August 14, Pozirk. Rescuers have discovered personal belongings of two Belarusians and a Lithuanian who disappeared after ascending Kurumdy Mountain at the border with China, the search and rescue team’s website kurumdy.by reported on August 13.
“During an inspection of the western side of the ridge, at an altitude of about 4,500 meters, a backpack and an orange item – a sleeping bag or a jacket, it’s hard to tell more precisely from the video yet – were discovered,” the team says. “Next to them there were separate items, apparently from the same backpack.”
The gear probably belongs to one and the same person, but neither the men themselves nor any traces of them are visible around or on the ridge, the report says, adding that the items were most likely lost during the descent. If the rope team had suffered a fall in this area, the equipment of the other participants would be lying nearby. Rescuers believe that the backpack might have slipped down a steep slope above the first camp, from altitudes of between 5,100 and 5,300 meters.
According to the report, €70,000 has been raised in public donations for the search and rescue operation, which continues despite harsh conditions.
Belarusian nationals Mikałaj Svirydaŭ and Maksim Palanski – seasoned climbers aged 60 and 43, holders of the “Snow Leopard” (Snezhny Bars) prestigious mountaineering title awarded to those who successfully summit the five ultra-prominent 7,000-meter peaks located within the former Soviet Union – and Lithuanian Sergejus Rubcovas, 37, reached the peak of Kurumdy Mountain, at 6,613 meters (21,699 feet), on August 1. The following day, they reported that they were preparing to start their descent to the base camp. After that call, contact with the men was lost, and they did not come to a designated point on August 4 where a vehicle was waiting for them.
Because the mountain sits directly on the frontier between Kyrgyzstan and China, satellite phone positioning failed and cellular tracking only came in fragments via a Chinese operator, leaving rescue teams with no specific coordinates and forcing them to sweep the entire mountain route.
Kurumdy Mountain is situated in the Trans-Alay Range of the Pamir Mountains. With a reputation for extreme technical difficulty, dangerously loose rock, rotten summit cornices and severe isolation, it has seen very few successful ascents.
