In July and August, Sam Spector and I attempted several unclimbed summits from a base camp at 3,943m below the Kotur Glacier in the Western Kokshaal-too. This we reached in a day from Naryn thanks to travel firm ITMC, our driver Anton, and his offroad-enhanced Mitsubishi SUV, which seemed much more reliable and comfortable than the Soviet-era trucks used on my previous trips to the area.   

Unfortunately, our various climbing attempts were stymied by conditions or weather. We planned to make the first ascent of Pik 5,611m, north of Pik Byeliy (Grand Poohbah, 5,697m), by traversing over the summit of Pik Korsun (ca 5,320m) at the northern end of this ridge. The latter was climbed by a Moscow party in 2000 and is sometimes incorrectly marked at the location of Pik 5,611m. Pik 5,611m itself was previously targeted by Pat Littlejohn and party in 2006, but they aborted the attempt at their glacier camp due to heavy snow (AAJ 2007).

From our base camp, Sam and I cut across to the Nalivkin Glacier via vestigial icefields east of Pik Lvitsa (4,631m) and made a camp at 4,923m between Piks 5,055m and Korsun. We set off early on the morning of August 4 for the northeast ridge of Korsun in perfect weather but felt forced to retreat at around 5,058m due to the deep, hollow, unstable old snowpack that seemed widespread across the northern aspect. 

After returning to base camp, we later crossed Kotur Pass to reach a cirque on the southern (Xinjiang) side, overlooking the Rudnev Glacier. Since only its border peaks have been climbed so far, this cirque presents notable climbing objectives for future parties, especially if one were able to attain access from within Xinjiang. The main summits appear well-guarded by rock walls and complex ridges, rising up to 600m to 700m above the snow (see photos in the gallery below).

Below the pass, we found ourselves navigating complex glacial topography with several icefalls and only thin coverage of old snow. We camped at 4,574m at the base of straightforward-looking Pik 5,082m, immediately south of Pik Babouchka (5,282m), but withdrew due to exceptionally high overnight winds within a prevailing stormy pattern.

— Paul Knott, New Zealand