Kyrgystan - Djungart 2004

With several previous visits to Kyrgyzstan behind her, this leader returned with possibly the first ever climbing expedition to visit the Djungart area of the Kokshaal Too range. Access to the area (very close to the Chinese border) has only recently become a realistic possibility with the establishment of a seasonal helicopter base at Maida Adyr, accessible by 4WD vehicle. Base camp location was selected from a 1:200,000 map as it gave access to two separate valley systems. The weather was exceptionally warm for the time of year, with rain falling as high as 4,000m. Both valleys were thoroughly explored but their base camp location turned out to be too far away from the mountains that they wished to climb; so although a good photographic record was obtained, no technical routes were undertaken and no new peaks were climbed.