CragX Index :: Trip Reports :: Salaam from Kyrgyzstan

Trip report from Ness our eyes on the ground in Kyrgystan....

Hi-
back in Bishkek (the capital) afer a month alpine climbing in 2 areas in Kyrgysztan.Trying to sort out if I need a visa to get back through Kazakstan as apparently the law changed last week.

Our original plan to further explore the Borkoldoy range and focus on rock and mixed routes was thwarted by hunters. An argument with men with guns did not seem a very sensible option. Fortunately there is no shortage of mountains in Kyrgyzstan. We went first to the adjacent Western Kokshal-Too which is part of the Tien Shan range that forms the border with China. The BC which we reached by a slow but gutsy truck was at 3850m and the sudden altitude hike was a bit headache provoking.

There were 4 in our group. Sally and Eddie, 2 Poms (who were gloating post Ashes), Sari, a Finn, and me. Originally there were to be 8 of us but deployment, partner issues and injury had taken its toll in the months leading up to departure. Poor Eddie, who is only 20, had to put up with 3 women at least 10 years older than him. We all got on quite well, and although no one else was much of a committed alpinist and we had a paucity of snow stakes, icescrews and altimeters (all mine) we still had a good time, and I got to do one superb route at any rate (more later). Sari had already climbed Pik Lenin (7100m) the month before, so was acclimatised.

Our BC was just below the moraine where 3 flatish, parallel glaciers converge with ranges between them. The moraine took about an hour to cross and was quite easy going (compared to the Tasman Gl).
We did a walk up peak the first day to 4412m and a herd of Marco Polo sheep bolted from us near the summit. The next day Sari and I had a 3am start up the right hand glacier to do a traverse of Beggars Peak 4650m, which was about a NZ grade 2, with equally crap rock along the ridge and summit.

The next day Eddie and I headed to a high camp on the left most glacier at 4200m and set up the tent in a howling wind. Sari was meant to join us but fell in the river and returned to camp. My head was still screaming so a day was spent in the tent with a recce walk to the base of the route I had chosen once the aspirin kicked in. Eddie had a lot of trad climbing experience, but had only recently done a course out of Arolla for alpine experience so I chose a nice 65-degree slope which turned out to have some good ice sections followed by a 50 degree ridge to a prominent peak in front of Pik Djin as a gentle introduction. This came in at 4967m on my GPS with a proposed name of Pik NickKaz. It was a nice day out and I (im)patiently belayed Eddie down 4 pitches of the steeper sections after making him solo up the route.

After a day of rest, and a feed of marmot, all of us headed up the rightward glacier with a plan to tackle Jerry Garcia, a 5150m mountain on the border with China. The previous afternoon we had been surprised to be joined by another group of mainly British climbers. Two of them immediately spied an unclimbed couloir on an unclimbed peak I had my eye on- although I didnt fancy that anyone else in my group was going to follow me up it anyway. A 3am start saw a long plod up the glacier with Eddie and Sally heading to a col on the border and then up easy 50-degree slopes. I led up the west face- up to 70 degree ice to a lovelyknife edge ridge at about 5000m. This was a bit slow as Sari wouldnt solo, although we eventually simulclimbed, and on reaching the ridge she declared it looked horrendous and we decided to descend after a discussion. I belayed her down and downclimbed myself. It started to snow but not too badly. The others made the summit, with Sally who had been held back from climbing by days of insomnia saying she "felt she was breathing out her arse".

We headed back to baecamp the next day and commenced to pack with a plan to head to the At-Bashy range in the search for a virgin valley. That night it snowed heavily but our driver, Ravil was a master, and the orange track grunted through the roadless terrain.

Our trucks maximum speed was about 50kph, so late that day we arrived 140km distant from our first BC to set up a new one at a much friendlier altitude of 2800m. This valley was above the town of Al-Bashy and there was a yurt set up near our BC with a couple who invited us in for kumys (fermented mares milk). This must be an acquired taste, but the fresh cream was delicious. We sat on top the truck as we headed up the valley. This sometimes semed the safest option on the washaway track.

Sari was a bit over climbing at this stage and was attracted to the horses at the yurt and managed to go horseriding a fair bit. Eddie, Sally and I walked 6km up the valley to 3800m and spied a good site in a hanging valley for an ABC at 3500m. A prominent couloir had again struck my eye and Sally agreed to come along once established as long as I led it all. The next day we carried most of our kit to ABC and tacked on a rocky peak at the end. Sally and I scrambled up Chook Peak (named after the Himalayan snowcocks) at 4063m while Eddie and Sari had a much longer scramble up Crowsnest Peak 4155m with short sections of about grade 15 and returned in the dark.

The next day we moved up to ABC with 6 days of food. Sally and I got up at 3 to do my couloir. First we had to head up scree slopes and snowpatches to 3800m before a 60m pitch of soft snow, frozen scree and potentially loose rock saw me into the base of the couloir. This was certainly the mental crux due to scant pro, and belay points proved quite inventive. The climbing steadily improved to give 5 pitches of consistent 70-80 degree ice and the top out at 4242m led into a vast bowl of gentle glaciation and small rocky peaks. I thought it was about NZ grade 4/D and obviously a classic! Fortunately our hunch about descent proved correct and we were able to come around and cut across a steep ridge that came down close to camp via a green ramp we termed the green glacier. Eddie used this access and our footprints the next day to climb one of the peaks near the top of the couloir via the bowl, which we named Crocodile peak due to rock serrations like a crocs tail. He also scrambled up to a few prominent rock points on the ridge, cruelly calling one Ashes Peak.
There were some good boulders in our little valley to help while away the afternoons after climbing.

That night it snowed so we had a later start and Sally and I headed betwen Crowns Nest and Chook to ascend a rocky spire via a snow slope (4377m) we called Dove Mountain deciding it was safe from avalanche danger.

The final day Eddie and I soloed a peak we called Icarus at 4567m. It came into sun early and we moved fast- though I still managed to have a discus of rock hit my knee. Eddies skills had improved a lot, though he managed to forget sunglasses, helmet and put a hole in Sallys tent that morning....

We headed back to Bishkek via Lake IssyKul and a swim. I need a month or two without meat- though the shaslik was quite good last night!

See you soon
Vanessa

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