Region: Central Asia and the Far East

Dave Wynne Jones with Dr Derek Buckle, Alistair Cairns, John Goodwin, Lizzy Hawker, Anna Seale and Mike Sharp (April-May 2006)

The Ak Shirak range of mountains in Kyrgyzstan is still largely unexplored, and the break-up of the former Soviet Union has made it more easily accessible to western mountaineers. By going later in the season than previous trips, this team hoped to make a SW-NE ski traverse without experiencing the problems of snow-blocked passes. They completed 50 km of the route, achieving first ascents of seven peaks over 4600m in the process, including Kyrgyzia, at 4954m the highest in the north of the range.