Report

On the ascent of the North Face of Pik OGPU (First Ascent) 5B

Kiev — 1966

Introduction

The object of the ascent, Pik OGPU, is located in the upper reaches of the Biivachny Glacier in the central Pamirs. This area is frequently visited by mountaineering expeditions and is quite well studied both geographically and sportingly. However, until this season, no attempts had been made to ascend Pik OGPU. Our team became interested in Pik OGPU as an object of ascent back in 1964. Then, after a successful ascent of Pik Engels, our team leader V. M. Abalakov first told us about the north face of Pik OGPU, and also provided initial information about the face itself, the rocks, and the nature of ascents in this area. Over the past period, we managed to gather extensive material that gave a fairly complete picture of organizing an expedition to the upper reaches of the Biivachny Glacier, as well as the peaks, the nature of ascents, relief conditions, weather, etc. As a result of this preparatory work, the Central Council of the Spartak Sports Society announced Pik OGPU for the USSR championship in the 1966 season.

№	Surname, First Name, and Patronymic	Sports Rank	Year of Birth	Party Membership	Sports Experience	Profession	Place of Residence
1.	KUSTOVSKY Anatoly Alekseevich (team leader)	Master of Sports	1925	Non-partisan	Since 1949	Engineer	Kiev, Druzhby Narodov St., 18a, apt. 14

–2– ASCENT DOCUMENT

1. Ascent Class — High-altitude Technical
2. Ascent Area — North-western Pamir. Okt. Magistral
3. Ascent Route — with indication of the summit and its height Peak Miroshkin (5900) via the south-eastern spur, approximately 5A cat. dif. (first ascent)
4. Ascent Characteristics — height difference — 1200 m average steepness — 45° length of complex section — 100 m

Ascent

to the peak Russia via the Southeast ridge (first ascent) by the team of Moscow City Council of the DSO “Spartak”

Central Pamir, 1972

Map of the area

From August 1 to 10, 1972, the Central Council of the Spartak society conducted an expedition of climbers in the area of Peak Communism. Due to a delay in the helicopter, the expedition found itself in a very difficult situation, as the valleys of the Muksu and Sauk-sai rivers with numerous tributaries presented a serious obstacle even for a caravan, let alone the transportation of goods by people. The caravan did not have the necessary number of horses, and time was clearly insufficient. Transporting five hundred kilograms of food and equipment by horse to the confluence of the Bivachny and Fedchenko glaciers for an expedition of over fifty people did not change the situation much. The base camp on the Bivachny glacier (3900 m) was only established on July 24, and the route planned for the USSR championship had to be changed. A new route, never before attempted, was chosen - the Southeast ridge of Peak Russia (6852 m).

Brief characteristics of the area

The Central Pamir is bounded to the north by the Muksu River and to the south by the Bartang River. To the east, the area is bounded by the Zulumart range, and to the west by the western spurs of the Petra Pervogo and Darvaz ranges, as well as the Pyanj River near Khorog. The relief of the Central Pamir is heavily dissected. It is home to:

Climbing Passport

1. Climbing category — high-altitude
2. Climbing area — Central Pamir
3. Climbing route — p. Rossii (6878 m) via the southeastern wall
4. Climbing characteristics: altitude difference — 2200 m average steepness — 62° length of complex sections — 1400 m
5. Pitons used: rock pitons — 104

ASCENT DOCUMENT

1. Ascent class — High-altitude
2. Ascent area, ridge — Akademii Nauk Ridge, Central Pamir
3. Peak, its height, ascent route — p. Rossiya 6852 m via the Bastion on the SE wall
4. Proposed difficulty category — 6
5. Route characteristics:
   1. Height difference — 2050 m, Bastion height difference — 1150 m, "lap" — 800 m
   2. Length of sections with 5–6 difficulty category — 1460 m
   3. Average steepness of the "lap" — 55°, average steepness of the Bastion — 75–80°, average steepness of the route — 70°
6. Number of pitons: for belaying: rock — 236, ice — 7, "chocks" — 40; for creating Intermediate Technical Objects (ITO) — 10

416

Description

Ascent route to Sandal Peak (6150 m) via the NE ridge from Maly Tanymas Glacier (first ascent) Group composition:

1. Volynets G.I. — leader, Candidate for Master of Sports.
2. Mikhailov A.A. — participant, 1st category.
3. Efimov S.D. — participant, 1st category.
4. Yakovlev G.S. — participant, 1st category.

Route timeline

The route was completed from August 3 to 8, 1967, in 45 hours of climbing time by a sports group from the Sverdlovsk Pamir Expedition, starting from the base camp at 3450 m on Maly Tanymas Glacier.

Ascent Log

1. Type of ascent: High-altitude technical climb.
2. Region of ascent: Central Pamir, Yazgulemsky Range, Peak Sentyabrsky (Szent-Ekzyuperi) northwest of the Abdukagor-2 pass.
3. Peak, its height, ascent route: Peak Sentyabrsky (Szent-Ekzyuperi), 6063 m, combined route via the left edge of the western wall.
4. Estimated difficulty category: 5B.
5. Route characteristics: Height difference 1160 m, average steepness up to the summit ridge 54°. Length of sections with 6th category complexity — 50 m, 5th category complexity — 500 m, 4th category complexity — 800 m, 3rd category complexity — 300 m.
6. Number of pitons hammered:

For belaying and creating artificial holds

rock — 30 ice — 87

Peak Sodruzhestvo

To the Classification Commission of the Presidium of the USSR Alpine Federation

Description of the ascent route to the summit 5640 m

The 5640 m summit is located in the central part of the Pamir in the Academy of Sciences Range between Peak Kommunizma (7495 m) and Peak Garmo (6615 m). The 5640 m summit stands out distinctly on the ridge, having a beautiful outline. A small glacier flows down from the slopes of the 5640 m summit, being a right tributary (orographically) of the Vavilov Glacier. The first ascent to the 5640 m summit was made by participants of the British-Soviet expedition consisting of: – 1. Hunt J. — group leader – 2. Law J. — member – 3. Jones R. — member

Report

On the first ascent to Pik Tельмана (5970) via the Southwest ridge from the Bivachny glacier by the team of Ukr совет ДСО «СПАРТАК» consisting of:

• Komarov N.P. (team leader)
• Denisenko P.N.
• Ladnushkin V.M.
• Starodub O.V.
• Sulimovsky N.V. [^0]

Mt. Dvuzubka (N), 1509 m, 2A, cat. difficulty

Mt. Dvuzubka (N) 1509 m, via North Ridge 2A, cat. difficulty. The 1509 m peak (the left peak of "Dvuzubaya") is located in the central part of the peninsula, 82 km along the Petropavlovsk-Nachiki highway. It's 8 km east from the highway to the foot of the peak. Ascent plan to Mt. 1509 on November 6:

• 18:00 - departure from the city
• ski approach to the lake at the foot of the peak November 7, 8:00 - start of the route and ascent to the summit. 14:00 - descent from the summit to the base camp. November 8 - return to the city.

Route Description

From the lake, which is at an altitude of 600 m above sea level, approach to the north ridge of the 1509 peak. The approach takes 1 hour. R1 - from the start of the route, 300 m upwards along the northern ridge through a snowy couloir - the northern ridge - heavily destroyed rocks, slope steepness is 25-30°. Movement is simultaneous. Corresponds to 1B cat. difficulty. Approach to monolithic rocks.