When I began pulling together an expedition to explore part of the Pamir, I had no set objective except to arrive with full kit and see what turned up. After coffee with Mark Thomas, a friend and highly experienced climber, he was in. Also joining the team were Tom Coney and Rich Jones.

Originally we had hoped to explore the Rushan Range, but as we neared our departure in late April we learned the snow level was higher than expected, and we decided to shift our focus to the Academy of Sciences Range (Akademii Nauk), farther to the north. This massif is best known for the mountain once known as Peak Communism (7,495m), now called Ismail Somoni, the highest mountain in the former Soviet Union. We planned to climb in the southern part of the range, west of the head of the huge Fedchenko Glacier. The area accessed by the Vanj (Vanch) Valley offers many unclimbed 5,000m peaks and great potential for first ski descents. This area was explored by Soviet teams, but other than their ascents of the largest peaks, including Peak Revolution (6,940m), little is known of their activities.

Poi Mazor was the ideal starting point as it has a serviceable ex-Soviet truck that can reach the base of the Academy of Sciences Range in spring. The subsistence-farming village is welcoming and spectacularly different from what I had expected to find in Tajikistan. Our home-stay family was unsettled about us heading into the mountains for 25 days—and we soon found out why.

Heavy late-spring snowfall affected by the Central Asian sun meant that enormous wet-slab avalanches dominated. By day three we had moved everything to advanced base camp at 2,800m. Here we saw heavy rain and 20cm of snow but predominantly fierce daytime heat—we had been expecting it to be much colder. We would start all of our climbs at 2 a.m. to escape the thick, sucking slush that developed below 4,000m after midday.

We first explored up Bear Glacier, but this route to the Fedchenko Plateau (5,000m) was deemed impassable, as the final section was a sheer wall of hanging seracs. On the descent I fell and cracked my fibula, ending any climbing hopes I had.

The boys then took a two-day reconnaissance up the Abdulkahor (Abdukagor) Glacier and set Camp 1 at 3,800m. This glacier was just as crevassed as Bear but offered a safer route up to the upper Fedchenko, reached by Abdulkahor Pass at ca 5,050m.[Editor’s note: This was the route followed by two relatively recent British expeditions, in 1992 and 2005. These teams did several probable first ascents of peaks up to 5,900m.]

A wealth of unexplored peaks can be reached from the Abdulkahor, including one 6,300m summit, which had been our team’s target. Due to oncoming bad weather and an injured team member sitting at ABC, however, the plan was changed and instead they chose “Abdulkahor 1” (5,350m, 38°36'15”N, 72°13'42.1”E), on the north side of the Abdulkahor Glacier. This they reached via technical climbing on a snow/ice arête at 5:30 a.m. on the third day. They then skied down the Abdulkahor Glacier.

Fresh bear tracks worryingly followed the skin-track to over 4,400m, making us realize just how many Tien Shan brown bears were about near ABC. We decided to relocate to the RGS Glacier (Royal Geographic Society Glacier), about 5km from the pickup point, and try for another peak there. (The Vanj Valley runs from southwest to northeast, and the RGS, Bear, and Abdulkahor glaciers extend to the northeast from a valley spur that trends southeast.) However, the RGS was far less welcoming than either the Bear or Abdulkahor, with 10km of 30° moraine and hollow snow before skins could even be put on. I heard the words “hideous” and “epic” used a few times after the first gear drop. Despite this Mark and Tom completed a two-day, alpine-style, likely first ascent of a 5,105m peak (38°43'12.2"N, 72°10'58.0"E), with a short M6 crux at 4,800m. They skied an 800m, 45° couloir back down after dawn.

The Pamirs house hundreds of virgin peaks and boast the longest glacier outside the Polar regions, which has never been fully traversed. We saw scintillating ridgelines, an imposing 1,000m north face off the Bear Glacier, more rock climbing firsts than you could shake a nut at, and a 6,000m peak that looked so much like K2 we dubbed it K2 Junior. We were blown over by the amount to do just in the small region we visited, and are already planning a midwinter trip for 2015.

Upon several recommendations we used Sharaf Saidrakhmonov and his recently established Pamir Alpine Club for logistics. He was simply the best we could ask for: flexible, reliable, a brilliant negotiator (vital), and on 24-hour call. Although my injury wasn’t serious enough for helicopter assistance, Sharaf provided the option. Tajikistan was a constant delight, and it was surprisingly easy to reach the aptly named “Roof of the World.”

Susanna Walker, U.K.

Editor's note: More photos can be found at the expedition's Facebook page.