{"id":29502,"date":"2024-10-17T12:41:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T06:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ak-sai.com\/?post_type=product&p=29502"},"modified":"2025-04-23T16:50:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T10:50:41","slug":"heart-of-tien-shan","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/shop\/guaranteed-departures\/heart-of-tien-shan\/","title":{"rendered":"To the heart of Tien-Shan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 1. \u00a0Karakol \u2013 Karkara Base camp<\/strong><\/p>\n

We start driving to Karkara valley. The drive from Karakol will take us about 2 hours . The road passes through Tup village, then continues East towards checkpoint Karkara. As we are going to enter the border zone, we must show our border-permits and passports to the soldier on duty. The accomodation will be in the tent camp with the lunch served as a buffet where you\u2019ll be able to chose the meal at your taste.<\/p>\n

After lunch (or taking lunchbox in advance) you may walk around the camp, to the Chymyn-Sai Pass (2700 m), going alon the border line between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Then start ascent to the pass 2700 m, from the pass you will see the entire Karkara valley, whole Char-Kuduk area and Tup gorge. The hike is not difficult and allows hikers to prepare for hiegher altitudes, also it requires a clear knowledge of the route from the guide. The trail goes along a wide gorge settled by yurts of nomads, and presenting a good chance to see the the life way of dissappearing culture. Dinner and overnight at the base camp.<\/p>\n

Day 2. Karkara Base camp \u2013 Iva camp<\/strong><\/p>\n

After breakfast we take a helicopter flight to starting point of the trek in Inylchek Valley to a place which called Prijim. Then we trek up along the valley to the foot of Inylchek glacier. On the way you can see Nansen peak (5690 m) and Tuz pass (4001 m). In 1902, German geographer Gottfried Merzbacher noticed Nansen peak. Even he, who had seen the panorama of many mountains on the globe, such as the Alps, the Caucasus, the Himalayas and Karkorum, had a feeling of surprise and delight at the sight of the giant ridge that bounded the valley of Inylchek from the South. Its mighty snow-capped peaks of the most varied sculptural forms (of which the creative forces of nature are capable for) are visible all the way from West to East. In his opinion this is the one of the greatest Alpine paintings of the globe. Arrival to the tent camp called Iva. Meet by local staff and get accommodated. Dinner and overnight in tents.<\/p>\n

Day 3. Iva camp \u2013 Glina camp<\/strong><\/p>\n

After breakfast we take our lunch boxes and leave the tent camp. Today’s trekking is going to continue along the lateral moraine of the Inylcheck glacier to the confluence with Putevodnyi glacier. Very steep ascents and descents pretty much exhausting that will add some chellenge to the day. We will try to go through the right slope of the terrace. Please note: there are lots of rockfalls along the trail, it\u2019s better to be very careful. <\/em>The way goes up and down all the time. The lunch will be on the glacier. Then we ascent another steep terrace along a narrow trail. The variety of terrains and the steepness of the slope trails will add some more adrenaline into the blood. Arriving to the next camp \u2013 Glina, we will have some tea\/coffee and rest. The camp has got its name (which means \u201cclay\u201d in Russian) because of its location on a green clay field. Dinner and overnight in tents.<\/p>\n

Day 4. Glina camp \u2013 Merzbacher Glade<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, we trek up and down various terraces, though we have about 9-10 km of a straight way for today. Only once we trek across a small glacier, passing a river and have lunch on the shore of a small lake, where you can have some rest. There will be about one hour left to get to the Camp. Upon arrival we get some tea or coffee along with wonderful views of Merzbacher lake from that spot. Merzbacher glade is the last grassy place in the area located just across the unique Merzbacher Lake. There is a scientific research station on the glacier. Scientists from all over the world come to work here every summer. They study glaciers moving, meteorological situation of the region and the lake Merzbacher itself. There is a large green area around which is flat enough for camping. Dinner and overnight at the tent camp.<\/p>\n

Day 5. Radial hiking to Merzbacher Lake<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the morning we start radial hiking, cross South Inylchek glacier up to Mertzbacher Lake. The glacier terrain is ice covered with rocks and stones, sand and mud. Sandwiched between the Northern and Southern branches of the glacier lies the mysterious Merzbacher Lake, which form every summer and then, sometime in August, burst through the ice banks and the waters flow into the Inylchek river.\u00a0 The lakes empty twice a year \u2013 once in the summer and once in the winter \u2013 but most people only know about the summer event. In\u00a01903, German geographer and mountaineer, Gottfried Merzbacher, first discovered the lake while leading an expedition into Tian Shan Mountains aiming to reach the summit of Khan Tengri.\u00a0 Dinner and overnight at the tent camp.<\/p>\n

Day 6. Merzbacher Glade \u2013 Komsomolskiy Glacier<\/strong><\/p>\n

After breakfast we take lunch boxes and start a long day of trekking surrounded with beautiful landscapes \u2013 snow, rocks and multi-colored ice \u2013 black, white and sometimes even striped. The first part of our trek goes along the right side of the terraces and, right before we reach Shokalskyi glacier it smoothly goes down. The trail reaches the glacier and the black moraine which flows out of Komsomolez glacier. We follow it up to the glacier itself. The terrain is very diverse: rivers, crevices, ascents and descents, the hikes around those take much time and energy. It will be our first night at the glacier. Strong wind usually starts here after 4 pm. It might be much colder than before. Hot drinks are very helpful here. Dinner and overnight at the tent camp.<\/p>\n

Day 7. Komsomolskiy Glacier \u2013 Dikiy Glacier<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breakfast at the tent camp and departure. Trekking in this part of Tien-Shan is absolutely fabulous. The distinctive characteristic of the region is a great number of nameless peaks, unclimbed yet, about 5000 m above sea level high.\u00a0 Straight from the camp we cross Proletarskiy glacier moraine, get to the middle of Dikiy glacier moraine and walk along it up to the Dykiy glacier. The first part of the way is uneven – walk up and down. Closer to the glacier the moraine becomes more even, without so many crevices, creeks and, no needs of working around to escape crossing small streams. Lunch break. In front of Proletarskiy glacier we go up straight. Dikiy camp is located behind Pesnya Abaya peak (in 30 minutes). From Dikyi camp you have beautiful view of Khan Tengri, Pobeda, Gorky, Chapaev, Trehglavaya peaks. Tea and coffee are available at the camp. Dinner and overnight.<\/p>\n

Day 8. Dikiy Glacier \u2013 South Inylchek Base Camp<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, we have quite short trekking day. After breakfast we cross the whole glacier till the central moraine where the base camp is situated. The path is covered with rocks, ice, creeks, lakes and cracks. But it is possible to pass without any ropes and crampons. We arrive in the base camp (4000m) and have our lunch, tea\/coffee. Inylchek Base Camp is ideally situated in the heart of North Tien-Shan at the South Inylchek glacier approximately at 4000 m. above the sea level. It has a picturesque view of Khan-Tengri (7010 m) and Pobeda (7439 m) peaks. The climbers from all around the world making attempts to climb to the magnificent peaks. Dinner and overnight in BC in tents<\/p>\n

Day <\/strong>9<\/strong>. South Inylchek BC \u2013 Karkara BC – Karakol<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breakfast at the Base Camp, than we take a helicopter flight to Karkara base camp. On arrival to the Base Camp we start drive to Karakol town.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Itinerary: <\/b><\/p>\n

Karakol \u2013 Inylchek glacier \u2013 Putevodniy glacier \u2013 Merzbacher Glade and Lake \u2013 Komsomolskiy glacier \u2013 Dikiy glacier \u2013 South Inylchek Base Camp \u2013 Karkara Base Camp – Karakol<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":29512,"template":"","meta":[],"product_cat":[89,38],"product_tag":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/29502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=29502"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.ak-sai.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=29502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}