A new height record! We arrived at camp 1, 5300 meters. It was a long day, with lots of sun, a white-out, an avalanche and some thunder. Now, we are hiding from the snow in the tent, and will sleep soon so we can climb up and down to camp 2 tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Advance Base Camp at 4400m. The weather was not that good, some rain and higher up probably snow. Today we had a rest day instead of ascending to camp 1. Some of our team members were not feeling fit so we stayed another day at Advance Base Camp. With everyone well rested we have an early start tomorrow! We will leave the Advance Base Camp with it’s big four-person tent for just the two of us…say hello to our cosy Black Diamond Expedi.

Yesterday we ascended the ridge up to Petrovsky peak. It was a long day, at 1pm we reached the pre summit (4731m) where we turned back. A great training exercise, especially with a whole group in the heat! Tired from the trip, we postponed our daily report until today, a lazy rest day. Today we’ll prepare for our acclimatization trip to Advance Base Camp (ABC), camp 1 and 2. Our luggage will be carried by horses, but from Advance Base Camp we’ll have to do it ourselves.

Today we made an acclimatization trip to the pass (4100m) in the direction of the Advance Base Camp, from there we climbed to two points higher up the ridge: 4230m+4330m. Because we felt like it, we ran back to Base Camp. From higher up we discovered several small lakes, so we took a well deserved dive and enjoyed the beautiful weather. A good training day! Tomorrow the training ascent to Petrovsky Peak is planned.

We arrived at the base camp today. After a long and beautiful bus drive through the Kyrgyzstan steps we are now at the foot of the Lenin Peak. Despite the overheated engine we enjoyed our journey very much! With large two man tents and a huge mess tent it’s unexpectedly comfortable here. Tomorrow we will do an acclimatization hike, our first activity with the whole group!

After my long flight to Bishkek, I met up with Thijmen and the rest of the expedition and we left for a short inland flight to Osh, where we said hi to our comrad Lenin, gathered some dried fruit and nuts at the bazaar and had some lovely dinners where we tasted the local cuisine. Some packing and repacking, switching gear around, like the transceivers on the photo provided by the NSAC. Tomorrow the last day of traveling will take us to Lenin Peak Basecamp, where the real adventure awaits!

Thursday I (Thijmen) landed safe en sound in Istanbul. After taking the bus for 1 hour I arrived at Taksim, it was really quiet so no worries about joining the locals in their protests! What followed was a non stop tour in the old city: Sultanahmet. I visited the blue mosk, Aya sofya, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cistern, three musea and walked around some other sites. Magnificent!

At 20:20h I left Istanbul for Bishkek, a four hour flight and a four hour time difference. In Bishkek airport I met up with Pau and Wolfgang. After the passport control we met our driver, in a car with the steering wheel on the right. In Kyrgyzstan they drive on the left side of the road but there are a lot of cars imported from Japan because it is cheaper! Read More →

Saturday is upon us, the day to start the International Youth Expedition LENIN PEAK 2013. In this agenda you can see the exact daily activity. We will try to post a message every day to share the adventure with you.

Our latest sponsor, the Mulier Institute, centre for research on sports in Society. Their mission: “To stimulate the coordination, synchronization and cooperation of more fundamental and policy based scholarly sports research in the Netherlands”. We climb supporting the idea that not only professional but also recreational sport deserves attention, and research, and since we climbers sport too, we support the Mulier Institute, and they support us!

There it is, a big box covered in Outdorado tape waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Although I know exactly whats in it, I want to open it immediately. New stuff!

From our partner Outdorado we ordered Grivel Air Tech Light crampons, a Mammut Togir Click harness, the Marmot Never Summer sleeping bag, Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xtherm sleeping pad and Rab Endurance Down Mittens. All light and super warm, thank you! We can’t wait to put them in good use!

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