Greetings from Almaty!
Our extended silence is due (as anticipated) to trouble with the
satellite phone. Everybody is healthy and enjoying brunch in Adilet’s
dining room as I write this.
In short summary from the 17th onward:
18th: George, Kelly, and Adilet attempted a mountain we called B11 (for
the 11th in the cirque system surrounding Advanced Base Camp) but were
turned back near the summit due to avalanche conditions in the snow.
Corey and Bjarne hiked up one of the higher cirques to access a back
gully onto the very impressive B4 (named Peak Harvard) that dominates the
central view from ABC.
19th: Corey, Bjarne, Kelly, and Laura attempted a peak in the highest of
the three cirques that we refer to collectively as the “Harvard Circus.”
They turn back near the top because the summit cone is more technical than
they were prepared for. Dave and Lucas build a high camp on the peak where
they had their little epic, B3. George and Adilet build a high camp on the
highly technical peak, B9, they had attempted with Bjarne a couple days
ago.
20th: Dave and Lucas bail again. Perfect weather holds long enough for
George and Adilet to reach the top of B9, now christened Peak of
Theoretical Physics, and obtain fantastic views into the Central Borkoldoy
region and even across to the Kokshal Tau mountains.
21st: Corey, Bjarne, Kelly, and Lucas join George and Laura on a return
trip into the highest cirque, named by us the Washburn Cirque, and
simultaneously attempt two mountains there while Dave makes a solo attempt
on B3. Our doggedness pays off, and George and Laura claim the first
ascent of B7, while the Corey, Bjarne, Kelly, and Lucas top out on B8, and
Dave calls in at dinner to report his ascent (on the 7th attempt!) of B3,
christened by him Schullinger-Krause, in honor of his upcoming wedding to
Sally Schullinger.
22nd: Everyone takes a rest day and begins the move down to BC.
23rd: While George, Laura, and Lucas make another attempt on B11, Bjarne
and Adilet move into the next valley west in order to establish a high
camp on a beautiful pyramidal peak we saw on the ride in. The first team
is turned back by avalanche-prone snow again, but enjoys the fine weather
high up on a knife-edge ridge. Bjarne calls in around 7pm to report that
Adilet has dropped his pack 1000′ down a gulley from a subsidiary peak,
named by them Peak Kelly, and they eventually establish a camp on the
ridge to the main peak.
24th: Most of us begin the work of cleaning up and breaking down Base Camp
while Bjarne and Adilet excitedly radio in their report from the summit of
what they name Peak Freja. The HMC now claims nine first ascents among its
accomplishments for the two weeks of our Borkoldoy climbing adventure.
25th: Vitaly and Na-il, our driver and cook, get us out of BC by 6am. We
pass through the Karasai border post, wondering if they’ll notice that our
border permit lists Alexander Cole and not Corey Rennell as a member, but
a bottle of vodka and the fact that we arrive before the post commander
wakes up get us through. We settle in for the long drive back down off the
plateau towards Lake Issyk-Kul, where we eventually find the yurt
encampment on the beach where we have reservations. Many bottles of
Baltika Number Nine later, our groups sleeps off two weeks of adventure on
the sands of Lake Issyk-Kul.
26th: More paperwork tension. We make the drive from Lake Issyk-Kul to the
Kazakh border without trouble, but while we’re in no-man’s-land between
the Kyrgyz and Kazakh posts we realize that Corey’s transit visa is made
out for the 27th to the 31st, rather than the 26th to the 30th, like the
rest of us. The post commander requires us to stay until midnight, so we
settle in from around 4pm until 7, when we cook ourselves dinner. After
dinner some of us play with the kids who live at the border post, and the
command relents, agreeing to file Corey’s information after midnight, and
letting us roll sometime after 9pm. Vitaly gets us to Adilet’s apartment
around 3am, and strongman’s it through the night to Bishkek instead of
staying with us in order to see his wife and 7-month-old child. We’ll miss
him and Na-il!
27th: I finally sit down at Adilet’s computer and summarize the last ten
days. We are now re-packing our equipment in order to be under the weight
limits. All but Corey leave on a flight at about 3am tonight/tomorrow and
Corey leaves the 29th. Until I get back to California, this is Lucas,
signing off.