Mountaineering in the 1990s–2000s
01 July 2026
In the last years of the USSR, Ala-Archa held first place in the USSR in the number of ascents. The revival of Kyrgyz mountaineering after the dissolution of the USSR flared up in 1997.
In the last years of the USSR, the head of the training section of Ala-Archa was Anatoly Rodikov ("Hussar"), and the senior instructor of the Ala-Archa Rescue and Control Post was Dmitry Grekov. During this period, Ala-Archa held first place in the USSR in the number of ascents (up to 300 people per shift). Records were set for speed on difficult routes (on Svobodnaya Koreya Peak, Korona Peak, Semenov-Tyan-Shansky Peak, and others). A winter route on Svobodnaya Koreya (grade 6B) was climbed for the first time.
Mountaineers of Kyrgyzstan – D. Grekov, A. Ruchkin, O. Turaev – joined the CSKA team of Kazakhstan (head – Yervand Ilyinsky). Dmitry Grekov and Mikhail Mikhaylov took part in the 1995 Kazakh expedition to Manaslu Peak (8,163 m), reaching 7,800 m. In 1997, they also took part in the Kazakh expedition to Everest. Dmitry Grekov became the first Kyrgyzstani to summit Everest. M. Mikhaylov reached 8,300 m but turned back to accompany the ailing Sh. Gataulin.
The revival of Kyrgyz mountaineering after the dissolution of the USSR flared up in 1997. In 1999, D. Grekov and A. Gubaev fulfilled the requirements for the title "Snow Leopard". In 2001, Alexander Gubaev's expedition summited the last unconquered six-thousander of Kyrgyzstan, Korumdy Peak (6,613 m). In 2004, Mikhail Mikhaylov and Alexander Ruchkin, as part of the Russian team, ascended Jannu Peak (7,710 m, Nepal), earning the highest mountaineering award – the "Golden Ice Axe" (the expedition was listed among the 100 best climbs of the 21st century). In the same year, Alexander Gubaev became the first Kyrgyzstani on K2 (8,611 m), sadly not returning from it.
Kyrgyz mountaineering was replenished with new names and new ascents. In 2010, Anastasia Cheremnykh became the first female "Snow Leopard" of Kyrgyzstan, and in 2011, three mountaineers became the first "Winter Snow Leopards": Sergey Seliverstov (initiator of the "Winter Snow Leopard" project), Kerim Aktaev, and Artur Usmanov. In 2012, Sergey Seliverstov and Andrey Puchinin became the first Kyrgyzstanis to summit an eight-thousander without oxygen (Cho Oyu Peak, 8,201 m).
