Travelling to Base Camp (July 18th)

The expedition loaded into two old 6x6 Soviet military trucks for the bumpy 250km drive to Achik Tash base camp. We left Osh by 8 am and travelled along the main road heading south towards the Tajik and Chinese borders.  The road was lined with farming homesteads with neatly furrowed rows of vegetables (corn, potatoes, sunflowers and other crops). Moving further from Osh, the flat, cultivated Fergana Valley hills began to build and by the time we arrived at our lunch stop, 4 hours later, we were in a deep river valley with steep and rocky mountains surrounding us. Our lunch spot was in a traditional Kyrgyz yurt and included the now ubiquitous salad (tomato, cucumber and onion), potato soup and rice with meat which, as usual, was prepared beautifully.

The next section of the drive became more and more spectacular.  First we drove to the head of the valley and ascended steeply to the Taldyk Pass (3600m) where we had our first view of Pik Lenin showing our ascent route far in the distance.  One truck was welcomed by a group of Tajik herdsmen initiating friendly discussion.

Our next stop was the crossroad village of Sary Tash located on an expansive green plateau with the full breadth of the snow covered Pamir Alai soaring 4000m into the cloudless blue sky behind. Although the ride had been bumpy before, the next sections would put this all in perspective.  Our meandering rough track took us over dry tundra and across deep and rocky river beds, through torrents of summer snow melt heading straight for the massive bulk of white towering before us. Finally we gain the last hummock and continue our journey across undulating glacial debris and outwash to reach the tents and yurts at Achik Tash at 3605 meters.