Central Federal District Climbing Championship 2022 (altitude and technical class)

Report on the ascent of Misses peak (4425 m) via the right buttress on the wall, Yu. Shevchenko 1976, 5B cat. difficulty

The route was completed by a team from St. Petersburg - Moscow

Moscow 2022

Ascent Passport

Western Caucasus, 2.5. From Kithlod pass to Gezhevek pass (north of the Main Caucasian Range)
Misses peak (4425 m) via the right buttress on the wall, Yu. Shevchenko 1976
Route type - combined.
Height difference ≈1130 m. Route length ≈1730 m. Length of sections: ≈5 cat. difficulty 550 m, ≈6 cat. difficulty 200 m. Average slope of the entire route ≈53°. Average slope of the wall section ≈70°.
Pitons left on the route: total - 0, including bolted pitons - 0. Total points used on the route: 100 (anchor pitons - 50, camalots - 50, bolted pitons - 0). Of these, 7 for ITO. 2 old pitons removed.
Climbing hours to the summit: 25 hours over 3 days (3 hours on the first, 8 hours 30 minutes on the second, and 11 hours 30 minutes on the third).
Coaches - Gagarinov A.Yu., Kornev V.M. Team leader: Maksimova Lomara Aslanovna, 1st sports category Team members:

Gagarinov Aleksey Yuryevich, 1st sports category
Kornev Svyatoslav Vladimirovich, 2nd sports category

Approach to camp - July 5, 2022, at 14:00 Start of work on the route - July 5, 2022, at 15:00 Summit reached - July 7, 2022, at 18:30 Return to base camp - July 8, 2022 E-mail of the person responsible for the report: ymahaster@gmail.com

General photo of the summit

Section diagram from Leonkin's report (2019)

Route Diagram

Route description and section characteristics

Section #	Description	Difficulty	Length, m	Angle, °
R0–R1	Ascend snowfield to the base of the buttress. Crampons may be needed early in the morning.	1	30	30
R1–R3	Up and right on "ram's foreheads". Anchor piton protection. Moderate climbing.	4	60	80
R3–R4	Left and up on "ram's foreheads" overgrown with grass. Challenging climbing. Mostly anchor piton protection.	5	50	60
R4–R5	Up a system of walls and ledges. Moderate climbing. Mostly anchor piton protection.	4	50	40
R5–R6	Right and up a steep, pronounced inner corner. Hanging belay under a cornice. Challenging climbing. Plenty of belay opportunities.	3	40	30
R6–R7	Bypass the cornice on the right and climb up the inner corner to a 50 cm wide ledge. Very challenging climbing, especially at the start. Plenty of belay opportunities. 1 ITO point	5	40	70
R7–R8	Climb left and up a crack in the wall. Challenging climbing. Then right and up a system of walls and ledges to the base of an inner corner.	5	30	70
R8–R9	Up the inner corner, then up a system of walls and ledges. Moderate climbing.	4	30	50
R9–R10	Left and up, cross a small wall. Then down into a scree gully. Cross it and continue up and right along the gully. Belay on a convenient ledge on the buttress. Moderate climbing. Terrain is heavily broken.	4	50	60
R10–R11	Traverse 15 m right to the base of a wide crack. Moderate climbing.	4	15	0
R11–R12	Up the crack to a horizontal slab 2x2 m. Old bolted piton present. Challenging climbing. Easy to set up belays.	5	30	70
R12–R13	Right and up an inner corner. Very challenging climbing. Terrain is partly heavily broken. At the end of the section, a cornice needs to be overcome head-on and climbed under a large jammed rock forming a "plug". 1 ITO point	6	40	85–110
R13–R14	Climb under the "plug" and then up the wall. Crux section. Very challenging climbing. 5 ITO points	6	30	80
R14–R15	Traverse right, then left and up a system of walls and ledges. Moderate climbing. Terrain is heavily broken.	4	55	70
R15–R16	Up walls. Upper part of the section features steep slabs with difficult belay setup. Challenging climbing. The ridge of the buttress ends here.	5–6	30	40
R16–R17	Bypass the wall with a rightward traverse and climb up along the scree gully (move along the left wall of the gully). First 15 m have limited belay opportunities. Challenging climbing. Belay at the base of the Garf ledge. Here we encountered a snow-ice gully.	6	30	50
R17–R19	Move left and up along the Garf ledge, then up a series of ledges to the base of the bastion forming the shoulder of Misses-Tau. Some challenging sections up to 10 m. Terrain is heavily broken.	3–4	180	30
		3	50	40
R19–R22	Up simple rock on the left wall of the bastion. Climb to the Misses shoulder.	3	140	40
R22–R24	From the Misses-Tau shoulder, move up the ice, bypassing the rock island on the left	2	120	50
		4	90	30–50
R24–R25	Up simple rock to the top of the rock island.	3	40	60
R25–R26	Up a series of inner corners to a sloping ledge. Challenging climbing.	5	50	75
R26–R27	Traverse left along simple scree ledges under a steep wall.	3	50	20
R27–R28	Up the wall to the summit ridge. Rock is heavily broken.	5–6	40	80
R28–R29	Up simple rock on the ridge to the Misses-Tau summit	4	160	40

Ascent graph and weather conditions

Tactical actions of the team

July 5, 2022, approach

Departed around 9:30 from Bezengi alpine camp, arrived at the glacier under the start of the route at 14:00. It was cool on the glacier, so we decided to start climbing immediately.

July 5, 2022, start of work

Started working on the route at 15:00, reached the second rope length and stopped at a convenient ledge. Gagarinov sets up camp, Maksimova and Kornev proceed with processing. Rain and dense fog forced us to stop work after 1.5 rope lengths.

July 6, 2022, second day

Resumed movement at 6:00. Reached a good ledge under the rock crux by 14:00. The male team members insisted on another bivouac, citing worsening weather in the evening. Gagarinov sets up camp, Kornev and Maksimova process 3 rope lengths by 17:00.

July 7, 2022, third day

Used up all gas and resumed movement at 7:00. Reached the Misses shoulder by 14:30. Moved quickly up the snowy slope, bypassed the rock island, and climbed the summit tower. Spent some time due to difficulties with orientation. Reached the summit at 18:30, descended back to the shoulder by 21:30, and set up camp. Contacted Masha Mironovskaya from "Tekhnolog" via radio and went to sleep.

July 8, 2022, descent

Tiring rappel operations: first on rock, then on mixed terrain to the glacier, and then on foot. Arrived at base camp by 16:00.

Overall, the route is straightforward with manageable climbing difficulties. The only challenging part was the summit tower; otherwise, the route is logical with many ledges for bivouacs. Most of the time, the team didn't follow a specific tactic, which didn't prevent them from reaching the summit in good spirits and with energy to spare.

Lead climbing by sections:

Sections R0–R7 and R14–R20: Maksimova
Sections R7–R14 and R20–R29: Kornev
Entire route: Gagarinov worked as the last climber

Unfortunately, upon returning to the city, the phone with records of chronometry, number of points, and some photos became unusable, making some assessments in our report approximate.