Mount Ak-Suu – the very best camp and the very best view!

The denouement of our Pamir-Alay trek along the Karavshin route was the hike up to the foot of Mount/Peak Ak-Suu. Wonderful and unforgettable, I highly recommend it to absolutely everyone! A short walk slightly uphill, then a bit of a scramble over some moraine boulders, then a just-as-easy stroll along the crest of the ridge: pure bliss!

If maps are to be believed, Ak-Suu stands some 5,355 meters above sea-level, and given that we were at roughly 3,000 meters, that makes the practically sheer cliff face in the above pic more than two kilometers tall!

Off to the side, glaciers wind their way down beautifully. But this is a drone shot – I didn’t get to see it with my own eyes, alas:

The lie of the land here doesn’t exactly provide much comfort for the contemplative tourist. All the main beauty spots are somehow awkwardly away to the side and tuck themselves behind assorted less-interesting rocky outcrops, meaning you have to trudge all day to reach them! A whole day, minimum. On top of that, this is the mountain’s north face – which means you have to do your contemplating with the sun – our very own star – sitting on the opposite side!

But that’s actually the full list of complaints about how this day’s trek up to these marvelous sights went down.

// If my dodgy memory isn’t lying to me, “ak” = white, “kara” (in Karavshin) = black, and “suu” = water/river. So our first hike to the glaciers was to the “Black River”; this one was going to be the “White” one. Right then, let’s get going…

But first we had to wake up, climb out of our sleeping bags, have a stretch, get washed, grab breakfast, and of course take in the early-morning sunrise light on the nearby mountains:

Unreal!

First up – a short walk: 5km, 400m up the vertical, over boulders in places, plus our official guide kept messing up as we went… but I won’t get into that – let’s stay positive! And of course – the views along the way:

Up onto glacial moraine, which also happened to be the perfect panoramic viewing spot:

It’s a shame we didn’t go right up to the “wall” itself – it would’ve been pretty interesting seeing it up close. But don’t go thinking it’s completely vertical – look at the snow at the bottom, and in one or two places higher up:

And the surroundings are pretty imposingly impressive too:

So, yes – going for a wander up to Mount Ak-Suu and its namesake glacier was just a wonderful idea, and right up our contemplative-tourist street: not too much walking, and heaps of time for contemplation.

Rock-art! ->

Rock-art… installations! Every now and then little pebbles like these come tumbling down into the valley ->

But it’s time to head back to camp…

The views on the way back were enough to make your head spin. We just had to remember to glance back in time – we were heading down the valley, after all, with our backs to all this scenery :)

And here we are. Welcome back!

Thank you, Mother Earth – you were simply splendid today!

I’ve already said a bit about the overnight spots and camping generally, but the “Ak-Suu” camp was the finest of the lot. And not because it’s been designed to blend right into the scenery:

And not because the mess tent is just the right size! ->

And not because the rocks are laid out just so:

Or its smoking corner was cozy – for the smokers:

No, this spot was the best because… you guessed it – the views from it were the most picturesque of all!

Grab a folding chair (or sit-pad), point it the right way, fill your glass with your preferred poison, and then sit for ages just zoning out before scenery like this, occasionally sharing a few words with fellow trekkers. Perfect!

As the sun was setting – the views just kept on improving ->

Instead of the views, you can always feed and pet the donkeys :) // Over on our Fan Club, someone even suggested treating them to beer. We didn’t. They needed to be fresh come morning ;-)

And here’s the camp from the drone:

Highly recommended!

The best hi-res photos from Karavshin are here.