A small expedition to the mountains of Naryn region, Kyrgyz Republic, near the border with China, took place in March of 2016. The event is not a world scale, most of the regional, but, in my opinion, it will be interesting to people from around the world.
Foreword.
Every year, the world around us becomes smaller. Airliners, Internet, satellites have significantly reduced its size. In the past it would’ve taken a year to get to a place that now can be reached in a day. There are very few places on earth not studied thoroughly by inquisitive man. Once the images of the Earth's surface from space became available to anyone pioneering spirit slowly began to fade. Now people, traveling on the earth's surface and having accurate information, are no longer surprised by new horizons. They know what to expect – the novelty effect disappeared. However, there are still places on our beautiful planet not reached by the ubiquitous satellite lenses. In March 2016, micro-expedition out of two adventurous risk takers climbers headed to one of these places.
The idea.
The idea to make the first ascent in Kyrgyzstan was born in our heads out of the blue.
Not long ago we discussed the idea of climbing in Siberia, and all of a sudden our thoughts zoomed off to Central Asia. This change in the plans two weeks before the start forced us to spend the rest of the time in searching for the information about the area we were about to go. Because of little time left we had to seek help from people who have been in that area before. We are very thankful to Alexei Tsvetkov and Dmitry Suponnikov for the current information about that area. Because of them, we had started to realize where we are going and what to expect. We started stocking up with a bunch of Soviet time’s maps and minimum of climbing equipment for all possible cases. And then we began to realize that this expedition is not confined to the first ascent to the summit where one hasn’t been before.
We began to realize we have now several missions.
1) Research mission - research and the subsequent description of life conditions, customs and traditions of local shepherds who live far from big civilization.
2) Geographic mission - description of the two At-Bashi valley’summits, finding out the names and mapping the local mountains.
3) First ascent - climb to the summits one haven’t been before and describe the trip.
Foreword.
Every year, the world around us becomes smaller. Airliners, Internet, satellites have significantly reduced its size. In the past it would’ve taken a year to get to a place that now can be reached in a day. There are very few places on earth not studied thoroughly by inquisitive man. Once the images of the Earth's surface from space became available to anyone pioneering spirit slowly began to fade. Now people, traveling on the earth's surface and having accurate information, are no longer surprised by new horizons. They know what to expect – the novelty effect disappeared. However, there are still places on our beautiful planet not reached by the ubiquitous satellite lenses. In March 2016, micro-expedition out of two adventurous risk takers climbers headed to one of these places.
The idea to make the first ascent in Kyrgyzstan was born in our heads out of the blue.
Not long ago we discussed the idea of climbing in Siberia, and all of a sudden our thoughts zoomed off to Central Asia. This change in the plans two weeks before the start forced us to spend the rest of the time in searching for the information about the area we were about to go. Because of little time left we had to seek help from people who have been in that area before. We are very thankful to Alexei Tsvetkov and Dmitry Suponnikov for the current information about that area. Because of them, we had started to realize where we are going and what to expect. We started stocking up with a bunch of Soviet time’s maps and minimum of climbing equipment for all possible cases. And then we began to realize that this expedition is not confined to the first ascent to the summit where one hasn’t been before.
We began to realize we have now several missions.
1) Research mission - research and the subsequent description of life conditions, customs and traditions of local shepherds who live far from big civilization.
2) Geographic mission - description of the two At-Bashi valley’summits, finding out the names and mapping the local mountains.
3) First ascent - climb to the summits one haven’t been before and describe the trip.
