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

V. Chon-Tor 4180 m

Ascent Passport

1. Region — Tian Shan, Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range, 7.4
2. Peak — Chon-Tor 4180 m, via the central buttress of the NW wall, "The Spirit of Adventure"
3. Proposed — 6A cat. diff., first ascent
4. Route characteristic — rock
5. Route sections characteristic Total elevation gain — 892 m Wall section elevation gain — 638 m

Alpinism Federation of the Republic of Buryatia "Gory Baikala" Alpinism Club Report on the ascent of the team from the Republic of Buryatia for participation in the Russian Championship in Alpinism in the snow-ice class To the summit of Chon-Tor 4165 m Via the right bastion of the Northwest Wall 6A, first ascent Ulan-Ude 2016

Ascent Passport

1. 7.4 — Tian Shan, Kyrgyz range, Belogorka gorge (Sokuuluk river).

R2 60 m 75° IV R1 40 m 2A R0 150 m 2A + +

Route Description

to peak 3900 m (site "Uglovoy") via NW ridge, cat. III Having left the bivouac located near the Hydrometeorological Station on Golubina Glacier, cross the glacier and approach the route. Section O–I — an inclined, free rock shelf with a slope of 35° is traversed simultaneously with belay on protrusions. A control cairn is located on a small ledge. From the control cairn, go straight up the wall with a slope of 65° — a passage of medium difficulty, 40 m. Convenient belay points. 8–9 pitons per rope. Section 2–3 — an exit to a gendarme — 60 m: the slope increases to 75°, belay points are convenient, rocks are heavily destroyed, also 8–9 pitons per rope. 4 hours from the start of the route. Bypassing the gendarme (section 3–4) along the main shelf with a slope of 40° simultaneously with belay through protrusions. Further, 120 m along a steep wall of medium difficulty with a slope of 85° (in some places up to 90°). Piton belay — up to 10 pitons per rope. From here, moving simultaneously in traverse to the left along destroyed rocks, exit to the summit. 4 hours from the gendarme. Descent along the ridge to the last gendarme (simultaneous movement). From the last gendarme, rappel 60 m to the western side with an exit to the main shelf. Further, to the ice-snow plateau and down the couloir of route 2A to peak 4 IO 7, descend to Golubina Glacier. Recommendations:

• Most of the route is traversed on friction, so it is not recommended to move along the route in bad weather. Note: I. In general, according to the length of sections of category IV, the route deserves category 4A difficulty, however, its relatively small overall length allows recommending it to be classified as 3B.

2. The large number of pitons indicated in the report is explained by the low qualification of the participants (III sports category) and the fact that this ascent was a first ascent.

Ascent Passport

to p. Uglovoy (3900) First Ascent

1. Type of ascent — rock climb. 2. Region of ascent — Kyrgyz range, Golubina lake area
2. Peak "Uglovoy" (conditional name) 3900 m according to NW classification, rock climb route
3. Proposed category of difficulty — 3B. 5. Route characteristics: height difference — 450 m, length — 530 m, including sections of III–IV category of difficulty — 220 m, average steepness — 58°
4. Pitons hammered — 14/2 protection gear — 11/4

Lo­ca­tion. The Peak 30 let VLKSM is lo­ca­t­ed on the ridge of the Ja­la­my­sh­sky spur of the Kyrgyz Range and is its first peak to the north of the junction, where this spur branches off in a practically meridional direction from the So­ku­luk­sky spur. To the north of the peak, its other neighbor, the Pan­filov Peak, rises. From the summit to the east, a counter­fors runs, which flows along the Yu. Ady­gene gla­cier, making a turn to the north. The entire northern slope of the counter­fors is co­ver­ed with a han­ging gla­cier, which forms a small gla­cier at the foot. The western slope of the peak is steep and dissected by numerous rocky ribs made of cry­stal­line chlo­rite schists. Ex­ter­nally, the summit re­semb­les a re­gular three-faced py­ra­mid and is well vis­i­ble from the entire Ady­ge­ne area.

As­cent via the North Ridge

The rou­te, like the pre­vi­ous one, starts from the "Elektro" camp­si­te and coin­ci­des with it in the ini­tial part. Af­ter the slope of the Elektro peak turns to the west, you should not go to the left mo­re­ne of the Yu. Ady­ge­ne gla­cier. You need to con­tin­ue mo­ving along the same hol­low in the south­ern di­rec­tion, where the beau­ti­ful py­ra­mid — the goal of the as­cent — is al­most al­ways vis­i­ble. The hol­low leads to the val­ley be­tween the Pan­filov Peak and the Peak 30 let VLKSM, which forms two cham­bers here:

• the north­ern one
• the south­ern one, ad­ja­cent di­rectly to the Peak 30 let VLKSM From this val­ley, the bot­tom of which is paved with mo­ren­ic ridges, it is nec­es­sary to as­cend to the ridge con­nect­ing the two men­tioned sum­mits. There are two vari­ants of the path to this ridge:
• The first one: along the slope with an exit to the col (the 30 let VLKSM pass) from the south­ern cham­ber. The path to the pass runs along a loose scree.