South Muysky Ridge in Siberia, big new Russian climbs on Peak Kart & Peak Mechta

From 28 June to 19 July 2020 a second successful Russian climbing expedition took place in Siberia’s Peak Kart area, a part of the South Muysky Ridge (also spelled Muiski Ridge), located 180 km east of Lake Baikal and 380 km north of the city Chita.

The expedition was organised by Evgeny Glazunov and Pavel Tkachenko with the support of the Impossible is Not Forever Foundation, inaugurated to honour Sergey Glazunov. The expedition was comprised of, in alphabetical order: Grigory Abramov, Alexey Boyko, Evgeny Glazunov, Evgenia Leontyeva, Andrey Panov, Dmitrii Panov, Alena Panova, Polina Penkina, Anastasia Ramazanova, Daria Sycheva, Anatoly Syshikov, Pavel Tkachenko

The South Muysky Ridge is a hard-to-reach and little-explored area of the Trans-Baikal region with great potential for big wall climbing. The ridge consists of several clusters of mountain peaks with granite walls ranging in height from 500 to 800 meters and the entire area is already an object of increased interest among Russian climbers. A distinctive feature of the area is the large number of bears that are regularly found in the taiga and mountainous terrain.

The first successful expedition to the peak Kart area was in 2019. At that time Yevgeny Glazunov, Pavel Tkachenko and Nadezhda Olenova made several first ascents of the surrounding peaks, climbed one route on peak Kart and one route to the peak Mechta (the peak Dream - a previously undisclosed and unnamed mountain). Also, Eugene made a solo first ascent of an unknown peak, naming it in memory of his brother Sergei Glazunov, who died in 2018 on Mount Latok I. More information about this expedition can be found in an American Alpine Journal report. 

Peak Kart is located 30 kilometers north of the village of Baunt, which, with a good combination of circumstances, can be reached by jeep from Chita. In order to reach peak Kart, you need to travel 15 kilometers on an all-terrain vehicle and continue for about 25 kilometers on foot through the taiga. In order to reach peak Mechta from peak Kart you need to cross two passes and walk about 10 kilometers on foot. The remoteness of the area means that that any expedition must be completely autonomous, and that in case of an accident, rescue possibilities are minimal.

In our case, our expedition took place in rather difficult weather conditions. We were lucky enough to make it to the village of Baunt and peak Kart without heavy rains, which made it easier to cross the rivers by car and on foot. However, any serious ascent was accompanied by light rain and thunderstorms, often the key sections of the routes had to climbed in a downpour.

Transporting food and equipment to the base of peak Kart from our Base Camp (the 4x4 drop-off point) took 5 days. Each expedition member had to walk this route twice, before making a break to climb the routes.

The team spent 7 days below the mountain, climbing 5 routes on the west face of Peak Kart and making the first ascent of one peak. Then, in two days, the team moved to peak Mechta, where they spent another 5 days. During this time they managed to establish 3 new routes on the SW Face of Peak Mechta, complete two ridge traverses and and make the first ascent of seven other peaks. In addition, Yevgeny, Anatoly, Alexey and Pavel tried to make a first ascent of the east face of Peak Mechta, the main goal of the expedition, but were washed off the wall by a heavy downpour.

The continuous rain and freezing temperatures that began on July 16 forced the team to cancel the expedition a week earlier than planned. It was the right decision, after a few days all the rivers became inflated with water, moving across the taiga became problematic and the village of Baunt became cut off from civilization.

Below is a list of all the routes and peaks covered during the two expeditions:
15.07.2019: Y. Glazunov, P. Tkachenko and N. Olenova, peak Kart, FA " The West Wall", 6c/A2, 970m
20.07.2019: Y. Glazunov, Sergei Glazunov's peak (FA), FA " The East Wall", ~6b/A2, 550m
25.07.2019: Y. Glazunov, P. Tkachenko and N. Olenova, peak Mechta (FA), FA " The South-West Wall", 6c/A2, 1200m
2.07.2020: D. Panov, A. Panov, peak Kart, FA "Sounds of Youth", 6c, 600m;
E. Glazunov, D. Sycheva and G. Abramov, FA peak Modelistov
2.07.2020: A. Boyko and P. Tkachenko, peak Kart, FA "Cascade", 6c+/A2, 825m
3-4.07.2020: P. Penkina, A. Panova and E. Leontyeva, peak Kart, FA "Your choice", 6a+/A2, 1071m
5.07.2020: A. Syshchikov and E. Glazunov, peak Kart, FA "Big Chimney", 6c, 615m
8.07.2020: D. Panov, A. Panov, peak Kart, FA "Kuhelklopf", 7b, 885m
11.07.2020: E. Leontyeva, peak Altair (FA)
12.07.2020: E. Glazunov, D. Sycheva, A. Panova, peak Mechta, FA «Der fliegende Hollander», 6c, 1065m;
A. Boyko and P. Tkachenko, peak Mechta, FA "The South Ridge", ~6c, 1200m;
E. Leontyeva, G. Abramov, A. Ramazanova, D. Sycheva and P. Penkina, traverse: peak Chudovische (FA) - peak Tatyana (FA) - peak Medikov (FA) - peak Krasavitsa (FA)
13.07.2020: D. Panov, A. Panov, peak Mechta, FA "Dragon", 6b, 950m
14.07.2020: A. Syshchikov and E. Glazunov, FA Alexei Bolotov’s peak
15.07.2020: D. Panov, A. Panov, P. Penkina, A. Panova, traverse: peak Chudovische - peak Max Fry(FA) – Bushuev’s peak (FA);
G. Abramov, peak Stega (FA)
A. Syshchikov, E. Glazunov, A. Boyko and P. Tkachenko - peak Mechta, East wall attempt

All routes are completed in a good style without the use of anchors