Tajikistan: We climbed a 6000m peak

Tags: Alpinism, Asia, Extreme Altitude, Mountains, Pamir 2008, Tajikistan

A lot of unexpected things have happened during this Pamir expedition. First the Tajik police claimed that we had no permit to travel into the northside of Pik Karl Marx. So we had to travel all the way south into the Wakhan corridor on the border to Afganistan and Hindu Kush, to reach Pik Karl Marx from the southside.

This was a route we did not plan for, and thus did not know very much about. We wasted 4 days carrying food an equipment into a dead end valley without water. So we decided to cancel Pik Karl Marx and go for easier accessible Pik Leningrad (6200m) in the same area.

Peter and Lyngve reached the summit of Pik Leningrad July 16, while Andrew turned around 800 metres below the summit. After that Peter went to Dushanbee to catch a helicopter to Pik Kommunizma BC, while Lyngve and Andrew traveled to Kyrgyzstan to attempt Pik Lenin. Even before we reached BC, we decided to abort Pik Lenin because of an injury Andrew had. So we went to Bishkek instead.

Here in Bishkek Andrew will try to get an early flight home, while Lyngve will continue backpacking on his own. But there will be no more time for high mountains, just pleasant hiking and traveling in the eastern part of Kyrgyzstan.

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