Peak Lenin Expedition - June '15

Team leader and updates: Barend Engelbrecht
View Peak Lenin info and book online

30th June
All arrived at Base Camp and the weather is a real mixed bag. We saw some amazing scenes of nomadic herdsmen on route. Journey here involved our bus and we’re now settled into tents and going for acclimatisation walk tomorrow.

1st July
We had a good walk out this morning enjoying alpine flowers and fantastic views. Got back to camp as the afternoon thunderstorms started so just in time!

The team are finding Base Camp very comfy with good food including lovely food, especially the soup:)

7th July
The group are now at camp 2 where everyone is resting and in good spirits. The climb up was very steep with a traverse to get to Camp 2. The camp is located on a rocky outcrop to the far right of the glacier at 5300m. Satelite communications has been problematic but Be managed to get a brief call in for a weather forecast. Weather has been hot with really deep snow but we should be heading up to Camp 3 tomorrow.

8th July
We are still enjoying (sweltering) very hot temperatures and sunshine. The upside of this is the spectacular views and scenerey and even very special moments with colorful dragonflies and butterflies all the way up to 5100m. The downside to the conditions is the travel is very tiring. Due to this the group decided to not go back down to ABC as it is so hot. We have enough provisions to stay here at Camp 2 and acclimatise from here before going for our summit bid.
The snow conditions have also been extremely deep, making travel difficult and unfortunately Robert S felt the conditions were too much and left for ABC with the porters. He’s safe at ABC and making plans for his onward travel home.

10th July
The team did a successful carry up to Camp 3 with supplies yesterday. More deep snow all the way but the team coped with the conditions really well. They enjoyed Fantastic weather in the morning with some light snow showers in the afternoon.

Rest day today and assuming all is well we are planning to move up to Camp 3 tomorrow.

13th July

The team enjoyed their rest day on Friday, the camps are becoming busier now on the mountain. Saturday, the group made the decision to split into two with Rob and Pierre continuing to Camp 3 with Andrei, and Alex and James going down to Advanced Base Camp with Barend.

Rob and Pierre reached Camp 3 in very cold but good weather. On Sunday Rob decided that he had gone as far as he wished to, so Pierre and Andrei went on for their summit bid together. They reached 6460m before turning back. The whole team have been very strong so congratulations for reaching that far. The group are now together at Advanced Base Camp enjoying refreshing water melon! They are planning to head down to Base Camp tomorrow for their transfer to Osh.

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