Kyrgyzstan - Central Asia - page 291

administration office (ail okmotu) that
can arrange guides/horse treks including a
seven-hour hike across the valley towards
the mountains ending up at a yurtstay near
Lake¨Tolpur . Near here there are views
across the river to Achik-Tash, the Peak Len-
in base camp, but as long as you stay on the
Lake Tolpur side, CBT claims you don't need
the border-zone pass.
The 2pm marshrutka from Osh to Daroot-
Korgon drives past Sary-Mogol and through
Kashka-Suu. A 4WD to Achik-Tash costs
US$27 from CBT in Sary-Mogol, but you
might get a cheaper ride from Kashka-Suu.
The 4WD track is painfully degraded.

Tajik territory. At the claw's southern edge,
Kyrgyzstan meets Tajikistan at the mind-
bogglingly steep Turkestan Ridge, a dizzying
wall of jagged mountains often dubbed 'Kyr-
gyzstan's Patagonia'.
The beautiful pyramid-shaped Ak-Suu¨
peak (5359m), with its sheer 2km-high
wall, is one of the world's extreme rock-
climbing destinations. The region is totally
lacking in infrastructure, or even roads,
so you'll have to trek in from Ozgorush ,
where esteemed local guide Nuruddin
runs a small homestay. Another superlative
area for climbers is the trio of valleys lined
with granite spires that lead south from
Karavshin . Ak-Sai Travel (p246) oper-
ates four fixed-tent summer¨camps (dm/
breakfast/lunch/dinner €10/10/20/20) at Ak-
Tash Valley, Orto-Chashma Valley, Kara-
Suu Gorge (Karavshin) and Ak-Suu Valley
(Lyalak). These are open to independent
travellers. Several Bishkek mountaineering
companies offer treks and climbs in these
areas, including Tien Shan Travel (p246),
with 21-day climbing tours for groups of at
least four experienced mountaineers from
€1056 per person (excluding flights). Or you
can arrange a tailor-made programme via
local specialist Batken Travel Service below.
Plan ahead as the higher mountain areas
typically require permits.

Peak Lenin & Achik - Tash
The highest summit of the Pamir Alay,
7134m Peak¨Lenin straddles the border
between Kyrgyzstan (where it's officially
called Koh-i-Garmo) and Tajikistan (which
renamed it Mt Abuali Ibn Sino). For climb-
ers, access is almost always from the Kyrgyz
side where the lack of any peak fees and the
unusually straightforward approach makes
Peak Lenin one of the world's most popu-
lar and accessible 7000ers. But although
the snow-covered ridges and slopes are not
technically difficult for most experienced
mountaineers, the altitude and infamously
changeable weather can be. And the moun-
tain holds the sad record for the world's
worst mountaineering disaster when, in
1991, an earthquake-triggered avalanche
obliterated Camp II on the Razdelnaya ap-
proach, killing 43 climbers in the process.
Base camp at Achik-Tash meadows
(3600m), 30km south of Sary-Mogol, is unu-
sually comfortable for a mountain of this
height, with a series of agencies operating a
veritable tent city in summer. Non-climbers
can visit the camp on the first weekend of
August, when CBT organises a festival of
horse games here. Permit restrictions are
lifted for those days, but at other times
you'll need a border¨area¨permit (US$20 to
US$30) organised through a trekking agen-
cy. Some agents take a month to get this, but
Munduz Travel (p295) and CBT (p295) can
usually organise things in a few days.

Batken Баткен
Spread out, but little more than an over-
sized village, Batken is the transport hub
for southwestern Kyrgyzstan and home to
affable travel fixer, Junusbek, whose Batken¨
Travel¨Service ( % 077-277 6691, 055-277 6691;
www.facebook.com/BatkenTravelService; Engels 7)
is based in his hard-to-find central home.
Batken town is not an attraction per se, but
if you're changing transport between Osh
and Khojand (Tajikistan) it would be a trav-
esty not to spend at least a few hours getting
closer to the wondrous mountains that lie
tantalisingly close behind. For a relatively
easy half-day taster, drive through Kara-¨
Bulak village and on another eight (very
rough) kilometres towards Suu-Bashi - a
walled spring-pool set in a fabulous jailoo
valley backed by a wall of rocky ridges and
peaks. Quick stops in Kara-Bulak could in-
clude a small museum and the gently quaint
Muz-Bulak (Kara-Bulak; admission 10som;
h weather dependent) (literally Ice Spring) just
beyond the Soviet-era children's camp. It's a

Southwestern Kyrgyzstan
Cradling the Fergana Valley, Kyrgyzstan's
southwestern cartographic 'claw' is eccen-
trically sewn with enclaves of Uzbek and