud of its illustrious fellow countryman, because on his account more than four dozen sea expeditions and 5 round-the-world voyages. He sailed the Atlantic Ocean 17 times alone. During one of these voyages, he set an absolute world record, breaking the required distance on a rowing boat in just 46 days. Another Konyukhov record was recorded during his crossing of the Pacific Ocean. To sail the route from Chile to Australia, the Russian traveler spent 159 days and 14 hours en route.
The sea expeditions of Fedor Konyukhov did not always go smoothly. During one of them, the traveler became seriously ill and ended up in a Philippine hospital. While he was being treated, the pirates hijacked his ship and hid him on a neighboring island. After recovery Konyukhov went to rescue the stolen vehicle. To return him, he was forced to hijack a boat from his offenders and get on it to his own ship. This unpleasant adventure ended safely for the traveler and allowed him to successfully complete his expedition around the Earth.
Creative activity
Konyukhov is not only a traveler, but also a talented artist. During his expeditions, he painted more than three thousand paintings. Creativity of the artist did not go unnoticed. His work has been repeatedly shown at Russian and international exhibitions. In 1983, he became the youngest member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Later he was admitted to the Moscow Union of Artists and Sculptors and awarded the title of academician of the Russian Academy of Arts.
Biography of Fedor Konyukhov will be incomplete, if not to mention his literary work. The traveler is the author of 9 books narrating about his adventures during expeditions and ways to overcome difficulties in extreme conditions. In addition to adult literature, Konyukhov publishes children's books. Member of the Writers Union of Russia.
Father Fedor
During travels, Konyukhov often risked his life and was close to death. Being in the open ocean or on top of a mountain, in difficult situations, he could count only on the help of the Almighty. Having become a religious person in adulthood, Fyodor Filippovich decided to devote the rest of his life to serving God. So in his fate appeared St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, in which he studied as a priest. On May 22, 2010 in Zaporozhye, Konyukhov received from the hands of the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, Vladimir San the Subdeacon. The next day, Bishop Joseph of Melitopol and Joseph, he was ordained deacon. In December 2010, Fyodor Filippovich was elevated to the rank of priest of the UOC MP. The place of his service is his native Zaporizhzhya region. Having become a priest, Father Fyodor Konyukhov began to spend less time on expeditions, but did not completely abandon them.
Wife, children and grandchildren
Fedor Filippovich is married to a doctor of law Irina Anatolyevna Konyukhova. He has three adult children (daughter Tatyana, sons Oscar and Nikolai) and six grandchildren (Philip, Arkady, Polina, Blake, Ethan, Kate). Of all the offspring of the traveler, the most famous is his son Oscar Konyukhov, who devoted his life to sailing. He goes on expeditionary voyages and manages projects in which his father takes part. From 2008 to 2012, Oscar served as Executive Director of the Russian Sailing Federation. The son of Fyodor Filippovich has a cherished dream - to circumnavigate the world without stops in 80 days. The expedition requires huge financial investments and for this reason remains only in plans so far.
