Kongur Reconnaissance, Sinkiang (Xinjiang), Western China. Mike Ward, A1 Rouse and I flew to Urumchi, accompanied by our liaison officer, Liu Da Yi. After a visit to the Heavenly Lake in the Tien Shan Mountains, we left Urumchi on June 7 and flew to Kashgar. On June 10 we left Kashgar by road and travelled south through several oases on the western rim of the great Takla Makan Desert that occupies the Tarim Basin to the Karakul Lakes. Immediately to the south lay Mustagh Ata and to the north Kongur (7719 meters, 25,325 feet) and its satellite Kongur Tiubie (7595 meters, 24,920 feet). We rested here for two days before hiring yaks to transport our baggage to Base Camp below the southwest slopes of Kongur. We established camp at 14,500 feet on the west side of the extensive Koksel Glacier. We determined to investigate the mountains to the southeast to obtain views of the upper part of the complex massif. Taking a week’s food, we crossed the Koksel and in three days reached an 18,000-foot col. Two days later Rouse and I made the first ascent of “Sarakyaguqi Peak” (20,400 feet; named by us after the nomadic settlement at the bottom of the valley) by its north ridge. Returning to Base Camp, Rouse tripped and broke his ankle while crossing easy slopes. Unable to move, he and Mike spent three hungry days while I returned to Base Camp to arrange animal transport. In attempting to cross the Konsiver River with Liu Da Yi, we were swept away and nearly drowned. By a strange mixture of camel, yak and donkey, the whole party was able to return to Base Camp on June 24. On June 27 Ward and I decided to explore the head of the Koksel Glacier. After passing through a heavily crevassed region, we emerged into an extensive snow basin and established camp at 18,150 feet on the 28th. The following day we reached the Koksel Col at 19,000 feet. We concluded that there was a feasible route to the summit of Kongur from the Koksel Glacier. The spur, descending from the main Kongur-Kongur Tiubie ridge and some three miles west of Kongur, appeared to offer a relatively safe approach to the ridge at 23,000 feet. From the Karakol Lakes we drove to Gez on the north side of Kongur to continue our reconnaissance. Ward and I climbed several thousand feet up a hillside north of Gez to get a good overall view of the north side of Kongur as well as the Kongur-Kongur Tiubie ridge. We left Gez on July 7 using camels for transport and the following day established a Base Camp by the Kirghiz summer village of Tugnuk Kunush at 12,500 feet. Ward and I made the first ascent of Karatash Peak (17,850 feet), north of Kongur, on July 11. The north side has a possible but difficult route, clearly more problematic than that on the south. We left Gez for Kashgar on July 20, having decided to attempt Kongur next year from the southwest via the Koksel Glacier.

Christian Bonington