Central Tien Shan, Overview. The weather during the 1998 season in the Central Tien-Shan (Khan-Tengri/Pobeda region), typified by a lot of snow and storm, was extremely terrible. Peak Pobeda was climbed by only a few groups; one of them, from Japan, spent three days on the west summit plateau. One person from this group died before they were able to descend.

Vladimir Shataev, Russian Mountaineering Federation