UKC

German climber Ines Papert (42) partenered with Slovenian Luka Lindic (28) have made the first ascent of a much-tried line on the southeast face of Kyzyl Asker (5842m) on the border between Kyrgystan and China. The route, (now graded ED, WI 5+, M6, 1200m), was climbed in a fast and light Alpine style between 30th September and 1st October 2016. The pair have named their route Lost in China.

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In reply to UKC News:

Reminds me a little of the line of Madness Tres Mince. In which case, the Charlet-Ghilini is available up the right branch at the top of the initial couloir. I can't quite see if it's continuous though.

In reply to UKC News:

Amazing effort from Ines and Luka. Such a great route.

Two picky corrections:

Pretty sure that the photo captioned "Luka Lindic high on Kyzyl Asker, climbing perfect ice." is in fact on mine and Guy's route "Border Control" which they repeated (and sumitted, we didn't) on the great walls of China, which they did as a warm up for the main event.

You've spelt my surname wrong.

In reply to UKC News:

Been thinking a bit more about my two trips to try this route. You mention the sun playing havoc on the wall, sending down spindrift and ice. It was a bit more dramatic than that on our first attempt in August 2002; it thawed so much that if it had been 80 degrees less steep you could've kayaked it! We were lucky to find an overhanging buttress to shelter under for a whole day of watching the route fall apart around us.

I think it was this combination of regular storms and substantial thawing that created such amazing ice conditions. We had them too - on our second attempt we climbed some of the best ice I've ever seen. Tricky to time it right so you get there late enough in the season that the route doesn't fall down around you but early enough that it doesn't disappear and you don't get snowed in for the winter!