Women’s Expedition to Legendary Granite Spires for 5.13 Big Wall
Bronwyn Hodgins, Jiona Layton, Cat Geras and Alexa Flower travelled to the Ak-Su Valley of Kyrgyzstan earlier this year
In August 2025, four women, Bronwyn Hodgins, Fiona Layton, Cat Geras, and Alexa Flower ventured deep into the Ak Su Valley of Kyrgyzstan to take on the 900-metre granite walls of Peak Slesova. Their expedition culminated in the free ascents of two established lines.
Slesova is home to one of the world’s most celebrated alpine big-wall climbs: Perestroika Crack. Stretching roughly 800 metres, the route winds through splitter cracks, off-widths, and corner systems, offering climbers long, and sustained pitches. The route entered climbing lore in 1995, when Lynn Hill and Greg Child completed the first free ascent. Their ascent, a continuous push lasting about 28 hours, set a new standard for big-wall climbing in remote, high-altitude terrain. Today, the climb is often compared to El Capitan’s classic walls, both for its length and quality. Hodgins and Geras led the way, onsighting and alternating leads through the line’s sweeping corners and powerful cruxes.
In 2019, a team of American climbers, David Allfrey, Brent Barghahn, Nick Berry, and Eric Bissell, established a 950-metre 5.13a on the northwest face of Slesova called The American Way. It’s a free variation of a 1988 aid climb. Hodgins and Layton freed every pitch, while Geras, freed most of them.
Together, Perestroika Crack and The American Way illustrate the evolution of big-wall climbing in Kyrgyzstan: from the pioneering grit of Hill and Child to the contemporary mastery of free climbing on previously aid-only terrain. Hodgins has released a new short film about the expedition, watch below.
