A group of nine young British alpinists—Emma Crone, Joel Evans, James Matthews, Cora Moffat, Dave Searle, Sam Simpson, Libby Southgate, Simon Tracey, and Emily Ward (leader)—intended to operate from the Navlikin Glacier, at the southern end of which lie several unclimbed 5,000m peaks, including Peak 5,411m (incorrectly marked on the AAC map as 5,611m, north of Byeliy). Upon their arrival the glacier looked very crevassed, so they decided to reach its head by first going up the Kotur Glacier and then crossing a col to the west. Unfortunately, very unsettled weather and waist-deep snow on the Kotur during September meant that only four made it over the col. They were then pinned down by a storm and failed to summit anything.

Meanwhile, however, members of the expedition managed to climb every single peak around the lower 8km of the Kotur Glacier, including two peaks north of Peak Jjin that don’t appear on the map. With prior research having been dedicated to the potential of the Navlikin, it wasn't until returning home that further research confirmed every peak they climbed had been summited at least once before. However, their routes on Metel (4,850m), Greta (4,725m), and Lvitsa (4,631m) are likely new, and some others are partially new routes or variants.

Download a full report (28 MB) with maps and route photos.

Lindsay Griffin, with information from Emily Ward, U.K.