Ismoil Somoni Peak (7,495 m) is the highest mountain in Tajikistan and was the highest point of the Soviet Union, and before that of the Russian Empire. It rises in the Academy of Sciences Range in the heart of the Pamirs, where that range meets the Peter the First Range. Soon after its discovery it was named Stalin Peak, in 1962 it became Communism Peak, a name many climbers still use, and since 1998 it has carried the name of Ismail Samani, the 9th–10th-century Samanid emir whom Tajikistan honours as the founder of the first Tajik state.
It is the highest of the five 7,000-metre peaks of the former USSR that make up the Snow Leopard award, and usually ranked third of them in difficulty, after Jengish Chokusu and Khan Tengri. Most expeditions start from the Moskvina glade, a base camp at about 4,100–4,350 m shared with Korzhenevskaya Peak, and climb to the summit across the Pamir Firn Plateau, a snowfield more than 5,500 m high. The mountain was identified only in 1932, after years of confusion with Peak Garmo, and on 3 September 1933 Yevgeny Abalakov reached the top alone.
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At 7,495 m, Ismoil Somoni Peak was for six decades the roof of the Soviet Union, and it is still the highest summit of Tajikistan and of the former USSR. It ranks around 50th among the highest mountains on Earth. Counting the Kongur and Muztagh Ata massifs in China as part of the Pamirs, it is the fourth highest peak of the range; within Tajikistan nothing comes close. Firn fields and glaciers cover about 136 km² of its slopes.
For climbers from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the rest of the former Soviet Union the mountain has a special meaning as one of the five peaks of the Snow Leopard (Snezhny Bars). This title, introduced in 1967, goes to climbers who have stood on all five 7,000-metre summits of the former USSR: Lenin Peak, Ismoil Somoni Peak, Jengish Chokusu (Pobeda Peak), Khan Tengri and Korzhenevskaya Peak. In Soviet times the list was at first four peaks; since 1990 all five are required. More than 600 climbers, among them a few dozen women, earned the title between 1961 and 2012. In the usual ranking by difficulty and danger Ismoil Somoni comes third, after Jengish Chokusu and Khan Tengri and ahead of Korzhenevskaya and Lenin Peak. Lenin Peak, the most accessible of the five, is covered in its own article.
Russian explorers reached the area at the end of the 19th century. The expedition of V. F. Oshanin named the Peter the Great, Karategin and Darvaz ranges and noted four high peaks at their junction; Oshanin wrote that the eastern one might reach 25,000 feet. In 1913 the German explorer Willi Rickmer Rickmers entered the upper Obikhingou valley and saw a peak of about 6,650 m that local Tajiks from the village of Pashimgar called Garmo.
In 1928 a Soviet-German expedition of the Academy of Sciences, with Rickmers taking part, surveyed the area by phototheodolite and found that one of the summits west of the Fedchenko Glacier reached 7,495 m. The surveyors assumed it was Peak Garmo, which created the so-called "Garmo knot mystery": how could the same mountain be 6,650 m and 7,495 m high? Only in 1931 and 1932, when two parties of climbers and topographers under Nikolai Gorbunov and Nikolai Krylenko came in from the east and the west, did it become clear that they were looking at two different mountains. The 7,495 m peak stood in the Academy of Sciences Range about 20 km north of the real Garmo. It was mapped as the highest point of the USSR and named Stalin Peak.
In 1962, during de-Stalinisation, it became Communism Peak (Pik Kommunizma), and under that name it became a goal for climbers from the whole Soviet Union and abroad. In 1998 independent Tajikistan renamed it after Ismail Samani. Local people are said to call it Uzterghi, "makes the head spin".
The summit stands where the north–south Academy of Sciences Range throws off the Peter the First Range to the west, on the administrative line between Gorno-Badakhshan and the Region of Republican Subordination, roughly 300 km east of Dushanbe. Lenin Peak is about 90 km to the north-east and Korzhenevskaya Peak 13 km to the north. To the north and north-west flow the Fortambek (renamed Faridunshah), Moskvina and Walter glaciers; the Ordzhonikidze and Communism glaciers drain east into the Bivachny Glacier; to the south the Belyaev Glacier feeds the Garmo Glacier, and the south and south-west sides fall in steep walls.
The usual starting point is the Moskvina glade (Polyana Moskvina), a flat area on the shore of a lake near the confluence of the Moskvina and Walter glaciers, at about 4,100–4,360 m. In Soviet times a branch of the International Mountaineering Camp "Pamir" worked here, and today the glade serves as the base camp for both Ismoil Somoni and Korzhenevskaya. Expeditions normally fly in by helicopter. The ground approach is long: in 1953 the first team on Korzhenevskaya had its base camp by the Fortambek Glacier at about 2,900 m and had to build new crossings over the Muksu and other rivers. Road travellers reach the Rasht valley from Dushanbe; Garm, its central town, is about four hours away by shared taxi.
The normal route from the Moskvina glade. The standard ascent starts on the moraine of the Walter Glacier and climbs the Borodkin rib to the edge of the Pamir Firn Plateau. A common pattern is Camp 1 at about 5,100 m and Camp 2 at about 5,800 m, reached from Camp 1 in four to five hours without great difficulty. The next day is a long crossing of the plateau to the Vostok (East) camp at about 6,100 m. From there the route climbs the long but technically easy north face of Peak Dushanbe (6,985 m) to Camp 4 at 6,700–6,900 m, and on the fifth day climbers go for the summit and descend to Camp 4 or even Camp 2. In 2016 the Polish ski-mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel went from the Moskvina base camp at about 4,350 m to the summit in 14 hours 25 minutes, then skied down to the snow line, which shows how compressed the line can be for an extremely fast, acclimatised athlete. Ordinary teams spend several weeks, usually acclimatising on lower peaks or on Korzhenevskaya first.
The Pamir Firn Plateau. The plateau, officially renamed Ganji Pomir ("Treasure of the Pamirs") in 2023, stretches for about 11 km from Abalakov Peak (6,446 m) in the west to Ismoil Somoni in the east. It is 600–1,400 m wide, up to 2,000 m in places, with a level surface of about 16 km². Its lowest point, in the middle, is around 5,500 m, and it rises to about 6,050 m under the slopes towards the summit. Around its rim stand Peak Leningrad (6,507 m), Peak Dushanbe, Borbad (6,372 m) and other summits. Climbers on the normal route spend several days at this altitude, which is the main reason the mountain is harder than Lenin Peak or Korzhenevskaya.
The Burevestnik rib, graded 5A on the Russian scale, is the other classic way onto the plateau. It drops from the plateau towards the Fortambek Glacier between icefalls on both sides. Elvira Shatayeva climbed the mountain by this rib in 1971, the third woman to reach the summit.
The south-west face, above the Belyaev Glacier, carries the hardest routes. A team led by Eduard Myslovsky climbed it first in 1968; a Rostov team under Anatoly Nepomnyashchy spent 24 days on the wall in 1977; a Kazakh team led by Kazbek Valiev opened a new line in 1980, and a Leningrad team under Viktor Solonnikov another in 1981. Each of these climbs won gold at the USSR championship in the high-altitude class.
Expeditions to the Moskvina glade are organised through licensed operators in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, who arrange registration, helicopter flights, base camp services and the necessary permits. Most nationalities need a Tajik visa or e-visa. Travel in Gorno-Badakhshan requires a GBAO permit, valid for at most 30 days and issued by embassies, the migration police (OVIR) in Dushanbe or Khujand, or through an operator; ask your operator in writing whether your itinerary needs one. Rescue costs are borne by the climber, so take mountaineering insurance that explicitly covers helicopter evacuation from above 7,000 m. Fees and package prices change every season and are not published by an official body, so compare operators and ask for a full breakdown of what is included.
The climbing season is short: expeditions work in July and August, when the weather in the central Pamirs is most stable. The climate is sharply continental and dry, but the plateau is exposed to wind, and storms can bring heavy snow and severe cold at any time; the 1933 first ascent was slowed by extreme cold. Winter attempts are rare. The first and so far one of very few winter ascents was made in February 1986 by 24 climbers of a large Soviet expedition; two died on the descent and many suffered frostbitten feet.
Base camps on the Moskvina glade take water from streams and the lake and serve boiled water and hot drinks in the mess tent; filter or boil anything you collect yourself, because glacial water carries fine sediment. Above base camp there is no running water you can rely on: all water on the route comes from melting snow on a stove, so the amount of gas you carry is as important as the food. At these altitudes plan for at least 3–4 litres of fluid per person per day, start each summit push with full insulated bottles, and remember that dehydration speeds up both altitude sickness and frostbite.
Do not expect mobile coverage on the mountain. Communication on Pamir expeditions runs through the base camp radio and handheld radios carried by each group, and through satellite phones; operators sometimes offer paid internet in base camp. Agree on fixed radio schedules with base camp before leaving it. Mobile networks work in Dushanbe and in the larger towns of the Rasht valley. The emergency number in Tajikistan is 112 (police 102, ambulance 103, fire 101), but on the mountain help will come through your operator and its rescue team.
The greatest danger is the length of time spent high. On the normal route climbers sleep at around 6,000 m and above for several nights, and a storm on the plateau can trap a party far from the descent route. Avalanches and serac falls threaten the slopes below the plateau, the glaciers have hidden crevasses, and the rock on the mountain is relatively loose. Two members of the 1933 expedition died during the first ascent; in 1973 an expedition led by Anatoly Kustovsky ended in tragedy on the south-west face, and a body still lies on the wall. Acclimatise gradually, carry enough gas, set a strict turnaround time on summit day and descend at the first signs of cerebral or pulmonary oedema.
The task of climbing Stalin Peak was given to a special detachment of the 1933 Tajik-Pamir expedition, made up almost entirely of the best Soviet climbers. The approach was from the east. After a long and very hard climb in deep cold, only Yevgeny Abalakov reached the summit on 3 September 1933; the expedition leader, Nikolai Gorbunov, had to stop short. An automatic weather radio station was set up on the top. Abalakov, a sculptor by profession and the brother of the climber and inventor Vitaly Abalakov, died in Moscow in 1948 in unclear circumstances. More climbers followed: six reached the summit in August 1937, and by 1972 there had been about 580 ascents. The first woman on top was Lyudmila Agranovskaya in 1969; in 1970 she also became the first woman Snow Leopard.
How high is Ismoil Somoni Peak? 7,495 m. It is the highest point of Tajikistan and of the former Soviet Union.
What were its old names? Stalin Peak (from 1932–33) and Communism Peak (1962–1998). Before 1932 it was confused with Peak Garmo, a lower mountain about 20 km to the south.
How long does it take to climb? A typical expedition lasts three to four weeks including travel and acclimatisation; the summit push from the Moskvina glade usually takes about five days up, plus a day or two to descend.
How difficult is it? It is a serious high-altitude climb with routes graded 5A on the Russian scale. The normal route is not very technical, but it involves days above 6,000 m and a long plateau crossing. Among the Snow Leopard peaks it ranks third in difficulty.
Where does the climb start? At the Moskvina glade base camp, about 4,100–4,350 m, usually reached by helicopter. The same camp serves Korzhenevskaya Peak.
Is there water on the route? Only at base camp. Above it all water comes from melting snow, so carry enough gas.
Is there mobile coverage? No reliable coverage on the mountain. Groups use radios and satellite phones; the emergency number in Tajikistan is 112.
When is the best time to climb? July and August.
What is the Snow Leopard award? A title for climbing all five 7,000-metre peaks of the former USSR: Lenin Peak, Ismoil Somoni Peak, Jengish Chokusu (Pobeda), Khan Tengri and Korzhenevskaya Peak.
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