Kirill Belotserkovskiy and Ira Kozlovskaya recently spent a week climbing in Kazakhstan’s northern Tien Shan.
First they climbed Igly Tuyuk-Su, a 4,000m peak south of Almaty, near the Kyrgyz border. According to Belotserkovskiy, the route had been climbed before as part of a traverse, but this is the first repeat. Belotserkovskiy graded it as 3A/B, 600m, AI2 III.
Igly Tuyuk-Su (center of map). North of it lies Ordzhonikidze. Photo: Peakery
After a day off, the two climbers headed to the north face of 4,410m Ordzhonikidze, where they climbed a 700m route of 4B, WI4.
“About 400 meters of ice ranging from 30˚ to 90˚,” recalls the guide. “[We] topped off with a constant stream of spindrift pouring over us.
Difficult conditions on the wall. Photo: Frame of a video taken by Kirill Belotserkovskiy
According to Belotserkovskiy, the wind was so strong during the descent that they sometimes had to stop and wait for visibility to improve.
“It was the hardest climb I’ve guided someone on,” wrote Belotserkovskiy. He has already established two new routes on Ordzhonikidze’s north face.
The north face of Ordzhonikidze. Belotserkovskiy established Route 2 on a solo climb in 2018. He and Grigory Schukin did Route 4, also in 2018. Photo: Mountain.ru
Kirill Belotserkovskiy. Photo: Kirill Belotserkovskiy
