Afanasy Shubin

Afanasy Lazarevich Shubin — 1st-class mountaineer, senior instructor, Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Participant in first ascents of Scriabin (4,753 m), Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (4,895 m), and Svobodnaya Koreya (4,777 m, from the south side); in a group with A. Aitbaev he ascended Box Peak (4,298 m) via the north face. He led beginners to the Ala-Archa peaks countless times.

Thanks to his artistic talent, in 1951 he entered the art college directly into the 3rd year. He developed a drawing machine for printing linocuts, etchings, and lithographs. He collaborated extensively with the writer L. Dyadyuchenko, creating illustrations for his books. As a distinguished artist of the mountains, Shubin received recognition not only in Kyrgyzstan but throughout the USSR. From 1954 to 1957 he was head of the training section of the Ala-Archa camp.

Despite his passion for the mountains, he suffered from an intolerance to altitude above approximately 4,000 m. In 1967, on the approach to Khan Tengri, Afanasy Shubin passed away at an altitude of 4,300 m. Shubin's paintings bear his unique signature and remain a memory of the mountaineer-artist.