Tiga pendaki asal Amerika Serikat, Sean McLane, Vitaliy Musiyenko, dan Christian Black, berangkat ke Garhwal Himalaya, India, pertengahan Mei lalu dengan target jalur baru di tebing raksasa Chaukhamba III (6.974 m). Namun cuaca tidak pernah memberi kesempatan. Setelah dua pekan menunggu jendela cuaca yang tak pernah datang, tim memutuskan beralih ke rencana cadangan: Balakun Peak (6.471 m), puncak yang sebelumnya bukan target utama mereka.

Three American climbers, Sean McLane, Vitaliy Musiyenko, and Christian Black, traveled to India's Garhwal Himalaya in mid-May with the goal of opening a new route on the towering face of Chaukhamba III (6,974m). But the weather never cooperated. After two weeks of waiting for a window that never materialized, the team pivoted to a backup plan: Balakun Peak (6,471m), a mountain that hadn't originally been their objective.

"Balakun Peak bukan tujuan kami sebelum perjalanan ini, tapi gunung itu menarik, dan kami pikir bisa jadi target cadangan yang layak," kata Musiyenko kepada Explorersweb dari India. Jaraknya jauh lebih dekat dari base camp dibanding Chaukhamba III — hanya perjalanan tiga hingga empat hari pulang-pergi. Tim yang sudah teraklimatisasi memilih strategi tak biasa: mendaki seluruh jalur sepanjang 2.300 meter dalam satu dorongan non-stop, gaya super-ringan dengan opsi mundur jika pendakian memakan waktu lebih lama dari perkiraan.

"Balakun Peak was not an objective before the trip, but it was an attractive mountain, and we thought it could be a worthwhile backup objective," Musiyenko told Explorersweb from India. It was much closer to their base camp than Chaukhamba III — just a three- to four-day round trip. The already-acclimatized team chose an unconventional strategy: climbing the entire 2,300-meter line in a single, continuous push, in super-light style, with the option to bail if the climb took longer than expected.

Pada 27 Mei, tepat lewat tengah malam, ketiganya berangkat dari base camp di 4.420 m menuju jalur ridge barat daya Balakun, piramida batu dan es yang menjulang di atas Gletser Satopanth. Mereka melahap 1.000 meter pertama tanpa tali pengaman di medan campuran kelas lima, sebelum Christian Black — yang merasa kurang fit — memutuskan turun sendiri lewat jalur salju yang lebih mudah. McLane dan Musiyenko melanjutkan dengan tali, simul-climbing sejauh 1.200–1.300 meter berikutnya melewati pitch tersulit bergrade M5–M6, hingga mencapai puncak pada pukul 18.30 di tengah badai angin yang tak terduga.

On May 27, just after midnight, the trio left base camp at 4,420m for Balakun's southwest ridge, a striking pyramid of rock and ice rising above the Satopanth Glacier. They covered the first 1,000 vertical meters unroped on fifth-class mixed terrain, before Christian Black — not feeling well — opted to descend alone via an easier snow couloir. McLane and Musiyenko roped up and continued, simul-climbing the remaining 1,200–1,300 meters through the hardest pitches, graded M5–M6, reaching the summit at 6:30 pm in an unexpected windstorm.

Turun gunung sama beratnya. Sepanjang malam, keduanya membuat V-thread dan jangkar rappel dadakan dari satu-satunya pengaman yang tersisa, hanya berhenti pukul 4 pagi untuk mencairkan air sambil menanti matahari terbit. Total pendakian dan turun memakan lebih dari 40 jam pergerakan hampir tanpa henti — pengalaman yang menurut Musiyenko, seorang pelari ultramaraton, membuatnya merasa "benar-benar terkuras."

The descent proved no less demanding. Throughout the night, the pair built V-threads and improvised rappel anchors from single pieces of remaining protection, stopping only at 4 am to melt water while waiting for sunrise. The full round trip took more than 40 hours of nearly nonstop movement — an ordeal that left Musiyenko, an ultramarathon runner, feeling "completely depleted."

"Sean melaporkan mendengar hal-hal yang sebenarnya tidak ada. Entah karena kurang tidur, dehidrasi, kelelahan, atau kombinasi ketiganya, itu jadi pengingat bahwa perjalanan kami masih panjang. Kami memperlambat langkah, bergerak lebih hati-hati, dan fokus mengambil keputusan yang masuk akal."

"Sean reported hearing things that were not there. Whether from sleep deprivation, dehydration, exhaustion, or a combination of all three, it was a reminder that we still had a long way to go. We slowed down, moved more methodically, and focused on making sound decisions."

— Vitaliy Musiyenko, anggota tim pendakiclimbing team member

Tim menamai jalur baru itu "Kishmish," kata dalam bahasa Hindi untuk kismis — sebuah candaan atas tubuh mereka yang "benar-benar kering dan keriput" setelah pendakian. Riwayat pendakian Balakun sendiri masih kabur: ada klaim singkat pendakian oleh Polisi Perbatasan India di masa lalu, namun para pendaki lokal meragukan validitasnya, sehingga Balakun banyak dianggap belum pernah didaki sebelumnya. Bagi Musiyenko, ekspedisi ini tetap terasa belum tuntas — jalur impian di Chaukhamba III masih menanti giliran berikutnya, ketika cuaca Himalaya mau bersahabat.

The team named the new route "Kishmish," the Hindi word for raisin — a nod to how "thoroughly dried out and shriveled" they felt after the climb. Balakun's own climbing history remains murky: there is a brief claim of a past ascent by the Indian Border Police, though local climbers question its validity, leading many to regard the peak as previously unclimbed. For Musiyenko, the expedition still feels unfinished — the dream line on Chaukhamba III remains for another attempt, whenever the Himalaya's weather decides to cooperate.