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Report
about First International Festival
''Khan Tengri 2000''
In
honour of the second millennium, the Central Sports Club of the
Army and Asia Tourism organized their first international ''festival''
for climbers and trekkers, ''Festival Khan Tengry 2000''.
The
festival took place in the Central Tien Shan Mountains to the
East from Almaty (Kazakhstan) from August 6th through 27th.
''Festival Khan Tengri 2000'' included some 520 participants
representing nearly 30 countries and included such famous climbers
as Simone Moro from Italy, Alexander Lvov from Poland, and Valery
Babanow and Vladimir Karataev from Russia. Of the 280 individuals
who tried to reach the summit of Khan Tengri (7010m), there
were 53 professional climbers, 227 amateurs and a team of 50
acting as guides and rescue personnel. |
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The
actual climb started from base camp on the Inilchek Glacier
with helicopter service being provided to base camp for 360
of the participants. It is estimated, however, that only 79
of participants reached the summit of Khan Tengri.
Several dignitaries also attended the festival in their official
capacities including: Kazakhstan Government officials, the
US ambassador and his family, and diplomatic representatives
from Indonesia, Pakistan and Canada
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Also
featured at the festival were various mountain-related
''extreme sports'' as follow:
1. Speed ascent to summit of Khan Tengri (first such
race via the North side)
August 22nd at 6:30am.
Total participation: 7 persons
First place: Denis Urubko (Kazakh Military Sport Club)
Winning times:
North Base Camp - Summit (7 hours 40 min);
North Base Camp - Summit - North Base Camp (12 hours 21 min);
Second place: Nikolay Chervonenco (Kazakh Military
Sport Club)
Second place times:
North Base Camp - Summit (9 hours 45 min);
North Base Camp - Summit - North Base Camp (16 hours 00 min);
Third place: Andrey Puchilin (Kyrgyzstan)
Third place times:
North Base Camp - Summit (12 hours 00 min);
North Base Camp - Summit - North Base Camp (19 hours 02 min);
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2.
Vladimir Karataev was scheduled to paraglide from the summit
of Khan Tengri by on August 19th but because of bad weather
he launched from Camp 2 (5600m) and paraglided down to the North
Inilchek Glacier. Prior to the jump he had waited at Camp 2
for three days awaiting suitable weather. |
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3.
A team of Kazakh alpinists (6 climbers) climbed Khan Tengri
by the exposed and highly technical North wall. This ascent
took eight days and was very treacherous due to rock fall
and avalanches.
4. A Slovenian team attempted a descent from the summit of
Khan Tengri but found the section between Camp 3 and the summit
too steep and decided to ski from Chapaev (the 5900m peak
next to Khan Tengri that is ascended en route to Camp
3 on the col that forms in between the two peaks) to the South
Inilchek Glacier, but didn't ski down neighboring Pobeda as
they originally planned.
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In
this climbing season no one succeeded in climbing Pobeda peak
(7436m) due to deep snow, high winds and extreme cold. Several
days ago a team of Kazakh alpinists come back from the south
camp after attempting Pobeda but reported that they had to
turn back 200m from the summit due to strong winds.
The festival concluded on August 26th at Camp Akkol (the staging
ground for the helicopter ride to the glacier) and included
an award ceremony, banquet, demonstration national kazakh
horse games, and a disco-type dance for all participants.
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A
film about the festival is currently under way and will be ready
next month. Footage for the film was collected by the 14 Kazakhstan
and 12 foreign journalists who attended the festival.
All told, the festival was a big step in the development of
international alpinism in Kazakhstan as well as the forging
of both business and friendly relations between participants
from the various countries. In a word, it was a success! |
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