On August 2, three experienced climbers went missing after reaching the summit of Kurumdy Peak in Kyrgyzstan’s Pamirs.
According to search coordinators and reports from the Belarusian Mountaineering and Climbing Federation, the trio topped out via the northern ridge at about 10:30 am. Their last radio contact stated they were ready to descend and would meet a driver on August 4. They never arrived.
The most likely scenario is that a snow and rock slide hit the climbers. Belarusians Maxim Polyansky, 43, and Nikolai Sviridov, 60, together with Lithuanian Sergei Rubtsov 37, are still missing. Both Belarusians held the Snow Leopard title for climbing all five of the former Soviet Union’s 7,000m peaks.
Drone footage
A possible breakthrough came via recent drone footage. Search teams first located an empty high-altitude tent at 5,000m, which the climbers had used as a storage depot for their summit push. Soon after, the drone operator spotted a backpack, an orange sleeping bag or jacket, and scattered personal effects on the western ridge at 4,500m, according to Kurumdy.by.
On August 16, a drone surveying a fresh avalanche near a ridge fracture at 5,400m captured footage of more gear. Volunteer search coordinator Alexander Smirnov described boots fitted with crampons, shredded gear, and three silhouettes buried under stone and snow. Crucially, the objects appear to be linked by a rope, indicating the men fell together. Smirnov noted that all fall lines from the ridge fracture lead directly to the site.
While families have been informed, Smirnov stressed that definitive identification is impossible until a recovery team can reach the area.
Despite the drone evidence, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations is not confirming the deaths. In official statements issued on August 17 and 18, a ministry spokesperson acknowledged finding the team’s shoes and gear, but firmly denied that any bodies have been officially located.
With summer heat causing dangerous ice melts and severe weather closing in, official search operations have been temporarily suspended, according to Reform.news.
Recovery efforts will not resume until late August or September.
The three missing climbers (from left to right): Nikolai Sviridov, Maxim Polyansky, and Sergei Rubtsov. Photo: Kurumdy.by via Akipress
Kurumdy Peak
Kurumdy Peak (6,613m) is located in the eastern Trans-Alay Range of the Pamir Mountains. It sits on the remote triple border of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China, 22km east of the Kyzyl-Art Pass and east of the better-known Peak Lenin.
The mountain has the East Kyzylsu Glacier on its northern flanks and the longer Kurumdy Glacier to the south. Approaches from the Kyrgyz side typically begin in Osh, continue by road to Sary-Tash in the Alay Valley, and then involve horse or foot travel to base camps between 3,700m and 4,000m.
For decades, Kurumdy Peak’s true summit remained untouched. A 1932 Soviet expedition led by Nikolay Krylenko claimed to summit, but later analysis proved the party only reached a lower subsidiary peak (6,154m).
According to the American Alpine Journal, climbers didn’t reach the true summit until October 2001, when a Kyrgyz-Russian team managed to bypass the crumbling, unstable rock of the north ridge.
The second ascent didn’t happen until 2015, when Austrian climbers Markus Gschwendt and Katharina Pfnaisl completed a grueling east-to-west traverse. Only a handful of teams have succeeded since. Its steep ridges, mixed rock and ice, and exposure make it a serious high-altitude objective.
