From July 24–30, 2018, Evgeny Murin and Ilya Penyaev (both from Russia) made the first ascent of the south pillar of Kyzyl Asker (5,842m). The route follows the obvious ridge line to the left of the 2016 Lindic-Papert ice couloir, Lost in China, probably joining that route for the last six pitches to the top of the pillar and summit ridge, where the Russian route appears to terminate.

The pair approached from the Kyrgyzstan side (snowshoes were used) and placed base camp on the unnamed glacier below the face at 3,800m. They south pillar is broad and has no clear crest, which made route-finding complex. The team used a tent for their eight bivouacs, and after the first two days of sunshine they experienced mixed weather (one day was spent waiting out bad weather near the top of the pillar). They completed the 1,170m route in 31 pitches at 6B (ED2 7a+ A2 M5). Around a dozen pitches involved aid, and 33 drilled placements were used. They descended the route in 28 rappels over one and a half days and were back at base camp on August 1.

– Information supplied by Elena Dmitrenko, Risk.ru, Russia