APPROVED
CHAIRMAN OF THE VORONEZH REGIONAL COUNCIL OF DSO "ZENIT" A. PERSHIN "22" November 1972
Report
on the ascent of the Voronezh Regional Council of DSO "Zenit" team to the summit of Mamisong-hokh — 5B cat. dif. (4358 m)
The ascent was made in the technical class competition for the primacy of the Central Council of DSO "Zenit".
IV. Route description
July 24. Departed from "Torpedo" tourist center at 5:00. Followed along the Tsey-don River to the Tsey Glacier, then ascended the glacier, passed through the "sheep's foreheads" and Khitsan pass, and reached the snow plateau of the North circus of the Tsey Glacier near the peaks of Mamisong-hokh and Changahi-hokh. Set up a bivouac on the snow plateau in front of the central ridge of the north wall of Mamisong-hokh, from where the route was conveniently observable. Directly in front of us was a snow slope descending from the ridge leading to the eastern summit. The base of the slope was broken by a wide bergschrund with high vertical walls.
On the same day, a team of two ascended to process the bergschrund, fixed ropes across it, and further up to the beginning of a wide inclined ledge that went up and to the right along the wall.
July 25. Departed from the bivouac at 5:30. Ascended via the processed section to the ledge; the ledge was partly composed of rocks covered in ice, and the rocks were heavily destroyed. The length of the ledge was 150–180 m, with piton belays and many loose "live" rocks.
The group ascended along the ledge to an ice bridge (15 m, 50–60° slope). After crossing the ice bridge, they reached the rocks and, traversing 25–30 m along the boundary between ice and rocks, approached a chimney-type couloir that went steeply upwards (40 m, 80°, piton belays).
This couloir led to an ice ridge and then to the base of a rock wall (25 m, 85°). The wall was climbed directly. After a short traverse to the left, they approached the base of another 30-meter wall; to the side, under a large, hanging red slab, two platforms for a semi-reclined bivouac were set up. Water dripped from the hanging slab, and there was ice.
After overcoming the wall via an internal angle with formed ice, they approached a hanging wall, which was bypassed to the right along a horizontal ledge (40 m) and destroyed rocks. Before them was a rock wall with a wide vertical crack (10–12 m, 80–90°). This was the key section of the route. The wall was climbed using ladders; the first climber went without a backpack.
Above this section, they encountered snow-covered and partly ice-covered slabs with a slope of 40–60° (80 m). They ascended these slabs to a short snow-ice ridge before a small gendarme on the crest. Here, they carved out a platform in the ice for a tent and began their overnight stay at 17:00.
July 26. Departed at 5:30. After overcoming the gendarme from left to right and traversing 80–100 m along the crest, they approached the base of the tower of Mamisong-hokh East. The tower was composed of slabs with an average slope of 60°; the length of this section was 300 m. Both teams climbed with alternating piton belays. They ascended the slabs to a pre-summit snow slope. After overcoming it, the group reached the East summit of Mamisong-hokh at 12:00. They began their descent to the first gendarme on the crest leading to Mamisong-hokh Main at 13:00. The descent and ascent to the first gendarme were along heavily destroyed rocks. The ascent to the second gendarme was not difficult; they descended from it via a 20-meter rock wall with rope retrieval. Further along the sharp snow crest, they approached a steep snow-ice slope (60 m, 45°), above which was another, less steep snow slope leading to the main summit. The group reached the summit at 15:00. The weather began to deteriorate, so they immediately started descending. The descent was via the couloir of the 3A cat. dif. route to the South circus of the Tsey Glacier, after which they ascended the slopes of Nikolaev Peak. The weather worsened, with poor visibility due to fog. They stopped for the night at 18:00.
July 27. Departed at 6:30. After traversing Nikolaev Peak, they descended to the "ice axe plateau" and then to the camp.
Δ — Bivouac locations
