The Karavshin roller coaster: a kilometer up, a kilometer down.

Our rambling along the Karavshin route in Kyrgyzstan continues…

Next up for us was a three-day out-and-back leg toward some seriously contemplative views in the gorge that goes by the same name – Karavshin – plus the Asan-Usen glacier, plus some plain old mind-blowing granite peaks.

First, we got ourselves to our next camp (name: “Kara-Suu”) – and that was quite the undertaking: 15km of tramping one way, getting over a couple of passes along the way with a total ascent of a thousand meters, and then back down the same thousand – but very scenically. The next day – a quick march up to the glacier and a look around. While the third day was the trek back from the Kara-Suu camp (yep – another 15km, 1,000m up, and 1,000m down). But – enough of the words already; bring on the photos!…

Oh, how wonderful it was to walk through high-mountain scenery in good weather! And on nice even paths, and with a climb that wasn’t too steep (even if it did drag on). We got up onto the first pass of the day, and then just sat there soaking up the views all around:

And after that it was down into the valley – and then up to the second pass. It’s somewhere right there in the middle, between those two “rock teeth” =>

But let’s sit a little longer and enjoy it a bit more…

…and only then head on.

Flocks of sheep graze all around – hundreds of them (thousands?) – which is precisely why drinking the water from the streams is an absolute no-no! You have to haul your water with you for the whole day.

Once an hour, a rest of 5-10-15 minutes – depending on the group’s current level of fatigue.

And here’s the second pass:

Then some cloud cover started scowling at us, which led, at first, to a light rain, but which was followed up by something wholly unexpected: hailstones!

But the views: simply out of this world!

Another stop. We were tired: rest needed…

Over there – our donkeys! ->

The drizzle was coming down harder and harder, and the hailstones were getting bigger. Time to up the tempo and get the heck out of there:

At this point our official Photographic Grandmaster, DZ, turned around and managed to get a shot of the hail. The little white specks in the photo – that’s the hail!

Let me try enlarging it a bit… There we go – ice pebbles flying at us:

Just a bit further – down into that valley over there:

And that was that – down in valley. Over the bridge!…

…And toward our camp. A look at our devices upon arrival, and we found out the day’s trek lasted a full 12 hours!

The following day, we were heading up there =>

From the trek diary:

– “Let’s drink to the bright glint on the mountains’ white caps, to the dazzling flashes of light on the river, and to the sunbeams hopping about the tents.” – author unknown

– AG: Hang on – are you drinking out of two glasses?
– EK: Of course: Macedonian style!

– “A pass gets… passed faster not when it’s in sight, but when I’m walking quicker.” – Moi

The best hi-res photos from Karavshin are here.