Trip Reports

Peak Lenin - 18 Jul to 9 Aug '15

A rare clear day in 2015 to photograph Peak Lenin

Written by Leader Robert Anderson, August 2015

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 Tashkent under a crescent moon, landing in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, in the pre-dawn hours of 19 July. By noon we were strolling through the stalls of Central Asia's largest market, spices spilling onto our sandals and traditional Kyrgyz hats soon perched upon our ears. By early afternoon we were eating shish-ka-bobs by the kilo in three choices of meat, washed down by tankards of Russian beer. Then we hiked up the hill, celebrating Babur the Conqueror from the 12th century, and back down to check crampons and ice axes, zipping the duffels up tight for our 6 a.m. departure.

The following day, we passed the first yurt as we left the outskirts of Osh, then donkeys, horses in profusion, and sheep dotting the bare hills. We climbed up out of the legendary Fergamo Valley, over an alpine pass at 3,500 meters and dropped into a long arid grassy plain set below the Tien-Shen Mountains. Soon we bumped off the highway onto a gravel road leading for the final hours up to our Base Camp at Achik-Tash, at 3,600 meters. Set in a lush green meadow, with crystal clear lakes and ringed by mountains, it is easy to see why it is one of the world's most popular Base Camps. We settled into large stand up tents, spread out our gear, and retired to the yurt for dinner. Covered with skins, the yurt proved cool in the mid-day heat, and warm and dry in the evening, an ideal dining and meeting place as we set our plan for our ascent of Peak Lenin.

The Peak itself remained tantalizingly elusive, shrouded in fog and low clouds by day, with heavy rain coming down most nights, leaving us wet and damp in our tents. But we still got out over the next two mornings, ascending through the 'Valley of the Marmots' to a pass leading to Camp 1, and then along a ridge that very quickly lifted us out of the valley and up into alpine fields, to look far our over the plains below, ochre in the mid-day sun.

Three days later we followed our troop of ponies out of Base Camp, well loaded with our kit for Camp 1. We traversed thin trails, cutting through cliffs on sloping terraces and curving up into the higher regions framed by the gray-black Lenin Glacier. Beyond the Travellers Pass at 4,200 meters, we descended into an immense landscape of brightly coloured mountains running with bright red, oranges and grays, the cascading ice falls in the heights above framed by black rock ridges. For many of us who had frequented the Himalayas, it was very welcoming to feel the familiar scale and immensity of the region around us.

Following several days acclimatization hikes up the ridges around Camp 1, we made a 4:30 a.m. start, traveling across the glacier before roping up to start up the face, quickly transitioning from a pre-dawn walk following flickering headlamps, to crampons, ice axes and 4 rope teams to tackle the mountain. With a mix of traverses, fixed ropes along an icefall and crevasses littering the slope, there was plenty of variety as we ascended up through 5,000 meters and across a final broad plateau to Camp 2 at 5,400 meters. Like many high altitude climbs, the fear was more of the heat than the cold on these lower slopes, but patchy clouds and a breeze saved us more than once and we were in Camp for a late lunch.

The following morning, the full team was up and off, reaching the ridge at 5,700 meters, where the views really opened up, looking out for miles back down the glacier and into the valley, a hazy mix of steep hillsides leading into the plains far below and then up into another mountain range hanging on the horizon. We turned left, then ascended a final steep slope for 300 meters up into a howling wind at Camp 3 at 6,100 meters. With tents buried to their rooftops in the snow it was clear a night here would be memorable. We quickly descended back to Camp 2 and retreated to Camp 1 the next day for a well-earned rest.

With continued rain by night and clouds scudding over the peaks by day, we rested and waited for a weather window that would give us a clear shot at the 5 kilometers and 1,000 meters of ridge that extended from Camp 3 to the summit. Our 3 Russian guides, veterans of multiple ascents, commented it was wetter and hotter than they had ever seen, while we scanned the forecasts for something resembling cold and clear, landing on a small break around the 4th.

We pushed our start from Camp 1 up to 3:30 a.m. to avoid the heat and melting snow and by dawn had a broken sunrise through patchy clouds as we scuttled between fresh avalanche trails and skirted collapsing crevasses. By the heat of mid-day we were sheltered in our tents at Camp 2, passing around Chicken Korma and Beef with rice to have with our cups of tea.

After a short hike up the hill to Camp 3 the next day, we slept quickly and were up at 2:30 a.m. for our summit bid on August 4th. Straight out of Camp we descended 100 meters, an easy warm-up but an unwelcome addition of 100 meters onto our summit climb. From below, the ridge had looked a long consistent push, but once actually climbing it, a mix of snow, rocky outcrops, scree and frozen ice led in twists and turns along the crest.

At dawn the sun filtered in hazy red streaks through the scudding clouds. Buried in down jackets, mittens and facemasks we climbed up and over the aptly named Knife, a section of steep and spectacular wind blasted snow and up to 6,700 meters. With the storm building as the morning progressed, we continued along through increasing clouds and wind up to 6,900 meters. With several hours to go to the final summit and now into the afternoon hours, we turned from the summit and headed back down the ridge ñ a hard decision at the time, but with the last of us finally climbing up the hill and back into Camp 3 a good 15 hours after weíd started the day, also a good decision.

Back at Base a few days later, the weather cleared, but plumes over the top and descending climbers spoke of high winds and tents bouncing on their moorings in Camp 3, while crevasses widened and dropped others into their depths.

Back in Osh, we soothed ourselves with more Shish-ka-bobs and discovered that it not only had Asiaís best market, but also a not ready for the guidebook yet night club that would of comfortably held its own in any capital of the world ñ minus the open aired yurt that formed our seating area.

What we didnít have was a summit, but balanced with our experiences in Kyrgastan; crossing raging streams on ponies, climbing into the heights and the clouds to peer over into Tajikistan, keeping each other out of the depths of the crevasses and more than a few stories and laughs shared in the Yurts from Base Camp to Osh, it was certainly a grand adventure.

Note: Robert has already signed up to lead next yearsí expedition to Peak Lenin. « Previous report | Next report »

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