In July 2024, Uzbek climber and guide Vladimir Dolgiy led a team to attempt what had recently been revealed as the highest peak in Uzbekistan. In 2023, this mountain in the Gissar (Hissar) Range, along the Uzbekistan-Tajikistan border, was climbed for the first time by Eric Gilbertson and Andreas Frydensberg (AAJ 2024), by the east face. They verified that the peak was higher than nearby Peak 4,643m, previously thought to be Uzbekistan’s highest. Frydensberg and Gilbertson called the mountain Alpomish, after an ancient Turkic dastan (an epic oral history), well known in Uzbekistan and many parts of Central Asia.

In 2024, Dolgiy applied for permission to attempt a 55-kilometer approach to the peak through Uzbek territory but was denied by the government, partly due to some of the route being mined, so the team decided to approach from Tajikistan. Dolgiy and eight others trekked from Sarytag up the Dikondara Valley and over the Udobnykh and Kendal passes to a camp around 4,000 meters, northeast of the mountain, where they spent three days acclimatizing and scouting a route.

On July 18, after a late start due to bad weather, Andreas Aschaber, Emil Sagitov, Umid Salamullaev, and Anton Tkachenko fixed four ropes up a broad couloir on the peak’s northwest side, reaching a col on the north ridge. The next day, the group set off at 8 a.m. and ascended the ropes to the col. Salamullaev and Tkachenko led the way up the summit slopes, climbing two steeper pitches on rocks and snow, and fixing ropes. They were joined by Aschaber, Dolgiy, and Anastasia Kostetskaya, and after celebrating at the summit, the five rappelled the route and made it back to camp at 2:30 a.m.

The team has applied to the Uzbekistan government for the peak to be named Sharq Yulduzi (“Star of the East” in Uzbek), as they believe it would be a more appropriate name.

—Damien Gildea, AAJ, with information from Vladimir Dolgiy

Alpomish, Northwest Face Variation and New Elevation Measurement: In 2023, when Andreas Frydensberg and I made the first ascent of the peak we named Alpomish, I took a highly accurate GNSS device to the top to measure the elevation, but it didn’t work properly that day. In 2025, Serge Massad (Canada) and I returned with newer equipment, approaching in two days from Sarytag. We planned to climb the northwest face, following an easier-looking route that was climbed by Vladimir Dolgiy and his team in 2024.

On July 6, we simul-climbed steep snow in the northwest face couloir to the saddle north of the summit. From here, the 2024 route went up and right, but it was melted down to ice this year. Instead, we climbed up and left from the saddle, mostly on rock but with some ice, for four pitches up to M3 5.7. The new GNSS device worked properly, and our data showed that Alpomish is 4651.37m +/-0.09m (EGM2008 geoid). —Eric Gilbertson, USA