Simone Pedeferri, Matteo Della Bordella, Lorenzo "Pala" Lanfranchi and Richard Felderer have just returned from a successful expedition to the relatively unexplored eastern Greenland where there carried out 5 first ascents. Simone Pedeferri talks about the expedition.
We couldn't climb on Manaslu because of lack of acclimatisation and too
much snow...we had a long 12 day period of rest due to very bad weather,
but in the end managed to put up what we believe is a new route on the
south face of Nemjung.
After solve all the boulder moves and get in touch with the upper exposure part, we get excited and completely forgot about the weather that was getting worst and the 300 meters of rappelling that separate us from the base camp.
3 routes, described by Sevastopol alpinists, we didn't try because of too destroyed and dangerous terrain. We didn't find any more information, so we decided to ascend the Western part of the massif which is located to the left from the couloir, to the west from Small Kokia-Kaya mountain.
The two professional Alpinists, Robert Jasper (Germany) und Roger Schali (Switzerland) managed to finally freeclimb, redpoint, the famous "Japanese Route" on the Eiger North Face. The so called "Super-Diretissima" (5.13b/8a) is now the most challenging and demanding route through the famous 1800m North Face.
Between the central and The eastern bastions, In the upper part of the wall two long slanting interrapted ledges with trees make the big slanting corner, well seen from the road, named Triangle. The main part of the the route goes along the right interrupted ledge, forming Triangle.
Our main target was to climb around Mt Asgard, which is one of the craziest looking mountains I have ever
seen ( Two cylindrical towers with super steep and long walls all
around).
The western part of the massif and the most difficult South-eastern walls are divided by the big corner, downward from the plateau which is named Green because of the moss covering it. The route starts near the base of the couloir, coming down the Green corner.
Small Kilse Peak is situated in nearly 6 kilometers to the north-east from Foros village. It has altitude about 600 m above sea level and 220 m from its foot and is well seen from the road Yalta – Sevastopol near Sanatornoe village. It has more than 10 routes from 1-st to 6-th grade.
The weather didn’t improve in the morning, but under the shelter of this bergshrund, which slanted up and right, we could catch hold of the rocks. We followed them till 7,300m, then traversed to the right under the serac level.
No connection (but we fetched our phone all the same), no observers. A cook and a translator didn’t know what mountain we were climbing. No porters. We loaded like donkeys – gear for different kinds of terrain, warm clothes.
Author: Anna Piunova, Mountain.RU Photo: Ruchkin&Mikhailov
The route goes along the left side of the wall to the big pine-tree, and then it goes through the middle grade rocks to the pine-tree on the summit. Crux section is the lower part (100m 6 à À 3), then it isn't more difficult then 5 â . Like all the routes od Small Kilse, it looks well from the road, but the nearer you come the more questions appear…
Serik: Style, beauty, technique and using inertia of moves is something that goes best with practical demonstration. And observation, analyzing, learning rules, and seeing the essence of climbing is an important talent.
The route starts 60 m to the right from the western buttress and goes along the lower part by the abrupt and nail face, and in the upper part it goes along the western buttress (Kant), going there through the chain of several breaks, called feathers (R0: 200 m, 20-30 0, á/ê ).
Between the central and The eastern bastions, In the upper part of the wall two long slanting interrapted ledges with trees make the big slanting corner, well seen from the road, named Triangle. The middle part of the route goes along the left ledge, forming the Triangle.
The route goes on the left side of the wide corner, which vertilally cuts all the wall. The corner turnt into the lowering of the ridge between the summits Forossky Kant and Mshatka-Kaya it is a relative border between them.
From the road near the alpinist camps under Forossky Kant move upwards and to the left firstly along the path, then by the slide-rocks (R0: 150 m, 20-30 0, á/ê).
The route starts at the base of the couloir, descending from the Green corner. Firstly move upwards by the slide-rocks and easy rocks, to the abrupt face. In its left part find a vertical crack (R0: 200 m , 30 0 , â / ê ).
The western part of the massif and the most difficult South-eastern walls are divided by the big corner, downward from the plateau which is named Green because of the moss covering it. The route starts near the base of the couloir, coming down the Green corner.
From R5 ascend 40 m along the cracks till the ledge with a tree — R6. From the tree go to the right by the wall over the ridge and then go along the corner to the direction of an overhanging stone.
Approach to the big deciduous tree, growing near the beginning of the big break (near "Right trouser lag")(R3) see in the deion of the route “In the center through the bushes" (II-III grade).
Route starts from " âòîðîãî ôóòáîëüíîãî ïîëÿ " (second football ground), from the gray cup . Ascent to R4 point is possible by the following routes: " Êðîêîäèë " ( V grade ), " Øêóðîäåð " ( V grade ), “ In the center through the bushes” ( II-III grade )
The wall of cape Aya peak is the longest one in Crimea with a half-kilometer height. There are several routes on the main part of the face. All of them are more than 5B grade.
The route “Gates” is called so because of peculiar cornices in the middle of the massif. You should climb between these cornices and even climb on the right one.
From the main gorge come by easy rocks to the first abrupt ascent with an inclined (45 degrees) pine-tree on it (80-90 m I grade). In the end of the section turn to the Northern part of the ridge to the ledge with a juniper (photo 2). R7.
In the first day of preparing the route 2 pitches were made, that was 90 meters of the wall. On the second day they made 2 and a half pitches, 100 meters more were done!
Author: M.S. Panferova, Yalta Photo: À. Demin, Simeiz
From the upper road go firstly along the path, going to Kievsky couloir*, then go straight upwards by the stone-slipping slope to the wall. Ascend to the rocky jut under the central part of the wall.
The route, equipped by permanent belay points , goes along the beautiful solid face and allows to enjoy free climbing. It has very quick and comfortable approach to the face, not difficult climbing (for good climbers), fully bolted.
The route "Shambala" was sent last year by Sergey Nadtochey. Because of the new route "Red Fox" situated nearby, the main (central) part of the route "Shambala" was changed, with Author's agreement.
During four days of random meetings in cafes or at the bottom of cliffs, the participants discovered a shared spirit of an international mountaineering that preserves exchanges, partnership and style.
In the end of January we (Alexander Lavrinenko and Sergey Pugachev) send the new route in the left part of Forossky Kant, by the left edge of "The Green corner". The route looks so logically, that it's surprisingly why it hasn't been sent before. In the corner there are human traces, but I don't know if is passed up to the top, at least there are 2 descent loops.
From the upper road go firstly by the path, going into Kievsky couloir*, then straight upwards by the stone-slipping slope to the wall. Ascend on the rocky jut under the central part of the wall.
The western part of the massif and the most difficult South-eastern walls are divided by the big corner, downward from the plateau which is named Green because of the moss covering it. The route starts near the base of the couloir, coming down the Green corner.
The route passes to the right from the central bastion Mshatka- Kaya . The route is rarely visited. The beginning coincides with the route «Triangle on the left».
There is yet no grade, only the deion of its sections. As far as it isn't possible now to make the continuation of the route till the top of the wall, and there have already been the ascents, we give the deion to everyone.
The route " Ñîêîëèíûé (Sokolinuy)" was firstly sent in 1985 by Y. Lishaev ("Fantik"). Line of the route beautifully and practically by the center crosses the vertical wall of Zamok
In many free climbable places AID is needed, pulling bushes and cleaning the cracks from soil (after every pitch of the first bastion all the clothes, gear and face of the leader were dirty, and looked like a valorous miner).
Author: Poltavetc Eugene and Sipavin Valentin, Kharkov
For the first time in recent 10 years Ukraine organized a winter championship, and I decided that it was time to ascend Ak-Kaya. Though, competitors chose higher and longer routes, but we had first ascent, and winter is a lottery "sent / not sent". fgdfgfd
Zamok Peak is situated in the western part of the Southern Coast, to the north-east å from Foros village. Its altitude is 650 m and it is about 370 m from its foot, well seen from the road Yalta - Sevastopol.
The route starts under the "upper level" of the rock in its right part under the long black spot on the wall. Ascend 15 meters to the direction of the crack with a tree and then go upwards 15 meters along the crack to the area comfortable for belay on the top of the break - R1.
Approach: go upwards from the fork Church-House under Kilse along the path, then move by easy rocks to the ledge. From the ledge go upwards, to the left edge of the "mould". Move by the left edge of the "mould", then move by the buttress, without turning to the left, to the ledge where R5 is.
Author: Alexander Lavrinenko, Taras Tcushko, Odessa
This small piece of the seashore less than kilometer long is accessible only from the sea, because it is surrounded by difficult rocks (by the way, one risky descent variant is described in this article).
At first we had 5 pitches of very easy climbing by the ledges overgrown with grass maybe in summer it is possible to climb without belay and fixed ropes, but that time it was slippery, with snow areas, we carried loads, so we had to fix line up.
Continuing bad weather increased the snow height and difficulties began already between the camp and the face. Yesterday party of two Podlesny-Petyakshev was ascending to the route breast deep in fresh snow for 2,5 hours instead of 15-20 minutes.
We ascended Stolb along the left edging of the Western face. The route is beautiful and logical. We didn't find a note on the summit - it is a giant snow drift on the peak, and we couldn't find any sign, so we made our own one.
"Kush-Kaya mountain translated from Turkic means "Bird's mountain", it is situated above Batiliman and Laspi bay on the 30 th km of Sevastopol — Yalta road. Due to Kush-Kaja, which protects this area from northern winds, Batiliman is famous for its warm microclimate.
In the morning I started to pack. After nearly a pitch I met group Djaparidze. They offered me to bypass them. After 3 pitches I was on the grassy ledges with streams, grass and butterflies.
Winter tactics was used in the ascent, in its base were comfortable nights, and working out the route was made from them. A tent-platform is moved from one safe and convenient place to another while ascending. This tactics allows to improve ascent safety, because party of two can descend along the lines to their tent any time, or to call party of four for help.
Ascend 20 m by the corner, then go to the right 45 degrees angle by easy rocks about 110 meters to the yellow wall in the base of the corner to the left of the chimney.
We had an idea to pass the big cornice to the right from « Ðûæåãî âûâàëà » (Red fall), on the fhotos a crack was seen in the center of the cornice. Looking closely, it turned to be not a crack, but a trace of fallen patch. We said goodbye to the beautiful idea and ascended to the summit.
May be, it is the longest wall route in Crimea. 14 pitches, climbing is mainly by slabs on friction. The route can be send in a day, but in autumn or unstable weather a night can be foreseen.
On November 17 Vladimir Mogila with Alexey Jilin (Odessa) finisheh "the repair" of the route of Yuriy Lishaev ("Fantik") "×åðåç ïåùåðó (Through the cave)".
Free Korea Peak is an adornment of Askai gorge ( Kirghiz ridge. Tien Shan ). About 14 routes go along its Northern face. Many of them can compete with the most difficult technical routes of Tien Shan, Alps and the Caucasus .
Kongur (7719), the highest peak of the Pamirs, is situated on Kongur Tagh ridge, which is a part of Kongurmuztagh – the highest one in Kashgar mountains in the Chinese Pamirs. Kongur Tagh Ridge extends in latitudinal direction to the South from Gezgaryi gorge.
Approach: from the forester's house under Kilse-Buroon go 3,5 êm along the upper road «Chortova Lestnica» (Devil's stairs). Near the second bridge (from the forester's house) you can leave your car.
Shaan-Kaya is situated in Alupka region. It isn't part of the Main ridge, but is moved forward to the sea, before Alupka wall. Wall difference is about 250 m. In its central part the wall overhangs. It has 6 routes (Note: on December 2001 there were 8 routes passed), all 6 grade.
Mshatka-Kaya is situated in the south-western part of the Crimean coast, to the north-west from Sanatornoe village, and it is well seen from the road Sevastopol-Yalta.
When I was in Bezengi for the
first time, on the approach to Warm Corner I noticed a severe and in
the same time very elegant ridge, leading to the top of a huge ice-and-rock
massif, rising above 5000 meters.
Was ascended by A. Zakrevsky in autumn 1993. Sasha was under the impression of ascents in the mountains of Wales, where we spent a month together, and went to the mountains almost every day.
Treugolnik (Triangle) mountain ( 1000 m altitude) is located above Parkovoe village, 2 km to the west from Morcheka. The wall has western orientation, so it is hardly seen from the lower road.
We gathered on July 21 on the Embankment of Balaklava. There, on the berth, 160 liters of water were delivered because there are no water springs near our future camp.
