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STEVE SWENSON'S BLOG

Alpine Adventures

Monday, August 19, 2013

Acclimatization on Karl Marx Peak

Over the many years that people have been venturing into the high mountains, doctors and
scientists have learned that to do this safely, the human body needs to have a period of
acclimatization. During acclimatization the human body undergoes physical changes in response to
living at an altitude where there is a lot less oxygen. These changes include increases in the
percentage of red blood cells in your blood (red blood cells deliver oxygen throughout your body).
By moving to higher altitudes incrementally and taking the time needed for these changes to occur
enables climbers to live and work at high altitude with a much lower risk of getting sick from it.
The higher a climber plans to go, the more time it takes acclimatize. In my experience, it takes
about three weeks to acclimatize to elevations over 26,000 feet; for a 20,000 foot peak it takes
about 7-10 days; and for a 14,000 foot peak like Mt Rainier a fit climber can do that without any
acclimatization.
Karl Marx Peak is about 22,000 feet - high enough that we needed to spend some time
acclimatizing. Our plan was to try and climb the steep 6000 foot high north face. But before
venturing onto such a difficult route, we decided to acclimatize by climbing the easier Southwest
Rib. Besides acclimatizing, the Southwest Rib would also give us the opportunity to get familiar
with what would be our descent route if we made it to the top of the North Face.

About Me
Steve Swenson
I live in Seattle,
Washington and Canmore,
Alberta with my wife Ann
where I am now climbing,
writing and doing
volunteer work. I enjoy a broad range of
interests including Alpine Climbing in
the Great Ranges, ice climbing, trad and
sport climbing. I have two adult sons Lars and Jed.
View my complete profile

Blog Archive
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2014 (6)
2013 (24)
December (2)

On July 21st at around 7AM we left base camp at 13,000 feet and walked up the rubble on the left
side of the glacier below Karl Marx Peak. After awhile we crossed onto the middle of the glacier
where it was easy to walk on the bare ice.

August (6)
Wakhan Corridor
The North Face of Karl Marx peak
Acclimatization on Karl Marx
Peak
Khorog to Base Camp
Tajikistan - from Dushanbe to
Khorog
Letter from Manzoor Hussain President of Alpine ...
June (1)
May (1)
March (4)
February (5)
January (5)
2012 (12)
2011 (22)

Approaching Karl Marx Peak. The north face is visible behind us

2010 (1)

Anmelden

Links

To get to the Southwest Rib, we needed to climb up to a pass to the right of a glacier tongue around
the right side of the peak. By noon we reached the base of a loose rocky scree slope below the
pass. The climb up this slope was reminiscent of some of the worst scree slopes I've climbed in the
Canadian Rockies.

Alpine Mentors
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Canadian Avalanche Center
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Environment Canada
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To reach the SW Rib we had to climb to a pass to the right of the glacier tongue to the right of the climber

We found an old rock platform at the pass where we pitched our tent at 16,000 feet in the early
afternoon. We passed the rest of the day reading. We were moving up pretty quickly for not being
acclimatized yet, so we had mild headaches and didn't sleep well.

Camp at 16,000 feet at the pass

The next morning on July 22 we climbed up a steep narrow glacier west of the summit.

We climbed the narrow glacier in the center of the photo

At the top of the steep narrow glacier was a glacial platform that we crossed to access the
Southwest Rib.

Looking down from the top of the narrow glacier

Once we got onto the Rib and off the glacier, we didn't have to be concerned with falling into
hidden crevasses so we took the rope off. We climbed up the rib to nearly 20,000 feet where we
dug a nice platform out of the snow next to a short rock wall. We had taken only two days to climb
from base camp at 13,000 feet to 20,000 feet and we were all feeling pretty poorly with the altitude.
We knew that we were going up too fast, but given that the climbing was pretty easy we were
having a hard time holding ourselves back. Before we went to sleep we talked about spending an
extra day at 20,000 feet to acclimatize and then go to the top the following day.

Camp at 20,000 feet on the SW Rib. Views of the Hindu Kush in Pakistan in the background

On July 23 we had another sleepless night and when we woke up early, we decided at first to spend
a rest day here. But around 10AM we got impatient and decided to go for the summit. I wasn't
sure sure this was such a good idea since that would mean going up from 13,000 feet at base camp
to 22,000 feet in only three days, and this was after having come up to BC in one day and spending
only a couple of nights there. We left around 11AM and the climbing was technically easy, but we
suffered from ascending so quickly without being acclimatized. Doug went first as he seemed
stronger than Rusty and me. Fortunately the snow conditions were good and it was nice
cramponing and only a little step kicking up to the ankle.

Climbing on the SW Rib

I was pretty out of breath with such a rapid ascent without acclimatization. But my training before
the trip paid off, and in spite of that discomfort I felt pretty good as we approached the summit
rocks. On the final 100 meters I felt some congestion in my chest but I was able to cough it up.
With some deep breathing to stay well oxygenated I was able to make it to the top OK, but on the
last bit I moved slowly behind the others.

The final summit rocks

We reached the summit around 3PM and found a old plaque with a bust of Karl Marx from the
Soviet days. There was a great panorama from the summit of the Pamirs to the north and the Hindu
Kush in Pakistan to the south. Separating us from Pakistan was the Wakhan Corridor
in Afghanistan below us to the south. A crisp cold wind was blowing from the south and I was
getting cold because I didn't have a lot of clothing so I soon headed down. We were all suffering
from the altitude and Rusty vomited on the way down. It only took a couple of hours to reach our
camp and we spent a second night there with little sleep again.

On the Summit of Karl Marx Peak (22,000 ft) with the plaque of the peak's namesake next to Doug

Doug got us up and going around 7AM and cooked for us. This wasn't easy because with our
gasoline stove we had to cook outside the tent in the cold. It was a good idea to get going as early

as possible to avoid arriving at some of the snow slopes below that would get soft in the afternoon
heat causing the snow to stick to our crampons. The descent was uneventful cramponing down
slopes that were barely low angle enough for me to face out. It was nice to have new sharp
crampons that bit hard into the icy slopes. We got through the two steep sections of down climbing
through the crappy rock below the pass where we camped the first night, and made our way onto
the bare ice of the glacier in the valley. We arrived at BC around 2 PM quite tired. Bakhtiyore and
Zadifa were there when we arrived and made us some good soup and a tomato and onion salad.
For dinner we had french fries and a fried cabbage and onion dish. Now that we were back at
13,000 feet we slept well.

Posted by Steve Swenson at 11:45 AM

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1 comment:
Primrose87 July 5, 2016 at 12:55 PM
Great blog and some amazing photos, thank you for sharing! My partner and I are considering a
trip to Karl Marx peak this September which is how I came across you! I'm gathering that you
sorted out all the logistics yourselves? It seems incredibly expensive to go through a company in
tajikistan, we have been quoted 3700. How difficult and expensive did you find the whole trip?
Any advice would be very gratefully received. Once again than you for sharing. Esme
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