Peak Lenin

Overview

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An accessible and popular 7,000m peak in Kyrgyzstan

Introduction

Read David Hamilton's 'Breaking the 7000m barrier' article... read more.

Peak Lenin is a popular and accessible 7,000m peak, which can be climbed in a little over 3 weeks and is a good stepping stone towards an 8,000er. Despite its low technical difficulty, it is a serious and challenging climb. Even in good weather summit day is very long and hard. Base Camp is a picturesque meadow and Advance Base Camp is comfortable, with good food and showers. Typically, we use two further camps above Advance Base Camp, at 5,400m and 6,150m. If you have previous experience on peaks above 6,000m and are looking to progress in altitude, you could consider Peak Lenin as your next big mountain challenge.

Join us on Peak Lenin

• 2026 expedition leader - Cameron Neil.
• Quick access to base camp from Osh via an overnight in Sary Mogul (3,000m).
• Well-supported team, with local guides employed to carry tents and group equipment.
• Good training for an 8,000er.

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Experience Required

Peak Lenin involves roped-up glacier climbing with crevasse crossings on moderately-angled snow slopes up to 40 degrees. Fixed ropes will be used on steeper sections of the climb. Team members will need to carry their own gear, melt snow for water and look after themselves on a high and exposed mountain, which is also very cold. Local mountain guides will assist in establishing the camps on the mountain. We have graded the expedition '2D'. This is the same 'fitness' grading that we give Denali (a notoriously tough climb), though the technical difficulty is moderate, so only warrants a '2'.

To join the expedition and have a good chance of success, you must have:

• Climbed routes with ice axe and crampons of Scottish Grade II, Alpine PD or equivalent.
• Expedition experience on mountains above 6,000m, graded 2B or above on the Jagged Globe scale (we may accept applications from those who have climbed Aconcagua, who also have a reasonable base of experience in Scotland or the Alps).
• A high level of fitness and psychological fortitude to endure a lengthy expedition in a remote area, climbing at very high altitude in the extreme cold.

Our Scottish Winter Courses and our Alpine Courses provide good skills preparation for an expedition.

Additional Information

If you wish to discuss any aspect of the expedition or your suitability for it, please phone +44 (0)114 276 3322 or contact us.

Dates & Prices

Date	With Flight	or Meeting in	Availability
Sat 4 Jul – Tue 28 Jul 2026	UK	Bishkek	Trip Guaranteed Book now »
Expedition Leader Cameron Neil	£5,735	£4,595
Sat 3 Jul – Tue 27 Jul 2027	UK	Bishkek	Available Book now »
2 places left with £300 early booking offer	£5,495 £5,195	£4,695 £4,395

Our Trip Guarantee

This expedition is available to book in GBP, USD and EUR.
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Group size: 4 – 12 people.

Single room supplement: £300

For comparison, this expedition starts from £184 (GBP) per day (price Without Flights).

With Flight pricing

Our 'With Flight' price includes an Economy class return airfare from the UK. The cost is based on a group fare that we have already reserved, or individual seats that we have budgeted for. Note that in some circumstances, the earlier you book, the less expensive the airfare and the 'With Flight' price.

Know Before You Go

Jagged Globe supports the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) ‘Know Before You Go’ campaign. We recommend that you read the FCO Travel Advice for Kyrgyzstan and Turkey on the FCO website.

What the price includes

• Economy class return airfares from the UK to Bishkek (unless joining in-country.)
• Airport transfers in Bishkek (unless joining in-country.)
• Return flight from Bishkek to Osh.
• UK airport taxes.
• 1 nights' good standard hotel accommodation in Bishkek on a twin-sharing, bed and breakfast basis.
• 1 nights' guest house accommodation in Sary Mogul on a twin-sharing, half-board basis.
• 1 nights' good standard hotel accommodation in Osh on a twin-sharing, bed and breakfast basis.
• 20 nights' full board accommodation in tents on a twin-sharing basis.
• All road transport by private vehicles from arrival in Osh.
• Porterage of group equipment and personal equipment to ABC/Camp 1*.
• Porterage of Tents/Cooking equipment/fuel to camps 2 and 3.
• All costs for Jagged Globe leader and local guides.
• Jagged Globe kitbag or lightweight fleece.

What the price does not include

• Visa fees (none required for UK Nationals).
• Overseas airports taxes not paid in advance through the international airline ticket.
• Bar bills and laundry.
• Travel insurance.
• Lunch and evening meals in Osh and Bishkek.
• Any additional costs associated with leaving the mountain early, for example extra hotel nights in Osh having climbed the mountain ahead of schedule.
• Porterage of personal equipment and food above Camp 1*.
• Excess baggage fees charged by airlines.
• Optional trips.
• Tips.

*See notes below on porterage.

Porterage

The expedition price includes the porterage of all group and personal equipment to Camp 1 (4,400m). Jagged Globe provides tents, cooking equipment and fuel at camps 2 and 3. Climbers are expected to carry their own personal equipment and food on the mountain. However porterage services are available from Camp 1 via our local agent and Russian Guides. Extensive use of this service can result in significant bills. For example if 10Kg of your personal equipment is sent with porters between camps on each of the three mountain rotations, your total bill would be approximately €1,100. A 50/50 approach is clearly possible with porters carrying half of your personal equipment. If you expect to need your personal equipment and food to be carried, please make sure you budget for this and bring enough cash along.

Insurance

You will need a travel insurance policy that caters for the activities you will undertake on your trip with Jagged Globe. It is a requirement of our booking conditions that you have such a policy. For a list of insurers who specialise in mountaineering, trekking and skiing, please see our Travel Insurance page »

Itinerary

Here is an outline itinerary for this trip. A more detailed day-to-day itinerary is available as a downloadable PDF »

Outline Itinerary

Day 1:	Fly to Bishkek Fly London to Bishkek.
Day 2:	Arrive Bishkek, fly to Osh and drive to Sary Mogul (3,000m) Arrive Bishkek early morning. Internal flight to Osh. 3-hour drive to the village of Sary Mogul. Overnight guest house. Those joining on a 'Land Only' basis should arrange their inbound flight to arrive in Bishkek on Day 2 no later than 0900hrs. If you would like to arrive the day before, please contact us and we will book you an airport transfer and hotel night in Bishkek.
Day 3:	Drive to Base Camp (3,600m) It's a 2-hour drive to base camp (3,600m) on a mainly flat but rough unsurfaced road. You will stay in base camp for three nights, to aid acclimatisation, before moving to Camp 1.
Day 4 - 5:	Acclimatisation in Base Camp There are pleasant, gentle walks in the surrounding hills from base camp up to c4,100m.
Day 6:	Walk to Camp 1 (4,400m) Camp 1 is sometimes referred to as "ABC". The walk to C1 initially follows an open valley before loose scree slopes are traversed. Horses carry the team's equipment to C1, which is situated on the edge of the moraine. There's a good set up here with a mess tent where you can enjoy meals cooked by the cook team.
Day 7 - 10:	Acclimatisation from Camp 1 From C1 we'll make an initial day walk directly above camp to 4,700m (Pik Kholm). After a glacier training day, we'll spend a night just below the summit of Pik Yukhin (5,100m).
Day 11:	Rest day
Day 12:	Climb to Camp 2 (5,350m) Once we feel adequately acclimatised, we'll make the journey to Camp 2. This should take between 7 - 9 hours. The route over the glacier skirts around the main icefall and there are still some crevasses. There is one section of Scottish Grade 1 climbing, which is fixed with rope. Camp 2 is located on a rock spur on the edge of a huge bowl.
Day 13:	Tag Camp 3 (6,150m) and return to Camp 2 A tough climb straight out of camp to the col, then a long rising traverse. The final climb to camp is tough (6 hours). It is possible to continue over to Pik Rasdelnaya (6,150m) if you fancy ticking another summit.
Day 14:	Descend to Camp 1 4 hours.
Day 15:	Rest day Time to look at the weather forecast and plan a summit bid!
Day 16 - 22:	Summit Peak Lenin, return to Camp 2 You will have a 7-day window within which you will make a summit bid, which is a 4-day round trip from Camp 1. The route from Camp 3 descends for 80 vertical metres, before 400m of ascent up steep, rocky scree. By headtorch, this is one of the mentally toughest sections of the route. Once a flat area is reached (where a Camp 4 is sometimes used), the angle eases and the route then follows a long, broad and undulating ridge. There is a 100m section which is very exposed and is fixed with rope. From the top of here, the ridge flattens again with the route weaving between rock bands and over many false summits to reach the top. The views from the summit over Kyrgyzstan are superb, but the views looking towards the Pamirs and Tajikistan are really incredible, with miles and miles of impressive snow-capped peaks. From the summit the aim will be to descend to Camp 2.
Day 23:	Descend to BC and return to Osh If the team has used their maximum amount of time on the mountain, today will be a long and tiring day returning from Camp 1 to BC and then driving to Osh. Overnight hotel.
Day 24:	Fly Osh to Bishkek Overnight hotel.
Day 25:	Fly home

PLEASE NOTE:The above itinerary is intended as a guideline only. While we will make every effort to adhere to it, changes may be forced for reasons beyond our control. When traveling to remote locations such as this, a flexible approach from all members is much appreciated.

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• Peak Lenin 2016 expedition slideshow
• Peak Lenin 2015 expedition slideshow

Reports & Reviews

First Expedition: July 2015
Total: 7 trips

Have you been on this trip? If you'd like to contribute a trip report then we'll post it up on the site.

Team Member Reviews

• “

  A well-planned and executed expedition with a professional organisation.

  ” GH, Peak Lenin, 2018
• “A significant personal achievement on a tough mountain, a real sense of pride in completing the expedition.” SS, Peak Lenin 2017
• “A pleasure to try an Expedition style peak with a great group of people. MK.” Peak Lenin 2015
• “The strongest group that I have ever climbed with and a real privilege to be among such experience. Robert Anderson also set a very high standard for leadership that confirmed his reputation. RT.” Peak Lenin 2015

Leader Reports

• Peak Lenin 2024
  “Luxury. Probably not the first word to spring to mind when thinking about a Russian basecamp. Well, it wasn’t Russian although most of the staff appeared to be, it was Kyrgyz. Anyway, the shipping containers that had been...”
  report added 05/Aug/24
• Peak Lenin - 6 to 29 Jul '18
  “The expedition assembled on the 6th of July in Osh in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. This year trip was an international affair with members from South Africa, Australia, UK. France and Germany. We travelled to Peak Lenin...”
  report added 06/Aug/18
• Peak Lenin - 8 Jul to 2 Aug '17
  “At 11.28 on 28th July we encountered the unsmiling face of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Actually, it was a life sized bronze bust showing the characteristic features of the architect of the Soviet state who died in 1924. Mountain summits...”
  report added 01/Aug/17
• Peak Lenin - 23 Jul to 14 Aug '16
  “Expedition Leader: Robert Anderson Local guides: Andrei, Roz, Nikolai Members: Alessandro, Bob, Brett, Damien, Reuben, Matthew, Mandy, Mary, Jeremy, Ron. With thoughts of Yurts and yaks, traveling along the Silk Road...”
  report added 25/Aug/16
• Peak Lenin - 18 Jul to 9 Aug '15
  “Expedition Leader: Robert Anderson Russian Guides: Andrey, Maxim, Victor Team Members: Derek, Brett, Jo, Cormac, Tony, Mark, Mike, John, Ron, Vidar, Janet, Roland. We flew out of Istanbul, passing between Samarkand and...”
  report added 27/Aug/15