Alpine Tien Shan Expedition News 2nd August 2008

Alpine Tien Shan Expedition News 2nd August 2008.

The Team Leader : Matt Stygall

Joseph Durkin

Andrew Price

Adam Pollard

John McAllister

Kate McKerrow

Claire Maxted

Rachel Gooch

Kevin Gooch 

14th August – The team are now back in Karakol and are enjoying being back in civilisation, especially the vodka. The team reached a fore summit at a height of 4900m on their final peak just a couple of hundred meters short of the main summit, due to the difficulty of the terrain between the fore and main summit, they took the sensible option to not go any further. Well done to all the team.

10th August – Matt called in today, the team have been successful in bagging a virgin peak (4745m) and a new route on another peak as well, not bad for a Alpine Skills course. The team have been practising some more skills today and are hoping to bag another unclimbed peak (c4800m) tomorrow, before heading back to Karakol.

6th August – The group have arrived at BC after an interesting journey from Karakol. One of the rivers they had to cross was in spate which meant they had to pitch camp on the river bank until the next day when the water level had dropped. All the team are enjoying the dramatic landscape that will be there home for the next few days. Matt described the mountain range as stunning and only one peak has been climbed in the area previously, which was by our local guide. So there are plenty of options for the group to choose from. They will make there first foray onto the peaks tomorrow.

4th August – The group have all arrived safely into Karakol after their 8 hour journey from Almaty. They departed Karakol this morning for Kuilu where they will set up BC.

31st July – The group will depart the UK on the 2nd August