Expedition Khan Tengri, (7010m)
Kyrgyzstan, July 2024
When I left Kyrgyzstan in 2023 after the expedition to Lenin Peak, I never thought I would return to this beautiful country anytime soon. But sometimes unforeseen things happen, and so exactly one year later, I found myself on a plane heading back to Bishkek. This year, it was for an by Summit Climb organized expedition to Khan Tengri. This 7010m high mountain is the northernmost 7000 meter peak in the world, standing as a beautiful pyramid at the tri-border point of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China. It is also the second-highest peak of the Tian Shan mountain range.
Returning to Bishkek after one year felt strange at first. I have travelled a lot around the world in recent years, but I had never visited a non-European country twice before, so it was a new experience to come to such a different place and already be familiar with it.
Day 1
The first day was a very relaxed one in Bishkek. I first met three of the four other team members: Kiara from Germany and Daniel and Leo from Austria. I already knew our expedition leader, Martin Szwed, from last year, and the only one missing was Jaques from France, who joined us on the second day. We spent the rest of the day with the final preparations: buying food, checking the equipment and packing for the departure the next day.
Day 2
After Jaques arrived, we started the long bus ride to Karkara on the other side of the country. We had about 450km ahead of us, passing Kyrgyzstan’s largest lake, Issyk-Kul, and much later we reached the border with Kazakhstan, were our camp was. The journey took over 8 hours, and we were glad to finally arrive in Karkara. The camp was set in a beautiful, green, hilly landscape with yurts and tents set up next to the border river with Kazakhstan. From here, a helicopter was supposed to take us to the base camp, but we were informed in the evening that due to the weather conditions in previous days, no helicopter flight would be possible for us the next day.
Day 3
Even if I woke up very early to see a beautiful sunrise above Kazakhstan, Day 3 started leisurely with a late breakfast after this. Since we couldn’t go up to the base camp today, we had all the time in the world and spent the day on a small hike through the hilly landscape around the camp. We passed some nomads living quite isolated from the outside world with their animals, giving us interesting insights into a world so different from ours.
Day 4
Finally, something happened. At 6 am, we gathered around the helicopter, an old Soviet Mil Mi-8, with all our equipment. After loading everything, it didn’t take long before we took off. It was my first time in a helicopter, and the flight was amazing. As we left the green hills behind and approached the first really high mountains, we got views I had never seen before. Huge, endless glaciers stretched out below us, and steep rock walls appeared sometimes very close to the helicopter windows. Respect to the pilots at this point. After about an hour of deafening noise, we reached our destination. The helicopter landed on the glacier, and we quickly formed a chain to unload everything in the strong wind from the rotating blades. After about 5 minutes, the task was done, and we lay on our luggage to prevent it from being blown away as the helicopter took off and flew away. Shortly after, it was very quiet for the first time in a long while. We had arrived at the base camp, which is located at an altitude of 4000m, and as I carried the large duffel bags to the tents, I already felt the altitude. After all, we had flown from 2200m to 4000m in just an hour. That’s quite a difference.
During the rest of the day not much happened anymore. The weather was very changeable, often rainy, so we spent most of the time playing cards in the tent. Since we all drank a lot to ease the acclimatization process, these games were interrupted about every 10 minutes by collective toilet breaks, which must have looked funny from the outside.
The base camp was very comfortable given the circumstances. Three meals were cooked daily for all the climbers, and we were accommodated in spacious tents. In the evening, when the weather improved, we saw the true beauty of our surroundings. We were on an extensive, relatively flat part of the South Inylchek Glacier (the 6th longest non-polar glacier in the world), mostly covered with rocks at this point. The glacier was surrounded by countless peaks, all higher than 6000 meters. With Khan Tengri on one side and Pik Pobeda on the other, our base camp was also nestled between two massive 7000 meter peaks.
Day 5
The fifth expedition day was also planned as a rest day because, of course, we couldn’t acclimatize to the high altitude in just one day. At 5:30 am, I left my tent to explore the area around the base camp a bit and to see the sunrise. The morning atmosphere before sunrise was something special. Total silence, icy cold, and then Pik Pobeda began to „glow“ as the first sun rays hit its summit. Gradually, more and more mountains were bathed in orange light, and I can’t really put into words how impressive these views were and what reverence these mountains can inspire in you. You have to see it yourself once to understand.
Little by little, more people emerged from their tents, and at latest by the time the helicopter returned, everyone was awake. Before breakfast, we helped carry heavy sacks of provisions from the helicopter landing site to the kitchen tent. We spent the rest of the day mainly drinking, resting, playing cards, and enjoying the view of the mountains. In the afternoon, we witnessed a massive avalanche cascading down the south side of Pik Pobeda. I had never seen such a powerful avalanche before. It was both terrifying and reverence-inspiring.
Day 6
Today we were supposed to head to Camp 1. However, we took it easy at first and set off in the afternoon to avoid the intense heat that spread over the glacier during the day. With a 33kg backpack plus my camera equipment, I was heavily loaded, but luckily the route to Camp 1 was not particularly difficult. First, we alternated between going up and down over the scree of the moraine until we finally reached the ice, where it was much easier to walk. Pemba Sherpa from Nepal joined our group. He knew the current route and acted as our guide. Later on, we had to cross some crevasses, but since there was no snow on the glacier and the crevasses were not very wide, it wasn’t hard to find a way. However, caution was required because there was a thin sediment layer on the ice in some places, which was very slippery and caused Jaques to fall into a crevasse once, but he managed to hold himself and fortunately nothing serious happened. We had to walk about 6-7 km and ascend roughly 300 meters (including the up and downs on the moraine) to reach Camp 1 at 4200m. Towards the end, I really felt the weight of my backpack on my shoulders and was relieved when we finally reached the camp. There, we first had to level a spot to set up our tent. After that, it was time to boil water and eat. This took quite a while, and it was already quite late when I crawled into my sleeping bag. Looking back, the idea to start late to avoid the heat was not wrong, but I think it would have been much more relaxing for me personally if we had started early and had more time in Camp 1 to prepare for the next day. As it was already late when I went into the tent and I had trouble falling asleep, I got at most 20-30 minutes of sleep that night – perhaps I didn’t even sleep at all, but I can’t say for sure.
Day 7
Day 7 was the most eventful day of the expedition for me. The alarm went off at midnight. Although I hadn’t really slept, I was full looking forward for the day. The goal was to ascend to Camp 2. I quickly ate some dates, drank a lot of tea, and then got dressed. Unfortunately, Kiara and our expedition leader Martin had to stay at the camp due to health reasons and descended to the base camp the same morning. Pemba, Jaques, Daniel, Leo, and I set off towards Camp 2 at 1 am. It was a clear, starry night, and it was not too cold and still windless at the camp.
After about an hour of climbing up the glacier, we reached the snow line, put on crampons, and roped up into a five persons rope-team. We continued climbing over short steep sections and flatter passages. We had to overcome some large crevasses, and eventually, we found ourselves in a wide, steeply ascending gully, with almost vertical rock walls on both sides, several hundred meters high, and topped with seracs. Just before sunrise, it became a bit windy and quite cold, so I wrapped myself in my thick down jacket, and shortly after, the first daylight appeared. By then, we were already almost at an altitude of 5000 meters, and the view back to the South Inylchek Glacier was breathtaking.
At this point, the climb started to become increasingly strenuous for me. It makes sense, as this was our first time ascending to 5000 meters, but I also felt somehow weak. Above 5000 meters, we entered the most objectively dangerous part of the route, as we had to climb around a small icefall directly below the seracs. It got steep a few more times, but everything was manageable without major issues. The crevasses we passed by now were enormous and disappeared into a deep blackness below. Despite the daylight, we couldn’t even see the bottom. After navigating around the small icefall, we reached a wide, less steep section of the route. The last few meters to the camp felt endless, but after about 7 hours of climbing, we reached Camp 2 at an altitude of about 5350-5400 meters. Even though I felt slow and weak towards the end, the time it took us to cover the more than 1000 meters of elevation gain was not bad.
Upon arriving at the camp, we went through the same routine as in Camp 1, first setting up the tents before taking a little rest. After this, I immediately started melting snow to have something to drink. I didn’t feel well and had a headache, so I drank as much as I could. The tent became unbearably hot during the day. I shared the tent with Daniel, and at some point, we decided to put our sleeping bags on top the tent to get some shade. It’s always crazy how high the temperatures can rise in the sun even at such high altitudes. I was glad that I managed to eat a bit, but my condition didn’t really improve. Every time I sat up, I felt my heartbeat pounding in my head like a hammer, and when I measured my blood oxygen concentration, it was only a very low 43%. Daniel was feeling a bit better than me, but the altitude was also taking its toll on him, so we decided to descend back to Camp 1 that same evening.
Dawa Sherpa, a friend of Pemba’s, had fixed ropes along the route to the summit and also wanted to return to Camp 1, so we formed a three-person rope-team and began our descent around 6:30 pm via the same route we had climbed in the morning. Jaques, Leo, and Pemba stayed in Camp 2. When we reached the icefall again, we found that the tracks from the morning were buried under large amounts of snow. Apparently, several avalanches had swept over the route while we were at Camp 2, so I had to break a new trail. We tried to move as quickly as possible to avoid being hit by another avalanche, which we managed quite well. After a while, I started coughing. I felt liquid coming out of my lungs, and when I spat it out, I had to see that it was red. I was coughing up blood and water. When I saw this, I was even happier that we were already on our way down.
Aside from that, the descent to Camp 1 was a pure dream. Since there were hardly any tracks left on the route, it felt like no one else was there (which, in a way, was true), and now on the descent, we had the fantastic view of the great glacier in front of us the whole time. At sunset, the mountains across from us glowed in a brilliant orange, a wonderful sight. We reached Camp 1 in the dark and were glad that this time the tents were still standing and we could go straight to sleep.
Day 8
I didn’t have a good night. I had a lot of coughing fits, and I was very glad that we set off again very early in the morning to descend to the base camp. We made good and quick progress over the glacier, even though I already felt weak during the descent. The last kilometres over the moraine were very exhausting and tiring for me. The constant up and down in the heat of the sun was really tough, and I was very happy when I finally arrived at the base camp. My first stop there was the base camp doctor, who examined me and diagnosed pulmonary edema (HAPE). In this condition, fluid seeps out of the cells and collects in the lungs (which I could feel as bubbling in my back when I was breathing in deeply), hindering breathing.
At a further examination in the evening, my condition and values hadn’t really improved, so the decision was made for me to fly back to Karkara by helicopter the next morning, as I probably wouldn’t be able to recover at an altitude of 4000 meters. A really bitter and too quick end of the Khan Tengri expedition for me.
On my last evening in the base camp, we had the most spectacular sunset so far. The marble rock of Khan Tengri started to glow a deep red. A magnificent moment. That night, I climbed one last time to one of the hills surrounding the base camp to take night photos of Khan Tengri and enjoy the scenery in the moonlight before going to my tent to pack for the flight the next morning.
Day 9
The last morning in the base camp started early again for me. I watched the sunrise with Kiara from a big rock in front of my tent and really enjoyed these last hours here. It was cold, but once the sun came out from behind the mountain, it was no problem anymore. Then we heard the helicopter approaching, so it was time to say goodbye to the rest of the group and this breathtaking landscape.
The flight itself was even more beautiful than the one when we were flying in. Under a bright blue sky, we flew past Khan Tengri and numerous other peaks and glaciers once again and the views were just insane again. It was a dream.
The Further Course of the Expedition
Even though the expedition was over for me, the rest of the team was still on the mountain. While I rested for two days in Karkara, coughing up a lot of water from my lungs, Jaques and Leo returned to the base camp. They reached Camp 3, spent a night there, and then returned to the base camp to rest for the summit push. One day after I left Karkara, Kiara and Martin also had to be flown out of the base camp. They weren’t recovering enough at altitude to make it worthwhile to stay longer. Daniel, together with Dawa, made another attempt, but on the night they were ascending from Camp 1 to Camp 2, they were hit by an ice avalanche. There were many injuries also in other rope teams, and one climber lost his life. This incident made Daniel turn back and not attempt another climb later. In the following days, two more avalanches occurred in this spot, claiming the lives of two more climbers. Meanwhile, Leo was also dealing with health issues at the base camp and decided to fly back to Karkara with Daniel. So only Jaques was left from our group, and he managed to reach the summit a few days later. An impressive achievement, although he did suffer some frostbite.
In the end, we all met again in Bishkek, where we spent a few more days together before heading home. Although I didn’t succeed in reaching the summit this year, I consider the Khan Tengri expedition a personal success. I had the opportunity to see and experience an indescribably spectacular landscape and learned some important lessons about extreme mountaineering, which will hopefully make it a bit easier for me to reach other high and challenging summits in the future.
