MOUNTAINEERING CHAMPIONSHIP
of the Baltic States
Report
KOSKULAK 7028 m
High mountain category
Estonia 2011
Route passport
1.
Area of mountains, country
Kunlun Mountains, Xinijang province, China
2.
Name of the peak, height
Koskulak 7028 m
3.
Title of the route
North-West Ridge, route of the first ascent
The first ascent of Koskulak Peak was done by a Russian team of M. Volkov along the
North-West Ridge on 12.08.2005. The most important information what we got from
the Volkov´s road description – lot of deep soft snow, one member falled two times into
the same crevasse on the snow ridge. Departure from the C2 in the morning, on the
Summit at 18:00, arrival to C2 after midnight due to bad weather conditions.
4.
Category of difficulty
4B Russian grading
5.
Route characteristics
Mixed
6.
Height difference of the route
2528 m from Base Camp to the Summit
7.
Lenght of the route
-------------------Camps description
BC 4500 m
Clean, quiet, small river with clean water, grassy, mobile access
ABC 5200 m
On the rocks, it is possible to find water, BC will be visible,
lot of space for the tents, mobile access
Camp 1 5850 m
On the snow
Camp 2 6200 m
Camp on the soft snow, mobile access few hundreds metes above
Technical equpiment on the journey
BC - ABC
No technical equipment needed
ABC – C1
Crampons, snowshoes
C1 – C2
Crampons, snowshoes, rope, harness, self-security system,
Jumar, snow anchors, ice axe
C2 – Summit
Snowshoes, rope, harness, self-security system, Jumar, ice axe,
bamboo sticks
Road description
Journey
Road altitude
Steepness
BC - ABC
4500 - 5200 m; rise in screes
10° - 25°
ABC – C1
5200 - 5300 m; rocks, hard snow
35°
5300 - 5400 m; hard snow
20° - 30°
5400 - 5600 m; few open narrov crewasses, soft snow
20° - 30°
5600 - 5850 m; soft snow
20° - 30°
C1 – C2
C2 – Summit
8.
5850 - 5900 m; soft snow
35°
5900 - 6000 m ; hard snow
10° - 20°
6000 - 6100 m ; hard snow
35° - 45°
6100 - 6200 m; lot of soft and deep snow
20° - 30°
6200 - 6900 m; soft snow
20° - 30°
6900 - 7028 m; soft snow
10° - 15°
Placed and removed
3 x 100 m Tendon 8 mm static rope
technical hardware on the route
4 snow anchors – 100 cm long
3 snow anchors – 50 cm long
9.
Hours spent on the route
19 h 45 min (ascent only):
BC – ABC - C1 - C2 - Summit
10.
11.
12.
Number of overnights on the route
Total: 8 nights
ABC 5200 m
3 nights
C1 5850 m
3 nights
C2 6200 m
2 night
Departure from the base camp
31.07.11, 14:00 Beijing time
Departure from Camp 2
03.08.11, 9:30 Beijing time
On the top
03.08.11, 15:45 Beijing time
Arrival at the Base Camp
04.08.11, 14:00 Beijing time
Weather conditions
Small snowfall on the rest days 19.07
and 29.07.11, mostly sunny and fair
13.
Information of the group
1. Üllar Põld
Group leader, Estonia; Summited
2. Tiina Tamm
Member, Estonia; Summited
3. Olavi Vaino
Member, Estonia; Summited
4. Arno Sults
Member, Estonia; Summited
5. Kaupo Tiislär
Member, Estonia; Summited
6. Toomas Tarve
Member, Estonia; 5850 m
7. Koit Teder
Member, Estonia; Summited
Note:
1. Our expedition to mount Koskulak was the first one in this seasons.
2. We were the only group on mount Koskulak during that period.
Muztagh Ata 7546 m on the left, Koskulak 7028 m on the right
The expedition plan consisted of five parts:
1. Reaching the place of base camp, resting after a long journey from Estonia to China,
psychological preparation for the climbing;
2. Establishing Advanced Base Camp;
3. Establishing high altitude Camp 1, fixing ropes on the North-West Ridge;
4. Ascending periood;
5. Spare days for waiting good weather and for returning back to Kashgar.
Map of the area
The distance from Kashgar to Karakul lake is about 200 km. Getting closer to Karakul lake
you will see the Kun Lun Mountain system which is very often called „Chinese Pamir“. The
highest peaks of the Western Kun-Lun Mountains are Kongut Tiube 7595 m, Kongur 7719 m
and Muztagh-Ata 7546 m.
Map of the area
The peak of the mountain is invisible for the eye from the distance. We made only one
adjustment to the ascent plan. Fixing the ropes on the altitude between 6000 – 6100 m was
good enough for the acclimatization and we did not progress to C2 but we descended to BC.
Ascent plan with the acclimatization
Day
Date
Initial plan
Real action
1.
16.07
Arrival to Kashgar 1280 m
Arrival to Kashgar 1280 m
2.
17.07
Kashgar – Karakul lake 3600 m
Kashgar – Karakul lake 3600 m
3.
18.07
Karakul lake – BC 4500 m
Bivouack 4450 m, not far from BC
4.
19.07
BC rest day
Carring loads: Biv. - BC - Biv. - BC
5.
20.07
BC rest day
BC rest day
6.
21.07
BC - ABC 5200 m
BC - ABC 5200 m
7.
22.07
ABC - BC
ABC - BC
8.
23.07
BC rest day
BC rest day
9.
24.07
BC rest day
BC rest day
10.
25.07
BC - ABC 5200 m
BC - ABC 5200 m
11.
26.07
ABC - C1 5950 m
ABC - C1 5850 m
12.
27.07
C1 - fixing ropes on the altitude
C1 - fixing ropes on the altitude
between 6000 – 6100 m – C1
between 6000 - 6100 m - C1
13.
28.07
C1 - C2 6400 m
C1 – BC 4500 m
14.
29.07
C2 - BC
BC rest day
15.
30.07
BC rest day
BC rest day
16.
31.07
BC rest day
BC - ABC
17.
1.08
BC - ABC
ABC - C1
18.
2.08
ABC - C1
C1 - C2 6200 m
19.
3.08
C1 - C2 6400 m
C2 – Summit - C2
20.
4.08
C2 - Summit – C2
C2 - BC
21.
5.08
C2 - BC
BC - ABC - BC
22.
6.08
BC - ABC - BC
BC - Kashgar
23.
7.08
Reserve day
24.
8.08
Reserve day
25.
9.08
Reserve day
26.
10.08
BC - Kashgar
Real action
Note. The expeditions to mount Koskulaka are only being held once or twice a year. There is
not jet a traditional location for the basecamp. We were unable to find the BC on our first day
because it was not in the place of agreement. We were only carrying the tents. We had no
food, no water and no sleepingbags.
Road description
1. BC – ABC
Base Camp clean and
quaiet.
The north
face of
Koskulak.
Below
the long
Kalaxong
glacier.
Walk to ABC.
Muztagh-Ata with its glaciers was located just behind the ABC tents. Two of the tents stayed
in the ABC until the end of the expedition.
2. ABC – C1
The view upon the camp ABC on the half way to glacier.
On the 5300 m we found a plastic pole vault, used as a roadmark.
There were a few open narrov crewasses wich were possible to cross on foot.
3. C1 – C2
You can't get too close to the left edge as there is a long cornice running along the full length
of the traverse. It has a large overhang, sometimes up to five meters.
We fixed 3 x 100 m 8 mm static rope on the ridge.
The crux sectionon 6000 – 6100m of the Koskulak was surrounded with a cloud.
We had to navigate around the crevasses.
The steepest part of the traverse is about 45 degrees. On the right side is a huge cornice,
which you do not want to get too close to. Cornice is hangin above the Kalaxong glasier.
We still had to navigate around the crevasses.
The end of the Nort-West Ridge.
The snow turnd very soft and very deep after we had passed the Nort-West Ridge. So we had
to set up the camp a bit earlyer than we had been expecting. The place for the tents had to be
visible from a long distance, so that we could spot it on our way back.
On their first ascent in 2005 the russian team placed their tent to a windless spot, surrounded
by snow from every direction. But the tent was invisible because of it’s location. The weather
changed drasticly, when the russian team was making their way back from the summit. Even
with the distance of 280 meters on their GPS, the camp site was still invisible. So they had to
wait for three hours for the weather to change.
4. C2 – Summit
We departed at 9:30 Beijing time (local time 7:30). We used only snowshoes. We did not
bring any crampons. We thaught that it would be in the best interest to move roped to each
other because the russian team had mentioned crewasses in their records of the first ascent.
On the 6500 m we left our ropes, harnnesses and iceaxes. Olavi Vaino, Tiina Tamm and Üllar
Põld were mostly to make the way.
You have to be ready for the climate changes, bad weather, bad vision and spending the night
on the mountain. Everyone brought their own headlamps, thermos bottles with hot drink and
rescue blankets which reflect the body’s own heat. We also had one snow showel and 15
bamboo sticks for the road marking.
On the Summit: Arno Sults*, Koit Teder* (wearing a hat with Estonia flag colours), Üllar
Põld, Tiina Tamm, Olavi Vaino*, Kaupo Tiislär*.
* the first summit over 7000 meters
The whole group reached the peak at 15:45 (Beijing time). As mentioned before the peak
remained invisible until the near arrival. The peak is a small snowy platoo, with no rocks. The
top itself is not marked.
Thank you for watching!
The members of the first Estonian Koskulak Expedition 2011.