Pik Lenin & khan tengri attempts
Sulayman-too & Peak Petrowski
July 2021
In July 2021 I joined up with my friend Eric Gilbertson for an attempt on some 7000 meter peaks in Kyrgyzstan. I don't really feel the need to go into a long and drawn out trip report here, but I will say this shit is real. I had a hard time breaking past the 6500 meter threshhold given my very tall height and high metabolism made it very tough for me to sustain the required energy I needed to push for multiple weeks at very high elevations. The food we were given at the base camps was not sifficient enough for my caloric requirements and after 3 weeks acclimating on Lenin, I lost 20 pounds, which explained why I was not able to go higher than 6500 meters on Lenin, or make any real headway when I attempted Khan Tengri.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the logistics for these mountains. I will include a brief overview here. I flew into Osh, Kyrgyzstan through JFK, Amsterdam, and Moscow (very long trip!). Once in Osh I met the rest of my team and we supplied and took a private van transport to the Lenin base camp. We spent 3 weeks on Lenin, making multiple pushes, with the first hike up nearby Peak Petrowski (the east peak) above base camp. We then went to advanced base camp (camp 1) and hiked up Yuhin Peak. After that we made a push to camp 2 and camp 3 before returning all the way down to base camp. After resting a few days in base camp we returned to camp 1 and camp 2, but high winds for 4 days thwarted any summit bid, so I waited at camp 2 for 3 nights alone while the rest of our team decided to return to camp 1. This was probably a mistake. After the winds settled down a bit, the rest of the team met me at camp 2 then we continued to camp 3 and then to camp 4 in a single push. I was struggling when we arrived at camp 4 at 6400 meters and didn't sleep well that night. I did not proceed to the summit from there and waited for Eric, Aldreas and Andrew to get back. Andreas was back first and he and I decided to return to camp 3 together late in the afternoon. I was feeling pretty bad but had to sleep there another night. The next morning We went back to base camp. We did not commit to one logistics company on Lenin, opting to purchase meals and base camp tents as needed, giving us the option to try out multiple companies (there are about 5 different ones to choose from).
Once back at base camp we arranged for transport back to Osh, then bought flights to Bishkek. The short 1.5 hour flight was scenic, and offered good views of the Pamir range. We rested and ate for 4 days in Bishkek with near 100 degree temperatures. We were in the midst of a beautiful weather window nationwide, but I was so malnourished and 20 pounds under weight I needed to stuff my face for 4 days but in reality, it would require a month of intense eating to recover the weight I lost. I wanted to fly into the Tien Shan either way though and give Khan Tengri a try, if anything just to see the mountains out there. We took a long van ride to the far east corner of the country where it borders Kazahkstan. A 45 minute helicopter ride on an old Russian military chopper got us to the South Inylchek base camp. It was the final day of the 5 day weather window so we opted to try for Khan Tengri from base camp to summit in a single push through the night. Of course once we reached camp 2 at about midnight after ascending through the worst part of the heavily crevassed glacier, the lack of sleep and energy caught up with me and I was unable to proceed any further. Since we did not carry our overnight gear with us, we shivver bivvied at camp 2 on the glacier the rest of the night at 6100 meters elevation. That was quite uncomfortable. We hiked back the next morning and I flew back on the helicopter a couple days later and returned home to the US in early August. Lessons were learned, and I made a decision I will probably not attempt anything above 7000 meters again.
Eric and Andreas managed to stay throughout the remainder of August and summit both Khan Tengri and Pobeda (which is one of the more serious mountains in the world). Between August 9th and 15th, 14 people summited Pobeda, while 4 others died trying. A lot of Russians were there since the 2020 season the year prior was shut down due to Covid. I believe Eric is the first American to summit Pobeda in over a decade, but that I have not confirmed. Those mountains were the most impressive and biggest I have ever seen, dwarfing everything in all of north and south America. The photos shown in this first batch below are of Lenin, and Peak Petrowski. The second batch of photos are from Khan Tengri and the South Inylchek base camp including the helicopter ride.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the logistics for these mountains. I will include a brief overview here. I flew into Osh, Kyrgyzstan through JFK, Amsterdam, and Moscow (very long trip!). Once in Osh I met the rest of my team and we supplied and took a private van transport to the Lenin base camp. We spent 3 weeks on Lenin, making multiple pushes, with the first hike up nearby Peak Petrowski (the east peak) above base camp. We then went to advanced base camp (camp 1) and hiked up Yuhin Peak. After that we made a push to camp 2 and camp 3 before returning all the way down to base camp. After resting a few days in base camp we returned to camp 1 and camp 2, but high winds for 4 days thwarted any summit bid, so I waited at camp 2 for 3 nights alone while the rest of our team decided to return to camp 1. This was probably a mistake. After the winds settled down a bit, the rest of the team met me at camp 2 then we continued to camp 3 and then to camp 4 in a single push. I was struggling when we arrived at camp 4 at 6400 meters and didn't sleep well that night. I did not proceed to the summit from there and waited for Eric, Aldreas and Andrew to get back. Andreas was back first and he and I decided to return to camp 3 together late in the afternoon. I was feeling pretty bad but had to sleep there another night. The next morning We went back to base camp. We did not commit to one logistics company on Lenin, opting to purchase meals and base camp tents as needed, giving us the option to try out multiple companies (there are about 5 different ones to choose from).
Once back at base camp we arranged for transport back to Osh, then bought flights to Bishkek. The short 1.5 hour flight was scenic, and offered good views of the Pamir range. We rested and ate for 4 days in Bishkek with near 100 degree temperatures. We were in the midst of a beautiful weather window nationwide, but I was so malnourished and 20 pounds under weight I needed to stuff my face for 4 days but in reality, it would require a month of intense eating to recover the weight I lost. I wanted to fly into the Tien Shan either way though and give Khan Tengri a try, if anything just to see the mountains out there. We took a long van ride to the far east corner of the country where it borders Kazahkstan. A 45 minute helicopter ride on an old Russian military chopper got us to the South Inylchek base camp. It was the final day of the 5 day weather window so we opted to try for Khan Tengri from base camp to summit in a single push through the night. Of course once we reached camp 2 at about midnight after ascending through the worst part of the heavily crevassed glacier, the lack of sleep and energy caught up with me and I was unable to proceed any further. Since we did not carry our overnight gear with us, we shivver bivvied at camp 2 on the glacier the rest of the night at 6100 meters elevation. That was quite uncomfortable. We hiked back the next morning and I flew back on the helicopter a couple days later and returned home to the US in early August. Lessons were learned, and I made a decision I will probably not attempt anything above 7000 meters again.
Eric and Andreas managed to stay throughout the remainder of August and summit both Khan Tengri and Pobeda (which is one of the more serious mountains in the world). Between August 9th and 15th, 14 people summited Pobeda, while 4 others died trying. A lot of Russians were there since the 2020 season the year prior was shut down due to Covid. I believe Eric is the first American to summit Pobeda in over a decade, but that I have not confirmed. Those mountains were the most impressive and biggest I have ever seen, dwarfing everything in all of north and south America. The photos shown in this first batch below are of Lenin, and Peak Petrowski. The second batch of photos are from Khan Tengri and the South Inylchek base camp including the helicopter ride.
