In late September, Ryan Johnson and Samuel Johnson (unrelated) attempted a huge ice and mixed route on the ca 1,400m southeast face of Kyzyl Asker, reaching 5,300m on the first day. The pair hoped to tackle the mixed headwall the following morning, but a snowstorm that began during the night pinned them under a tarp at their bivouac, and after 24 hours they began rappelling, narrowly escaping injury from avalanches during the descent. [This is the same route attempted by several parties, including three attempts by Ines Papert and various partners.] On the 600m Ochre Walls, they climbed Mr. Casual (IV AI5), a new thin-ice finish to the left of the route Beefcake (Decapio-Isaac, 2001).

Dougald MacDonald, from information supplied by Samuel Johnson