Kuksay 2007
…an expedition to the remote West of China to attempt unclimbed peaks around the Kuksay glacier, Xinjiang Province. Sponsored by the Mount Everest Foundation, the British Mountaineering Council, DMM and Mountain Equipment                                            


MEF expedition reference : 07/08A
The team were John Allen (leader), Neil Willatt, David Barker,
Richard Taylor, Joe Howard, Kevin and Isobel Mulligan.

SUMMARY REPORT

Departed UK 17th July form Heathrow to Bishkek via Moscow with Aeroflot. From Bishkek our organisers on the ground ( Novinomad – very good) arranged overnight accommodation and onward road transport to Torugart Pass on the Chinese border. Be warned – if getting Kyrgyz double entry visas at the airport, do not allow them to issue you with a group visa, it causes a lot of hassle at the border. Get individual visas for every member of the party. It doesn’t cost any extra.
2 days hard road travel to Kashi, then a further day to Subax, the start point for the walk to base camp.

 

 

 

Three days walk to base camp was extended to 4 because of the difficult terrain on the 9 kms up the north side of the glacier. We helped the porters as much as we could (acclimatisation permitting)– their Chinese bosses helped very little. Local Kyrgyz porters were excellent – expert with pack animals (camels and donkeys) and hardworking. We formed good relationships with them, especially those from Chiatuk village.
One donkey was badly injured on the first day on the glacier due to a fall – it was bleeding heavily from a wound to it’s cheek. Fortunately Joe is a farmer, and he intervened, applying pressure and then expertly stitching up the wound using our sewing kit. The porters were amazed and grateful, as was the donkey!
We arrived at Base Camp at 4500m on 25th July, 26th July rest day (and it was snowing).

 

27th July: Kevin, Isobel, Richard, Joe and myself crossed the glacier to the central rognon and all climbed pt 4976m as an acclimatisation peak, except Isobel who was feeling the altitude. This was climbed by a broad snow couloir due east of the summit, followed by the summit rocks. We named this Kichinekey Tagh (Kyrgyz ‘small mountain’), and the route was graded PD. It had two pitches of Scottish III toward the top of the couloir.
28th July: John and Dave headed for the far side of the glacier to attempt pt 5582m, the peak immediately west of Kala Peak, while the others aimed to climb the North Face on Kala . All camped together by river on south side of glacier.
29th July: Initial slopes of 5582 not problematical, and by 4.00pm we had a high camp at approx 4900m under a protective 15m rock outcrop.
30th July: Leave tent at 0640 (with hindsight too late). Move together over early part, first unroped, then roped, up to about 3 pitches below the start of the rock band at about 5300m. Pitched the rest of the route (8 pitches). Crux pitches were Scottish IV, through the rock band, although the last 4 pitches on the headwall were relatively unprotected due to the unconsolidated nature of the snow. Summited at 3pm, weather good. Descent to the left of the ascent route by abseil from snow bollard on the summit plateau, followed by rock anchors and one abalokov, then down climbing and traversing to avoid avalanche prone slopes. Back at high camp at 20.00hrs after 13 hrs climbing.
Chiatuk 5582m North West face route 700m TD Scottish IV 70°
31st July : Leave high camp early and return across the glacier to Base Camp – rest day tomorrow. Others had made a start up Kala but abandoned due to dodgy slopes.
2nd Aug : Dave, John, Richard and Joe head back to the broad glacier basin below Chiatuk to attempt new routes on ‘the barrel’, a rocky buttress not given a height on the map, and pt 5496m. Kevin, Neil and Isobel head off down the glacier to attempt pt 5485m, the fourth summit (marked with a height on the map) up from the snout on the south side of the glacier.
3rd Aug: 0200hrs leave our high camp on the glacier. Richard and I head for 5496m, Dave and Joe for ‘the barrel’. We quickly encountered poor snow conditions on 5496 – a thin crust over bottomless sugar snow. This made upward progress pretty arduous, and caused some avalanche concern. We quickly decided to abandon, and headed to ‘the barrel’ to join the other two. Climbed this in 10 pitches plus moving together, excellent snow and ice except for last few rope lengths. Summited around 10.00. Descent in 7 abseils following roughly the line of ascent – 1 snow bollard and 6 abalokovs in perfect ice, followed by lots of down climbing. Back in high camp just after 1300hrs – 11 hours for route and descent.
Yilpiz (Kyrgyz ‘snow leopard’ ) 5315m approx, North face route TD Scottish III sustained, 60°
4 – 6 August: Bad weather – heavy snowfall each night, with snow continuing through the day, only easing in the afternoons. By the 6th pretty concerned that Kevin, Neil and Izzi have not returned from 5485m.
7th Aug : About 1415 the three musketeers arrive back. They have had a minor epic, but summitted on the peak. They had to surmount about 500m of hideous scree to gain the tongue of the glacier, which they followed to the top. Some route finding was needed to avoid the worst snow conditions, and Isobel had a fall which was self arrested using an ice axe brake.
Tiltagh (Kyrgyz ‘tongue mountain’) 5485m, West face route PD
9th Aug : Weather still poor, no further alpine climbing has been possible, but on the 7th August John, Joe and Richard put up Kuksay’s first trad rock routes, on the buttress above and to the east of base camp –
‘Come to Daddy’ HVS 5a 60m 2 pitches – takes the obvious diamond shaped buttress via a central line
‘You’re mine now’ HS 4a 40m The large slab up the hill from Come to Daddy, on it’s right hand side via cracks.
Porters arrive and we begin to evacuate the mountain.
11th Aug : Arrive Kashi, sight seeing day tomorrow
14th Aug : Arrive Bishkek, flights back to UK tomorrow


MEDICAL NOTES: Apart from the usual chapped lips, small cuts and bits of sunburn, there were few medical problems in the human team. One donkey needed four stitches in a face wound. Kevin used Diamox briefly to help with altitude induced headache, and found that its diuretic properties are considerable.

When the team members who climbed Tiltagh travelled down the south side of the kuksay glacier, they noted that it might be easier to establish a base camp via that side of the glacier. Certainly a base camp on that side would be in alpine meadows, and free of objective dangers such as rock fall. This is not true of the site we used, although it was reasonably safe.