Lenin Peak – second attempt

p1130747fgAs I was recovering in the base camp the weather turned bad. Clouds and rain reached  the base camp. After 3 days I went back to the camp 1. I met there a Russian from Ingushetia; Mohamed and a Bulgarian named Stanislav. Both of them had no team so we joined forces. The weather forecast was uncertain but there was possible window. We waited for 2 more days before going up to the camp 2. Mohamed due to poor acclimatization stayed in C2 as he was too weak to go up with the 2 of us. We reached C3 on the following day.

At 3 am August 2nd me and Stanislav began our long ascent. We had to go down around 150 m from C3 at 6150 m to a saddle and then continue up a steep snow and rock ridge in the dark. First few hundred meters were quite tiring and we were going slow. At dawn we reached easier ground above 6400 m. The other difficult section was around 6800 meters – steep and narrow snow ridge called the knife. There was a fixed rope to help climbers and make passage safer.  Once we passed this obstacle we hiked up and reached the summit shortly before noon. There was a weather warning, we had to hurry. We took a few photographs and went down. The wind was picking up speed and clouds were gathering. I could see my partner was getting tired and was going slower than I was so I let him go first and followed watching him closely. Before evening we were back in our tents.

As we were preparing to go down Mohammed joined us in C3 – we left spare food and gas canisters for him and went down to C1. Mohammed reached the summit 3 days later, but paid for it with a slightly frostbitten finger.

 

My 2nd attempt in acceptable weather was not a problem for me. I could feel I had strength to spare at all times – mostly thanks to my good acclimatization from Muztagh Ata and 3 day stay in C3 before. What is more I climbed Lenin peak in alpine style – carrying all the equipment with me without the use of fixed tents or stocked camps.

 

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