Plan Your Trip Activities - Central Asia - page 36

apply ahead of time if you plan to trek
in these regions.
In Kyrgyzstan any place within
50km of the Chinese border (such as
the Inylchek Glacier, the Alay Valley,
the Turkestan range or Peak Lenin) re-
quires a military border permit which is
fairly easy to obtain through a trekking
agency.
While most commonly used trekking
routes are quite safe, mountain routes
on the borders of southeastern Kyr-
gyzstan and Tajikistan are best avoided.
Some border areas around here are
mined. Discuss your route with a trek-
king agency before you wander off into
these hills, and take a local guide.

Issyk-Köl at the tourist information
centre at Karakol. For more on maps in
Kyrgystan see p307.
Note that on Russian maps, passes
marked Unclassified (N/K) or 1A are
simple, with slopes no steeper than
30°; glaciers, where they exist, are flat
and without open crevasses. Grade 1B
passes may have ice patches or glaciers
with hidden crevasses and may require
ropes. Passes of grade 2A and above
may require special equipment and
technical climbing skills.

Hiking
Day hiking is a major outdoor pursuit
for Almaty residents and there are fine
hikes from Chimbulak, among others.
The Sayram-Ugam National Park and
Aksu-Zhabagyly Nature Reserve are two
beautiful areas of hiking country on the
fringes of the Tian Shan between the
southern Kazakhstan cities of Shymkent
and Taraz. Rakhmanovskie Klyuchi,
in far east Kazakhstan, is the starting
point for hikes up the sublimely beauti-
ful Altay valleys that fall off the slopes
of Mt Belukha. Zapadno-Altaysky (West-
ern Altay) Nature Reserve near Ust-
Kamenogorsk is also good for hiking.
You can make nice day hikes from
bases in Ala-Archa National Park, near
Bishkek, and Altyn Arashan, near Ka-
rakol, both in Kyrgyzstan. The Wakhan
and Pshart valleys in the Pamirs of
Tajikistan offer superb valley walks, as
does the Jizeu (Geisev) Valley, where you
can leave the tent behind and overnight
in village homestays.
Local hiking clubs are an excellent
way to get out of the cities for the week-
end, get some mountain air and meet up
with local expats.

Maps
The major trekking/climbing maps for
Central Asia are published and available
abroad:
Central Tian Shan (EWP; www.ewpnet.com)
1:150,000; inylchek Glacier and surroundings.
Fan Mountains (EWP; www.ewpnet.com)
1:100,000; Fan Mountains in Tajikistan.
Pamir Trans Alai Mountains (EWP; www.
ewpnet.com) 1:200,000; Peak Lenin and the
Fedchenko Glacier.
Lenin Peak (Gecko Maps; www.geckomaps.
com) 1:100,000; topographical map of the
mountain.
Khan Tengri, Tian Shan and Inylchek (Alpen-
vereinskarte) 1:100,000; two detailed climbing
maps of the central Tian Shan.
GeoID (p244), TUK (p245) and Novino-
mad (p245) in Bishkek sell useful maps
of major trekking regions. You can
buy 1:100,000 topographical maps of
the trek routes around southeast Lake

TOP TREKKING AREAS

¨ Fan Mountains (p326), Tajikistan - routes from three days to two weeks.
¨ Alpine-like valleys of the Tian Shan (p272), around Karakol, Kyrgyzstan.
¨ Walnut forests and waterfalls around Arslanbob (p286), Kyrgyzstan.
¨ Khan Tengri and Inylchek Glacier (p77) - from Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan.
¨ Around Almaty , Kazakhstan - either from Ozero Bolshoe Almatinskoe (p73)
or Chimbulak (p71) or further away in the Kolsay Lakes region (p76).
¨ Ala-Archa National Park (p250), Kyrgyzstan - just two hours from the
capital.