Trek Kyrgyzstan's Tian Shan and Pamir-Alay Mountains

Trip Report

See above for driving conditions.  The daily distances and elevation gains can be found at this link.  

A few lessons learned:

1. Much of the focus during planning and preparation as well as along the treks was abou people staying healthy at the high altitudes we would reach (over 16,000' for those going to Yukhina Peak, over 14,000' on Travelers Pass and at Camp One).  At least in part owed to that preparation, no one suffered any ill effects of altitude on this trip (other than side effects of Diamox!).  But future groups need to focus on understanding and communicating any altitude illness symptoms, and doing as much as possible to acclimatize before the first big pass (Ala Kul).  These places are remote and exit is slow (on a horse) with hospitals modest and far away, so prevention is really important.
2. Hire a good outfitter and query them in detail about every part of the arrangements.  We used Visit Alay which seems to be the most professional outfitter in the country, and because they're based in the south (out of Osh) their facilities there are much better refined with yurt camps, guest houses and support resources where you need them .  In the north part of the country, however, they contract out to CBT ("Community Based Tourism") for their camps, porters and horses.   Because of this second-hand setup we were not informed that we could only bring 5kg in our trekking bags before the trip (even though I had asked), and without asking us the porters redistributed gear between our trekking bags to make even loads among the horses and porters.  Also, the number of porters that the outfitter told us we would have ended up being much fewer than the number we ultimately were given, and some of the porters ended up grossly overloaded.  At times during the repacking they dumped stuff on the ground which happened to be interspersed with a lot of animal dung.  This whole situation was a mess and quite frustrating for our folks who didn't want their gear thrown around, mixed up or dirty.  We also were given 2 person tents when we were promised 3 person tents.  We didn't have any of these issues on our two treks in the south, where Visit Alay is in total control of all these resources and they were very responsive and competent.
3. Finally, I've trekked in unhygenic conditions before (Nepal, multiple treks in Peru) but have NEVER had so many people suffer significant digestive upset as we did here.  (Be sure to have emergency horses with you so that someone who is weak can get a ride over the next pass!  And carry plenty of Immodium, Zircan (anti nausea med) and Azythromycin!)  I did discuss this specifically in advance with Visit Alay including asking all of our guest houses and yurt camps to wash and prep food and dishes in boiled water, to have hand washing stations, to provide plenty of boiled or bottled water for drinking, and to keep hygenic toilets.  However we stayed at several separate yurt camps in remote places, surrounded by grazing animals and run by individual local families, and catering to the sensitive stomachs of western tourists is a challenge even in clean hygenic locations by staff who have been practicing western hygiene for years.  We couldn't verify how long the water was boiled, how dishes and vegies were washed, and how clean that all the food preparers' and servers' hands were (they tended to children and animals all day while also taking care of us), and our group was together for three weeks sharing serving dishes and yurt facilities.  While we did use hand sanitizer (bring gallons of it and keep it on the table in every dining room!) and washed our hands whenever possible, once one person had severe GI symptoms it's not hard to imagine the bugs spreading pretty readily on shared surfaces.   I'm not sure how this can be solved with the current system, but any future visitor needs to be prepared with lots of hand sanitizer and needs to wash their hands constantly;  groups need to avoid sharing serving dishes; and everyone needs to be ready with medications to treat diarrhea, nausea and GI bacteria.
4. The people in Kyrgyzstan were extremely welcoming and friendly and we never felt unsafe.

Now for a trek-by-trek report:

1.  Ala Kul Lake and Pass trek.   This is probably the most publicized and popular trek in Kyrgyzstan, and there were multiple groups from many different countries at all of our overnight locations.   It's reputation is justified - gaining the first high ridge to look down at Ala Kul with it's stunning turquoise color, and the rows of snowy peaks  and glaciers beyond it from Ala Kul Pass, made the route well worth it.   

As mentioned above, the first part of the trek was on a heavily rutted and flooded road next to a lovely river with snowcapped peaks upriver in the distance.  After a few miles we turned east and climbed steeply on muddy track in the rain to reach Sirota camp.  The Sirota camp was a mob scene with multiple independent companies having crammed yurts, dining tents and sleeping tents and a lot of people into a very small area near a lake.  We met some really interesting people from various parts of the world in the dining tent (no Americans).   A couple of squat toilets, in OK shape, and a hand-washing station which frequently was empty and no way of knowing that the water didn't just come from the lake. 

Then we traversed the lake and climbed what was essentialy a fisherman's track winding through and over boulders and past a waterfall to reach a high basin where Ala Kul (lake) was showing in its turquoise glory below.  We had lunch there with the mob and some of the group went down tot he lake (maybe 200 feet below).  Then we gradually climbed above the lake and around on straightforward trail, which then turned into a boulder-hop and then a steep scree ascent to Ala Kul Pass at a little over 12,000 feet.  The view here was amazing, with the lake and it's feeder glaciers in view and row upon row of snowcapped peaks of the Tian Shan to the south and east.  The descent on the other side was extremely steep and treacherous with a narrow trail of dirt with rolling rocks on top and a steep long runout below.   The Keldyke tent camp was our destination for the night, just below the descent in a glorious location on a high bench, with a river flowing next to it that provided a good spot for a wash-up.  (We saw another group's cook washing their dishes in the river and asked our guide about it, and he said our cook assured him they were boiling all their water.  Our GI issues seemed to begin after Keldyke.  Who knows?!) 

Then,  descending from Keldyke to the bustling yurt village of Altyn Arashan was a lovely walk over green and wildflower meadows with grazing horses.   This was a lovely place to watch the sunset with one of the high peaks of the Tian Shan showing up the valley.  The 'official' hot springs at Altyn Arashan were small - ask someone to bring you to the 'secret' hot springs on a cliff above the river!  The yurts here were comfortable and our cooks did a fantastic job on the food.

Walking out from Altyn Arashan was mostly along the heavily rocky and rutted dirt road beside the river.  A bit irritating because of the constant stream of huge Russian trucks carrying tourists up to the village.  Otherwise fairly non-descript.  You could save time by asking for transport on one of those trucks out to Ak Suu.  We stayed another night in Karakol that night and then did the 5 hour drive the next day along the north shore of Issyk Kul to the Bishkek airport to fly to Osh.  We passed the grounds of the World Nomad Games and watched some YouTube videos from the most recent games, learning about these sports that are really a big part of Kyrgyz identity.

2.  Alai Mountains trek.   As mentioned above, we had flown to Osh and stayed in a nice hotel there before driving about 3 hours south to Sary Mogul with all the trucks going back and forth to and from the Chinese border.  We stayed a night in Sary Mogul at a nice guest house set up by Visit Alay, and then got into more rickety jeeps for a hour-long ride up some bumpy two-rut roads to an open field where we and our gear were dropped off and the horses loaded up. 

Excitement grew quickly as we climbed the first day, first past a deep gorge and then steadily up toward the crest of the Alai range, until we traversed steeply to Sary Mogul pass which was at a dramatic, stark location with snowy peaks, glaciers and moraine all around!  However thunder and lightning chased us down the extremely steep and eroded backside (not for the faint of heart!) and we then followed the river and crossed it to get to one of our favorite yurt camps on the whole trip - perfectly perched on a grassy bench with the animals fenced out which reduced the ever-present dung load!  (We had an impromptu dance party in our dining yurt with the woman proprietor of the camp when she turned on Kyrgyz folk music and our three horsemen came in ready to dance!) 

On the next day we descended through rolling meadow to a road (it was really hot for a road walk so some of us caught a ride on a flatbed truck for about a mile) and a very nice home cooked meal at a guest house before climbing up through grassy meadows with lots of grazing animals and remote yurts with corrals to Koshi Moinuk pass, then down the other side to our next yurt camp.

The third day was especially glorious, over Sary Bell pass - heading down we were surprised to find gorgeous red rock formations and steep cliffs striped with light green that lined our trail all the way down, with lots of wildflowers, then along a road to our guest house with a very conscientious family who  helped us wash and hang clothes (the elderly patriarch of the family wearing a gray suit and Kyrgyz felt hat came to check in on us multiple times - no english but much old school courtesy!   

On day four, a fairly short day, we hiked up the road for most of the morning to our next yurt camp where we had lunch and then enjoyed a master class making the local round bread with designs punched in the center.  We spent quite a bit of time chatting with the woman who was in charge of the camp and watching the cute little kids running around - these women are strong and capable and run things pretty much on their own!  (The men are out with the animals.)

On day five we climbed (and climbed and climbed!) to Jiptick Pass with immense views including our first sighting of the towering peaks of the Pamirs to the south, then descended through absolutely amazing lush flower fields to our last camp along a river.  This camp experience was made less enjoyable by the fact that quite a few people were suffering various digestive upsets by this time.

Our final day was mostly a road walk but through dense wildflower fields with the Pamirs standing ghostly beyond, ending back in Sary Mogul.    I could recommend that you skip this road walk in the interest of time.  We did learn that our assistant guide Mamur owned most of the fields and horses that were grazing along this way (he had good english and was a really interesting person to see the reality of the nomad life in southern Kyrgyzstan).

We we arrived back at Sary Mogul, one of our group members was shaking with dehydration and nausea and we ended up sending him first to the medical clinic in town (where he got an IV infusion of a half liter of fluids) and then back to Osh to the hospital.  After a day there, the doctor concluded that no other tests or treatments were necessary and -feeling much better - he and his wife met us to cross the Uzbek border and explore in Uzbekistan.

3.  Lenin Camp One trek.    After another white-knuckle ride in beater vehicles we were dropped at Tulpar Lake where there were several good sized yurt camps, families enjoying themselves in the sun, and kids playing volleyball.  Surprisingly it was not noisy and we had a good night in our yurts.

The next morning we started our day's long walk with a hike up a mostly flat valley along two-rut roads through green fields with lots of flowers and grazing cows and horses.  We reached a prominent moraine ridge and turned right to pass several plaques on a cliff wall memorializing quite a few people (mostly young and Russian) who had died climbing peak Lenin.  We traversed steadily up this ridge  on good trail to finally reach Travelers Pass, an amazing vantage point so close to Lenin and it's snowy massif that it felt like we could touch it.  Several dirty glaciers and some clean ones flowing down and along the valley.  The descent was a bit less sketchy than others we'd already done, and from the bottom we traversed along the side of the valley up and down, then down to the moraine bottom to a rushing river (horses helped us cross - I wouldn't recommend anyone trying to wade this one and jumping wasn't feasible).  From the other side it was more up and down moraine until we reached the bustling megalopolis that was the Ak Sai Lenin Peak Camp One, whew!   Dozens of yellow fixed tunnel tents, a huge dining tent, seven horrific overflowing squat toilets in little buildings, and people from multiple countries in the dining room in their multi-colored climbers' regalia (mostly Russian but there were Israelies, Italians and one American we found, from Utah, the only American we would see in the whole country!).  Many  people spent three weeks here doing various acclimatization climbs before attempting 7000m Lenin, and you could rent any kind of gear and hire any kind of support for the climb from here!  We spent two nights here, and in the early morning we could see the firefly lights of climbers' headlamps going up to camps 2 and 3 and from there up to the summit ridge of Lenin.  The area around the camp was jumbled moraine and there was another Camp One run by another company about a half-mile away.

On our second to last day a subset of the group scaled a nearby moraine and then zigzagged slowly up the nearly vertical slope to the crest of Yukhina Peak at a bit over 16,000 feet.  Photos were taken with Akbar and Mamur and the Kyrgyz flag, amid  several other groups at the top.  Another night at Camp One.

On our last trekking day we retraced our steps back to Travelers Pass, down the other side, and back to Tulpar Lake where we had lunch and then met our van which took us back to Osh.  Some of us would spend the next day exploring Osh, while others went on 15 minutes to cross the Uzbek border and spend a few days sightseeing there.  (Gorgeous and interesting but also VERY hot.)

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