Adventures in Kyrgyzstan

 

Kyrgyzstan is a Central Asian republic sandwiched between Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Xinjiang. It’s just under 200,000 sq km in area with a population of 5.6m. The country is almost completely mountainous, being found at the juncture of two great Central Asian mountain systems –Tian Shan and the Pamirs. More than half of Kyrgyzstan lies at an elevation higher than 2500m. Only about 1/8 of the country’s territory lies lower than 1500m, while glaciers and permanent snowfields cover more than 3% of the total land area. It is famous for it’s yurts, Kyrgyz hats and horsemen. It was a Russian state till 1991 when the Soviet Union broke up. The northern part of the country is ‘Russified’ and much more liberal than the southwest bordering Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It could be described a liberal, secular muslim country. We spent an enjoyable 4 weeks there recently trekking, horse riding and climbing.

Our daughter Dana and her husband Jord had invited us along. She had been planning this trip for a year and made all the arrangements. At the end of July we flew from Christchurch to Sydney and on to Dubai. Dana and Jord arrived later from Western Australia and stayed at our hotel till the time came to depart. From there we took a FlyDubai flight to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. We arrived there at 4.45am and spent a while clearing immigration and customs. A young Russian mountain guide called Yadok picked us up for the 30km drive into town. On the way in I changed some USD into SOMs, the local currency. We arrived at the Southside Guesthouse run by an Australian called Patrick, who ran a trekking company, and his partner Katia. It was quiet, leafy and a great base for us.

After a sleep we went for a walk into the main shopping areas and found some outdoor shops where Dana and Jord bought some trekking poles and a headlight. We arranged to buy a lot of camping gas canisters from Yadok, who refilled them himself. This was at a fraction of the price that they were selling in the shops. We found the cost of living very cheap here and the NZD went a long way.

The next day Katia came to see me at breakfast time to say the police wanted to see our papers. I greeted two police officers with a cheery ‘zdrasvooytyeh’ and showed them our passports, which seemed to satisfy them that we were not fanatical jihadists. Sadly the day after we left Kyrgyzstan, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle after ramming the gate of the Chinese embassy. We took a taxi to the centre of Bishkek and there we bargained with a troup of taxi men for a taxi to Karakol. This was 400km away. The first price we were quoted was 6800 SOMs, but after some negotiation, we settled for 5000 SOMs,. The road was surprisingly good and we sped along, arriving there in 5.5 hours at ‘Happy Nomads’, in the mid afternoon. This was a lovely collection of traditional yurts in a garden full of flowers and run by a lovely Kyrgyz family. Outside there was a great view of the Terskey Ala-Too Range. Here the mountains are up to 5000m high and glaciated and fronted by pine-forested valleys. The owner, Tynchtykbek Zhanadylov and his family were welcoming and gracious. We were treated to a lovely Kyrgyz dinner that evening. Our yurt was a work of art and very comfortable.

Two days later we took a taxi to Jety Oghuz resort, a village in the foothills of the Ala- Too to the SW of Karakul. Driving into town we stopped to see a golden eagle with a hood on it’s head, resting on the gloved hand of his master. Here we loaded up with 8 days provisions including ice axes and set off up a 4 WD track. Soon after Dana, Jord and Belinda got a lift in a car going up the valley and offered to take my pack while I walked alone for maybe 8-10km. There were lots of yurt encampments among clearings in the forest on the valley floor. Eventually I caught up with them at the junction of the Telety and the Ajlanysh Valleys. It was a steady climb up a muddy trail into the upper Telety Valley. At one point a heard of cattle came galloping past driven by a group of horsemen. Further on I spied a hill to one side of the valley and found a nice campsite on top. By now it had clouded over and was starting to drizzle.

During the night we had some heavy rain and dawn revealed a showery landscape. We slept in till the weather improved. After breakfast we walked up the valley about a kilometre and forded the river opposite a deserted camp run by a trekking company.  Then we followed a track on the true right of the valley that climbed steeply up towards Telety Pass at 3739m. We reached it just before 3.00pm. The views were extensive of heavily eroded mountains on either side. We dropped down to a flat area at 3500m and camped by a creek.

I had a poor nights sleep as our tent was on a bit of a slope plus the freeze-dried food was upsetting my stomach and I had a mild headache as well. I got up after dawn while the others slept and went for a wash in the creek below our camp. Later after the others emerged, we set off to descend 1000m into the Karakol Valley. I met a ranger dressed in fatigues accompanied by a mate carrying a rifle and paid him our entry fee to the national park.

We then dropped down the valley a little ways and crossed a bridge to the true right and started up the Kejltor Valley. The map I had, showed a route up a side valley to Lake Ala-Kul but this was far from obvious as we climbed up the valley. Dana and Jord were ahead of us and eventually camped under a tree up a side creek at 3000m. B and I could not find a good place to camp and retreated down towards the main river and after several failed attempts to find a level spot camped near the main river. B was unhappy and felt we should have stopped earlier. That evening I had time to study the map carefully and decided we’d come too far and missed the turn-off. Later that evening an electrical storm burst over us. We were both pretty tired from our heavy packs and the altitude so retired early.

The next day dawned brighter. We started down valley and a kilometre down I met a horseman coming up and asked him where the track was to Lake Ala-Kul. He studied my map and then turned back and showed me an unlikely small side valley running up into high cliffs above us. I would never have guessed that was the route. Above a grassy slope, a track wound up through scrub to a scree slope and above that up into a tight narrow gully. This led to a gorgeous valley where no animals had grazed and where there were loads of wild flowers. Now the terrain was more gentle and led us to a nice campsite at 3450m just below an alpine lake. In the evening I was chatting to Jord and sweeping my gaze around the surrounding peaks when I spotted 2 Ibex on a moraine wall above us. These are a Central Asian goat that live in the high mountains.

We woke the next day to a frosty dawn and clear skies. Jord was not feeling well with a cough, wheeze and headache. I was keen to climb a peak so Dana and I headed off to climb a 4000m peak to the left of the pass ahead. This was an easy non-technical climb up large boulder slopes to a rocky summit. The views were superb of hanging glaciers and ice peaks stretched out along the horizon from east to west. Just below us a large glacier came down from peak 4358m. I had thought of climbing Peak Przhevalsky 4271m, which I had earlier seen from Karakol, but it looked a long way off.  When we were on top we heard a whine and Jord’s drone flew up from below and circled us on the peak. We descended more or less the same way. Back at camp I put Jord on Diamox and Prednisone as I was worried he had acute mountain sickness. The plan was to cross the pass and descent to Lake Ala-Kul next day. We would carry Jord’s pack and hopefully he would make it across.

In the afternoon I lay down in my tent resting, as my gaze swept across the mountain wall visible from the door of my tent. Above an azure sky was streaked with cirrus. It was hot in the tent and it made me sleepy. The only sound was the occasional fly hitting the tent and the distant whistle of marmots. I was a little worried about Jord’s health and hoped he’d be alright once we dropped down to Ala-Kul but it was still high there at 3500m. I drifted off to sleep.

It was a warm night and my sleep was patchy due to a poorly constructed pillow that continually collapsed and a tummy upset (sigh!). When I opened my eyes it was light but I was afraid to move as Belinda is fiendish in the mornings, if I make the slightest noise. I noticed it was quite windy outside with the tent fly flapping, when I took out my ear plugs. I always sleep with ear plugs as the slightest noise keeps me awake. “The weather is packing up” Belinda said suddenly. I was out of the tent in a flash to see dark clouds massing over the high peaks to the west and south. “Rains not far off. We must leave immediately if we want to cross the pass today” I replied. I strolled over to Jord’s tent. “Dobraye Ootra, How are your feeling Jord” I said. “ OK, the headache is gone but I get breathless on the slightest exertion” he replied. “ We’ll carry your pack and just take it slowly” I suggested.

It’s a gradual ascent to the lake and 250m climb over big boulders up to the pass. We take turns carrying Jord’s pack leapfrogging ahead and dropping our packs to come back for his. Jord moved slowly with measured steps and steadily gained height. Dana was the fastest by far and did most of the extra carrying. The pass was at 3750m and dropped away steeply to a valley leading to Lake Ala-Kul. To the right was a large glacier. Luckily the weather improved as we started the descent down moraine walls. Lower down it was green and soft underfoot as we reached meadows of wild flowers. Near the lake we camped on a grassy hill. Dana and Jord quickly found a nice spot for their tent while B and I phaffed around for ages trying to find a level spot facing away from the wind, which blew from all directions. Another party followed us down from the pass and came over to introduce themselves. They were a party of young Czechs who are friendly and chatty. The plan for tomorrow was to cross the Ala-Kul Pass to the Keldeke valley.

Belinda was in a foul mood when I got up but had no choice but to get up as Dana and Jord were already packing up. It was a lovely day with great views of Ala-Kul. We walked around the right side of the lake to where a faint track climbed straight up to the main tourist route above us. High up we can see many tourons climbing up on sidle track that goes from the opposite side of the lake. These were mostly on commercial trips and their porters carried enormous loads in contrast to their day packs. We eventually scrambled up onto a wide track and join the crocodile up to the pass. I think most of them were Russians. It was grid-lock on the pass and it was very steep on the other side. One of their guides pulled out a rope to help his clients descend. We waited till the traffic jam cleared. Jord got out his Drone but sadly it’s flight was erratic and it crashed shearing off some propellars but not a write off.

Eventually we descended to the Keldeke Valley and caught up with the crocodile. We passed them at a creek crossing where a gentle stream has halted the throng. It was a long descent to the Ak-Suu valley, which we descended to just before the hamlet of Altynarashan where we camped. The next day we left early to avoid the heat and it was a 14 km walk out to the road end where we picked up a taxi back to Karakol.

Two days later we set off for our second trek, further east on the way to the Chongashuu Pass. There are no good maps of the area and the only one we could find was a 1:100,000 map in Russian, that lacked a lot of detail. It looked like we could cross a series of passes heading west and come out at Aksu. We drove east through Akboodek to the Turgenaksu valley. I hoped our taxi driver knew where to drop us off as I did not have a clue myself. Once past the last town the road dramatically deteriorated with giant potholes so we had to weave around many obstacles. On either side, the mountains grew higher and the forests more dense. Several times we stopped to speak to locals enquiring where was the route to the Bozuchuk Pass. Vague arm waving up the valley and a babble of Russian followed. On we drove. The Russian taxi man would look at me and ask if we were there yet much to my consternation! I was thinking… you’r the one who is supposed to know. I did have my altimeter though, and it looked like the side valley we were aiming for started at 2600m. Then at 2500m we entered a Jailoo or level open plain in the valley where we spied a log bridge crossing a big glacial river and a definite gently sloping side valley on the other side. I knew this must be the start.

We bade farewell to our relieved driver, loaded up and off across the plain to the bridge and up the valley. Once past the trees it was across open meadows where horses and cattle grazed. In the distance were several passes and I guessed we should take the left one but closer to it, we decided to take the middle one. Then it started to rain and got very cold. High up on the peak in front of us, we could see a large mob of sheep and goats and a lone horseman shepherding them. Then he broke off and rode down to meet us and pointed out the left pass as the correct one. He was such a nice man and jumped off his horse and shook our hands with a huge grin. Clearly not many trekkers come this way.

Once over the pass we dropped down a gently valley as the rain eased off and the sun broke through. In front of us a broad green valley, the Bozuchuk Valley, that ran south to north. We camped on a terrace, a hundred metres above the valley floor. Down below we could see some shepherd camps. A herd of curious horses paid us a visit.

The next day we descended into the Bozuchuk Valley and sidled over to the SW branch that ran up to another pass at 3516m. The day was calm and sunny with some clouds and we had lunch there. Off to the SW we could see a lake at 3432m below the Allanysh Pass and this was our destination. We descended into the Dzherges Valley passing herds of horses and climbed up to the lake and camped. It was not the nicest place as herds of cattle roamed about and had chewed up the vegetation. We set up camp before a thunderstorm arrived. We stayed here 2 days as the following day was rainy. 

Then we crossed the Allanysh Pass at 3671m, where there were great views of glaciated peaks to the south. It was a pleasant descent into the Aksu Valley. We walked down this for several hours and found a nice campsite, beside a stream above the valley floor. All the valley floors were heavily grazed with horses, goats and sheep, which detracts from the scenery somewhat. It’s an age-old transhumance culture in Kyrgyzstan. The following day we walked out to the road end and took a marshruska, which is a local bus back to Karakol.

The following day we bade farewell to Tynch and family at Karakol and took a taxi to Kochkor, a drive of 4 hours away. From there we went to Song-kul Lake at 3020m to see the horse games. The game involved slitting the throat of a sheep and cutting off its head and skinning its legs. Riders lean over and grab it off the ground and drop the carcass into a ring. Needless to say it was a rough game. Next day we returned to Kochkor and started our horse trek. This was the first time I’ve been on a horse and my one was an old stallion called ”Brownie”. Well Brownie had a mind of his own which suited me well. Our guide was Aibek, a local university student who spoke excellent English. We rode uphill for 5 hours to a traditional Yurt camp at 3000m where we stayed. I was amazed the horses did not stumble crossing rocky stream beds. They were very sure footed.

The next day we climbed up to an alpine lake at 3300m and then headed back to Kochkor.  All of us were a big stiff and had sore knees and nether parts by the time we arrived. We returned to a nice guesthouse in the town before heading back to Bishkek next day. Once there we dropped off surplus gear at our guesthouse and took a taxi to Ala-Archa National Park, 30 km to the south.

Dana and Jord set off with the intention of walking a long way up the Ala-Archa Valley that afternoon but Belinda was unwell and could not keep up. I suggested we leave them to it and camp up the nearby Ak-Sai Valley. We branched off and walked up a scree slope, across to boulder bank and found a lovely campsite among the pine trees. I threw up the tent and B lay down for the rest of the day. Unbeknown to us, the kids turned back, missed us in the forest and climbed up to Ratzek Hut in the Ak_Sai and camped there.

The flowing day, we climbed 1000m up to an ablation valley on the side of the Ak-Sai glacier where to our surprise we found an alpine hut called the Ratzek Hut. We elected to camp nearby. B had a major struggle getting there and I had gone back several times to help her with her pack. Numerous climbers were coming down as we were climbing up. It was a lovely warm day and once I had camp erected, I walked up to the lateral moraine beside us for a spectacular view of the surrounding glaciers and ice faces. I had a look at the route to Uchitel peak 4640m above us and discussed climbing it with B next day.

We got away at 6.20am, me carrying the pack and both of us travelling light. At the hut we startled 2 Ibex grazing outside. They were unafraid and slowly climbed the cliffs opposite. They are a Central Asian goat with impressive horns. A well defined trail led upwards. We gained height steadily not pausing for ages. Way below us I could see another 2 pairs of climbers following us. On and on we plod up a path where we turned right up a rocky interminable spur. Eventually we reached the summit ridge covered in snow and plugged up to a windy summit. It was bitterly cold as we were only wearing shorts and minimal thermal tops. Fantastic views of course, a round of photos and we were off down to warmer climes. Back at camp we found a note in our tent from the kids to say they had climbed the peak the day before us and had gone down that morning. It was a 1300m climb and we decided to spend another night there. B vomited that evening.

Next day we headed back to our nice campsite in the pine forest. After a cleanup I felt much better. B could not eat and both of us pretty tired. Back at the road end we managed to hitch a ride back to Bishkek with a lovely Israeli/Kyrgyz man in his 4WD. 2 day later we flew to Dubai for a dose of culture shock and then back to NZ.