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In 1996 an EWP expedition was the first West European group to visit the Muzkol, a little explored range in the south-eastern Pamir of Tadjikistan. Several unclimbed summits were conquered and many more exciting future possibilities discovered. In 1997 EWP again visited the Muzkol. Base camp was established on the Zartoshkol (Muzkol) river some 20 miles north of the 1996 camp. Several virgin five thousand meter summits were climbed together with two six thousanders (both over 20,000 feet high). In 1998 the 1997 base camp was again used on account of the easy vehicle access. The group comprised 3 American, 9 English, 2 Welsh and 3 Russian climbers, together with a Russian cook, her son and a Russian doctor.
Part of the journey from Osh in Kirgizia to Muzkol follows the Chinese border and it is also the main road leading to the sensitive Afghan border areas. For these reasons there is a high degree of security along the route with many checkpoints. Luckily in 1998 one of the checkpoints was abolished - at Kyzylart Pass (4280m) - and also the group was not searched once. As a result the journey in both directions went very smoothly.
After a rest day the group set off to make the ascent of 5500.6m, a small peak located on the ridge system leading off north-west from Peak Muzkolski (itself climbed in 1997). They camped the first night at Vanishing Lake (4300m), then at "Cwm Bivouac" (c4900m) located about 1.5km north-east of point summit. On the 16th of August, John Cederholm, John Clarke, Igor Gavrilov, Paul Hampson, Antony Hollinshead, Cerith Jones, Doug and Harvey Jones, David Keaton, Chris Kinney, Valeri Rezhnik, Colin Sprange, Stephen Taylor, Kevin Turner, and Duncan Woods reached the summit of 5500.6m and called it "Four Nations Peak". The ascent took three hours of easy scrambling, scree and snow slopes. The climb was rated Russian 2b (Alpine II or PD). Cederholm, Clarke, Hollinshead, Keaton and Kinney and continued south for about 1.5km. to take in two further points which they named "Point Theresa" (c5475m) and "Point Marina" (c5500m) after wives. The ridge provided excellent views of Zartosh East and West (the latter subsequently named "White Pyramid") together with the unclimbed and very impressive peak 5960m.
| The group then set off up into the Zartosh Glacier cirque. One night was spent at "Moraine Ridge Camp" (c4500), a fine, west-facing, sheltered hollow offering good views of Peak Communism to the west. On the 20th August "Glacier Camp" was established at 5050m and was used for the next few days as a base to explore and climb in the beautiful Zartosh cirque. On the 21st August "Leopard's Tooth", c5520m, was ascended by its elegant, snowy, north ridge by Cederholm, Clarke, Hollinshead, C, D & H Jones, Keaton, Kinney, Sprange, Taylor, Turner, Woods and Andrew Wielochowski. This unique feature forms an "island peak" in the centre of the cirque and is dominated by the surrounding giants. The ascent took 3 hours and was rated Russian 2b (Alpine II or PD). On the following day Hampson and Clark attempted to reach col 5300m leading out of the cirque into the Bozbaital valley to the SE; steep snowy scree slopes and rotten rock put them off. At the same time Hollinshead and Wielochowski ventured onto the superb, 700m, icy north face of Zartosh confirming its great potential for some excellent ice routes. |  Base Camp by the Zartoshkol river Fay and Panorama Peaks in the background. |
From the summit of the White Pyramid a possible route up Zartosh could be seen: an icy snow couloir led up from the col towards a rockier area above which the angled appeared to ease. After descend to the col several members of the group started up the couloir but turned back on account of deteriorating weather and lack of adequate equipment.
The original aim of the expedition was to climb the main peak of Zartosh. In the event the White Pyramid, the west summit of Zartosh, was identified as an attractive and easier initial target which could be climbed with a minimum of equipment. After the successful ascent of this summit by all bar one member of the team there seemed insufficient time in the last two days of the trip to reascend to the col from where Zartosh would be most easily tackled. This will be one of our objectives for 1999 with the added idea of tackling this magnificent twenty thousand foot summit by one of the excellent looking ice routes on the north face. The weather in the Muzkol is normally very stable, in 1997 it only rained once at base camp, and that was only for half an hour in two and a half weeks. In 1998 the weather was unusual with three days on which it rained for a few hours hours, and several days of partial cloud cover.
