{{short description|Highest mountain in Tajikistan}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Ismoil Somoni Peak | other_name = Stalin Peak, Communism Peak | image = File:Pik Kommunizma.jpg | image_caption = Ismoil Somoni Peak (also known as Pik Kommunizma) in 2023 | image_size = 289 | elevation_m = 7495<ref name="mfa">{{cite web|url=https://mfa.tj/en/main/foreign-policy/territorial-and-border-issues|title=Territorial and border issues|website=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan|date=1 March 2010|access-date=31 January 2020|quote=The lowest spot of the country is on the height of 300 meters and the highest spot is on the height of 7495 meters above sea level. [...] on the South-East – Pamir (one of the highest spot of the Earth – peak Somoni, with the height of 7495 meters)}}</ref><ref name="readersnatural" /><ref name="cica"/><ref name="factbook"/><ref name="cummings"/><ref name="hannan"/> | elevation_ref = <br />{{small|Ranked 50th}} | prominence_m = 3402 | prominence_ref = <br />{{small|Ranked 54th}} | listing = Country high point<br />Ultra | location = Northwestern Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan | range = Pamirs | map = Tajikistan | map_size = 290 | map_caption = Location in Tajikistan | label_position = right | coordinates = {{coord|38|56|36|N|72|00|58|E|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref = | topo = | first_ascent = 3 September 1933 by Yevgeniy Abalakov and Nikolay Gorbunov. | easiest_route = rock/snow/ice climb }} [[File:Mountaineers in Communism Peak in 1985.jpg|thumb|Junko Tabei on Communism Peak in 1985 together with two other Japanese and four Estonian mountaineers. Photo by Jaan Künnap.]]
'''Ismoil Somoni Peak''' ({{langx|tg|Қуллаи Исмоили Сомонӣ|Qulla-i Ismō‘il-i Sōmōnî/Qullaji Ismojili Somonī}}; {{langx|ru|Пик Исмои́ла Сомони́|Pik Ismoíla Somoní}}) is the highest mountain in Tajikistan<ref name="mfa"/><!-- --><ref name="cica">{{cite web|url=http://www.cicasummit2019.tj/about-tajikistan/general-information-about-tajikistan|title=General information about Tajikistan|access-date=31 January 2020|quote=Tajikistan is a typical mountainous country with absolute heights from 300 to 7495 m. 93% of its territory is occupied by mountains belonging to the highest mountain systems of Central Asia{{snd}}Tien-Shan and Pamir. Many peaks in Tajikistan are among the highest in the world, rising to a maximum of 7,495 m (24,590 ft) at Ismoil Somoni Peak (formerly Peak Communism).|publisher=Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia|archive-date=31 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131032908/http://www.cicasummit2019.tj/about-tajikistan/general-information-about-tajikistan|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- --><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/newlyindependent00bata/page/163|title=The Newly Independent States of Eurasia Handbook of Former Soviet Republics|edition=2|first1=Stephen K.|last1=Batalden|first2=Sandra L.|last2=Batalden|date=1997|via=Internet Archive|publisher=Oryx Press|isbn=0-89774-940-5|quote='''Highest elevation''' 24,590 ft (Kommunizm Peak, in the Pamir Range)}}</ref><!-- --><ref name="stalinpeak">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ussrreferenceboo03unse|title=USSR A Reference Book of Facts and Figures|location=London|date=1956|via=Internet Archive|publisher=Farleigh Press Ltd|page=[https://archive.org/details/ussrreferenceboo03unse/page/16 16]|quote=The tallest peaks (in feet above sea-level): Stalin Peak (Pamirs) 24,583;}}</ref><!-- --><ref name="meredith">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/orient00hill|url-access=registration|title=The Orient|first1=V. H.|last1=Hillyer |first2=E. G.|last2=Huey |publisher=Meredith Press|location=New York|date=1966|via=Internet Archive|page=[https://archive.org/details/orient00hill/page/102 102]|quote=The highest peak, Stalin Peak, 24,590 feet, is here.}}</ref><!-- --><ref name="factbook">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/ti.html|title=Tajikistan|website=The World Factbook|access-date=30 January 2020|quote=highest point: Qullai Ismoili Somoni 7,495 m [...] Geography – landlocked; highest point, Qullai Ismoili Somoni (formerly Communism Peak), was the tallest mountain in the former USSR|archive-date=10 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310160159/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/ti.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- --><ref name="cummings">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSDdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA67|title=Symbolism and Power in Central Asia: Politics of the Spectacular|editor=Sally N. Cummings|date=2010|via=Google Books|publisher=Routledge|page=67|quote=In 1933 the USSR'S Highest Mountain, Peak Stalin ((7,495 m), subsequently renamed Peak Communism and ultimately Ismail Somoni) was climbed as part of a large expedition, the Tajikistan-Pamirs-expedition (TPE). […] Mount Stalin was the highest point in the USSR|isbn=978-0-415-57567-6}}</ref><!-- --><ref name="hannan">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byGtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT45|title=Harvey Wallbangers and Tam O'Shanters A Book of Eponyms|first=Martin|last=Hannan|year= 2011|quote=Ismoil Somoni Peak, Formerly Stalin Peak and Communism Peak, the highest mountain in the former Soviet Union territories is now called after Ismoil Somoni or Ismail Samani (d. 907), leader of the Samani dynasty which conquered the region now known as the country of Tajikistan in which the mountain rises to a height of 7,495m (24,590 ft).|pages=45–46|publisher=Kings Road |isbn=978-1843588696}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bR0hIC0Xhb0C&pg=PA114|title=Countries and Territories of the World|via=Google Books|page=114|quote=Mountain Height Location Ismoil Somoni Peak (highest) 7,495 m 24,590 ft north-western edge of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), south of the Kyrgyz border}}</ref>-->, as well as the former Russian Empire and Soviet Union before Tajikistan's independence. The mountain is named after Ismail Samani, a ruler of the Samanid dynasty. It is located in the Pamir Range.
==Name== When the existence of a peak in the Soviet Pamir Mountains higher than Lenin Peak was first established in 1928, the mountain was tentatively identified with Mount Garmo.<ref name="readersnatural" /> However, as the result of the work of further Soviet expeditions, it became clear by 1932 that they were not the same, and in 1933 the new peak, in the Academy of Sciences Range, was named '''Stalin Peak'''<ref name="stalinpeak"/><ref name="meredith"/> ({{langx|ru|Пик Ста́лина|Pik Stálina}}), after Joseph Stalin. In 1962, as part of Khrushchev's nationwide de-Stalinization process, the name was changed to '''Communism Peak''' ({{Langx|tg|Пики Коммунизм|translit=Piki Komunizm}} {{langx|ru|Пик Коммуни́зма|Pik Kommunízma}}), a name by which it is still commonly known. The name Communism Peak was officially dropped in 1998 in favour of the current name, commemorating the 9th-10th century Samanid emir, Ismail Samani.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Альпинисты Северной Столицы. Горы. |url=http://www.alpklubspb.ru/gora/gora009.htm |language=ru}}</ref>
==History== By the end of the 1880s, a Russian expedition, led by V.F. Oshanin, conducted research and named various regions in the area. He noted in his diary: "I believe that the eastern peak has a height of up to {{Convert|25,000|ft|m|abbr=off}}."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Последняя загадка Памирских гор |url=http://www.alpklubspb.ru/ass/a340.htm |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kalinin |first=G. |title=Фортамбек и его вершины |year=1983 |location=Tashkent |language=ru}}</ref> The central Pamirs would continue to be visited by the expeditions of Kosineko, Korzhenevsky, Lipsky, Novitsky, Musketov, and others, but they failed to reach the Academy of Sciences Range.
In 1913, the central part of the Pamirs was explored by an expedition led by the German mountain explorer and climber {{Interlanguage link|Willi Rickmer Rickmers|de|3=Willi Rickmer Rickmers}}. The expedition penetrated the upper reaches of the Obikhingou River, where they saw a 6650 m peak. It was given the name Garmo Peak, according to the name given by the Tajiks from Pashimgar. Subsequent expeditions to the area of the Range of the Academy of Sciences took place in Soviet times.
In 1928, the long-term Tajik-Pamir expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR began to operate, which began with the Soviet-German expedition with the participation of Willi Rickmers. As a result of topographic survey, it was found that one of the peaks visible in the west of the Fedchenko glaciers reaches a height of 7495 m. Having compared the survey results with a schematic map compiled by Korzhenevsky back in 1925, and with other data, the members of the expedition of the Academy of Sciences decided that this peak is Garmo Peak, which was mapped by the German expedition of 1913. However, this led to the "mystery of the Garmo", as there was a discrepancy between the heights: 6650 m and 7495 m. This was solved only during the expeditions of 1931 and 1932, when two detachments of climbers and topographers (led by Gorbunov and Krylenko) penetrated the area from the east and from the west. The 6650 m peak was determined to be the real Garmo, and the unnamed 7495 m peak was conclusively discovered and mapped, and given the name Stalin Peak in honor of Stalin's upcoming 55th birthday.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Яценко |first=В. С. |title=В горах Памира |publisher=Geografgiz |year=1950}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Лукницкий |first=П. Н. |url=https://www.eijournal.ru/jour/article/viewFile/242/228 |title=Таджикская экспедиция. Средняя Азия}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=История экспедиций |url=http://www.communism-peak.com/ru/history_of_expeditions/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115115947/http://www.communism-peak.com/ru/history_of_expeditions/index.html |archive-date=15 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Альпинисты Северной Столицы |url=http://www.alpklubspb.ru/ass/a363.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Захаров |first=П.П. |title=Что мы знаем об альпинисте Вилли Рикмер-Рикмерсе? |url=http://www.mountain.ru/article/article_display1.php?article_id=5035}}</ref>
The first ascent (to the then Stalin Peak) was made on 3 September 1933 by the Soviet mountaineer Yevgeniy Abalakov, during the Tajik-Pamir expedition of 1933,<ref>The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia. Communizma Peak. Also [http://www.summitpost.org/pik-kommunizma/150290 Pik Kommunzma] at summitpost.org accessed 3Nov2016.</ref> alongside the politician, chemist and mountaineer Nikolai Gorbunov.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |title=Cписки расстрелянных: Горбунов Николай Петрович |url=https://memory-kommunarka.ru/person/1050 |website=Место памяти cпецобъект «Коммунарка» |access-date=24 October 2025}}</ref>
The first woman to ascend to the peak was Lyudmila Agranovskaya in 1969.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Рекорды в мире природы |url=http://evolution.powernet.ru/library/rekordi_v_mire_prirodi/rekordi_v_mire_prirodi.html |language=ru}}</ref>
The first winter ascent was made in February 1986 by 24 climbers (7 from Uzbekistan, and 17 from the rest of the USSR).<ref>{{Cite web |title=39 Первопрохождений на пик Коммунизма |url=http://www.mountain.ru/article/article_display1.php?article_id=851 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104024455/http://www.mountain.ru/article/article_display1.php?article_id=851 |archive-date=4 November 2012 |language=ru}}</ref>
==See also== * List of highest mountains on Earth * Lenin Peak * Peak Korzhenevskaya * Mount Garmo * Patkhor Peak * List of elevation extremes by country * Extreme points of Tajikistan
==References== * The Free Dictionary: ''[http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Ismoil+Somoni+Peak Imeni Ismail Samani Peak]'' <references> <ref name="readersnatural"> {{cite book |title=Natural Wonders of the World |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalwondersof00sche |url-access=registration |publisher=Reader's Digest Association, Inc |year=1980 |isbn=0-89577-087-3 |editor-last=Scheffel |editor-first=Richard L. |location=United States of America |page=[https://archive.org/details/naturalwondersof00sche/page/104 104] |editor-last2=Wernet |editor-first2=Susan J.}}</ref> </references>
==External links== {{Commons category|Ismail Samani Peak}} * [https://www.adventuretravel.ru/eng/Pamir/kommunism92_93/route.htm Route description and climbing map] * {{cite summitpost|id=150290|title=Pik Kommunizma}} *{{cite peakware|id=52|name=Ismoil Somoni Peak}}
{{Highest points of Asia}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Mountains of Tajikistan Category:Seven-thousanders of the Pamir Category:Highest points of countries Category:De-Stalinization Category:Ultra-prominent peaks of Asia