The Ashat Gorge is interesting not only for its natural beauty but also for its wall routes. The logistics are quite simple: Fly to Osh, get to Uzgu- rush by ground transport, say hello to Nurudin, load 265kg on five horses, pay the carriage for three days of travel, and end up walking two days. A base camp can be set up by the river, three to four hours of walking from the walls.

The highest peak in the region is Sabakh (5,300m), which has five routes of 25 to 30 pitches up its north wall. Our objective in 2021, Pik Svarog (39°34’41.0”N, 69°55’22.8”E), is about 300m shorter than Sabakh, but its north face is steeper, rising more than 1,000m above the bergschrund. On the left side of the wall is a huge roof. [Svarog’s elevation has been given as 4,960m and 5,100m; the 2021 team measured the summit as 5,000m with their GPS.]

Until last summer, only one route had been climbed up the face: The Russian team of Vladislav Dubrovin, Vadim Kalinkin, Konstantin Markevich, and Dmitry Skotnikov spent 10 days in the summer of 2014 on their route, which they reported as having 1,250m of climbing (6B A3+). In 2014 and 2015, there were two attempts to climb this wall in winter by a team of Krasnoyarsk climbers, led by A. Zhigalov. Quite recently, a team of Chelyabinsk climbers made the second ascent of Markevich’s route.

Even in midsummer, there is a lot of ice on the wall, and in some places there is snow on the ledges. It is best to climb in lightweight two-layer boots, comfortable for all kinds of technical terrain. We were a combined team from Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, and Moscow, consisting of Ratmir Mukhametzyanov, Alexander Parfyonov, Alexey Sukharev, Nikolai Stepanov, and Vyacheslav Timofeev. We packed the standard equipment: a dozen of that, a dozen of the other, and a drill and a bunch of bolts. We left bolts with nuts in especially difficult places, but without a hanger, because they are valuable and we had few of them. We used portaledges on the wall; there was snow or ice along the entire route, so we didn’t have to carry water.

We began climbing on August 10 and reached the summit on August 13. Our route ascends the north face to the right of the 2014 line and completely independent of it. The route began with a 500m ice slope (60–70°), interspersed with two rock bands of 20m and 30m, respectively, climbed in boots (no harder than 5c). The rock at the very bottom of the main wall was not as reliable as we would have liked. Once I had to drill holes in the wall to bypass loose blocks. After about 100m of rock climbing, we reached the site for our first bivouac.

The next day, aid climbing prevailed along a system of broken cracks and flakes. On the third day, we managed to overcome the prominent arching roof, overhanging 100° to 110°, with some drilling. Above this, we found vertical walls with fine cracks and inside corners with thin flows of ice. We spent a third night under a roof with a chimney. Above this, we began to encounter more snow-covered ledges and some corners with ice, making it possible to move faster. Before the ridge, there was a good pitch of ice (50m, 50–55°). After 36 pitches, we reached the ridge and continued easily to the top, returning to our high wall camp on the night of the 13th and to base camp on the 15th.

My personal impression is that I would not go back to this route. But I want to return to this wall! If I am lucky enough to be in this gorge again, I will climb another first ascent on this mountain.

— Ratmir Mukhametzyanov, Russia, with additional information from Anna Piunova, Mountain.ru