Highpoints of the ‘Stans

Hightpoins of the ‘Stans

July 2019 – September 2023

Eric Gilbetson and Andreas Frydensberg

One of the most difficult peakbagging lists in the world is climbing the highpoints of the Stans. These are the country highpoints of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The suffix “stan” means “land of,” and all of these countries are located in Central Asia. Based on my experience, this list is more difficult than climbing the 8000ers (by today’s standards of oxygen use and sherpa support) and more difficult than climbing the Snow Leopards. Until now nobody had yet completed the list. Andreas and I were the first to climb all the highpoints, between July 2019 – August 2023, finishing on Ayrybaba in Turkmenistan.

Each peak on the list is uniquely challenging. Pobeda, the Kyrgyzstan highpoint, is one of the toughest mountains in the world, with notoriously bad weather, technical rock and ice climbing, high altitude, risky avalanche conditions, and unavoidable cornice crossings. It is not uncommon for some years to see no ascents (like last year, 2022). Basecamp is usually reached by helicopter.

K2, the Pakistan highpoint, is the toughest 8000m peak, but still not as hard as Pobeda in my experience.

Noshaq, the Afghanistan highpoint, is a technical 7000m peak with a land mined approach and tricky political logistics. When I climbed it there was a multi-million dollar ransom for Americans caught by the Taliban in the area. It rarely sees climbers and there are no fixed ropes on the peak. The technical crux is several pitches of 5.7 M4 climbing around 7000m.

Khan Tengri, the Kazakhstan highpoint, is a technical 7000m peak that requires multiple weeks, good acclimation, and good weather. Climbers usually fix ropes every year on crux sections but this is not guaranteed. Basecamp is usually reached by helicopter.

Pik Communisma/Ismoil Somoni, the Tajikistan highpoint, is a technical 7000m peak and the route is much longer than for Khan Tengri. Teams usually need to spend 6-8 days round trip from basecamp after being fully acclimated. Acclimation takes several weeks and the long-required summit window makes it not uncommon to get stuck in storms on the peak. Basecamp is usually reached by helicopter.

The Uzbekistan highpoint is a technical rock climb requiring a 20-mile approach hike over glaciated passes. It has only ever seen one ascent (by Andreas and me), which was a 7-pitch 5.8 rock climb.

Finally, the Turkmenistan highpoint is difficult because of its location and the political situation in the country. For the past three years Turkmenistan was not issuing tourist visas. The country is gradually opening up now, but climbing the peak officially requires months of advance notice, securing special permits and a guide. It is on the border with Uzbekistan so can theoretically be climbed from the Uzbekistan side. But this requires either bribing the correct officials to look the other way or sneaking in with the risk of getting caught by border patrol from each country. From the Uzbekistan side climbers must surmount a 300m cliff that marks the country border to reach the summit on a 20-mile hike.

List of the highpoints in the order we climbed them, with link to trip reports:

1. Afghanistan – Noshaq (7492m) – July 26, 2019

2. Kazakhstan – Khan Tengri (7010m) – August 1, 2021

3. Kyrgyzstan – Pik Pobeda (7439m) – August 9, 2021

4. Pakistan – K2 (8611m) – July 28, 2022

5. Tajikistan – Pik Communisma (7495m) – August 16, 2023

6. Uzbekistan – Alpomish (4668m) – August 23, 2023

7. Turkmenistan – Ayrybaba (3139m) –  2023