In summer 2010 Anders Ödman and I travelled to the Tien Shan of Kyrgyzstan. Just back from a difficult ski descent of Skhara (5193 m) in the Georgian Caucasus, I was motivated for more. Our main objective was to ski the north face of Pik Pobedy (7439 m), but it was too avalanche-prone for a serious attempt.
We picked the lower, but very remote East summit (6762 m - some sources quote 6782 and 7020 m) as alternative, which would take us into a world of ice and snow in the last corner of the Kyrgyz Tien Shan. An ascent of beautiful Khan Tengri (7010 m) via the normal route gave us the required acclimatization, a good view of our objective in addition to the spectacular views over the ice world of the Tien Shan...
Steeper terrain leads us to the Chon Teren pass (5450 m). From here we would start the summit push up the 35-50+° steep ridge of Pik Pobedy East...[more]