In August 2025, the Russian team of Egor Matveenko (leader), Evgeny Korulin, Artem Pivovarchik, and Tikhon von Stackelberg climbed a new route up the north face of Svarog (5,005m), at the head of the Ashat gorge. The north face had previously seen only two routes, both by Russian climbers, the first completed in 2014 by a group led by Konstantin Markevich and the second in 2021 under Alexander Parfenov.

Before the ascent of Svarog, Korulin and Pivovarchik made a two-day acclimatization climb on August 1 and 2, completing a partial new route (Russian 5B) on Parus West (4,850m), joining the 2012 route up the southwest buttress from a start farther to the south. The route included long sections of unstable rock, damaged both ropes on the final pitches, and left Korulin with a foot injury during the descent.

For the new route on Svarog, the four climbers left advanced base camp at 5:10 a.m. on August 4. Their line followed the most central system of slabs, corners, and dihedrals above the glacier. From the bergschrund to the summit, the height gain was about 1,300 meters, with a measured route length of 1,690 meters and an average angle of more than 80°. The team reported extremely laborious climbing on shattered rock (Russian 6B), with aid up to A4 in fractured sections and iced cracks.

They climbed without prior fixing, moving simultaneously where the terrain allowed and regrouping at solid anchors in broken sections to keep the leader from sending debris onto the others. Three nights were spent in a single portaledge, which they moved higher each day.

At 4 p.m. on August 7 they reached the summit ridge and the small top tower, where they found and replaced the water-stained summit note from the 2021 ascent. The next morning, they began rappelling their line of ascent, spending a fourth night on the wall before returning to the glacier at 12:30 p.m. on August 8. 

—Anna Piunova, AAJ, with information from Tikhon von Stackelberg, Russia