Matteo De Zaiacomo and I flew to Batken in southern Kyrgyzstan in mid-June and trekked two days to our base camp in the Ak-su Valley. The next day we checked out the south face of Ortotyubek (a.k.a. Ortotubek or Central Pyramid, 3,850m), and on June 24 we did the first ascent of Atlantide (700m, 6c+/7a) toward the right side of the face. We climbed onsight and left only one peg. During the last part we endured a thunderstorm, but we made it to the southeast ridge and descended at night from there, without going to the summit, returning to base camp after 22 hours.

We then attempted a previously climbed route, following the buttress on the left side of the same wall, but we didn’t finish because of another thunderstorm. We climbed 500m, up to 7b, over two days, using a variation to avoid a blankwall. This route had many holes where bolts had been removed. [Editor’s note: This is likely the southwest arête, established by a French team in the mid-1990s and free climbed at 5.12a, with variations, by Steph Davis and Kennan Harvey in 1997.]

After repeating a route on the Petit Tour Rousse and the Perestroika Crack on Peak Slesov (a.k.a. Russian Tower, 4,240m), I soloed a new route on July 15, the day before leaving base camp, on the lower part of Ortotyubek. I called it La Bolla (230m, 6b) and climbed it in three hours, self-belayed with a Megajul. Nice slabs and flakes. 

Luca Schiera, Italy