1. Climbing category: high-altitude technical
2. Climbing area, ridge: Central Pamir, Akademiya Nauk Ridge
3. Peak, its height, climbing route: Pik Komakademii, 6439 m, via the center of the southeast face.
4. Estimated difficulty category: 6B.
5. Route characteristics: — height difference — 1850 m, including wall section difference — 1480 m — ridge section difference — 370 m — length of sections with 5–6 difficulty category — 1650 m — average steepness of the route — 75°, including "lap" — 65°, "bastion" + "book" — 75–80°
6. Pitons driven:

7. Total climbing hours: 53 (first climber)
8. Number of bivouacs and their characteristics: 4 "sitting", 9 "lying", including seven "lying" bivouacs — waiting out bad weather
9. Surname, name, patronymic of the team leader, participants, and their qualification: Sedelnikov Viktor Nikolayevich, Master of Sports of International Class Kuramshin Rashit Midhatovich, Master of Sports Akchurin Marat Hasanovich, Master of Sports Khrebtov Nikolay Pavlovich, Master of Sports Balyukin Vitaly Alekseyevich, Candidate Master of Sports Denisenko Anatoly Akimovich, Candidate Master of Sports Shapovalov Valery Nikolayevich, Candidate Master of Sports
10. Team coach: Honored Coach of the USSR Ilyinsky Ervand Tikhonovich.
11. Date of departure and return: August 1 — reaching the summit on August 15, 1979 August 15 — returning to base camp on August 18, 1979

— A. Pyankov's route, 1965 — A. Bitny's route, 1972 — V. Sedelnikov's route, 1979 — Rockfall paths

Photo 1. View of the southeast face of Pik Komakademii — A. Pyankov's route, 1965 — A. Bitny's route, 1972 — V. Sedelnikov's route, 1979 — Rockfall paths

Brief explanation of the table "Main characteristics of the climbing route"

August 1

The team departed from the weather station at 5:00 AM and approached the wall. The route is planned in the right part of the "lap", which is protected from rockfall by overhanging rocks in its upper part. At 9:00, the trio Khrebtov–Balyukin–Shapovalov started processing the lower part of the wall, conditionally named "lap" (the lowest island of the central wall). Before the wall, there is a snow slope with a steepness of 30–40°, ending in a bergschrund that is crossed via a bridge. From the bergschrund begins a sheer wall 35 m high, which is climbed through a narrow 20-meter chimney, with about 5 m of ice at the bottom of the chimney. Challenging climbing. The chimney ends in a wall with a steepness of up to 80°, 10–12 m high. Next follows a series of chimneys unfolding into internal corners (photo 3), with a total length of about 40 m, climbed with challenging moves. From here, 200 m of varied climbing from easy to difficult on the ridge, overcoming numerous sheer wall sections up to 5–7 m high, internal corners with a steepness of up to 75–80°, and inclined shelves. Many "live rocks" and destroyed terrain. The ridge abuts a nearly sheer monolithic wall with few handholds (photo 4). The ascent starts with a vertical narrow slot, then continues up and left. Very challenging climbing. The top of the wall leads to an inclined platform. Processing is complete. They processed 8 ropes in 8 hours. The weather is good, warm.

Photo 2. General view of the route

Photo 3. On section R0–R1.

Route profile. (Shot from the ridge of p. 5929, photo by A. Moskovsky)

August 2

The team departs at 7:00. By 12:00, they overcome the section processed the day before. From the inclined platform along the rocky ridge, which is crossed by a river-waterfall, and where the rocks are partially covered with ice, they proceed to the snow slope. Above this slope begins the "bastion" with a steepness of about 80° and a length of about 400–500 m. Since there are no bivouac sites on the "bastion", some climbers remain to organize a "sitting" overnight stay under the shelter of a rock wall, while the duo Sedelnikov–Shapovalov goes further to process the route. The weather is favorable — warm and sunny. The snow slope with a steepness of about 50° is climbed in crampons with key belays. The lower part of the "bastion" consists of a system of walls and internal corners, 150–200 m long. Challenging climbing. The rocks are partially destroyed, with entire "live" blocks. 6 ropes are processed. A control cairn is left at the overnight stay.

August 3, 1979

At 6:00, the teams start overcoming the sections processed the day before. On the "bastion", to save energy, they pull up rucksacks in 3 places. The lower part of the "bastion" ends in a narrow inclined shelf, dividing the "bastion" into 2 parts. Here, they decide to organize an overnight stay and process the remaining part of the "bastion". The Akchurin–Kuramshin duo heads for processing, while the others prepare bivouac sites. From the shelf upwards, there are sheer rocks with overhanging sections (photo 6). Progress is made through a 40 m long slot, followed by two sheer walls, 25–30 m each, leading to a cornice, after which begins an inclined slab with a steepness of up to 70°, 18–20 m long. The slab leads to a wall with a steepness of up to 80°, 25 m high. Above is another slab with a steepness of 60–70°, over 40 m long, leading to a vertical wall with overhanging sections, 35 m high. Further, there is an exit to an inclined shelf where the team can gather. Having processed 7 ropes, the duo descends to the prepared overnight stay. The weather remained good all day, with cloudiness appearing in the evening. A control cairn is left at the overnight stay.

August 4

At night, snow grains fell. In the morning, there is solid fog. They decide to wait out the bad weather. At 10:00, it slightly cleared, and the snow stopped. The team departs to overcome the upper part of the "bastion". After the inclined shelf where they gathered, they traverse independently along a slope with a steepness of 50–55° for about 120 m and approach a sheer, wide rock massif. The massif resembles an open book, and it is logical to climb it along the right part, closer to the "spine" of the book. Moreover, on the shelf under the left part, there are visible traces of rockfall. This is the second and perhaps the main key section of the entire route. Under the "book", they organize an overnight stay. Using stones from nearby destroyed rocks, they construct platforms suitable for setting up 2 tents.

August 5

At night, snow grains fell again, the wind picked up, and fog persisted. The morning is unchanged. They wait for clearing. In the afternoon, the fog slightly broke, and the Balyukin–Denisenko duo departed to process the "Book". From the overnight stay begins a 40 m high wall with a steepness of up to 80°, featuring two overhanging sections. Next, after an inclined shelf, there is a sheer wall that is climbed up and left along a narrow shelf. A slight bend in the wall, and again a general vertical ascent up to 40 m. The rocks became more monolithic, reducing the number of handholds and cracks. Very challenging climbing, complicated by the recent snowfall. They decide to descend. 3 ropes of the "Book" are climbed. The weather has definitely worsened: — Snow is falling in flakes; — Strong wind; — Solid fog; — It has gotten cold. Temperature — –6°C.

At night, the weather further deteriorated, a blizzard began, and the wind strengthened to hurricane force. Every 1–2 hours, they have to clear the tents buried by snow drifting from the rocks. The team had a transistor radio, through which a broadcast from Dushanbe reported that a northern monsoon from India is approaching, which hit the Central Pamir regions and caused a powerful cyclone. The periodicity of such phenomena is once every 6–10 years.

August 7–8

The weather remains unchanged. They stay in the same place.

August 9

There are brief breaks in the cloudiness. The Akchurin–Kuramshin duo heads upwards. In challenging conditions, they climb another 2 ropes of the "Book". The wall has a steepness of up to 80°, composed of large blocks stacked on top of each other.

August 10

The weather is almost unchanged, with breaks becoming more frequent and snow less intense. The Denisenko–Balyukin duo departs with the hope of continuing processing. The walls of the "Book" continue. Very challenging climbing. The character of the rocks and structure are the same as the day before — blocks on top of blocks, with a face steepness of up to 80° and heights of up to 20 m. Handholds are found in the snow, or rather in needle-like snow-ice accumulations stuck to the rocks during bad weather. They resemble small, horizontally located "kalgaspory". They climb about 120 m and reach a wide monolithic inclined platform where a bivouac can be organized.

August 11

In the morning, for the first time in the last 7 days, the sun breaks through. Notable improvement in the weather. Snow stopped falling in the evening. They leave a control cairn at the overnight stay and head upwards along the processed 8 ropes. Progress is slow due to the remaining snow "lace" on the rocks and the effects of prolonged waiting at a considerable altitude with a reduced ration. They pull up rucksacks in two places. For the entire day, they climb only the processed part of the "Book" and stop for the night.

August 12

At 8:00, the Khrebtov–Sedelnikov–Shapovalov trio heads for further processing of the "Book". For about 100 m, the structure of the rocks and their steepness are the same as in the lower part of the "Book". The average steepness is up to 80°. Then the steepness decreases to 70–75°, and the rocks become more destroyed. Sheer walls are up to 8–10 m high, with short inclined shelves in between, featuring "live rocks". The last rock wall, with a steepness of up to 70°, ends in a gentle inclined platform. Above the platform, a snow-ice ridge is visible, where an overnight stay is possible. 6 ropes are processed. During the day, the slopes are covered in fog, with occasional snowfall.

August 13, 1979

In the morning, there is fog with visibility of 15–20 m. The team begins ascent along the hung ropes. After overcoming the "Book", they start ascending the snow-ice ridge and, together with the connection to the "knife" passed by A. Pyankov's group, they create a platform for an overnight stay.

August 14

From the overnight stay, they begin ascent along the southeast ridge, traversed by Uzbek climbers in 1965. The route passes first along the left ridge, then along a sharp rocky "knife", and further along the rocks to the top of the tower on the snow-ice dome. Here, near the left drop-off, not far from the dome of the south summit, they find a suitable platform for tents.

August 15

The Balyukin–Denisenko duo is the first to head upwards. After traversing the last hundreds of meters along the snow-ice dome, the duo reaches the south summit of the peak at 10:00. Then: — they descend to the saddle between the summits; — at 16:00, they ascend to the main (north) summit of Pik Komakademii. The descent from the summit is made along the southwest ridge to the Otrada pass and further along the western branch of the RGO glacier to the base camp.

Team coach: E. Ilyinsky Team captain: V. Sedelnikov

Photo Profile of Marurym. (Shot from the ridge of p. 5929, photo by A. Moskovsky)

Photo 8. On section R8–R9.

Website: www.alpfederation.ru ↗ Photo 10. Processing the "book". Section R10–R11. Website: www.alpfederation.ru ↗