Snow Leopard

Having climbed Peak Lenin three times, this year we tackled the second Snow Leopard Challenge peak in (theoretical) order of difficulty: Peak Korjenevskaya. Read the diary of our expedition to Peak Korjenevskaya in Tajikistan in August 2023.

On October 12 1967, to encourage and reward the best in the race to the top, the Bureau of the Central Council of Sports Societies and Organizations of the USSR decided to award a prize to those who managed to climb the five highest Soviet peaks. The Snow Leopard challenge was born.

In the 60s, the USSR was at the height of its glory. But borders were hermetic, and Soviet mountaineers expressed their (immense) talent on the many peaks that stretched from one end of the former Empire of the Tsars to the other. The Himalayas are off-limits to them. On October 12 1967, the Bureau of the Central Council of Sports Societies and Organizations of the USSR decided to award a prize to those who succeeded in climbing the five highest Soviet summits.

Peak Lenin, 7,134 meters. THE seven-thousand-metre peak to climb if you want to get to grips with high altitude. Yes, but... After Aconcagua and its 6,962 meters, which is 38 meters short of entering the big league, and whose summit is not as easily conquered as you might think, you have to set off on the slopes of Peak Lenin to hope to break the symbolic seven-thousand-meter barrier.