In the late 70s – 80s there exchanges of climbers with the USSR. A group of US climbers went to the Pamir and a Soviet group visited the North Cascade in Washington. In 1984 I was chair of the Nordic Ski Committee of The Mountaineers climbing club based in Seattle. At a meeting of all chairs, we received an invitation from the Soviet Sports Committee to send a member on a 3 week tour of the Pamir, Central Asia & the Caucasus