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The Matterhorn of the Tien Shan Mountains
"The Tien Shan mountains around us are indescribably beautiful. Pik Pobeda in the south and the huge glaciers around us are breathtaking."
- Arthur | LOWA Head of Service Department
In July, we finally fly to Kazakhstan and after a short acclimatisation stay at Karkara Base Camp at 2,200 m, we take a helicopter to the actual Khan Tengri Base Camp at 4,000 m the following day. At the base camp we meet our guide P.D. and other aspirants from all over the world, about 20 climbers in total. As our time here is limited, we start acclimatising the day after our arrival at Base Camp: To begin with, we set our sights on Camp 1 of Khan Tengri.
After our first rest break, we continue our acclimatisation on Chapaev Peak. We already know the route, so reaching camps 1 and 2 is hardly a problem. Despite the forces of the mountain, we reach the summit of Chapaev at 6,130 m and are delighted with our first success: my friends and companions Otto and Detlef are so happy that they even do a headstand on the summit. After a short food and drink break, we descend back to Camp 2 and spend the night again before heading back to Base Camp the next day. Now it's time to recover as best we can, because next time we'll head towards Camp 3 at Khan Tengri and then to the summit.
After one and a half weeks and three undertakings on the mountain, we have acclimatised well and are looking forward to the summit. On 2 August, the time has come: we stay at Base Camp until after lunch and then climb up to the well-known Camp 1, where we spend the night and from where we tackle the ascent to Camp 2 the next day. Even though we make good progress and are well prepared, the path is still damned strenuous and steep. We arrive at camp in the early afternoon and try to recover as well as possible for the summit stage the next day.
We wait out the sun until we make our way to Camp 3. The climbing passages take our breath away again. Unfortunately, we can't see much at the summit of Chapaev as it is also snowing lightly. None of us really wanted to stay up here, so we immediately set off on the onward route via a short abseil across the mountain gorge and then on to Camp 3. We need a total of seven hours for the ascent and descent until we reach the camp site in the saddle at around 3 p.m. on the afternoon of 5 August and set up our tents.
Our bitterly cold night ends at midnight sharp. Contrary to the actual weather forecast, which predicted snowfall all day, it is starry on the day of our summit stage. It is estimated to be around minus 20 degrees Celsius and we have to keep moving to avoid the risk of frostbite.
At the first reasonably straight spot on the route, we take a short drink break and actually see two tents squeezed together in what feels like a three square metre area. The sun is just rising and we enjoy the sight of the morning light over the Tien Shan mountains. The terrain remains constantly steep and we work our way up metre by metre. Nevertheless, it feels as if we are walking at a snail's pace and will never arrive. After around six hours, we finally reach the couloir that leads us towards the upper summit structure. Here we climb steeply one last time before arriving at the summit snowfield. After a total of nine hours of climbing, we reach the summit of Khan Tengri at 7,010 metres, completely exhausted but happy.
Otto, Detlef, our guide P.D. and I are the first to reach the summit and are all alone here. We take advantage of this and take a few photos before we make our way back. This turns out to be almost as strenuous as the ascent. The sun comes into the route at some point and it becomes unbearably hot. We can only take off some of our warm clothes and I'm cooking in my insulated overtrousers. After a total of 14 hours of ascent and descent, we are finally back at Camp 3 and are happy about this wonderful day. We can't really realise it yet, but we were actually up there, at the summit of Khan Tengri. As a reward, we have the summit gummy bears, extra sour! Our German friends Thomas and Henk from Base Camp reach Camp 3 and want to climb tomorrow. We can already savour our success and fall tired into our sleeping bags.
The next day demands everything from us again. And just when you think the exertions are over, Mucha, the boss of the base camp, intercepts you outside the tent and brings out the vodka cherry, affectionately known as the Mucha Martini. You have to celebrate a summit like this properly, sa sdorowje.
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