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Class: technical.
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Tian-Shan, Kokshaal-Tau.
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Pik Alpinist, (5492 m) via S ridge.
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Proposed category: 5A, combined.
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Height difference: 1450 m, length: 2700 m. Average steepness of the rocky part is 45 degrees, snow and ice part is 30 degrees.
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Pitons driven:
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Climbing hours: 40 and days: 2.
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Overnight stay: on the ridge.
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Leader: Alexis Deschamps.
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Participants:
- Jurgen Christ Francois Onimus
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Coach:
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Departure: August 24, 1996.
Return: July 26, 1998.
Route Description
Most of the climbing on the route (approximately 500 m) corresponds to roughly IV+, V+ on the French scale. The rocks are composed of limestone. The route follows the left edge of a triangular rock wall, which is the termination of the northern ridge into a gorge. The upper part of this edge consists of
Start of the route.
highly deteriorated rocks, with many loose stones. There is one section (key location) rated VI, A0 (simple climbing on artificial holds). A total of 4 pitons were used; mainly, protection was achieved with nuts. None of the pitons were left on the route.
The overnight bivouac is estimated to be at 4800–4900 m. After the bivouac, there are no significant technical difficulties to the summit. Overall, the route is rated TD (French scale), corresponding to our 5A category.
In terms of time:
- from the start of the route to the bivouac — approximately 12 hours of climbing
- the group reached a suitable bivouac location only around 21:00
Since it was cold to sleep in bivouac bags (the group did not bring a tent, as is common in the Alps), they slept for only a few hours and continued moving along the ridge early in the morning. The ridge was covered with a deep layer of fresh snow, significantly
slowing down their progress. The ascent from the bivouac to the summit took 10 hours. They reached the summit at 14:00. During the descent, in the fog, the group failed to find the correct path along the eastern ridge and had to backtrack in search of the right route. Eventually, they managed to locate a rappel anchor left by a team from Moscow Region in 1993. By that time, it had gotten dark; however, the fog had cleared, and the group continued descending under the light of the moon. At an altitude of around 5000 m, the climbers found a tent belonging to Russian alpinists Valery Boyko, Roman Saliy, and
Vladimir Veshnyakov, who were attempting a new route on the eastern ridge. After having a snack and resting for a bit, the group continued their descent and reached their tents on the glacier around 9:00 AM. The descent from the summit to the start of the route took the group 18 hours.
On the pre-summit ridge.
