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Nasuh
Mahruki and friends take
on Mustagh Ata
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Mustagh Ata (7546 m)
comes on the right side of the Karakoram Highway to
Kashgar. This beautiful peak is well known for
ski climbing among 7000 meters peaks. There is
only a one day trek to base camp from Sobash.
Mustagh Ata is one of
the 50 highest peaks on earth and occupies an isolated
location on the western edge of China's Xinjiang
Province. The approach to the mountain is by
crossing the Khunjerab Pass. With the standard route
following the gently-angled southwest slopes, the
mountain presents no great technical problems and
success will depend on good weather conditions and a
good program of acclimatization. It's not just a
mountaineering expedition, but also an epic journey
into Central Asia, including a visit to Kashgar.
Update 8/12/2001:
Hello EverestNews.com, We are all in Urumchi now.
Tonight we set off for Kasgar and next day we will
drive to Lake Karakuli and then walk with the camels
to the base camp. All is fine, Yilmaz Sevgul,
Marcus John and myself, we are looking forward to this
ski ascent. Cheers, Nasuh
Update 9/3/2001: It
has been a while since last contact. My partner Yilmaz
Sevgul and myself reached the summit of Muztagh Ata on
28th August. As you know it has no technical
difficulty but a long route and the weather conditions
change so quickly. We climbed at the end of the season
after the 200-250 people and 80-90 tents have left the
base camp. Two of us plus a Ukrainian climber
Vladimir, together we summited in storm conditions. We
nearly couldn't find the top camp at 6600 meters. That
night in the tent was also a nightmare, as it snowed
all night in a blizzard. Our tent was covered with 1.5
meter snow and we had to dig air hole every 1.5 hour
to get some fresh air inside. With the first daylight
early next morning we cut the upper part of the tent
and get out the ice coffin and made our way back to
base camp.
So we are all fine,
Yilmaz had little frost nip on the toes.
We'll be home by 6th.
Cheers, Nasuh
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