Eurasia

23-year-old guide Temur Kurdiani made the first solo ascent of the mixed 5A/M5+ route to the 4,869-meter summit, tackling 80-degree ice and vertical granite in just 4 hours.

According to information from mountain.ru and planetmountain.com: 23-year-old guide and alpinist Temur Kurdiani completed a solo first ascent of a route. The line follows steep, mixed terrain, and the climber graded the difficulty at 5A/M5+. Starting at 4000 meters, the ascent climbs the wall to 4700, where it joins the classic route all the way to the summit at 4869 m. The climb took just 4 hours, despite encountering sections of 80-degree ice and vertical granite. ![](https://summitx.info/media/1/lweRCxxrjJ6xkntiaPFoHsQenFkIyRwP

Essentially a first ascent. Rather than following the ridge through bergschrunds, we kept significantly to the right, almost hugging the rocks. The crux was an 8-meter ice wall at about 80°.

Ice section length: 680 m Ice slope angle: 55–60 degrees 80 m traverse across a snow slope, then a couloir with broken terrain 120 m long, angle 40–50 degrees. The climbing is not difficult, but delicate, as the terrain is heavily broken and protection is unreliable. In winter the couloir is filled with snow - deep trail breaking uphill. Then turn left onto rock. Grade III rock 90 m, angle 50–60 degrees. Protection on passive gear, belay stations on ledges. The climbing is not difficult, but delicate, as the terrain is broken. Move from the couloir right to left in the direction of the summit. Descent via rappel bolts to the upper snowfield of the Korona Glacier, below the bergschrund, and then on foot to the Korona hut.

The route starts from the upper cushion of the Uchitel glacier along the north face of Semenova Tian-Shanskogo peak to the right of the icefall. There are quite large ice crevasses on the approach to the bergschrund. From the bergschrund, the first 4.5 pitches are easy 55-degree ice until reaching a large ice ledge. From the ledge, another 5 pitches of the same ice lead to a small ledge before the rock section. The final part of the route begins along a 20 m rock couloir and then exits left onto a rock ridge. In the couloir and on the ridge, the terrain is heavily broken, the steepness is 40–50 degrees, Grade III rock (5b fr), protection using natural features. The section length is 80 m. Descent from the route, depending on conditions, is either via 3A Erapunova or via the ascent route.

In autumn 2025, two ice streams formed on the northern wall of Pik Korona. The first ascent of the right stream (rated 5A in the Russian classification) was made by Aleksandr Parfyonov's team in early 2026. The first ascent of the left stream was made by Konstantin Markevich with Aleksey Pototskiy in the second half of March 2026. Further, according to Aleksey: Last year was very hot in July. And as a result of this circumstance, two new routes formed on the northern wall of Pik Korona. The charm of these routes is that this year or next, such conditions may not happen, and these routes may not exist. But while they are there - we have to climb 😁 And we did. One route was climbed by Parfyonov with a partner in February, and the second one - Kostya Markevich and I last week. Honest 5B and this is the coolest ice in the area. The icicle itself is 170 m of 87-degree lace cascade ice. And before that, there's another 30 meters of A3 ice climbing. The lower part is 450 m of gentle ice at 55-70 degrees. Work on the route

Weather in Ala Archa National Park by month: temperature, stability, precipitation, and safety recommendations for climbers.

People often ask about the weather in Ala-Archa, when the best season is, and when it's safe to ice climb. I've decided to put this information into a micro-article. January Stable weather, many sunny days, often calm. The temperature at Ratschek hut is -10 to -20°C with rare deviations from this range. However, there's only 2 hours of sunlight per day, not enough to warm up. February Almost like January, but towards the end of the month, stability is lost – March is approaching. March Very unstable weather. Stormy winds can last for 2 consecutive days, and fog can hang for 2 weeks. Heavy snowfalls are rare but possible. On good days, even in early March, it's sometimes possible to walk in a T-shirt when the sun is out. Daytime temperatures range from -10 to +5°C. April The same March winds, but it gets warmer. May

Opportunities for solo ascents of unclimbed peaks in Nepal, permit regulations, and new summits open to alpinism in 2024.

A query from a reader (ExplorersWeb's reader — editor's note) planning a trip to Upper Mustang drew our attention to the hurdles independent climbers face when planning their Himalayan projects, especially solo ascents or attempts on unclimbed peaks in restricted areas. We reached out to a Nepalese tour operator for clarification on obtaining such permits. Q&A \ Matt Powell from the US asked: I was hoping you could provide me with some clarification regarding Nepal's rules for solo climbers, particularly in restricted areas such as Upper Mustang and the Nar Phu valley. Is it possible for a single climber (myself) to obtain a permit to climb a peak in a restricted area if I use the services of a Nepalese guide? And if so, how do I go about it? Dawa Stephen Sherpa clarified that it is possible. However, he added, the climber must obtain the permit through a registered and certified trekking agency in Nepal. The main question, however, lies in what permits the climber needs and what are the requirements for each. It turns out that it depends on the height of the peak and involves various permits and procedures. Expedition Peaks Peaks above 6,500 m are considered expedition peaks and require a permit and the presence of a sirdar/guide and liaison officer on the expedition, increasing the cost. Permits for these peaks are issued by the Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation of Nepal. Once the climber has paid for the permit, the agency receives a letter from the Department of Tourism, which must be presented to the immigration department, issuing a second permit: the Restricted Area Permit (RAP). This allows the climber to enter the restricted zone at no additional cost, since they have already paid for the climbing permit.

Maciej Bereta, a Polish traveler, made the first winter solo ascent of Mt Pobeda in Yakutia, one of the coldest mountains on the planet, and was awarded the 11th Shackleton Award for crossing the Anabar Plateau.

Unless you live in Siberia or Canada's Arctic, you likely don't know cold like Maciej Berbeka, a Polish computer science specialist and traveler who has been undertaking solo climbs for over a decade in what he calls some of the coldest and most inaccessible mountain ranges and plateaus on Earth. Berbeka's latest expedition took place in February. It was the first winter solo ascent of , and it perfectly illustrates his longstanding interest in extreme cold and autonomous travel. The Coldest Mountain on the Planet? Pobeda, the highest peak in Yakutia, was previously climbed in winter in 2018 by climbers Simone Moro and Tamara Lunger. Moro called it "the coldest climb in history, on the coldest mountain on the planet," as temperatures as low as -70˚C have been recorded in the region. Berbeka started his winter solo from the same point as Moro and Lunger. He ascended in a single day, tracing a line through deep, loose snow all the way. "Of all my solo winter ascents in North Siberia, this was definitely the most challenging," he said. "Others were just as cold, maybe even colder, but none were even close in terms of technical difficulties and snow conditions," he added. Berbeka reached the start of the route on skis, then switched to crampons and ascended via the south wall, repeating the route through the central couloir taken in 2018. Summiting in the Dark