From 9th August to 6th September, two Polish climbing teams operated in the valley of Karasu in the Pamir-Alai mountains (western Kyrgyzstan). Due to good weather conditions, the climbers repeated several existing routes and opened two new lines.
Karasu Valley - west face of Asan
The climbing team, consisting of Jerzy Stefański (Marmot Team), Artur Magiera and Jan Kuczera, climbed a new 1500m line on the west face of Kotina (4532m). The wall offers about 1000m of slab climbing (difficulties up to 6a), then, after reaching the 500m headwall, the difficulties rise up to 7a. As Jerzy Stefański reports: "The route climbs beautiful solid granite, therefore it is very aesthetic and satisfying". To complete the climb of Czarna Wołga (7a OS, 29 pitches, 1500 m + 200 m to the summit along a ridge), the team needed a day and a half. The name Czarna Wołga might be translated as the Black Volga - an infamous Soviet car that used to be a frightening symbol of KGB.
Topo of "Czarna Wołga", click on the picture to enlarge.
The team consisting of Łukasz Depta and Wojciech Kozub aimed for a west face of a nameless tower in the Karasu Peak massive (c. 4000m). After one day of climbing, the team climbed a new route Opposite to Asan (6a OS, 17 pitches, 650m + 150m of easy terrain to the summit). The route leads through a system of corners and chimneys crossing the central part of the wall - mostly through solid and beautiful rock forms.
"Opposite to Asan"(photo Łukasz Depta)
Topo of "Opposite to Asan", click on the picture to enlarge.
The climbers repeated also some existing routes:
Yellow Wall (c. 3800m) - Diagonalnaja (6a+ 500m)
J. Stefański (Marmot Team), J. Kuczera (OS, 6h)
W. Kozub i A. Magiera (OS, 7.5h);
Asan (4230m) - Timofeev Route (6A in Russian scale, up to French 7a, A4 - the team suggests A3) - J. Stefański (Marmot Team), J. Kuczera (2.5 days);
Asan (4230m) - Alperin Route with American variants 5B (Russian scale), 6c+ (French)- Ł. Depta, W. Kozub (RP, 1.5 day);
