If I say that I was not worried about the next day, I would be seriously lying. I was convinced that the Kyrgyz people do not talk nonsense. I still ask myself the question- if we knew what was expecting us there, would we still go. I still have no answer.
In the morning, I asked Assya and Miloslava once again- after the experience from the first day and in the light of the serious warnings coming from the Kyrgyz people, who knew what they were talking about: Do you still want to…
If they have said: “No, we are worried, we are tired, we are afraid”- as all of these arguments would be perfectly reasonable, I was going to definitely accept them. I do not think there is anything worth risking the safety of my companions. We were just going to spend one lazy day doing nothing in the Hot springs. The two girls just looked at me amazed and they were definite: “No way we are backing up”
We were talking about the yurt. Let me mention that the most important thing in mad adventures like this one is the guide. It concerns any wanderings out of your comfort zone, or in savage places- especially abroad, where you might have to rely on someone to save your life.
Ours was a true kyrgyz mountaineer. He was not very talkative. He never, I mean never said one needless word, and often was aware of what we wanted, more precisely, he was giving us all we needed without us saying a word. We saw this later on in Pamir.
After our guide found out that we were going to do the trip, he did not throw a tantrum or made any comments, just silently prepared the horses. What I wanted to do is do the trip to the Ala-kol lake (the image is not taken by me).
The lake is located at 3560 metres above-sea-level- but the place from where you can see it clearly is a reed with 4000 metres above-sea-level. This is a very popular lake- and even more popular route. For those who like the hard to reach wilderness and beautiful nature, of course. When I was actually making my research on places I wanted to visit in Kyrgyzstan, I saw this lake first and all the other options came in second. The horses appeared long after. So here we were, all covered in madness.
I was sincerely hoping that our Kyrgyz friends exaggerated about the dangers in order to dissuade us. I was so wrong. The dangers for unexperienced and untrained riders were ten times higher. If the way to The Hot springs was 3-4 on the scale of 1 to 10, then the route to Ala-kul was way beyond ten. We rarely took photos, with the risk of cracking our skulls somewhere. That was nuts! But through the most dangerous places- which took about 90% of the trip, we could not do that, or I would not be here today (they were made vertically, we just had no other choice)
The road from which we stared to climb with the horses, started from the forest. This innocent word actually represented countless sharp and rough trees, from which we needed to protect ourselves in order not to be blinded- at least. It also meant steep ravines- lots of legs squeezing, and river crossing. And all of this on the way up. However, fuck, it was beautiful! (Excuse my French!).
When we arrived at the foot of the lake, we witnessed the snow and we were mesmerised. SNOW! That was a result of the rain from the last couple of days. At the end of the day, we were at 4000 metres above-sea-level. Nevertheless, we had the strength to smile. We were happy that we had the balls to do this trip- and we did not crack our skulls either. How we are going to get back, we will think about that later.
Of course, we were going to climb the lake. You would think after the stressful horse riding amongst the stones and snow in vertical direction, we would just want to catch our breaths and go back down, but NO, we wanted to climb even higher. The vertical dry slope has turned into a vertical slide, with stones under the snow.
I am sure Assya was at times cursing herself during the trip- I was just thinking the same, I was cursing myself not once and I am brutally honest about it. She was certainly happy though, I could certainly see that.
I am sure Miloslava went through the same. She will be wondering for decades later how and why did she went through this madness, but for sure she will know that she CAN do it. I will wonder if I should admire her or be angry because of this day, but about this, later on…
We left our guide to wait for us at the shelter with the Kyrgyz people in their yurt and rushed up. It felt like rushing, but it was actually crawling… In dry weather, the trip to Ala-kul Pass looks something like this- few hundred metres of brutal tilt with stones on top of which you crawl( thanks to the strangers for the photo they took). Well, athletes could probably run here, but I am talking about ordinary people like ourselves.
The snow was very deep on the way up. We could not predict that, but.. we had to deal with this. The dot up there is Miloslava, and the one down here is Assya.
We all went to different spots, but each one of us achieved their designated spot.
Assya- after an hour of climbing up decided that she needed to keep some energy for the ride back, which seemed horrendous- and went back. Smart girl! I was sorry not once during the trip that I did not follow her.
Both Miloslava and myself were freaking out, but we decided we will keep going to wherever we can. Miloslava was more eager than I was. I just had more knowledge and that could be a stopper sometimes… The terrain was very dangerous. On top- deep and slippery snow, on the bottom sharp stones. Ideal conditions to break your leg… at least.
By the way we talked to the Kyrgyz people afterwards- we asked if there have been any accidents and what would happen in this sort of situation? They were affirmative. It has happened before…more than once. The terrain was not easy!!! If this happens, someone must go down to the Hot Springs- by horse or by foot, and ask for help. The only possibility is a helicopter from Bishkek. That’s it. In this moment I cursed myself again: “What are you doing bouncing around these rocks???”
Armoured with two sticks, my friend had no time for cursing; she just pulled herself together and continued. I did the same, after much hesitation and with no sticks. It looked like that- sliding, crawling, snow under the clothes and in our mouths, gliding up, gliding down.
I gave up 50 metres away from the top. I took this decision consciously. The last couple of months I had some unestablished problems with my breathing and heart and I decided not to ruin my friend’s wanderings and bite the dust on 4000 metres above-sea-level. I have returned once 10 metres before conquering Kamenitsa- because of psychological problems related to the height- so this is not a new feeling for me- to say NO to my so ambitious nature. Very educational. J Despite that, I knew that the way back from Ala-kul would be even more dangerous than the climbing up. I just sat on the snow like a child, I made a few snow angels, and I enjoyed the snow for all the last 8 years of not having it, and then off-road, and on my bum, made my way down. I was so lucky I did not break anything, but I was very careful. I will avoid explaining my poor shaking legs once I finally arrived at the yurt.
Miloslava managed to pump herself up and after similar struggles and tears of frustration after sliding down couple more times, she managed to climb on the top and saw Ala-kul. And the beautiful photos were actually not important. The important is that feeling which she will remember for the rest of her life.
This was my first trip with Maliya, but she earned my deepest respect. She has never complaint against the difficulties, she never criticized and not even once has raised her voice to someone. She showed herself as a very strong team player and was always landing a helping hand to anyone who needed it- although she had to look after herself as well.
You have my complete respect Maliya- not because of the climbing though… I would rather confront you for that. You are just extremely goodhearted person.
Actually, I was not over the moon happy about her climbing. On one hand, I had no rights to stop her. On the other hand, though, she had no experience and did not know what she was risking, so her decision could have reflected indirectly onto the rest of us. I have wandered in very inaccessible places all by myself and had no moral rights to criticise her. I was just praying she could manage the climb with no issues and I admired her for that, a.k.a. I was jealous 😄 but I was also keeping my fingers crossed for her. Especially for the way down. Few days after we were taking a shower in Pamir, the only shower back then, I saw that her bum was all covered in bruises. I could only imagine what it must have looked like on that day.
By the way, in the mountaineering world- of which I am not a part anymore, but sometimes peek into my memories- one of the most intense arguments is related to the equipment you have. Even here, we touched this topic… MY opinion is that good equipment saves lives. That’s it. The bad news is that the good equipment costs money and when you are not regularly hiking, you just ignore it. From the three of us, only I had relatively good clothing and shoes, because I knew what risking your life out there meant. Saying that, I did not have even gloves, so all my claims were simply rude. From the three of us, only Miloslava made it up the hill, dressed in her pyjamas- as she called it. However, I strongly advice you not to count on beginner’s luck, because the consequences can be severe.
We played another nerve game on that day. I was expecting when Maliya came back, that we will go straight back, because I was so frightened just thinking for the way down. On top of that, the weather was completely unpredictable and on this height, it was horrendous. What if there was a storm or a snowfall, with the night coming in, and all of us riding the horses…all of that really made me shiver.
Yes, but no. Our guide was nowhere to be seen for a very long time. I ran to do my research.
It turned out that he was with the other Kyrgyz people in the shelter, building a yurt. I started an investigation- when, what, how- my worrisome feelings were in total contrast with my sense of friendship and support, that these people were showing me. They just asked for understanding, a feeling of very high priority to me. The second feeling won with a slight advantage. I watched how they built a yurt in a day and once again, I felt respect from these people and realised what kind of spoiled brats we are and how we do not appreciate what we have.
It was hard. The night was falling- at around 18 o’clock, the temperature went down, ice covered everything around, and our route was steep down, in most places covered with stones, mud and snow. However, we finally departed…
I was a bundle of nerves, and after watching how the front horses and my friends were bouncing around, I was slightly terrified. They were so quiet. I was the only one screaming as usual.
I turned the video camera on in the beginning of the climb down- a big temptation, but after almost falling down a couple of times, I turned it off. When we passed the steepest place, before the first river, I tried it once again… Please excuse the bad quality, but my camera was hanging from… the front part of my body precariously, and constantly bouncing…
The way down took longer than the way up. I had massive difficulties to keep myself on the saddle. We arrived at dark and I just slid from the saddle to the ground. I literally kissed the ground… 🙂 Maliya was smiling and taking photos with the horse! What a star!
It took us seconds to plunge into the Hot springs, and I immediately fell deeply asleep…
To be continued…
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