Kodar Range, Stolb (2,850m), west pillar. Russians Bashkirtsev, Davydenko, Glazunov, Pedenko, and Veretenin, from the Siberian city of Irkutsk, made the first ascent of the pillar forming the left edge of the west face of Stolb, the southwest summit of Czar’s Throne. The team climbed this 700m rock route in 14 60m pitches, from February 23 to 28. The overall grade was 6B. A large terrace splits the face at one-third height, and the team spent four nights here while working the route above. They made one more camp halfway up the headwall. They regained the foot of the face on March 1. Only the summit day was clear; on one day they were unable to move due to weather and wind. This route was one of seven nominations for the 2009 Russian Piolet d’Or.

The Kodar lies east-northeast of Siberian Lake Baikal. The highest summit rises to over 3,000m. In February 2003 a team from Krasnoyarsk established a new route on the 1,000m southwest face of Czar’s Throne. Graded 6B, it was at that time probably the hardest on the mountain, though the poor quality of rock led to the amount of free-climbing being minimal.

Anna Piunova, www.mountain.ru