Sapar 2025

The Nura valley in the Alay region of southern Kyrgyzstan contains many unclimbed peaks that extend up to just shy of 6,000m. With little information and no photos of the valley available, this team of four set out to identify a viable route into the valley and, once there, to ascend the most appealing unclimbed peaks. They were able to successfully navigate a route into the valley and identified several likely objectives. During their first weather window, the team climbed a ridge traverse of four unnamed peaks (from 4400m to 4700m) just north of the Chinese border. Unfortunately, a subsequent attempt on the north ridge of Peak 5700, was stymied, first by the theft of gear from their advanced base camp and then by unstable snow pack at 5,100m, where the team turned around. They made a last-day attempt on another objective, Peak 4780, but were forced to abandon the attempt due to deteriorating weather. Despite only succeeding on their first route, the expedition was able to gather valuable information on the valley, including details of the approach and several potential routes.