Winning Komsomol Summit

If you’d look at the mountains from Almaty, then the highest point you’d see would be the Komsomol Summit. She looks so appealing that you can’t help winning her :-)
Throughout its history, this summit has changed its name for three times: Maloalmatinskiy, Komsomol, and finally, Nursultan. I personally prefer the second name as I was born during Soviet times. Since 30s, when the first Almaty alpinists mounted the Komsomol Summit, the alpinism era has started in Alma-Ata, and in all Kazakhstan.
The day is going to be pretty hot (over 30 degrees), but not for us.
As always, we start on a very early morning from Almaty. An hour later we are at Shymbulak ski resort.
Hopping on ski lift, we enjoy green slopes and alpine meadows, but with our ascension green plants disappear and we get into the harsh and beautiful world of rocks and snowcapped mountains.

Turning to right from the Talgar Pass (3,200 m), we pass an old moraine, and in some 2.5 hours after we step onto Bogdanovich glacier. Global warming left just a narrow strip of ice from it. It is hard to believe that such change could occur in just 10-15 years…
We have a short break at the foot of Zimin Hill. Drinking tea, having nice conversations …
What we see ahead of us is the dazzling white sheets of Komsomol glacier. First, we climb on slide rocks, then traverse the glacier, then again on rock slides. 3.5 hours more and we are on Komsomol Pass (4000 m).

To our right is Karlytau Summit with its enormous ice-glass cap;

to our left is granite heaps at the foot of the Komsomol Summit. From the pass one can catch a glimpse of huge Left Talgar Canyon gaping below. And far away – with its grand five thousand meters, Talgar Peak. Right below us is the small but amazingly exquisite Aristov Peak.

We begin mounting on rocks right to the summit with 2B complexity category.

Last meters are the hardest, - well, it’s way above 4000 m above the sea level!
Hurrah!!! We hit our goal.

For quite a while I am just lying on a flat rock and look at the clouds rushing violently through unbelievably blue skies. From Komsomol Peak you can grasp phenomenal panoramic view of the central Zailiysky Alatau mountain range with peaks of:

- Amangheldy (4000 m),

- Pioneer (4031 m),

- Teacher (4045 m),

- Heroes of Panfilov’s Division (4120 m),

- Manshuk Mametova (4194 m),

- Antikainen (4000 m),

- Great Patriotic War (4050 m),

- Mayakovski (4208 m),

- Ordzhonikidze (4410 m),

- Partisan (4390 m),

- Tuyuksu Needles (4213 m),

- Tuyuksu (4218 m),

- Pogrebetsky (4231 m),

- Locomotive (4182 m),

- Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya (4108 m),

- Molodyozhny (4147 m).

The sun is setting and we have little time for descent. Darkness catches us up nearby the Zimin Hill, but further we can keep going without much concern since we have safely left the zone of splits and bergshrunds.
At 9pm we hop on our car and at 10pm, we are at home :-)

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