Well-known Russian alpinist Dimitry Pavlenko, his wife Svetlana, and two clients are missing on 7,439m Pobeda Peak in the Tien Shan, according to Anna Piunova at Mountain.ru.
The team were climbing Pobeda via the Abalakov route on July 19, on a long summit push from 6,100m. They started very late on that day and perhaps without complete acclimatization.
That was six days ago. According to the Russian Telegram channel Mountain Accidents, they did not summit but turned back at 7,300m.
Since then, there has been no news from them. A helicopter was unable to spot the climbers.
Their tracker showed that they descended to 7,200m. However, at that point, one of the climbers’ trackers dropped suddenly to 6,580m.
It is possible that an avalanche swept away the four climbers. Last year, Dimitry Pavlenko disappeared for two days on the always-treacherous Pobeda, but he later reappeared at base camp. This time, unfortunately, his prospects and those of other members of his team are more dire.
Dimitry and Sveta Pavlenko. Photo: Dimitry Pavlenko
Pavlenko is an accomplished alpinist who has done first ascents on difficult routes in the Tien Shan. He was also a member of important expeditions in the Himalaya, such as the West Face of Makalu and the North Face of Jannu by a new route.
Pobeda is a beautiful but very dangerous mountain. The Abalakov route takes a very straight line up the north side of the mountain. A similar tragedy happened with a Kazakh trio four years ago. We also reported on other fatalities on Pobeda in 2021.
