Camilla Reggio and I met on the Eagle Team of the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) and immediately became friends, connected by our huge passion for the mountains. We decided to plan our first expedition together and ended up in Kyrgyzstan, with the intent of climbing the incredible granite of the Ak-su Valley and hopefully opening a new route.

Walking up and down the valley in search of possible lines, we were impressed by the 500m south face of Peak 3,850m (a.k.a. the south buttress of Slesova Peak). The following morning, August 12, we brought all our gear up to the wall, carrying incredibly heavy haulbags for hours. We found a five-star bivy spot—a small cave for two people lying close together—and got to work. 

We opened the first pitches, placing cams and pitons and one bolt for each anchor, then returned to base camp, as excited as little kids. We returned the following day with food and sleeping gear. The route that followed was amazing, but harder then expected. We mostly opened it traditionally, bolting only when strictly necessary (ten lead bolts in 15 pitches).

In all, we spent about a week on the route, with four bivvies in the cave, including one night with a terrible storm, trapped in the dripping cave and wondering if we would drown. The very next day, we managed to climb all the wet pitches and open the last ones, reaching the foresummit of Peak 3,850m (about five or six pitches of easy climbing from the true summit) in the dark, screaming with joy after 15 pitches of struggles. 

When we finished the rappels, we had a final night in our luxury hotel and went back to base camp the following morning, with backs destroyed by the heavy sacks but hearts full of happiness and satisfaction. We called our route Messy Dreamers (500m, 7b). [The two women freed all but two pitches of Messy Dreamers during the first ascent; Elias Annila (Finland) and Misha Mishin (Russia) repeated the route soon after and freed the eighth and 12th pitches at 7b and 7a, respectively. The route lies between Una Stella per Ulughbek (1996), to the left, and Un Train pour l’Espace (2019) on the right, briefly intersecting the latter.]   

                  —Alessandra Prato, Italy