Mountaineering in Almaty.

“White all around, only snow and frozen stone.
Cold world - not a trace, not a haze.
The snow will sweep the snow in front of us,
And the hand is freezing in a warm mitten.
Dawn freezes in the cold sky.
A gray ridge floated away into frost and darkness.
We go forward, and the wind erases the trail.
White around... The wind erases the trail."

Srym Kuderin. "Along the Glacier".

Summit ascent to Peak Komsomol in Almaty.

Komsomol peak, 4376 meters above sea level, is located in the upper reaches of the Bogdanovich glacier, in the eastern spur of the Maloalmatinsky gorge, in the Medeu district of the Almaty region. The height of the summit indicated on topographic maps of a scale of 200,000 is 4330.9 meters above sea level.
Until 1935, the summit was called Maloalmatinsky or Almaty. On July 11, 1935, the peak was renamed Komsomol peak after the 1st Komsomol alpiniad. The summit is located in the watershed ridge between the Malaya Almatinka and Levy Talgar rivers, on the northern slope of the Zailiyskiy Alatau ridge.
A beautiful panorama of the city of Almaty and the surrounding mountains opens from the top. Also, from almost any place at the foot of the ridge, you can observe this beautiful peak of the Zailiyskiy Alatau. There are several options for ascents to the summit: through the Manshuk Mametova pass, the Karlytau peak 4170 meters above sea level, the Talgar pass and the Bogdanovich glacier.
The Komsomol peak is divided from the Karlytau peak by the Komsomol pass 4000 meters above sea level.
In 1.9 kilometers to the north-east of the Komsomol peak there is the Chkalov peak with a height of 3892 meters above sea level. In 2.1 kilometers to the north-west there is Amangeldy peak with a height of 4010.1 meters above sea level. 855 meters southeast of Komsomol peak is Aristov peak 4102 meters above sea level.
Ordzhonikidze peak with a height of 4409.8 meters above sea level is 3.3 kilometers northwest of Komsomol peak. The summit is rocky and ice. Visually, it seems to be higher than all nearby mountains. The most popular peak among climbers.
History of first ascents to Komsomol peak in Zailiyskiy Alatau mountains.
1929. G.I. Beloglazov undertook a reconnaissance campaign from Medeo through the Kogashik pass to the Bogdanovich glacier in order to climb the Maloalmatinsky peak. We climbed the buttress opposite the northern wall of the peak to an altitude of about 4000 meters above sea level.
1930. In early July, the secretary of the mining section of the Central Council of the OPT I.E. Mysovsky, who offered to make the first ascent of the Maloalmatinsky peak. The group of participants included I. Mysovsky, G. Beloglazov, V. Gorbunov and A. Berggrin. On July 17, 1930 the goal was achieved, G. Beloglazov, I. Mysovsky and V. Gorbunov ascended the summit.
On July 9, 1935, 249 people ascended the summit as part of the first massive alpiniad.
On July 11, 1935, by the decision of the government, the peak was renamed the Komsomol peak.
In tribute to the recognition of the merits of the Komsomol in organizing this campaign. The commissar of the alpiniada headquarters was the secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol Konstantin Komarov (and the leader was V.M. Zimin).
A few days later, 14 Komsomol activists, led by the first secretary of the Komsomol regional committee, Kaisar Tashtitov, ascended the peak of the Komsomol.
Since 1997, the tradition of mountain climbing to Komsomol peak, interrupted for some time, has been resumed, and since then, almost every year in early July, a massive ascent to this beautiful peak has been held.
On May 8, 2015, Vitaly Komarov and Igor Podgursky made the first ever skiing down the southern couloir.
Geographic coordinates of Komsomol peak: N43 ° 05'11.15 "E77 ° 07'13.54"

Authority:
Alexander Petrov.
Brief Encyclopedia of the Kazakh SSR, volume 2, Nature, Alma-Ata, 1990.
M.E. Grudzinsky. "School of Courage - the peak of the Komsomol" 1975.
http://www.mountain.ru/article/article_display1.php?article_id=8882

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.