Asia, USSR, Pamirs and Tien Shan, 1970

Publication Year: 1971.

Pamirs and Tian Shan, 1970. Soviet climbers continued making excellent difficult climbs, as reported in Alpinismus of January, 1971. Two extremely hard new routes were made on the highest peak in the Soviet Union, Pik Kommunisma (24,547 feet) in the Pamirs. The 8000-foot southwest face was climbed in a new direct line by climbers led by E. Mislobski. They reached the summit on August 15 after 14 bivouacs; they used 200 pitons. The southeast buttress was also climbed for the first time from August 10 to 19 by a group led by V. Voronin. They found difficult ice-covered rock from 15,750 to 17,700 feet and steep ice up to 19,350 feet. The most difficult part was between 20,000 and 21,650 feet. Ukrainians led by V. Pusanov made the first ascent of Pik Kirov (20,900 feet). In the Tian Shan, Pik Pobjeda (24,407 feet) had several good ascents. An 11-man group from Dnepropetrovsk led by A. Saidler and four Siberians led by V. Samochvalov climbed the north face of Pik Vasha Pshavela (22,704 feet) and continued over the main and eastern summits. The most difficult route on Pobjeda was done by Moscow climbers led by V. Ivanov. They made the first ascent of the 8000-foot north face of P 6740 (22,113 feet) and traversed Vasha Pshavela, Pobjeda, Sovjetskaja Armenija (23,130 feet) and Pobjeda East. This took 11 days.