«The team worked on the slope all day. It was sunny until noon, then clouds moved in, and it started raining toward evening. We managed to make two helicopter flights and numerous drone flights. We surveyed the slopes up to an altitude of 6,000 meters, but the image quality was worse than we would have liked. There are strong gusts of wind at the top, making it impossible to approach closely. While surveying the western side of the ridge at an altitude of around 4,500 meters, a backpack and an orange item — either a sleeping bag or a jacket — were spotted below the ridge. Several other items, apparently from the same backpack, were found nearby. The equipment most likely belongs to one of the group members. Neither the climbers themselves nor any traces of them were visible around the site or on the ridge,»

the report says.

Volunteers are not drawing any conclusions yet. Their current assessment is that the belongings were most likely lost during the descent. If a climbing team had fallen in this section, equipment belonging to the other members would likely have been found nearby as well. No such equipment was spotted.

It remains unclear where exactly the backpack fell from. Based on the terrain, it could have come down from a steep section above Camp 1, at an altitude of 5,100–5,300 meters.

The area in question is one of the most difficult sections of the ridge, with rock faces and ice formations where it is almost impossible to set up belay systems. Even in good weather, falling debris is a constant hazard, while large crevasses are located below the avalanche deposits.

The search was suspended in the evening because of rain. Volunteers are reviewing footage transmitted by drones and helicopters.

Today, weather permitting, a drone will survey the entire section of the ridge in high resolution, from the ridge crest to the location where the equipment was found. This is needed to determine the possible trajectory of the fall and decide where to continue the search.

Belarusian citizens Maxim Polyansky, 43, and Nikolai Sviridov, 60, along with Sergei Rubtsov, 37, from Lithuania, successfully summited Kurumdy Peak on August 2. The group was scheduled to begin descending to the base camp on August 4, but failed to make contact at the appointed time. The Ministry of Emergency Situations and volunteers launched a search operation. However, adverse weather conditions have made the search more difficult, while valuable time is being lost. Heavy snowfall and poor visibility have been reported in the search area.

Kurumdy Peak is located east of Lenin Peak. It is a mountain summit in the Chon-Alai Range on the border of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China. The mountain massif is characterized by narrow ridges, sharp rocky peaks and glaciers descending along steep slopes.

Before 2001, expeditions from several countries made repeated attempts to climb the peak but were unsuccessful. The first confirmed ascent was made by a Kyrgyz team led by Alexander Gubaev on October 12, 2001. The route followed the northern ridge at an altitude of 6,096 meters.

Climbing Kurumdy Peak is considered an extremely difficult mountaineering route.