REPORT

Red Banner Turkestan Military District ON THE FIRST ASCENT OF "SHIPKA" PEAK 6254 m VIA THE WESTERN RIDGE FROM YAZGULEM-DARA, CATEGORY 5B The route was claimed for the primacy of the Armed Forces of the USSR in the high-altitude category. Tashkent – 1968 Shipka Peak (6254 m) is located in the upper reaches of the Yazgulem-Dara River, in the southern spur of the Yazgulemsky Range, in the ridge extending from Peak October Revolution (6974 m). The most accessible approaches to the peak are from the Yazgulem-Dara Glacier. Only one route of category 4B difficulty (approximately) had been previously laid to the peak, via the southern ridge from the col between Shipka Peak and peak 5682 m. The group believed that the most interesting and challenging route could be laid via the western ridge. Preliminary reconnaissance of the route revealed that the route to Shipka Peak is a sharply rising ridge with two horizontal sections. There are two towers on the ridge:

• the first is in the middle section, over 300 m high;
• the second, the summit tower, is over 600–700 m high.