Pobeda

In 2015, I returned to the Tien Shan of Kyrgyzstan to attempt the hardest of the Soviet Union’s Snow Leopard Peaks, Peak Pobeda. It was a fantastic trip despite the horrendous weather that plagued the season. Instead of taking the helicopter to base camp as is standard, I chose to trek up the entire South Inylchek Glacier, one of the world’s longest outside the polar regions. I acclimatized on Khan Tengri, which I had summited in 2011 from the Kazakh side, before attempting Pobeda. We turned around at a modest elevation of 5600 m due to an extraordinary storm that blasted the upper mountain with 135 kph winds at a temperature of minus 40. Even in base camp, tents were destroyed. Posts from the trip are listed below, but the best way to experience the trip is through the short film I made, entitled Return of the Snow Leopard.