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International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) 2023 Kyrgyzstan Trip Report

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Mattadvproject

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March 27th - Cat Skiing at Jyrgalen

First day out on the mountain riding the cat and getting a good feel for the terrain and operation. Whilst it's definitely not the best conditions with spring snow and a shallow snowpack, we still had a great time and the potential for cat skiing and ski touring here in Kyrgyzstan is great. I think this is going to make a great program in the future. The terrain is decent with long vertical and great backdrops.

We finished the day with a game of volleyball against the local school kids and they definitely schooled the guest and guide team. After the game, the owner of Royce Travel presented the kids with custom team shirts and they were stoked! Tomorrow we will cat ski and ski tour up higher. I hope to dig some pits and investigate the snowpack also. Should be a good day.

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View from my room! Cows, poop and an amazing looking mountain!

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End of the day skiing and an amazing view from the cat skiing HQ. Beer o'clock!

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Taking on the local school volleyball team. Apparently they are pretty good. We got spanked.... They loved their new t-shirts though! Awesome time.


- Matt
 
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March 28th - Cat Ski Touring

The plan was to take a cat assisted touring lap, they it turned into bootpacking..... The cat took us up pretty high and then it was time to shoulder the skis and clamber up a decent peak with about a 45-minute hike. It was tough going as it was a mixture of rock and scree, with some deep snow. You definitely did not want to fall. At the top, the views were pretty amazing though and made a great place for lunch. Then the fun part. We had several pitches, skiing one at a time. Gary and I pulled away for a little photo shoot with my new DSLR. The snow was not great, but the backdrops were stunning.

After a while, we split up into 2 groups, with 5 skiers in one group and 5 snowboarders in another. The skiers wanted to take a higher line and traverse to a different zone. We found some untouched lines and Gary got some more photos. Then I found a good spot and we dug a pit and went through some stability tests. The snowpack was about 110cm's deep and was mostly facets, starting small and then getting quite big (3mm) towards the bottom.

It was the quickest 2m wide pit to the ground, that I have ever dug as the snow was rotten. We did a couple of CT tests (Column Tets) and got results of CT6E and CT10E, with some dramatic failures at a weak layer around 45cm's down. Then the big one, an Extended Column Test (ECT) produced a dramatic failure at ECTP22. The only surprise here was that the failure didn't happen earlier in the test.

So, with a weak snowpack at around 7,000ft on a NE aspect, it was obvious that we needed to keep the slope angles below 30 degrees. We had been doing that already, but it was good to see further evidence of what I had suspected about skiing in Kyrgyzstan is that the snowpack can be very weak and that you need to keep it mellow. Thankfully Jyrgalen has plenty of sub-30 degree terrain. I don't know if the steeps in this area (of which there is also plentiful terrain), but you can still have a fun time here and it's a stunning place, still worthwhile coming all the way out here for cat skiing.

After we filled the pit back in, we headed back down, with nice terrain down to a road which we followed down to a stream (wish I bought my fly rod!). After an exciting stream crossing (thankful I was able to find the last remaining snowbridge so I didn't get wet!), we were back at the base camp for some beers looking back at the stunning mountains and our tracks. We finished off a memorable day at the Jyrgalen yurt village for a lovely dinner and then we had to drive a couple of hours back to Karakol to our next base for the remaining 3 nights of the trip.....

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- Matt
 
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March 29th - Siteseeing the Turgen Jaloo Pass

We had a nice night in our new base in Karakol staying at a new hotel called Hotel 78. It was comfortable, clean and very modern and Karakol city was a nice contrast to staying at the peaceful but rural (very rustic!) village of Jyrgalen. We were on the road just after 9am and had a lovely drive into the mountains. The road continued on to the old tin mining town of Enilchek which used to have a population of 5,000, but is now around 140 people. That was still a couple of hours away though the mountains but would make an incredible drive (they keep the road plowed in the winter).

It was a beautiful drive, with impressive peaks and snow covered mountains. There was a lovely river flowing next to the road and I would love to try some fly fishing there. The mountain biking potential of this place would be amazing too. The road climbed gently but eventually turned to switchbacks as we neared the pass. At the top there was a few buildings and a big shed where they keep the snow clearing machines.

We got out for a look around and there was a group of men about to leave in an old Audi. They were most of the snow clearing team and were heading back to Karakol until the next snowstorm as the road was clear. 1 man stayed behind and he was a driver/mechanic. If it snowed, he would call up the crew via sat phone and they would get back to clearing the road. He was very friendly and let us sit in the caterpiller machines and posed with us for photos. He had a friendly dog who was very playful too.

The guys wanted to get some ski shots so they put the skins on and climbed up a face (I didn't have my skis with me) and stayed next to the van where I could watch them. The snow was unstable and they had some whoompfs, so they stayed on mellow terrain and didn't take any chances. The clouds had started to build and the light was a bit flat, so I don't know how well their shots turned out.

We headed back down to Karakol and it was an awesome day. The views were stunning and the thought of mountain biking and fishing in that area makes me want to come back in the summer. It was another great day!

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- Matt
 
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March 30th...... exploring Karakol ski area and then shooting at a range

Talk about a diverse day! We wanted to explore the Karakol ski area but the lifts were all closed, so we took some horses and trekked to one of the runs. It's been a long, long time since I last rode a horse but thankfully my trusty stead Betsy knew where she was going and apart from displaying dissatisfaction by nibbling on my shoes whenever we stopped, she was a rock star and cruised along nicely.

After about an hour of sore-butted riding, we made it to the resort. We put our skins on and apart from a few bare spots, had mostly snow to skin up. It took about 3 hours to reach the top and we were greeted by amazing views and awesome looking sidecountry when the snow is better. We stuck to the main run for an easy down.

Then around 5pm we headed back out of the city to a range out in the countryside. We were greeted by a couple of burly looking ex-Kyrgyz servicemen and shown the pricing menu. You choose your weapon (I chose an AK47 variant and a Dragunov sniper rifle) and then choose how many bullets you want to pay for.

I chose 30 rounds for the AK (70 Som or $0.80 a round) and 5 rounds for the Dragunov (120 Som or $1.37 per round). I don't think I hit much but certainly made the targets duck! Everyone had a good ol blast and much fun was had. That was a memorable way to end a big day. Great success!


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- Matt
 
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March 31st - Last day of the trip/Eagle Hunting

This was sadly our last official day of the trip and we had a long drive back to the capitol, Bishkek. This time we would be taking the south side of Lake Issyk Kul. Our first stop was at Jeti Oguz, a prominent sandstone gorge with nice views about 30 minutes from Karakol. We had about 1.5 hours to hike and look around. It was pretty nice but a little spoiled by how much garbage there was. The road was decent here and the surrounding mountains gave some great views.


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Lake Issyk was pretty majestic, with it's turquoise, crystal clear waters. Unfortunately for us they were doing a lot of work on the road and a lot of the tarmac was ripped up so it was a long, rough ride. There are a lot of holiday villages on the side of the lake, most of them closed for the winter and a fair few looked abandoned. We went past this really weird looking statue of a man on the hillside, it was either falling apart or still being built. It could have been Lenin, but I'm not sure. We had a couple of stops to stretch the legs and take photos.


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It took several hours on a rough road, to get to our next stop. This was potentially the biggest highlight of the trip, visiting a local family who are Eagle Hunters and they wanted to share with us their skills and culture. It was an amazing experience! We arrived at a large facility, with several yurts and a large open area. We headed up a pathway through the yurts and could hear the sounds of rhythmical drums and horns. I came around the corner and there was an older gentleman and two younger men dressed in traditional clothing and then I could see two Golden Eagles and a Falcon squawking along to the beat!

We were welcomed (in Kyrgyz) to visit with them and they explained their motive. They are a local family (the father and his two sons) who are traditional Kyrgyz nomads who hunt with Eagles and are trying to bring back the customs and ways of their people. What followed next was an amazing display of their skills and culture. We got to see their various forms of hunting in a live display. We started with the eagles showing us their hunting skills. They tied a jackal carcass behind a horse and they took off and swooped down on the carcass as it was pulled behind the horse. They showed us how they carry the birds as they ride on horseback. Then we got to meet the birds up close and even hold them with a gloved hand. That was an experience of a lifetime. They are huge animals and their claws massive and extremely sharp and powerful. I won't go into detail about how the eagles will attack their prey (foxes, jackals and even wolves) as it was pretty gruesome......

Next we got to see the father and sons archery prowess. We had several displays, starting with static targets, then shooting arrows at targets thrown into the air, finishing off with archery from the horses as they galloped past the targets. That was all very impressive. Then we go to try some archery and we all showed that we had plenty of work to do to reach their levels! Ha ha..... We finished with a training session with the falcon as it repeatedly chased down and swooped at a fur target that was swung through the air. That was also very impressive. After each display, the birds were all rewarded with a fresh treat. Mr. Falcon loves pigeon!

We finished off the afternoon with a look inside a yurt with a lot of historical artifacts in it and then we were seated inside another yurt for a welcoming ceremony that included Gary (who was the oldest) dressed up in traditional winter hunting clothing and seated at the head of the yurt. The father played a traditional Kyrgyz sitar called a Komuz as he welcomed as. The was a really beautiful moment and really capped off what was a heartfelt and greatly insightful day. It was obvious that that display was very genuine, they really wanted us to be there and share in their culture and ways. The eagles and falcon are clearly well loved and looked after and they seem to enjoy their training routines. Finally, we were invited inside their large yurt home and treated to a home-cooked meal as the father played more music for us on the Komuz.

We said our goodbyes and then hit the road again for the long final leg back to Bishkek. It was around 10pm by the time I was dropped off at the Novotel and it had been a truly wonderful day!

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- Matt
 
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Love that powder!
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I don't get many opportunities to have shots taken of me when skiing, but Gary was there to take a few shots on day 2 of the cat skiing and he got some great ones. Obviously the snow wasn't great this time, so late in the season during a sub-par winter, but we managed to get a few shots that captured the amazing backdrops and magnitude of the place. I don't know if snow conditions/stability will allow for skiing of the plentiful steeps they have here, but there's plenty of fun, mellow terrain to safely enjoy and the vertical drop is impressive. It's a beautiful place and I can't wait to return in the middle of winter when the snow is hopefully cold and dry!

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- Matt
 

Jenny

Making fresh tracks
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This was potentially the biggest highlight of the trip, visiting a local family who are Eagle Hunters and they wanted to share with us their skills and culture. It was an amazing experience! We arrived at a large facility, with several yurts and a large open area. We headed up a pathway through the yurts and could hear the sounds of rhythmical drums and horns. I came around the corner and there was an older gentleman and two younger men dressed in traditional clothing and then I could see two Golden Eagles and a Falcon squawking along to the beat!

We were welcomed (in Kyrgyz) to visit with them and they explained their motive. They are a local family (the father and his two sons) who are traditional Kyrgyz nomads who hunt with Eagles and are trying to bring back the customs and ways of their people. What followed next was an amazing display of their skills and culture. We got to see their various forms of hunting in a live display. We started with the eagles showing us their hunting skills. They tied a jackal carcass behind a horse and they took off and swooped down on the carcass as it was pulled behind the horse. They showed us how they carry the birds as they ride on horseback. Then we got to meet the birds up close and even hold them with a gloved hand. That was an experience of a lifetime. They are huge animals and their claws massive and extremely sharp and powerful. I won't go into detail about how the eagles will attack their prey (foxes, jackals and even wolves) as it was pretty gruesome......

Next we got to see the father and sons archery prowess. We had several displays, starting with static targets, then shooting arrows at targets thrown into the air, finishing off with archery from the horses as they galloped past the targets. That was all very impressive. Then we go to try some archery and we all showed that we had plenty of work to do to reach their levels! Ha ha..... We finished with a training session with the falcon as it repeatedly chased down and swooped at a fur target that was swung through the air. That was also very impressive. After each display, the birds were all rewarded with a fresh treat. Mr. Falcon loves pigeon!

We finished off the afternoon with a look inside a yurt with a lot of historical artifacts in it and then we were seated inside another yurt for a welcoming ceremony that included Gary (who was the oldest) dressed up in traditional winter hunting clothing and seated at the head of the yurt. The father played a traditional Kyrgyz sitar called a Komuz as he welcomed as. The was a really beautiful moment and really capped off what was a heartfelt and greatly insightful day. It was obvious that that display was very genuine, they really wanted us to be there and share in their culture and ways. The eagles and falcon are clearly well loved and looked after and they seem to enjoy their training routines. Finally, we were invited inside their large yurt home and treated to a home-cooked meal as the father played more music for us on the Komuz.
THIS is a super special experience.
 
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Mattadvproject

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Love that powder!
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THIS is a super special experience.

Thanks Jenny, really appreciate that. I've been lucky to have done a lot of cool things on my travels and this was definitely one of the most special and memorable experiences I have ever had. Worth the price of admission alone...... Thanks for following the adventures!
 

chris_the_wrench

Spinning wrenches and throwing spokes.
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First day out on the mountain riding the cat and getting a good feel for the terrain and operation. Whilst it's definitely not the best conditions with spring snow and a shallow snowpack, we still had a great time and the potential for cat skiing and ski touring here in Kyrgyzstan is great. I think this is going to make a great program in the future. The terrain is decent with long vertical and great backdrops.

So there’s enough people skiing there that they have a pretty shinny Piston Bully cat. Locals? Or who is their normal clients?
 
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Mattadvproject

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Love that powder!
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So there’s enough people skiing there that they have a pretty shinny Piston Bully cat. Locals? Or who is their normal clients?

They actually have two Pisten Bully cats! I'm not sure where their clients are coming from, they are a relatively new operation and have been running for a couple of years to locals and regional tourists and this season was the soft launch for Western tourists, hence why they asked me as a US-based tour operator to come out and check out their operation. When we were there, there was a group of 20 people from the Czech Republic on a freeride camp. They had more people than the cat would hold so they had a rope out the back for 3 or 4 people to be tethered to by harnesses. Talk about keen!

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