Words + Photos By: Sean James

Peak Somoni Only the 50th highest mountain in the world 1

Dubai, a seemingly safe oasis global hub of air traffic, is surrounded by countries that are unsettled, unstable and unpredictable. They are tense and ready to explode. But they are also exciting. Living in the UAE, short haul vacations will undoubtedly land you in some of these adventure playgrounds.

In the summer of 2013, I went to Tajikistan. The trip had been planned for 2012 but the region was considered too dangerous even for my company. The UK Foreign Office still advises its citizens against all “essential travel.” This year we thought climbing mountains is more essential than safety, so with a bag packed full of euros with which to pay the local fixer, I flew from Dubai to Dushanbe.

Peak Somoni Only the 50th highest mountain in the world 3

Tajikistan is next to Afghanistan and according to the World Bank had a per capita income of 390 USD in 2006 ranking it 187th out of 209, just above Tanzania. Nearly half of this was earned abroad and the infrastructure is crumbling. The people are proud that their main economy is based upon the transportation of drugs, the illegal type and guns, also the illegal type. There is widespread corruption amongst government and those in power who control the national economic assets. Strict control over freedom of expression, religion, education, and the media as well as domestic violence and torture are all cited as common occurrences by human rights groups. It sounded like it would be afun trip.

My first contact with the people of Tajikistan was in Dubai at the consulate. There are many stories of neverending struggles for visas to enter the former CIS countries only to be denied for no obvious reason or simply granted three days. I found the consulate/private villa located in a very affluent residential area beside Beach Road. Entering through the back garden, I filled the simple form in with my passport and asked how much and how long. “Maybe tomorrow, maybe next day,” was the reply. Great, that’s quick I thought. “Can I have a receipt or something for my passport?”“No problem my friend, it is here don’t worry. This is consulate.” Anywhere else in the world this would be suspicious. I thought okay this is Dubai; leave your uptight Western perceptions behind. I said I could only come at the weekend to pick it up. No problem he said. They were closed at the weekends, but he would take my passport home with him and give me a call when it was ready. Easy.

Everything in Tajikistan is named after the former president, Ismoili Samani; the currency, the airline. The airline Somon Air offered to help with the transport of our considerable amount of gear and equipment. Everything was going smoothly so far.

I was in Tajikistan for 32 days with a group of seven clients from the UK and Australia. We were to climb Peak Communism, 7,405m, recently renamed to Peak Somoni and Peak Korzenevskaya, 7,105m. Peak Somoni is the 50th highest mountain in the world and one of the highest outside of the Himalaya or Karakoram. I had led many trips for Adventure Peaks, a UK expedition company, but this was the first time they had run this one so I was the lucky guinea pig.

These two peaks in addition to being a coveted prize on their own are part of a collection known as The Snow Leopard. To achieve Snow Leopard status you must summit five peaks. All are over 7,000m and all are located in Russia or the ex-soviet controlled states. The other three are Khan Tengri (7,010m), Peak Lenin (7,134m) and Peak Pobeda (7,439m). To date, no British or Australian citizen has climbed all five. Upon completion it isrumored that Russian citizens receive a medal of honor from the Russian President.

Dushanbe is the capital and arriving at 3:00 a.m. I bump into a tired looking collection of 50 climbers, amongst them my clients who have travelled via Istanbul from the UK. They are all waiting for a visa on arrival. It takes three hours for the exchange of dollars and a stamp in the passport, but we finally get to the state-run hotel.

The first few days of an expedition are always chaos, buying food for the next month and trying to get ready for our helicopter flight into basecamp. I am also conscious of walking around the streets with an obscene amount of cash in euros which would surely register on Interpol’s radar and was the equivalent to the earnings of nearly 15 Tajik citizens for a year.

Tajikistan is an Islamic country and it is July. Normally the street outside our hotel is buzzing at night with lively restaurants and bars, but it is Ramadan. Dushanbe is a pleasant town for a few days. The grandeur of the national monuments is in complete contrast to the poorer areas of town. The streets and public places are wide and tree-lined with western style restaurants and coffee shops that have been proliferating each year.

After a long eight-hour drive to the town of Djirgital, we almost fly direct to basecamp. The flight is delayed by a day due to an unhappy pilot refusing to fly with dirty fuel. The ex-military Russian helicopter is creaking and groaning when it eventually takes off. Tight-fisted climbers having more luggage than they want to pay for, makes the process a bit unstable and we look at each other bravely hoping we clear the cows at the end of the airfield and the snowy passes in the distance. Basecamp for the next four weeks is Moskvina Glade, a permanent area of moraine located at the confluence of two glaciers and at a height of 4,200m. Unless there is an emergency, there is only one flight out scheduled in the middle of this period. It is 10 difficult days to walk back to Djirgital.

Peak Somoni Only the 50th highest mountain in the world 2

Although it is only the 50th highest mountain in the world, Peak Somoni is big. The vertical height gain from basecamp to the summit is similar to that of Everest, over 3,300m.The difference here is that there are no porters, no bottled oxygen, no fixed ropes and a fraction of the thousands of climbers willing to break trail. This is not commercial climbing like you will find on the big peaks. This is hard.

Tajiks have a typical central Asian history. They came fully under Russian rule after a series of military campaigns that began in the 1860s. In 1925, Tajikistan then became an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan. In 1929, it was detached from Uzbekistan and given full status as a republic. The fight for independence in 1991 was successful, but led to a struggle for power between the clans and civil war. At the time, Islamic fundamentalists wanted to create an Islamic state and political instability led to a collapsing infrastructure, corruption, and extreme poverty. An estimated 50,000 people were killed, and 660,000 displaced. Today the country cannot feed itself and depends on international aid for daily life. 75% of households grow food for their own use with over 80% of the population living below the poverty line and 50% under the age of 14. Many want to return to the former days of Soviet rule.

The term Tajik is a designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking people generally thought to be of Iranian origin. Presently, Tajiks are living across many countries in central Asia. It is an indication of conditions in Tajikistan that there are more Tajiks in Afghanistan than here, making up 27% of the Afghani population. They speak a variety of Persian with the majority following Sunni Islam. Because much of the country is mountainous and isolated particularly in the winter, many ancient traditions have remained. The name “Tajik” may derive from the name of a pre-Islamic tribe and means “crown” or “royalty.” The Islamic influence flourishes wherever there is poverty and unrest and the construction of one of the largest mosques in the world, funded by Qatar, was announced in October 2009 to be built in Dushanbe.

For us it is necessary to climb both mountains, Peak Communism and Peak Korzenevskaya in stages. We will place about four camps on the way up and then take them down on retreat. The constant carrying of food and equipment is exhausting but essential. Combined with the poor diet and sanitary conditions at basecamp, many climbers are forced to abandon the siege as the season progresses and opt to get on the next available helicopter. For the first two weeks the weather is stunning, no snow and clear blue skies. We acclimatised quickly, made good progress and news of our triumph on Peak Korzenevskaya is sent back to the UK.

Two weeks into the expedition, a young Ukrainian climber was lost high on Peak Somoni in a storm. A team set out to try and find him but only succeeded in bringing his climbing partner back, looking vacant and unaware of what had happened to them both. Off course in poor visibility, he fell through the snow into a crevasse. His body was recovered and would be taken back on the last helicopter of the season. A warning that this sport can have a high price. A ceremony was held at basecamp and as is the nature of the Russian influence, we drank.

Four weeks is a long time to spend at an altitude of over 4,000m and we also had our casualties. Expeditions are expensive, joining alone is over 9,000 USD, plus high-priced equipment, time off work and away from family. It is a big commitment. A short time after arriving at basecamp, I took the hard decision that one of my party was suffering from both pulmonary and cerebral oedema; Fluid collecting on the lungs and a swelling of the brain both caused by altitude. This manifests itself in confusion, stumbling, difficulty breathing, loss of vision and eventually death. The only option is to descend to a lower altitude immediately. Leaving the rest of the team with our Russian guide at a high camp, I descended with the unfortunate team member into the night, hoping the increase in oxygen would lessen his condition. I had seen it many times before on high mountains. I was hoping that even a short drop of 300m would improve his situation. It did but his expedition was over. Helicopters are also not cheap and whilst insurance covered his evacuation to the UK, others from basecamp took the opportunity to grab a ride out.

The first ascent of Peak Somoni was made on 9th September 1933 by the Soviet mountaineer Yevgeniy Abalakov. He and his brother, Vitaly dominated the Soviet climbing scene, claiming ascents of Lenin Peak and Khan Tengri. Vitaly is also credited with the invention of the camming device and the Abalakov Thread used in ice climbing.

Eventually our time ran out. The continental air masses moved over and a change in the weather altered the nature of the mountain. The head Russian guide ordered all people to leave the slopes; no climbers would reach the summit of Somoni this year. Heavy snowfalls had created avalanche conditions that even the Russians wanted nothing to do with.

Tajikistan is a country of contrasts. So much to offer, yet its people and leaders struggling to find permanency and direction. Projects such as the Vakhsh River dam make Tajikistan the third largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world and show that things can be achieved. However with the planned NATO pullout from Afghanistan in 2014, mines planted along neighboring borders and continuing military tension with China there are still many mountains left to climb here.