P 5445 Attempt and Ascents of Jianshier Feng, P 4348, P 4203 and P 4300. An Anglo-Irish party of five, Mike Banks, Joss Lynam (joint leaders), Phil Gribbon, Paddy O'Leary, and Barrie Page, aged between 60 and 72, climbed the Bogda Feng group of Tian Shan, east of Urumqi in Xinjiang during August. They attempted the highest summit (5445 meters) but were stopped by steep slopes of bare ice. (A Japanese team from Tocigi Alpine Association climbed the peak with the aid of 1600 meters of fixed rope.) Four smaller peaks were climbed: Jianshier Feng (4304 meters), unnamed (4348 meters) (called by us Eric's Peak — for Shipton), unnamed (4203 meters) (called by us Snow Dome), and unnamed (approximately 4300 meters) (called by us Isolde Feng). (The first two heights are taken from CMA Guide to Mountaineering in China, the third from the Japanese map in the AJ 1983, the fourth by aneroid.) We think maybe 4348 and 4300 had not been climbed before. Records in Europe are very scarce, but there has been a lot of Japanese and Korean activity, though mainly directed at 5445. We also walked up several 4000-meter hills. There still seem to be plenty of interesting peaks to climb, and the Xinjiang Mountaineering Association is very helpful.

Joss Lynam, Alpine Climbing Group