"Main Dzhangitau via the North-East buttress — category 5A" (Schwarzgruber, A. Larin, Peringer, Taper — 23 July 1935; N. Chekmarev and G. Skornyakov — 23 August 1936; Fig. 39).

From Bezengi alpine camp, follow the trail along the left-bank moraine of the Bezengi gorge up to the Missekosha hut. From the hut, on the south side of the meadow, follow the trail down, across the meadow with graves of climbers who perished in the Bezengi area, and descend to the Bezengi Glacier. Traverse the glacier, keeping to its left side, up and past minor icefalls and crevasses near the left bank, and then up the center-right of the glacier to its fork into left (East) and right (North-West) branches. Under the icefall of the East branch, turn left under the talus and grassy ascent of the left-bank moraine. Follow the trail right of the stream that flows from the trough between the moraine and the slopes of Pik Semenovsky down to the main Bezengi Glacier, and ascend to the moraine. Camp on the moraine. From Bezengi alpine camp — 3–4 hours.

From the camp (with crampons!) traverse the glacier to the right side of the base of the North-East buttress of Main Dzhangitau.

From the glacier, ascend the avalanche debris (avalanches!) between two rocky outcrops, through a bergschrund and along a gully, and then up a snowy slope to beneath the main rocky ascent of the North-East buttress.

Bypass it via a snowy ascent on the right (avalanches! rockfall! icefall!) and exit onto an ice ledge (pitons!). From initial camp — 3–4 hours.

From here:

• left and up rocky terrain of medium difficulty and an ice-snow slope (pitons!) — ascent onto the North-East buttress;
• from there, right and 80–100 m up simple and medium-difficulty rocks of the buttress (“live” rocks! pitons!), small slabs are bypassed via snow-ice slopes on the right;
• then, up a snowy slope — ascent onto a horizontal snowy ridge;
• behind it, 160 m up destroyed rocks of medium difficulty — into a small snowy cirque;
• from the cirque, 200–250 m up the ice-snow buttress, which gradually steepens, — exit onto rocks;
• 120 m up rocks of medium difficulty;
• then, along a sharp 240–260-meter snowy ridge (cornices!) with a steep ice-snow ascent in its lower part (belay!) — ascent into a cirque beneath the base of the snow-ice “knife”.

Camp in the cirque. From initial camp — 12–14 hours.

From the cirque:

• up a steep ice-snow slope (pitons!), then along a ridge — ascent onto the “knife”;
• from it onto a plateau;
• from the plateau, through two bergschrunds — exit onto a steep snow-ice slope and up-right along it (ice screws!) onto rocky outcrops of the East slope of Main Dzhangitau;
• 200–240-meter ascent along a rocky-icy slope (“live” rocks!) and, through a cornice, exit onto the snow-ice dome of Main Dzhangitau.

From the plateau — 9–10 hours.

From the summit, descend via the ascent route or through East Dzhangitau. In the second case:

• from the summit, left and down a gentle snowy ridge with minor simple rocky slopes;
• then along a sharp snowy ridge (cornices!) with minor steep ascents and descents (pitons!);
• behind an ice dome, descend onto a wide snowy ridge beneath East Dzhangitau;
• from the col, 100-meter snowy slope ascent onto East Dzhangitau;
• on rocks, 4–5 m below the exit onto the snowy dome of the summit — a cairn.

From Main summit — 1.5–2 hours. For further descent, see description 118.

Recommendations for climbers

1. Number of participants — 4–5 people.
2. Initial camp — Bezengi Glacier or its left-bank moraine.
3. Departure time — 2–3 AM.
4. Equipment: main rope — 2×40 m; accessory cord — 3 m; rock pitons — 6–8; ice screws — 5–6; carabiners — 10–12; crampons — 4 pairs; rock hammer — 2; tent — 1.
5. Camping locations — on rocks at the lower part of the North-East buttress, on a horizontal snowy ridge of the buttress, on a 200–250-meter ice-snow buttress, on a snowy plateau above the buttress, on Main Dzhangitau, on a snowy ridge and col between Main and East Dzhangitau, on East Dzhangitau, and on the descent route — see description 118. Depart from all camps no later than 4:00 AM.
6. Main Dzhangitau 5050 m via the North-East buttress — category 5A