Lenin Peak
Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Peak rises to 7,134 metres (23,406 ft) in Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO) on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and is the second-highest point of both countries. It is considered one of the less technical 7,000 m peaks in the world to climb and it has by far the most ascents of any 7,000 m or higher peak on Earth, with every year seeing hundreds of mountaineers make their way to the summit.[3] Lenin Peak is the highest mountain in the Trans-Alay Range of Central Asia, and in the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan it is exceeded only by Ismoil Somoni Peak (7,495 m). It was thought to be the highest point in the Pamirs in Tajikistan until 1933, when Ismoil Somoni Peak (known as Stalin Peak at the time) was climbed and found to be more than 300 metres higher. Two mountains in the Pamirs in China, Kongur Tagh (7,649 m) and Muztagh Ata (7,546 m), are higher than the Tajik summits.
In August 1974, an entire team of eight Russian women climbers died high on the mountain in a storm.[13] Elwira Szatajewa maintained radio contact with base camp as her team-mates perished around her. In her final words she said, 'I'm alone now, with just a few minutes left to live. See you in eternity.'
Elvira Shatayeva (1 December 1938 – 8 August 1974) was a Russian professional mountain climber and professional athlete and the leader of a failed expedition to Pik Lenina, Pamir, Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border in August 1974.[1][2] At the time of her death in 1974, she was one of the most famous climbers in the USSR.
In 1972, she led an all-women's ascent of Peak Korzhenevskaya in Tajikistan. In 1973, she led an expedition of the Ushba in Georgia.[3]
In August 1974, she attempted to conquer hiking to peak Lenin with an all-female group for the first time in history.[4] The group included: Nina Vasilyeva and Valentina Fateyeva of Moscow; Ilsinar Mukhamedova and Tatyana Sardashova of Dushanbe; Galina Perekhodyuk of Chelyabinsk; Lyudmila Manzharova of Frunze and Irina Lyubimtseva of Sverdlovsk.[5] Her entire group died on the mountain, as reported by American Pamirs/USSR Expedition that was on the mountain at the same time.[1][6][7]
Shatayeva's husband, Vladimir Shatayev, wrote a memoir about the experience and his life called Degrees of Difficulty.[3]
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