Xuelian Feng

For Normand this was a return visit to the Chinese Tien Shan, and he went back planning to climb new routes on the satellite peaks of Xuelian Feng (6627m). This is the highest group in the area away from the border peaks of Pobeda etc. The central peak, Xuelin Main, had been climbed from the SE by a Japanese team in 1990, but none of its subsidiaries had been touched. After acclimatising on a 4850m peak, the current team climbed Xuelin North (6472m) by its West Ridge, then Xuelin East (c6400m) by its East Ridge (summiting with two other US climbers completing a different route) and finally Xuelin West (6422m) by its North Face, the last with the addition of Kyle Dempster from the US team.