Expedition to peak Karl Marx and Engels

 

 

 

In August of 2005 the Alpine Fund organized an expedition to Peaks Karl Marxs (6700m) and Peak Engels (6500m). The expedition included climbers from the US, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Tajikistan. On August 3rd we loaded ourselves and gear into the Alpine Fund Van and heading to the Pamir mountains in Eastern Tajiksitan .

 

 

The drive from Dushanbe to Khorog, the main city in the Tajik Pamirs takes two days but is an amazing adventure back into time, this is the border where the Great Game between the British and Russian empires was played out. The road drives along the Tajik Afghan border where two worlds could not be closer - nor further apart. On the side of the Former Soviet Union is a road, electricity, real cities - the 20th century. On the Afghan side in place of a road is an endless trail that wanders for miles along the river and is the main between villages. At times the trail scratches its way along cliffs, a seemingly impossible trail that for had been built and taken care of for generations. As there is no way for the Afghans to cross the border they look across the river, seeing cars but never driving in one; seeing lights but never having electricity.    

 

 

 

 

That day we arranged with the local villagers to help us carry our supplies for three weeks to the base camp, after a 10 hour hike we were at the base of the peaks, ready to start climbing.

 

We did not have a lot of information about the peaks, there were several expeditions that came here in the late 80s to put super hard routes, but since then it is not clear if there has been any activity. We did find a few route descriptions online that appeared to show the possibility of climbing to the col between Karl Marx and Engels, then trying to summit both. (Engels is on the left, Marx on the right)  In the end proved daunting and perhaps a bit foolhardy to climb to the col, (see below) so two in the party attempted instead to climb the left to right diagonal snow route on Engels.

 

We had an advance base camp set up about a thee hour hike up the glacier from the base camp, then camp one at 4900m, Irena Mrak and I climbed from camp one actually still planning to try to climb to the col to the left of the big seracs, then one night bivy, summit of Marx then down. As we approached the col is looked more and more crazy the closer we got so we literally went left where we had planned to go right and continued up peak Engels on the left. The first section of the climb was a 400m 70 degree glacier slope that we started up and just kept going not even thinking that perhaps we should rope up, when it leveled out enough to think we stopped and thought - well that was cool. We then continued left and up, working our way around crevasses, looking for bridges, sometimes coming right to the edge of the vertical drop.  That night we dug our a hole and slept at about 5800m, then the next day continued on. With a really bad shot of luck the clouds that had held back rolled over the summit obscuring the long awaited views of the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan, we had brief views then all was gone. We climbed to a high point just below the summit then turned back before the winds and snow covered over our tracks.

 

 

That night instead of spending a second night out we did a late night rappel back to camp one.

 

 

After the climb we rested back at base camp - once again enjoying the beautiful landscape and flowers that filled the green valley floor....And when the trip was done and we were on the back to Dushanbe - we washed a months worth from our bodies with a dip in a hot spring.

 

 

 

Of course a lot more happened, more climbs and more stories, but that will have to be written on another day.

 

Text and photos by Garth Willis