Photos from Dan Lochner's ascent of Chapayeva
Subject: Expedition Brief
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 07:50:50 -0400
Hi All,
I am back in the United States now after my climb of Chapayeva (6,371m /
20,902 ft) in Kyrgyzstan. The climb itself was stunning, difficult, and very
rewarding. My original mountaineering objective, Khan Tengri became
unobtainable after the Kazakhs who were operating the Khan Tengri Base Camp
decided to switch my helicopter departure date from Base Camp from July 28 to
August 3. Knowing a departure date of August 3rd was out of the question, and
the next available flight out was on July 25, I changed my objective to
Chapayeva (a smaller peak) given it would have been nearly impossible to
acclimatize and climb Khan Tengri in a safe manner within that time frame.
Good news is Chapayeva is a satellite peak of Khan Tengri, meaning I was
still able to climb on the Khan Tengri Massif and reach very high on the
mountain. In order to reach the summit of Khan Tengri, one needs to climb from
BC to C1, then C2, summit Chapayeva, traverse from the Chapayeva summit down to
a sattle between Chapayeva and Khan Tengri (where Camp 3 resides) and then
attempt the summit from here. The climb itself was fairly difficult on a
technical basis. From BC to C2, the route follows a knife-edged ridge with
exposure to the left side. At times, the ridge shifted into a head wall with
slopes reaching near-vertical angles at altitudes about 15,000 ft, where one is
essentially rock climbing in alpine gear. Also, snowfall was periodic, creating
precarious snow slopes that were avalanche prone and frequently avalanched
after storms. With this said, the climb and its object dangers were not outside
my mountaineering ability, where knowledge, skill and prudence enabled me to
safely reach the summit.
By the way, Almaty is not what I expected at all. It is very cosmopolitan
and wealthy. From my hotel, I have an amazing view of the mountains, similar to
Denver but better. Also, the people are very friendly, almost to the point that
a tourist from New York might feel there is an objective/motive behind the
friendliness. Construction is rampant, with new hotels filling the sky and from
my cursory research, property values are following in lockstep. The city is
focused more on business travel (oil) than tourism but I'd recommend it to
anyone if the language barrier isn't too much. It almost reminds me of Mendoza,
Argentina in a way...
I hope all is well
Best,
Dan
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Dan Lochner at the summit of Chapayeva |
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