George Cave

Big Chimgan

Our main mountaineering objective in Uzbekistan was a route on Big Chimgan. After aborting our first attempt the day before in torrential rain, we set off in beautiful winter conditions the next day with Vladimir and Demenskaya. After many hours of uphill ascent we reached the bivy cave and geared up for the snow to come.

Sadly the heavy overnight snowfall was bonded terribly to the warm rock beneath and we we decided to bail a few hundred metres from the summit. The two locals were great company and also demonstrated some rather curious short roping techniques, although fortunately Erinna's first winter abseil was conducted a little more safely. It's a honeymoon, not an expedition!