In 1940, the Soviet military officer VS Yatsenko visited the Ak Baital (Ak Baikal) Valley, gazed up at the five peaks forming the ridgeline at the back of the basin, and declared “the passage of this route would have done credit to any master mountaineer.” In the intervening years, only one expedition had attempted any of these summits—Oleg Silin’s Latvian expedition (AAJ 2015), which climbed a peak at each end of the ridge—so our team of five set out to prove ourselves as master mountaineers. As it turned out, 75-year-old Russian climbing beta is not always of the highest quality, and while we successfully climbed four new routes, a traverse of the ridge eluded us. Its chossy, fractured mess was more suited to master levitators than to climbers.

We flew to Osh in Kyrgyzstan and then traveled overland, flooding our 4WD in a river on the drive-in before establishing a base camp at 4,700m and then an advanced base on the glacier at just over 5,000m. With only two and half weeks available, we eschewed a traditional approach to acclimatization and instead adopted the policy of “climb very high and then sleep there.” For the most part this gamble paid off, although we were sad to part ways with Alistair Docherty early in the expedition, as he was unable to shake off a bout of traveler’s diarrhea.

On August 11, James Monypenny soloed the unnamed peak at the east end of the ridge. He climbed the north face by a route he named DofE Bronze (500m, PD+ 50°), a new line on this ca 5,570m summit, which was first climbed via the northeast ridge in 2014. ( This is the Latvians' Pik 5,560m, which they climbed at 2B.) On the 14^th, Emily Ward also reached this summit solo, this time via the west face and south-southwest ridge, close to the route descended by both Monypenny and the Lativans (500m, F).

James soloed Pik 5,792m (Russian map height), lying in the center of the watershed ridge, on the 14th. He climbed the serac-threatened northwest face on hard, brittle ice, then the northeast ridge, and finally the east face to reach the summit, naming the route DofE Silver (800m, D 75°). This was the first ascent of the peak, for which we propose the name Mt. Emily. James made eight rappels from Abalakovs down the face, returning to camp 12 hours after setting out.

Two days later, Clay Conlon and I repeated James’ route on the ca 5,570m peak to make the fourth ascent of the mountain. On August 18, Emily and James attempted the second peak (ca 5,700m) along the ridge from the western end. They climbed an east-facing snow couloir to a col and then moved north along the ridge until stopped by a steep, loose rock wall. Their route to the col has been named Pie Josh Horrowshow (500m, AD 55°).

During the return journey two of the team were denied travel home through Russia due to visa issues. Nonetheless, Tajikistan was a great country to visit. There is no requirement for peak permits or liaison officers. It is easily accessible by road from Osh, has tremendously friendly locals, and offers interesting routes (on terrible rock). The weather during our first week was largely stable; during the second we experienced longer periods of precipitation, including snow. However, the weather was generally felt to be more benign than typically expected in the European Alps. We are most grateful for the financial support granted by the Mount Everest Foundation, British Mountaineering Council, Alpine Club Climbing Fund, and Austrian Alpine Club. Click here to download a comprehensive expedition report.

George Cave, Alpine Club, U.K.