Peak Free Korea - located on the Ak-Sai ridge within the Ala-Archa National Park.
In the past, one of the most famous peaks of the former Soviet Union. Until the discovery of peaks 4810 (p. Odessa) in Karavshin and p. Ak-Su in the late 1980s, Korea, along with the Caucasian peaks Ushba and Chatyn, were considered the most difficult and prestigious technical peaks. The most routes marked with gold medals at Union championships were completed on them.
Peak Free Korea is located in the Tian Shan mountains in the Kyrgyz ridge, near Bishkek (Frunze) in the Ala-Archa gorge. It is the closest, especially for residents of Krasnoyarsk, among the famous mountains (in terms of access and approaches): from Bishkek to the alpine camp is 40 km on a good road, while the approach to the northern wall of Korea takes about 6 hours on foot. However, despite this, the northern wall of Korea remained untouched until 1959.
The height of Korea is 4777 m. The elevation difference from the bergschrund to the ridge is about 650 m. The glacier level under the wall is about 4000 m. The wall consists of three vertical parts: an icy lower section, a steep rocky middle section, and a snowy, icy "roof." The average steepness of the northern wall is about 65 degrees.
The weather in the area is very unstable; most often, rain or snow begins in the afternoon, and since the wall is almost never illuminated by the sun, the northern wall of Korea is almost always icy and covered with snow. The wall is dangerous due to falling rocks, and the terrain is heavily eroded, with many "live" stones.
The first ascent to the summit of Peak Free Korea was made in 1957 by a group led by B. Simagin from the southeast. The route's difficulty category is 4B.
The hallmark of Free Korea is its northern wall with an elevation difference of about 900 m, on which about 15 routes of difficulty categories 5A - 6A have been established.
The history of climbing the northern wall of Korea began in 1959 with the ascent of G. Andreev's team. They ascended the northwestern part of the massif. Just two years later, in 1961, a team of revolutionary-minded Muscovite Lev Myshlyaev, one of the pioneers of Soviet technical, "wall" climbing, completed a beautiful route by the shortest path from the glacier to the summit. To this day, this route is considered the most beautiful (though not the most difficult) line — although this is a matter of taste.
In 1966, the Kazakh Spartak team, led by Boris Andreevich Studenin, ascended almost through the center of the wall, deviating slightly from a straight line, earning the name "Studenin's Axe." In 1969, two teams ascended the center — the Kyiv team of A. Kustovsky and the Krasnoyarsk team of V. Bezzubkin. Almost all ascents made on the Wall received gold awards at the USSR championships.
Then came 1975. Again, the Kazakhs, this time under the leadership of Yuri Popenko, ascended the center of the Wall through a giant, overhanging cornice.
In 1976, two Americans using ice hammers in "solo" style ascended two ice couloirs, which became the easiest but no less beautiful lines of the Wall.
In 1988, a route was completed that was assigned the highest difficulty category — 6B — an event in the world of climbing. It was completed by a team from St. Petersburg led by S. Semiletkina. A series of subsequent repeats, ascents, and championships followed, resulting in gold, silver, and bronze awards. New routes emerged.
Krasnoyarsk climbers, led by V. Bagaev, ascended the route of A. Schwab. Several lines were again completed by Krasnoyarsk climbers with their leader Valery Balezine.
In 1997, from February 23-27, Alexander Ruchkin scouted and completed a new route, literally fifty meters from Myshlyaev's line. The first winter ascent of Korea. The duo A. Puchinin — A. Ruchkin completed a new route on the Northern wall of Free Korea — "Direct North Wall," 900m 6A/A3+. Five days in a suspended state on the Wall. Another day for descent.
In 2000, another winter first ascent was made, this time near the most difficult route, which had been established by Semiletkina up to that time.
Led by Kyrgyz master of technical ascents Mikhail Mikhailov, we spent 12 days on the Wall, completing a complicated (!) version of Semiletkina's route 6B (!). In winter. Frosts down to minus forty, avalanches from the Wall, and "live," unreliable terrain.
On March 6, 2015, a new route was established by MS in climbing Anatoly Syshchikov and Artem Cheremnykh.
The approximate difficulty category is 5B.