EXPEDITION · JULY 2024 · PAMIR MOUNTAINS, KYRGYZSTAN
Peak Lenin
7,134 metres. A whiteout, a team that pushed on — and the call to turn around.
7,134m
Peak Lenin · turned back
6,148m
Razdelnaya · summited
100%
Our team home safe
Snow leopards
Climbing for DSWF
Powered by Christopher Ward · Kit by Páramo · In aid of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
THE STORY
Turning back in a whiteout.
In July 2024 I set out to climb Peak Lenin — known locally as Ibn Sina — on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is one of the fabled Snow Leopard peaks of the former Soviet Union, and I was climbing to raise funds for the species it is named after.
We reached Camp 3 and summited Razdelnaya, 6,148 metres. Then we had a decision to make. We could see black clouds rolling in below us. We knew how exposed it was up there, and that if we were caught out it could be fatal. So we decided, as a team, to descend — fast.
Then the whiteout hit. You couldn’t see more than five metres in front of you, and there were sheer drops on either side. It was frightening. We made it into Camp 2 in time, hunkered down and waited it out.
Meanwhile, a team from Iran and Turkey decided to go for the summit. Then the radios started going off: their team had been split, and two climbers were left high on the mountain. None of them summited. When the weather cleared, two Polish climbers gave up their own summit attempt to rescue them, and found them without gloves or face coverings, severely frostbitten. Shortly before, two climbers had been badly injured in an avalanche, and one of them died.
We made the right decision not to test the mountain, and our whole team came home safely.
“We knew how exposed it was up there. If we were caught out, it could be fatal.”
Tom Hicks
Camp 3, Peak Lenin · July 2024
FROM A FELLOW CLIMBER
“Let’s do this together.”
“I started to fall behind the group… It was at this point that a friendly face appeared in front of me. It was Tom Hicks, the youngest of our group, by far. With a big smile under his white sunblocked nose and dark tinted glasses, he asked how I was… ‘Right,’ he said, ‘let’s do this together.’ And so we did.”
“When I think of that day in the stunning Pamir Mountains, and of the trip in general, it was Tom’s smiling face, and his selflessness in putting his own discomfort and pain aside to come and help me, that comes to mind first. Something I will never forget.”
Brett Abikhair
Peak Lenin expedition, 2024
THE MOUNTAIN
The “easiest” 7,000er isn’t.
Lenin is often sold as an accessible first 7,000-metre peak: no technical climbing on the normal route, and hundreds of attempts every summer. Its weather tells a different story.
<25%
of climbers reach the summit, according to the Slava Topol Project.
~15
serious incidents on the mountain each summer — around a third of them fatal.
1974
A storm near the summit claimed all eight members of a Soviet women’s team led by Elvira Shatayeva.
1990
An earthquake-triggered avalanche hit Camp 2, killing 43 climbers — the deadliest single accident in mountaineering history.
Sources: ExplorersWeb; Global Summit Guide; SummitPost.
FIELD JOURNAL
From the valleys to 6,148 metres
The approach to Camp 1 (4,400m)
Camp 1 · 4,400m
Roping up overnight for the main ice face, on the glacier towards Camp 2
Climbing the main ice face overnight, on the approach to Camp 2
The main crevasse field on the glacier
Above Camp 3, approaching Razdelnaya
Summit of Razdelnaya · 6,148m
Back down near Base Camp, on a smaller peak at around 3,800m
WHY I CLIMBED
For the snow leopard.
The expedition raised funds for the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s work protecting species like the snow leopard across Asia. Christopher Ward supported the climb and donates profits from its C60 Anthropocene watch to the same cause.
Today I’m Head of Trusts & Foundations at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya — and every expedition still carries a conservation purpose.
TAKE THE LESSON WITH YOU
Three ways to go further.
CLIMB WITH ME
Project Purpose: Kilimanjaro
5,895m, led with the same judgement. 2026 teams: 70% summit success, 100% home safe.
BOOK A TALK
When to turn back: risk and decisions at altitude
Keynotes and team sessions built on this expedition.
LISTEN
Mountain stories on Build Your Purpose
Kenton Cool, Rebecca Stephens, Jo Bradshaw and more.