Along the Nomad’s trails in North Tien-Shan

Kyr­gyzs­tan has a wealth of nomadic tra­di­tions plus some of the most beau­ti­ful moun­tains in Cen­tral Asia: the cel­e­brat­ed Tian Shan, the tra­di­tion­al moun­tain home­land of the Kyr­gyz and Kaza­kh peo­ple, who have a col­or­ful his­to­ry of nomadic wan­der­ings. Our trek focus­es on the Kyr­gyz-Alatau sec­tion of the north­ern range of the Tien-Shan. A con­tin­u­ous wall of ice and rock forms the cen­tral por­tion of the range, crowned by Semen­ov-Tien-Shan­s­ki (4895m), the high­est peak in the region. The trek takes us along alpine flat­lands, grassy hills choked with pret­ty wild­flow­ers, through forests of unique Tien-Shan blue fir trees, and close to stun­ning glac­i­ers. As we hike along the deep Alamedin, and Tuyuk gorges, we’ll keep to the tracks beat­en by sheep and hors­es that are tak­en to high alti­tude sum­mer pas­tures by local Kyr­gyz shep­herds. On trek we’ll gain insights into the lifestyle of these local nomads who have grazed their flocks here since ancient times. Hos­pitable and friend­ly, they will wel­come us to their sum­mer huts (called yurts) and per­suade us to try kumyz, the nation­al fer­ment­ed drink made of mare’s milk, and airan (a yogurt-like dairy prod­uct).

The gorges are laced by great sum­mits whose glac­i­ers feed numer­ous rivers, both large and small, with crys­tal clear water. We cross the range twice: via Alamedin pass (3964m) and Tuyuk Pass (4004m). We have good chances to see the diverse wildlife, includ­ing moun­tain turkey, moun­tain hen, gold­en eagle, moun­tain sheep, goat, and per­haps even a rare snow leop­ard.