To The Icy Giants of Central Tien Shan. Trekking. 9 days.

Region: Kyrghyzstan, Central Tien Shan, Terskey Ala Too, Sarydjaz, Tengri Tag ranges
Activity: trekking
Trip Category: regular, fixed dates, custom dates upon request
Difficulty: medium, no need of special skill
Season: July-August. Fixed dates tour to join: July, 05 - 13; July, 19 - 27; August, 2-10; August, 16-24. Other dates are possible by request!

Tien Shan - "The Celestial Mountains" is one of the world's biggest and highest (up to 7,439 m - peak Pobeda) mountain land on the south of Central Asia where virtually all kinds of mountain outdoors are possible - from easy trekking to extremely difficult mountaineering. The entire area keeps ecological purity and untouched wild nature so far. Central Tien Shan also is very rare populated area with very few (comparing with, for example, northern ridges of Terskey Alatoo Range) cattle grazing.

This unusual route crosses the Terskey Ala Too ("Variegated mountains turned away from the sun") and Saridjaz ranges via high passes, then brings you to the very heart of Central Tien Shan. Travelers hike along one of the world's biggest glacier - Inilchek, visit interesting natural phenomena- high-altitude Mertzbakher Lake - glacial lake on the junction of South and North Inilchek, which is draining into the glacier rapidly once a year close the same time at a very beginning of August, causing the overflow down the valley. Then, you visit the high altitude Inilchek Base Camp - the place where you can observe the mountaineering expeditions activity on the 2 icy above 7,000 m peaks - Peak Pobeda (7439 m) and the marble pyramid of Khan Tengri (7010 m). You descent on helicopter to the Maida Adir checkpoint, then go on 4WD via high pass (dead Inilchek mining town en route!) to Karakol. Medium trekking/pass hopping.

Itinerary:

Day 1	Karakol to Karkara BC. The drive from Karakol will take us about 2 hours . The road passes through Tup village, then continues East towards checkpoint Karkara. Passing the border zone checkpoint en route. The accomodation will be in the tent camp with the lunch served as a buffet where you’ll be able to chose the meal at your taste. After lunch (or taking lunchbox in advance) you may walk around the camp, to the Chymyn-Sai Pass (2700 m), going alon the border line between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. From the pass you can see the entire Karkara valley, whole Char-Kuduk area and Tup gorge. The hike is not difficult and allows hikers to prepare for hiegher altitudes, also it requires a clear knowledge of the route from the guide. The trail goes along a wide gorge settled by yurts of nomads, and presenting a good chance to see the the life way of dissappearing nomadic culture. Note: you can leave you stuff you dont need on trek in Bishkek!
Day 2	Karkara Base camp – Willow camp (2900 m, 6-8 hrs). After breakfast we take a charter helicopter flight to starting point of the trek in Inylchek Valley to a place which called Prizhim (Narrow Canyon). Then we trek up along the valley to the end of Inylchek glacier. On the way you can see Nansen peak (5690 m) and Tuz pass (4001 m). In 1902, German geographer Gottfried Merzbacher noticed Nansen peak as one of the greatest Alpine paintings of the globe he ever see before. Arrival to the tent camp called Iva (Willow). Meet by local staff and get accommodated. Dinner and overnight in tents.
Day 3	Willow camp - Clay camp (3100 m, 6-8 hrs). After breakfast we take our lunch boxes and leave the tent camp. Today’s trekking continues along the lateral moraine of the Inylcheck glacier to the confluence with Putevodnyi glacier. Very steep ascents and descents pretty much exhausting that will add some challenge to the day. We will try to go through the right slope of the terrace. Caution: there are lots of rockfalls along the trail, one must be very careful! The way goes up and down all the time. Lunch sto[ on the glacier. Then we ascent another steep terrace along a narrow trail. The variety of terrains and the steepness of the slope trails will add some more adrenaline into the blood. Arriving to the next camp – Clay (Glina), we will have some tea/coffee and rest. The camp has got its name "Glina" (which means “clay” in Russian) because of its location on a green clay field. Dinner and overnight in tents.
Day 4	Clay camp - Merzbacher (Green) Glade (3400 m, 5-7 hrs). Today, we hike up and down various terraces, though we have about 9-10 km of a straight way for today. Only once we hike across a small glacier, passing a river and have lunch on the shore of a small lake, where you can have some rest. There will be about one hour left to get to the Camp. Upon arrival we get some tea or coffee along with wonderful views of Merzbacher lake from that spot. Merzbacher glade is the last grassy place in the area located just across the unique Merzbacher Lake. There is a scientific research station on the glacier. Scientists from all over the world come to work here every summer. They study glaciers moving, meteorological situation of the region and the lake Merzbacher itself. There is a large green area around which is flat enough for camping. Dinner and overnight at the tent camp.
Day 5	Radial hike to Merzbacher Lake. In the morning we cross South Inylchek glacier up to Mertzbacher Lake. The glacier terrain is ice covered with rocks and stones, sand and mud. Sandwiched between the Northern and Southern branches of the glacier lies the mysterious Merzbacher Lake, which form every summer and then, sometime in August, burst through the ice banks and the waters flow into the Inylchek river. The lakes empty twice a year – once in the summer and once in the winter – but most people only know about the summer event. In 1903, German geographer and mountaineer, Gottfried Merzbacher, first discovered the lake while leading an expedition into Tian Shan Mountains aiming to reach the summit of Khan Tengri. Dinner and overnight at the tent camp.
Day 6	Green Glade - Komsomolskiy Gl (3800 m, 10 km, 6-8 hrs). After breakfast we take lunch boxes and start a long day of trekking surrounded with beautiful landscapes – snow, rocks and multi-colored ice – black, white and sometimes even striped. The first part of our trek goes along the right side of the terraces and, right before we reach Shokalskyi glacier it smoothly goes down. The trail reaches the glacier and the black moraine which flows out of Komsomolskiy glacier (named after Young communist union of the USSR - KOMmunistichesjiy SOuz MOLodezhy). We follow it up to the glacier itself. The terrain is very diverse: rivers, crevices, ascents and descents, the hikes around those take much time and energy. It will be our first night at the glacier. Strong wind usually starts here after 4 pm. It might be much colder than before. Hot drinks are very helpful here. Dinner and overnight at the tent camp.
Day 7	Komsomolskiy Gl. - Dikiy Gl (3900 m, 7 km, 4-6 hrs). Breakfast at the tent camp and departure. Trekking in this part of Tien-Shan is absolutely fabulous. The distinctive characteristic of the region is a great number of nameless peaks, unclimbed yet, about 5000 m above sea level high. Straight from the camp we cross Proletarskiy glacier moraine, get to the middle of Dikiy (Wild) glacier moraine and walk along it up to the Dykiy glacier. The first part of the way is uneven – hike up and down. Closer to the glacier the moraine becomes more even, without so many crevacces, creeks and, no needs of working around to escape crossing small streams. Lunch break. In front of Proletarskiy glacier we go up straight. Dikiy camp is located behind Pesnya Abaya (The Song of Abay) peak (in 30 minutes). From Dikyi camp you have beautiful view of Khan Tengri, Pobeda, Gorky, Chapaev, Trehglavaya peaks. Tea and coffee are available at the camp. Dinner and overnight.
Day 8	Dikiy Gl. - Inylchek BC (4100 m, 5 km, 2-4 hrs). Today, we have quite short trekking day. After breakfast we cross the whole glacier till the central moraine where the base camp is situated. The path is covered with rocks, ice, creeks, lakes and cracks. But it is possible to pass without any ropes and crampons. We arrive in the base camp (4100 m) and have our lunch, tea/coffee. Inylchek Base Camp is ideally situated in the heart of North Tien-Shan at the South Inylchek glacier approximately at 4100 m. above the sea level. It has a picturesque view of Khan Tengri (7010 m) and Pobeda (7439 m) peaks. The climbers from all around the world making attempts to climb to the magnificent peaks. You can observe their climbing activity on Pobeda (Victory) peak - one of the hardest-to-climb and dangerous mountain (similar or even worse than Everest from the North!) and the beautiful marble pyramid of Khan Tengri ("The Lord of The Sky") - the world's northernmost above-7000 mountain. Dinner and overnight in BC in big "family" tents.
Day 9	Return to Karakol. Breakfast at the Base Camp, than we take a helicopter flight to Karkara base camp. On arrival to the Base Camp we start drive to Karakol town.