The first day of your expedition begins with your arrival to Dushanbe. We will pick you up from the airport and take you to the City Hostel – our first night's accommodation.

Today we head into the mountains. Our day will begin with breakfast at our hotel before making the roughly three-and-a-half hour journey to our trailhead near the village of Marguzor. This drive alone is a thrilling adventure as we traverse through the heart of the Fann Mountain range and behold the jaw-dropping steepness and snow-capped heights of these towering mountains.

Proper acclimatization will be a critical part of a successful expedition. We need to allow our bodies adequate time to adjust to the higher elevations before pushing on. We will use day 3 to either shuttle equipment and supplies up to our advanced base camp at 13,000 feet or we may use it to head to the Immat Glacier where we will practice our technical glacier travel skills and obtain a stunning view of the sheer East face of our primary objective for this expedition – Peak Bolshaya (Big) Ganza.

Today will be a physically challenging day, but an important one as we approach Advanced Base Camp. We will pack our gear and hike up a valley to the Northwest of our objective. After leaving tree line, we will hike into the lower reaches of the Zholty (Yellow) Glacier drainage, and along a dry lateral moraine. We will then hike up onto the rock-covered lower Zholty glacier, weaving our way through crevasses before we eventually reach Advanced Base Camp below the upper part of the glacier.

After a difficult day 4 with heavy packs, we will take day 5 to rest and continue to adjust to the elevation. It cannot be overstated how important acclimatization is to a successful expedition – these rest days are critical! If we have not done so already, we may use part of this rest day to practice technical glacier travel skills. Other options for the day include light exploration, napping or whatever else feels restful!

Malaya (little) Ganza is a smaller, but strikingly similar shaped peak to Bolshaya Ganza and stands just under the 5000m mark (but over the 16,000 ft mark!) at 4946m. We will climb a rocky slope to a ridge above the Surhob Glacier, before passing over and gaining the Small Ganza glacier itself. The glacier is typically covered in snow, and most crevasses are buried, which makes for a relatively simple ascent to the summit.

Day 7 is an additional rest day to recover from our previous day’s climb and consolidate acclimatization gains before our final summit day. We may also shuttle some technical gear up the mountain to make the beginning of our summit day less taxing.

This is the final big summit push. While we don’t have far to travel in terms of distance, we need to climb an additional 4,300 feet to reach the summit – short but steep! Though not highly technical, we will be spending almost the entirety of this day on a glacier and roped up. We will be climbing snow and ice, at times up to nearly 40 degrees in steepness. There will be crevasses to navigate, and a stunning icefall to the north of the route. The views of the Fann range, the Zarafshon range to the East, and Hissor Range to the South are spectacular! If you haven't had your fill of glaciers, there are numerous large hanging glaciers on the peaks in the surrounding area. After enjoying the summit we will descend back to Advance Base Camp for some well-earned rest.

Our final day will be a long one. We will descend the glacier, down the lateral moraine, and back down past tree line to the Immat River valley floor. Here we will rest in the trees near the river, and then push on to the trailhead. After some cleaning up and refreshment we will drive back to Dushanbe where the luxuries of civilization await!

This extra day is built into the itinerary to accommodate any unforeseen delays exiting the mountains and to accommodate the limited flight options leaving Tajikistan. We will take the day to rest and enjoy the sights and sounds of Dushanbe on a guided excursion through the city.

Leave for home!