Peak Korzhenevskaya Expedition July 2013

Although Peak Communism wasn’t a success this year we had an awesome trip and great success on Peak Korzhenevskaya, enjoy this photo of the team on the Summit.

Departed 23rd July 2013

Leader and Updates: Sean James

20th August: The snow has continued and all teams have abandoned the mountain. A trail of over 50 climbers are all headed down and we everyone will be back together at Base Camp tomorrow. It is anticipated the helicopter will come early maybe 22 or 23 and the season is effectively over with no summits of Peak Communism this year.

19th August: The team have spent a second night at 6100m. All climbers on the mountain are sitting tight at the moment as light snow and cloud are forecast for the next two days.

17th August: The team are in position at 5400m today and made good progress. They are settled in fo the night in anticipation of an early start to gain the plateau at 6100m tomorrow.

16th August: The team have had an extra rest day down at base camp. They plan to head up to ABC today and then move to Camp 1.5 at 5800m the day after that before attempting to cross the Somoni plateau proper the following day.

12th August: The team are all down at base camp and having a well earned rest along with celebrating Grant’s birthday. in the next few days they will start establishing the camps on Peak Communism.

10th August: Sean has emailed in this morning. At 11am this morning Will, Grant & Dave along with local guide Andrei reached the summit of Korzhenevskaya. A fantastic sustained effort in clear skies but very windy conditions. Matt is currently heading down with John Young who reached the summit on 9th August (for those people following in Dubai).

The forecast is looking great for Peak Somoni (Communism) and we will allow a few days rest at base camp before getting the camps in place for the double header. The support from Andrei, the porters and the head Russian guides here is warmly appreciated and has been first class. The camaraderie of the teams here rivals anything experienced in other mountain destinations.

The team is also hoping to put Andrei on the top of Somoni thereby completing his Snow Leopard journey. In previous years he has climbed to the summit of Khan Tengri and back in 12 hours, truly staggering achievement.

More messages from base camp tomorrow after the big celebrations. More than 25 climbers received their certificates at base camp and the glacier was rocking to the sounds of Russian techno and vodka toasts.

9th August: Sean phoned with an update: On the summit attempt today Matt had a slip – he’s fine – but they all came down together to Camp 3. Tomorrow, Matt will go down but Will, Grant & Dave plus one guide will attempt the summit again.

In case we don’t hear from Sean over the weekend – we’d like to wish Grant a Very Happy Birthday for the 11th.

8th August: Sean phoned with an update today from Base Camp where he is managing proceedings. The 2 Martins have unfortunately had to abandon their attempt of Chetito. They both are suffering a bit with stomach bugs so are thinking they may decide to leave early when the helicopter arives on 11th.

Will, Matt, Grant and Dave went up with the local guide to Camp 3 on Korzhenevskaya today to 6400m. They aim to make their summit attempt tomorrow. The weather forecast is not looking great, but they aim to give it a go so good luck to the team!

4th August: Team have now returned from Camp 2 on Korzhenevskaya after spending a night there. Myself and two Martins came down from Camp 2 with upset stomachs. Were all  now at Base Camp and resting from the long route.

Myself and the 2 martins may consider a beautiful 6200m alternative peak called Chetiro if were not able to join the team going up to Korzhenevskaya in a couple of days time with Andrei the excellent local guide.

Weather is holding now with some rain, cloud and snow but all manageable.

31st July: The team minus Jason and myself summited Vorobiya today at 5700m and they loved it. I spent a day playing table tennis and drinking beer.

Maybe rest day tomorrow for everyone. Weather has been great and the team are fine. We are still being given VIP treatment here and the head guide and BC manager are super attentive to their special British guests.

30th July: The team are planning on completing more acclimatisation on Vorobyova Peak tomorrow. We did a second carry up today which went well with everyone feeling good.

We have been at Base Camp for a few days now which has been perfect to acclimatise there with excellent Base Camp facilities including great food and internet.

Vorobyova Peak is a big step up with height (5700m) but we’ll go for that and see how we acclimatise then head down to Base Camp again. I’ll email an update after we we return to BC.

28th July: Sean called to say the team have finally arrived at Base Camp after some delay with the helicopter flight in. They will be taking the next couple of days steadily to acclimatise to the altitude and recover from the long journey.

25th July: The team have now arrived in Dushanbe feeling very tired after such a long journey. We have now sorted ourselves into the hotel and bought lots of provisions and relaxing.

Tomorrow we are driving 8 hours to Djirgital then taking a helicopter to Base Camp.

23rd July: The Team departs on the 23rd July 2013.