Alex Gonzalez and I took advantage of a good weather window in mid-July to open a new route on Peak 4,300m, a sharply pointed summit nestled between Odessa and Kyrkchilta peaks in the Ak-su Valley.

The new route runs up the northeastern spur of this peak. We simul-climbed most of the route, with difficulties up to 5. About 300m from the summit, we led several pitches up to 6b+. The descent was slow, and we had to place four or five bolts for rappels. We slept on some ledges about 800m above the ground and in the morning continued down toward the gully on the right side of the face. In total, we spent about eight hours on the descent.

Our route gained about 1,300m, with 1,700m of climbing distance. We named it in memory of our friend Álex Villar, who had died while wingsuit proximity-flying.

We later learned there was previous route on the northeast spur of Peak 4,300m, led by A. Kotelnikov in 1992. That party approached up our descent gully before starting their climb on the face, making for a shorter route. Our line climbed the full height of the spur; it was mostly to the left of the 1992 route, crossing it near the top before finishing on the right.

— Manuel Ponce, Spain