Peak Korzhenevskaya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peak Korzhenevskaya
Elevation 7,105 metres (23,310 feet)
Location Tajikistan
Range Akademiya Nauk Range (Pamirs)
Coordinates 39°03′20″N, 72°01′26″E
First ascent 1953 by A. Ugarov et al.
Easiest route rock/snow/ice climb

Pik Korzhenevskoi is the third highest peak in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. It is one of the five "Snow Leopard Peaks" in the territory of the former Soviet Union. It is named after Evgenia Korzhenevskaya, the wife of Russian geographer Nikolai L. Korzhenevski.

Due to transliteration and declension issues the peak's name is rendered in many different ways, including Korzhenevski, Korzhenevskaya, and Korzenievsky.

[edit] Location

Pik Korzhenevskoi lies about 13km north of Imeni Ismail Samani Peak (formerly Pik Kommunizma), the highest point of the Pamirs. It forms the end of the northwest fork of the Akademiya Nauk Range, the north-south trending subrange which forms the core of the Pamir. It rises on the south bank of the Muksu River, and to the west of the peak is the Fortambek Glacier.

[edit] Notable features

Pik Korzhenevskoi is one of the five 7000m peaks of the former Soviet Union (this counts Khan Tengri, which is more often given as 6995m) that were required for a climber to be awarded the Snow Leopard award, the highest honor given to Soviet mountaineers. It is usually said to be the second easiest of these peaks to climb, after Independence Peak (formarly Lenin Peak). However it is not a small mountain; its rise above local terrain rivals that of Samani, since it is closer to the deep valley of the Muksu River.

[edit] Climbing history

In 1937 D. Gushchin led an attempt on the peak which reached the lower summit (6,910m).

Korzhenevskoi was first climbed in 1953 by a party led by A. Ugarov; the summit team comprised Ugarov, B. Dimitriev, A. Goziev, A. Kovyrkov, L. Krasavin, E. Ryspajev, R. Sielidzanov, and P. Skorobogatov. They approached via the Fortambek Glacier, to the Korzhenevsky glacier, and thence to the north ridge.

Partly since it is required for the Snow Leopard Award, Korzhenevskoi has been climbed many times; it is the second most frequented major peak in the Pamirs, after Pik Lenin. A base camp on the moraine of the Moskvin Glacier, and helicopter access, make this possible. Korzhenevskoi has been climbed from almost every direction, including a first winter ascent in 1986; most of these ascents were by Russians. The most common current route on the mountain ascends from the south and attains the summit ridge from the west side.

[edit] Sources

  • Jill Neate, High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7000 Metre Peaks, ISBN 0-89886-238-8
  • Robin Collomb and Andrew Wielochowski, Pamir-Trans Alai Mountains, 1:200,000 scale map and guide, West Col Productions.
  • DEM files (Corrected versions of SRTM data)
In other languages