Ascent Passport

1. Tian-Shan Kyrgyz range, Ak-Sai gorge.
2. Peak name: Korona 5th tower 4860 m
3. Route V. Balezin (1996), center of the southwest wall, 6A
4. Route type: combined
5. Route elevation gain: 850 m. Route length: 950 m. Section length:

• V difficulty category 600 m
• VI difficulty category 110 m. Average steepness:
• main part of the route — 80°
• entire route — 70°

6. Pitons left on the route: total 3; including bolted 0. Pitons used on the route: 22, chocks: 64. Bolted pitons were not used. Total artificial protection points (APP) used: 10

7. Team's travel hours: 18 h, 2 days

8. Leader: Temerev Ivan Mikhailovich, Candidate Master of Sports

Team members:

• Aldyn-Kherel T.V.
• Parshin A.V.
• Tulaev D.N.

9. Coach: Novoselova Galina Vladimirovna

10. Route start: 07:00 August 31, 2006 Summit reached: 13:00 September 1, 2006 Return to Base Camp: 17:00 September 1, 2006

Photo of the general view of the peak Korona 5th tower (4860).

Photo taken from the Ak-Sai glacier on August 30, 2006.

Photo with threads of nearby routes

1. Egorov V. 5A
2. Sadovsky V. 5B
3. Balezin V. 6A
4. Ruzhevsky V. 5B

Photo taken from the Ak-Sai glacier on February 8, 2006.

Route description by sections

From 07:00 to 21:00 — 14 h. From 09:00 to 13:00 — 4 h. Total 18 travel hours. Clear sky.

R1 07:30. III–IV. Left of the stream, in the center, the first rope is 45 m, an inner corner, leading to a shelf. 45–90°. Convenient belay.

R2. In the center, icy rocks. Therefore, move up to the right through a series of inner corners. 45 m, IV, 75–85°, 1 piton, 1 chock, 1 friend. Inconvenient belay.

R3. Then 25 m, IV, 75–85° through corners. Convenient belay on a shelf. Above the shelf, the entire wall is in clouds.

R4. Traverse down 4 m and right 20 m IV, then up a vaguely defined buttress 20 m IV, 80–90°. Convenient belay.

R5. Up the buttress 40 m, IV, 90°. Convenient belay.

R6. 45 m, II, 30–45°, along the shelf to the wall. Convenient belay. However, icicles occasionally fall from above! Nothing large ever hit us, but it kept us on edge the whole time. 12:00. Sun, high sparse clouds.

R7. Wall 4 m, V+, 90°, move along the hooks (detachments) V, 45 m, 90° towards the inner corner. At its beginning, on a small shelf, there is a belay — there are pitons. Convenient belay.

R8. Large inner corner 20 m, V+, 85–90°, 4 pitons, 2 chocks. Pendulum left along the path from the corner to a series of sloping shelves. There is a piton, a chock, and a loop for the pendulum. Transition left beyond the corner. Along a series of shelves left-up, past a detachment (where old ropes are lying) 30 m, IV–V, 70–85°. Convenient belay.

R9. Series of walls-shelves 45 m, IV–V, 80–90°. Inconvenient belay, there are pitons for a station.

R10. Inner corner 10 m, VI, 90° (at the exit from the wall, there is a piton). IV–V, 35 m, 90° right-up. Inconvenient belay, on small shelves, semi-suspended.

R11. IV–V, 15 m, 85–90° up-right and left 10 m, 90° inside detachments to the wall under the cornice (ice is hanging!). Bypassed on the right V, 20 m, 90°. Inconvenient belay.

R12. V, 40 m, 85–90° along the wall. Inconvenient belay on a detachment. 19:00.

R13. A1, 10 m, 90° on pitons through the inner black corner. Left-up along the detachment 15 m, V, 85–90°, 4 friends. 10 m, V, 90° up. Convenient belay on a shelf, there are pitons for a station. Formed a category cairn.

R14. 3 m to the right 90° and exit to a scree couloir — III–IV, 45 m, 45–75°. Inconvenient belay.

R15. 25 m right-up III, 45–50° — scree shelf. 21:00. Made a platform for a bivouac. Snow fell at night. Climbing in crampons in the morning. 09:00 September 1, 2006. Sun through clouds. Low clouds hang in the valleys.

R16. Inner corner 10 m, IV 90°, chimney 20 m, III, 65–90° — right onto shelves from the chimney 3 pitons, 4 friends. Convenient belay.

R17. Left along shelves III, 15 m, 50° and up the ice-filled chimney 20 m, IV, 75–90°, 2 pitons, 5 friends, 1 chock. Right-up III, 10 m. Convenient belay on a shelf.

R18. Up-right walls-shelves III–IV, 45 m, 50–90°. Convenient belay.

R19. Right through the inner corner 25 m, III. Convenient belay.

R20. Exit to the ridge 30 m, II simultaneously. Strong wind, snow, and fog. 13:00. Did not find the control note in the summit cairn, although a pair of Tomichs had passed here before us in winter, and several Ural groups in summer (we saw old tracks on the ridge). From the 3rd tower, 4 rappels on "self-ropes". Behind the bergschrund at 15:00. Sun, windless. At the Korona camps at 17:00 (glacier is open and heavily crevassed).

Photos of sections

R1

R2

R7

R8

R11

R12

R13

R14

R16