Ashley Burke, Kazakhstan

KAZAKHSTAN - The Marble Wall and Khan Tengri Traverse

09 Aug 2011 - Marble Wall Summit Day


Home Page	Kazakhstan 2011 Page	Mountaineering Page	Email Me

Highlighted area shows today's climbing

A terrible night's sleep in a roaring gale and again the tent was awfully cramped for space. I finally got to sleep, but they woke me up at 5am and then just laid there for an hour doing nothing. Finally at 10:30 we set off for the summit of Marble Wall, leaving our tent up. It was cold and windy and I was weak. I had little expectation of summit success. Again the guides chose a poor route on the steep and exposed side of the ridge rather than keeping to the ridge crest itself. I found it very hard in my weakened state. Pushing myself to my limit I finally reached the summit of Marble Wall at 6100m. Stunning views of Khan Tengri. The return trip to our tent was again via a dubious sidling route. I was utterly depleted when I arrived back at the tent at 5:30pm. Altitude cough. An exhilarating day but extremely hard.

	Eventually, after slowly getting ready, we ventured out into the wild, cold and windy mountain environment and roped up. This is the view from near the tent just after we set off.
	Looking ahead we can see the ridge leading to the dome shaped summit of Marble Wall behind. The wind howled across this ridge and I was feeling very weak and cold. I had no expectation of reaching the summit today.
	The ridge was complex with many cornices, knolls, rocky outcrops and minor peaks.
	A steep sidling route was chosen, passing below the steepest rocks, but traversing a steep and exposed mountainside.
	At last only a gentle slope remained between us and the summit of Marble Wall.
	On the summit of Marble Wall (6100m) with Khan Tengri in the background.

	Edik and Danat on the summit of Marble Wall.

[Top]

Page created 29 Nov 2011, last updated 5 Dec 2011.


Home Page	Kazakhstan 2011 Page	Mountaineering Page	Email Me