Arrived in Almaty 4 a.m. Visited the K. Valev´s tracking agency.
He was not there and no one could give us a price for the transportation
+ helicopter flight + accommodation at the base camp. At the ASIA
Tourism trekking agency met with Rinat Khaiboulline who gave us a lot of
information including a map and a brochure from his agency. The transportation
to the Byancol region = 30 $ round trip.
Accommodation (tent + food) at the base camps 15 $ per person per day.
Helicopter flight from the Byancol region to the North Inylcheck glacier
and back 300 $. Military permit for the Byancol area 15 $ (this region
is at the border with China and one needs a permit to go there).
There is no regular public transport to this area and the nearest village
is quite far.
2.8.98
Left very early in the morning from a military barracks where we spent the night together with members of the Kazachstan Army Alpine Club. Arrived at the base camp in the Byancol area toward 6 pm. The camp is quite good. There are big military tents with matrices + there was a cook + tons of very good food. The altitude is around 2 600m. a little bit too low and a little bit too far from any high peaks, but excellent view of Khan Tengri.
3.8.98
Took a little trip to a very near small peak. Some of the guys from the Army Sports club were flown with a Helicopter to the N.I. glacier to build the base camp there. In the afternoon it rained.
4.8.98
At 12 pm. left for an acclimatization ascend of a peak near to the peak Marble Wall. Walked several hours to the end of the valley and then along the valley which started on the left. In the afternoon it rained.
5.8.98
After reaching the end of this valley went up a moraine toward the Chinese Pass. Slept shortly before the pass at a grassy spot on the moraine. Around 3900m. In the afternoon it rained.
6.8.98
Climbed peak Uzlovaya (around 5000 m), 4-5 hours for the easy ascent + a lot of headache but it was exciting to be in China without a visa. Slept back at the same camp. In the afternoon it rained.
7.8.98
It took almost a whole day to return to our base camp.
8.8.98 - 10.8.98
Waited and waited and ... for the helicopter to come and fly us to the base camp on the glacier. Every day it rained at least once. A group of climbers arrived including Rinat Khaiboullin, Chris, Carlos B., Rollo S. and other well known climbers. Their goal: to promote this remote and fairly unknown mountain range as a good place that western climbers would visit. The reason: the death of Anatoly Bouchareev - who was brought up as a climber in this area and was a member of the Army Alpine Club.
11.8.98
The helicopter surprised us when it came that day since the weather seemed as bad. The camp on the glacier was built near to the big international mountaineering base camp maintained by the trekking agency of Kazbek Valev. The tents were big and the food was excellent. The altitude is around 4000m. In the evening it snowed.
12.8.98
Climbed to Camp 1. The last steep portion of the way was fixed
with ropes. It is arguably a good idea to cross the cravassed glacier
in the lower portion of the ascent using a rope, although most climbers
cross this place without bothering to rope up. There is always an
avalanche danger at this part.
BC - Camp1: 3 and 1/2 hours. Altitude at Camp 1: about 4 400
m. The weather was good.
13.8.98
Our intention was to climb to camp 2, but due to a constant headache during the night we decided to return to the base camp. The weather was good.
14.8.98
Climbed up to Camp 1. BC - the upper Camp 1: 1 3/4 hours. Altitude around 4 500 m. The weather was good.
15.8.98
Climbed from to Camp 1 to Camp 2 in good weather. This portion
of the climb is fixed with ropes all the way. There are several very
steep mixed sections, but the difficulty of the climbing is greatly reduced
by the fixed ropes. There is no avalanche danger. Camp 1 -
Camp 2: 4 hours.
Altitude at Camp 2 around 5 600 m. There was a snow storm during the
night.
16.8.98
I felt strong headache and the weather was bad. There was 30 cm. of new snow. The snowfall continued in the morning hours. Returned to the Base Camp. (left the tent, stove, gas, food, pots, etc. at camp 2). It was not a problem to descend on the fixed ropes. In the afternoon the weather got good again.
17.8.98 & 18.8.98
Rest days at the base camp. The weather was perfect.
19.8.98
Started at 8am. for camp 2. I felt very tired in the upper sections of the ascent. It took me 8 1/2 hours. Susanne was faster by 3/4 of an hour. The weather was good but it started snowing as soon as I reached camp 2. There was a snow storm during the night.
20.8.98
The weather was very bad in the morning. It continued to snow and there was thick fog. Some climbers started for camp 3, but we decided to stay another day at camp 2. The weather stayed bad during the whole day. There are several big snow caves at camp 3 so one doesn't really need a tent. Also the first portion of the way is fixed with ropes. The second portion is a descent of about 100 altitude meters from the high point on the plato before peak Chapaev to camp 3 which is located on the col between Khan Tengri and Chapaev.
21.8.98
The weather was still bad - a lot of new snow, it continued to snow.
No one from the other people in the camp moved neither up nor down.
We had to decide between going to camp 3 or back to base camp since we
were going to fly out of the glacier on the 23.8. so we couldn't stay one
more day at camp 2. We went down to the base camp. It was hard
to find where the fixed ropes started, but afterwards it was not too bad
to follow them. There was more than 1/2 meter of new snow so all
the ropes were deep into the snow and sometimes it took some time to find
the next rope. At camp 1 we spent some time in the ice cave because
of the thick fog. Between camp 1 and the base camp for most of the
way there are no fixed ropes and it is hard to find the way through the
cravassed glacier when one can not see more than couple of meters
ahead. There was an avalanche danger at this portion of the way.
We were sad to be at the base camp without reaching the summit, but
at least there was a lot of beer in the other base camp near by...
22.8.98
The weather was perfect ...
23.8.98
It took some hours to pack all the tents, matrices, tables ... at the
base camp. Some of the things like a big kitchen stove, tables, chairs,
etc. we left on the glacier. The rest we loaded on the Helicopter
which came at noon. This time it was a Kirgiz Army helicopter
(they charge less per flight).
We flew back to Byancol.
24.8.98
Rode back from Byancol to Almaty.
25.8.98 - 30.8.98
Rented a double room at the KIMEP Institute (a university for MBA in Kazachstan). The room was part of the university housing complex. We paid 4 and 1/2 $ per person per night. Shared bathroom and showers. The room was great. In the same building is the UN mission in Almaty so the building was even guarded by the police. It is very close to hotel Kazachstan, in the center of the city.
31.8.98
We flew back.