The Kyrgyz Yo-Yo (Part 1): January 29th - February 6th, 2024

Frozen Barskoon Falls high over the valley

From Almaty in Kazakhstan we took a bus to Kyrgyzstan as we had read about a very cool ice climbing area there. The bus meandered slowly west to the border with Kyrgyzstan. Once there we had to get all of our stuff off the bus, waddle to the Kazakh border desk, stand in the wrong line, and waddle to another line. Once in the correct line, I was met with a border agent’s halting English and I didn’t recognize the name of Almaty’s airport so I got a few more questions, but eventually he allowed me to leave Kazakhstan. Ben benefited from my hard work and made it through with no questions.

We waddled our slow way over a river to get to the Kyrgyz border agent who didn't seem concerned about us and we got our stamps with zero questions. We left the border control offices and walked outside searching for our bright pink bus. It was nowhere in sight.

We walked through a gauntlet of people selling overpriced SIM cards, money changers, and plenty of people offering a taxi ride to Bishkek. We saw some other passengers from our bus waiting in a clump, it was definitely a smaller group of people than when we got off the bus. We plop our bags down and Ben does some more reconnaissance. No sign of the bus and the group of fellow bus riders is getting noticeably smaller. We chatted with a traffic officer who said the bus was still getting through the border and would get here eventually. So we settled in and made small talk with the officer via google translate. When we conveyed we were from the US. His response was pretty funny: "America, there is a lot of unrest there now, yes?" He was referring to Texas. We told him that was just Texas being Texas. He was not reassured and his look clearly showed that he believed we were naive and were on the brink of a civil war. Can’t really argue with a man from a former Soviet Republic.

During this conversation we saw the last group of other nervous bus folks pile into a taxi and we were now alone waiting for our bus. Ben had left some items on the bus so we didn't want to give up on it. After some more nervous minutes, the bus appeared and the driver pulled over and collected his stubborn Americans and drove us into Bishkek.

In Bishkek we waddled to a hostel just next door to the bus station. The hostel was able to sell us a SIM card so one of our new country errands was completed! We dropped our bags in the room and immediately headed to the grocery store. We got a BUNCH of food and cash. We were preparing to stay in a small town that our guide contact in Almaty said had no grocery stores within walking distance and no ATMs but everything was cash only. So we stocked up! But also we had to still fit in our already full bags…so we tried to be conservative about how much food we would need.

We're rich! We're wealthy! We have cash for a week!

The next morning we had the hostel breakfast and waddled our stuff back to the bus station to find a marshrutka to take us to Tamga, which is a small town on the southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. We were armed with internet information on how to find this and a discomforting quote from ice climbing guide Kirill (who helped us with logistics for this area) "you plan to take a marshrutka? That'll be an adventure!" We were immediately led astray by a trio of men claiming that the southern route around the lake is closed due to it being winter so we have to go the long way, up on the north side and then around the far end of the lake. We were skeptical but also that is fairly believable especially as our internet information is all about summer travel. So we followed the man, who by this point had two of my bags, and piled our stuff in the marshrutka and then we climbed in. As we waited for the marshrutka to fill up we tried to verify this information with the guesthouse host in Tamga through poorly translated WhatsApp messages, and we became more and more certain that the southern route does exist and we were in the wrong van. We piled out and tried to start taking our stuff out and the driver showed up and insisted we can get to Tamga this way and it is the only way. Ben and I being the pushovers that we are piled back in and ten minutes later we drive away going the wrong way...well not so much the wrong way but the LONG way.

We barreled down the icy roads passing slower drivers, dodged some cows, and after 5 hours we arrived in Karakol. The driver helped us get into a taxi and explained to the driver we wanted to get to Tamga. So we moved our bags to the small sedan and the taxi driver took us a short distance and he wouldn't let us leave his car until he had secured another shared taxi for us to get to Tamga. He checked the price with us - he seemed to think it was too high, but it was in line with what we were expecting. We piled out of his taxi and organized our bags in the back of the minivan. This man was very amused by us. “Why’d we go the northern way?” Once his van got filled up he drove along the southern shore of Issyk-Kul. We got into Tamga in the dark and he dropped us off at a random intersection. He was hesitant to leave us, but we were all smiles having made it to the town and assured him we were good and thank you so much!

We texted our host, Pavel, and he came and picked us up from the random intersection. He was very amused that we got taken for a ride the long way around the lake. Ben and I were grateful that at each step the drivers all made sure we were on our next leg of the journey before leaving us.

Pavel's would become our home for a good portion of our time in Kyrgystan. We found out about this place from Kirill who uses it as a base to run a weeklong ice climbing clinic. It is a lovely guesthouse run by Pavel, his wife, Irena, who acts as chef, and his son, Sasha, who acts as driver. Irena made us dinner even though we arrived so late and we made a plan to get to the ice climbs in the Barskoon Valley the next morning with Sasha before settling into our rooms.

The lovely yard at Pavel's Guesthouse, complete with a pull-up bar
Our room at Pavel's
Summer dining area outside of the kitchen and dining room.

In the morning Irena made us a great breakfast and we piled into Sasha's car to the ice climbs. We noticed that some other guests had showed up after we went to bed and we wondered if we would see them out climbing, but figured they were probably stronger climbers and starting on a harder climb.

Views of the mountains in Sasha's van

We wanted to start on the easiest climb in the area. A WI2 named Chasa Manasa. The ice was GOOD. It was sticky, it took the ice screws well and it was just a joy to climb. Part way up my lead two other climbers come up and ask to climb to the left of us. "No problem! Will you be our friend?" It was a little tight to climb next to each other so Ben and I decided to climb through the bottom pitch and see what was above. We headed up above to the next tier and enjoyed some very cool ice formations before rappelling all the way down so we could have plenty of time to catch our ride with Sasha.

Susan at the base of Chasa Manasa
Ben at the top of pitch one of Chasa Manasa
My favorite part of ice climbing is finding cool ice formations!

That evening, Irena made us all dinner and we got to talk with the other climbers. They both lived in Almaty and were here on a small trip. Evgheni and Lamjan became really good sources of information on the differences in climbing in this area of the world. From needing 'papers' to climb certain mountains, to needing to be a part of a mountaineering club and coordinate with them if you expect a rescue (wait, you can expect a rescue?). We had some really good conversations with them. We also got to save some money as they had their own car so we hitched a ride with them the next few days.

Our next day out we climbed a harder fall named Boroda Akskala which is a WI3/WI3+. The approach was silly as Evgheni had been here before and swore there was an easier way to the base of the climb, but after a lot of wandering around we just put on our crampons and stomped up the frozen creek. This climb was much more difficult than the first day and the belay platform caught most of the way of falling ice. Ben and I's anchor was mostly protected by a nice rock, it made it so you couldn't watch your climber all of the time, but you could dodge and hide behind a rock as the brittle ice came down constantly from the lead climber. Poor Lamjan's anchor was directly in the line of fire of both Ben and Evgheni so he was constantly being pelted by ice shards. He looked miserable, but in his hopeful youth he shrugged it off and figured it just comes with the sport. He told me about his grandfather who was a famous mountaineer and gave him a titanium carabiner. Apparently titanium in the USSR was incredibly cheap so climbers used it for ice screws and carabiners and when meeting other international climbers, who were all using heavy steel, they would trade this ultralight climbing equipment for fancy western rain gear.

View of Boroda Aksakala on the approach
The icey approach to the ice climb
Anchors at the base of Boroda Aksakala

The next day we took a rest day and explored the sauna! Lamjan and Evgheni looked exhausted at breakfast but headed out anyway. Ben and I googled how to Russian Sauna and Pavel showed us the rooms and how to throw water on the stones and left us to it.

The room was almost 100 degrees celsius. It made your nose hair feel like it was on fire, then it made your lips feel like they were on fire and then your face. There was a sand timer and we were grateful online made it clear you work up to staying in the space for 15 minutes. So we bowed out fairly quickly. In the next room there was a deep pool with a ladder. Ben and I dunked ourselves one at a time in the freezing cold water. We sat for a minute cursing Russians, not really understanding how this is supposed to be relaxing. But we kept to the instructions and headed back into the hot room. The second round did feel a little better than the first. I lasted longer in the heat, though neither of us sat on the top bench (disclaimer: the bottom bench I think was supposed to be for our feet but...we balanced our butts on the narrow ledge as we couldn't handle the higher bench seats). We got out and again dunked in the freezing water (Ben made it further in the water this time) and then went back into the heat for one more round. By the last round our muscles felt like putty, my brain felt light, and my lower back was feeling great. My first round curses turned into words of wonder by the end.

The next day we went out with Lamjan and Evgheni again. Lamjan informed us that saunas are cheap to build and every house has one in Kazakhstan, and he assumed every Kyrgyz house we are passing on the way to the climb has one. My mind was blown.

The day before the two of them had gone up to the higher climb, Barskoon Falls, and had come down after not climbing anything as it seemed too difficult. So they were planning to return to Boroda Aksakala. Ben and I wanted to check out the higher falls though we weren't confident if they had to turn around if we would be able to climb it. We got to the base of the WI4 Barskoon Falls climb after a bit of a hike, and then a long ice approach on the stream bed below the falls. The way up was just low angle enough for me to feel ok without a rope.

At the base of the climb a frozen goat greeted us. We think it had died from falling down the waterfall we were intending to climb. It was spooky getting that close to a wild animal. It was clearly frozen solid, but I kept thinking it would shake itself off and head butt Ben while he posed for a picture.

Frozen Head butt
G.O.A.T. Climb
Just checking for signs of life

We decided to climb to the top of this one. We saw a line we thought we could tackle. I led the first pitch and it was WEIRD, but engaging and fun. The top of the pitch was very cauliflower-ey (or as the Russians say, "kapusta" - cabbage!) meaning I ended up climbing it more with my hands than with my ice tools as I couldn't get good sticks in as the angles were wild. I placed a LOT of screws into questionable ice. I figured the more I placed the more likely one of them should hold...right?...right? I made it to a good spot to build an anchor and Ben followed up.

Susan at the start of pitch one

At this point, our two friends had joined us. They said the lower climb was too wet to climb. So they started setting up on a single pitch to our left. Ben made it to me and we were feeling good as we got him set up to lead the much steeper next pitch. He started up and did ok, but also got spooked by questionable ice quality for the screws. He also had to spend a lot of time hacking out bad ice on the front to get to good ice underneath.

Ben took this photo from the second anchor while I was still at the first anchor

He tossed a lot of ice down but my anchor was mostly out of the way so most of it fell just to the side of me. He set up an anchor and I followed him up, where he declared he wanted to get to the top. "ok...I don't know if we have time, but ok..." We get him the gear to lead the last pitch and he sets off. The anchor placement for this one was bad. I was trapped in a small hanging belay and all of the ice fell right on top of me. I spent this pitch belaying Ben and getting pummeled by ice. Most of it was small by the time it hit me, but hearing larger chunks whizz by my ears and having sharp pieces hitting me constantly and small pieces making a racket against my helmet stressed me out. By the time Ben shouted off belay I was having a small panic attack. I cleaned up the anchor and followed him up the pitch trying to get my breathing under control. At the top Ben was aglow with success at making it to the top of this ice climb. His proud face fell as he saw mine and heard my ragged breathing. He went into help Susan function mode and got me on the anchor, set up the rappel and I got down.

Me at the top of the climb physically fine aside from some bruises, but mentally a little worse for wear.

Our friends (also our ride) had already headed down the hill before I started the last pitch, so I quickly tried to start packing things up. Ben got down and made us pause for food and water and I assessed some of my new bruises. Pretty quickly we needed to start our descent and we rappeled down what we had solo'd up. Lamjan and Evgheni were waiting for us at the end of the ice. Lamjan seemed jealous that we rappeled as Evgheni insisted they downclimb and I got the impression that scared him but he was too much youth to question his partner who definitely had the expert halo. I joked I'm a coward and would take too long downclimbing. We transitioned to walk down the hill and started walking quickly as the light faded.

Back at Pavel's, Irena was not impressed by how late we were for dinner. Evgheni tells Ben "you know it takes less energy to climb with fewer screws" yeah yeah yeah we are slow careful folk who don't like the potential for lead falls.

The next morning our friends head home, and we head out again for an easier day of climbing. We go back to the first climb, Chasa Manasa, with the intention of getting higher up the stream this time. I lead the first pitch and it is a nice cruiser lead. Ben started up the second pitch having a blast when suddenly his crampon fell off! Freaking out and scrabbling like a wounded animal he plugs a screw, while I spy a chunk of metal come tumbling down. Ben gets himself safely attached to the ice and we discover the metal bar on the front (the toe bail) had broken into two pieces. We get Ben down and he belayed me up to finish the lead and rappel off of a tree. Ben then had to rappel down the rest of the climb with one useless leg. It is amazing how impossible it is to move on ice with one crampon.

Susan with a sheepdog at the base of Chasa Manasa
Ben's broken crampon

Due to the broken crampon we were done way too early for our ride, so we wandered around in the valley floor taking in the views and just enjoying a relaxing afternoon. When Sasha picked us up we had to explain that we broke our “cat”. The word for crampon in Russian is the same as the word for cat. Ben had killed a second cat on this trip.

Yuri Gagarin - Russian Cosmonaut who took holidays in Barskoon because he found it so beautiful
Massive ice beckoning in the distance - another time, I guess!
Relaxing walk in Barskoon valley

We spent the next day going to Issyk-Kul Lake. Issyk-Kul is a massive mountain lake in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan - the tenth largest in the world by volume and more than 2,000 feet deep. That's why it took us an extra 3 hours when we drove around it the long way on our way to Tamga. Even though the lake is located at about 5,200 feet in elevation it doesn't freeze in the winter because it is slightly saline - "Issyk-Kul" means "warm lake". Even in winter it was easy to see why this area had a sanitoreum. Sanitoreums were Soviet era resorts for people to spend their holiday time at. Everyone had two weeks off of work, and you were encouraged to go to these sanitoreums complete with doctors to complete health check ups, doctor mandated spa time, and fresh mountain air to spend some downtime in. Our original plan had been to spend this day visiting Issyk-Kul, it's just that we'd also hoped to get in one more day of climbing and another round in Pavel's sauna. But with the broken crampon we made a plan to leave early for Karakol, so our rock skipping was a little more melancholy. We figured if we can't climb we may as well ski!

Susan posing with the Tamga heart and the Tian Shan in the background
This goat statue is a little nice than the one at the waterfall
The shores of Issyk-Kul Lake

During our last dinner with Irena a new group of ice climbers arrived. We said we were leaving the next day as Ben's crampon broke and magically, the man had a spare! Ben bought it off of him but we still decided to keep with the new plan. The next morning Sasha drove us to Karakol and dropped us off at the Airbnb. Sasha drove fast so we arrived earlier than intended. While we waited for our host, we ended up chatting to a nice old lady. Her in Kygyz and Russian and us in English and a lot of gesturing and random Russian words. She must have been bored so she put up with us and we had a nice conversation about I think "back in my day the snow was up to your waist!" We were kind of concerned by the lack of snow in town and people telling us the winter had been warm and dry, but still hoped for the best since now we had a week in Karakol!

Comments

Post a Comment