Nestled into the Turkik Mountains, at the far west end of the Himalaya, lies the Ak Suu Valley of the Karavshin. Extremely remote; a series of planes, jeeps, and pack animals will carry our team to basecamp over the course of roughly 5 days. We will climb for more than two weeks, and depart via the same path. This is a rare opportunity.

Pale Blue earth’s batteries were an indispensable asset to our recent climbing expedition to the remote Karavshin valley in southwestern Kyrgyzstan. The sun only emerged from the monolithic peaks to the east and west for about five hours every day, so our solar charging options were limited. On top of this, many days were either rainy or cloudy.

Thanks to PBE’s long-lasting, rechargeable AAA and AA batteries, we were able to depend on sustained power to our battery-dependent necessities like radios and headlamps without sacrificing the limited solar power needed to charge our camera equipment. Our headlamps collectively withstood six early morning starts, as well as the long hikes that followed on a single charge--perilous hikes up loose talus to reach the bases of towering alpine big walls like The Russian Tower, Pik Odessa, and Pik Kyrkchilta.

These big walls often require multiple days to ascend, so we naturally spent a good amount of time in the dark navigating technical terrain where a dimming headlamp could spell disaster. Waking up at our bivouac on the world famous “Perestroika Crack” and getting started up the next 400 meters of climbing in the dark was no problem. The same goes for the battery-powered radio communications that were so vital for a safe and successful ascent. At the end of our expedition, I could not believe I had been climbing big walls carrying the limited life and excessive carbon footprint of traditional batteries on my back for so many years. Thank you PBE!

Author: Jack Nugent

Big Wall Climber, Novelist, Camp Chef.