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Christopher Herwig
On February 3, 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer succeeded in making the first winter ascent of Annapurna, in just a little over two weeks after their arrival at base camp. Their “speed” ascent was possible because of their residual acclimatization carried over from an autumn ascent of Manaslu. It was the first time an 8,000er had been climbed in winter with a small, self-contained team. Krzysztof Wielicki and legendary Polish female alpinist Wanda Rutkiewicz were also on the team, but failed to summit.
Mosaic tiles create intricate patterns on the facade of the 16th-century Kalon Mosque in Bukhara, an ancient oasis city in southern Uzbekistan. The congregational mosque can hold as many as 12,000 worshippers.
Brave visitors get a close view of a burning gas crater in Darvaza. Located in Turkmenistan's Karakum desert, the crater has been burning for decades. The country's natural gas reserves rank fifth in the world—but development of gas exports is hampered by a lack of gas pipeline routes outside its landlocked borders.
A Kyrgyz shepherd and his grandchildren gather outside traditional yurts—round, wood-frame tents covered in felt—on an alpine plateau in central Kyrgyzstan. Raising livestock remains a main agricultural activity for the nomadic Kyrgyz.
Once anchored in the Aral Sea, abandoned fishing boats now litter a dry landscape in southern Kazakhstan. The country is trying to preserve the northern part of what was once the world’s fourth largest freshwater lake, depleted by 60 percent in the last 30 years due to diversion and overuse.
Young women cover their faces from the sun and wind in the autonomous Gorno-Badakhshan region, which covers the eastern half of Tajikistan. Mountains make up more than 90 percent of the struggling country, which endured a five-year civil war following independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.