Expedition 2019
It has been quiet for a while, but not anymore! We took a break from Project 5 Peaks in 2018 and are now ready to take on the next mountains to come one step closer to becoming a Snow Leopard. In the summer of 2019, we are planning to climb two mountains, Peak Communism and Peak Korzhenevskaya, in a single expedition. The preparations are in full swing and we will, as we did during the previous years, give you regular updates about our preparations and during the expedition. So, don’t forget to tune in once every while!
The team
We started Project 5 Peaks in 2015 with a team of four (Guido Mannaerts, Arjen Bosch, Gijs Schuurhuis and Allert Bosch) and successfully climbed Pik Lenin (7134m) during the summer of 2016 with three from the team. In 2017 we made some changes in the team (Martin Vorel, Gijs Schuurhuis and Allert Bosch) and continued with a second expedition to attempt both Khan Tengri and Pobeda, but only succeeded on Khan Tengri. This year the team remains unchanged - Gijs and Allert fromThe Netherlands and Martin from Czech. None of us are professional mountain climbers, but we all spend most of our holidays in the mountains or the local climbing gyms!
The plan
For the summer of this year we have set our goal to climb both Peak Communism and Peak Korzhenevskaya as both mountains can be climbed from the same base- camp in Tadzjikistan.
On July 17th we will take the plane from Prague to Dushanbe in Tadzjikistan, where we will have one day to buy some provisions. On the 19th will be travelling to Djirgital from where we will take a helicopter on the 20th to Moskvina basecamp at 4300m altitude , which will be the basis for the weeks after.
We will start with the lowest of the two mountains which is Peak Korzhenevskaya with 7105m, which should give us a solid acclimatization basis to climb Peak Communism afterwards which is the highest of the five snow leopard peaks with its 7495m.
During our 2017 expedition we experimented to pre-acclimatize at home by means of high-altitude tents. We were so enthusiastic about this, that we have decided to use the same strategy again. Furthermore we will also during this expedition be fully self sufficient and climb in an alpine style.
We are still investigating which routes up the mountains we want to take. On both mountains there are several lines that can be climbed, but it is always difficult to find information about the routes, because most information you can find on the internet is in Russian. In the below photos you can see the normal routes that are taken by most parties that climb the mountains.
Peak Korzhenevskaya
Peak Korzhenevskaya was discovered in 1910 by a Russian Explorer who named the mountain after his wife. The first ascend was only made in 1953. The mountain is 7105m high and there are 17 different routes that lead to the summit. If climbed via the normal route, you can setup camp at 5100, 5800 and 6400.
Peak Communism
Peak Communism is the highest peak of the five with its 7495 meters. The peak has seen a lot of name changes over the years, at first it was called Pik Garmo until 1933, then Pik Stalin, but changed again to Pik Kommunizma in 1962, before it was renamed in 1998 to Ismail Somoni – the founder of the Tajik state.
The mountain, located in a subrange of the Pamirs, is huge! It is a giant heavily glaciated wall with a big plateau at 6.000m. It was climbed for the first time in 1933, but nowadays there are around 30 routes to the top of the peak, varying in difficulty. If climbed via the normal route, there are usually camps at 5300m, 5800m, 6100m and 6900m.
Our preparation is in full swing and you will hear soon from us again!