From 16 March to 6 April 2022 I joined two friends in exploring the Terskey Ala-Too, a mountain range in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan. It stretches south and southeast of Lake Issyk-Kul, with the highest peak being Pic Karakol (5,216 m).

What we found was very different from what we had planned. And included some of the riskiest avalanche terrain I have ever skied! But it also included some breathtaking powder descents. I gave a webinar for the Eagle Ski Club talking about the trip. Dave on Finland is well worth listening to, but my part on Kyrgyzstan starts at 30.30.

For the first part of the trip, we got a ride to the end of the road at Jyrgalan and then pulled a week of supplies up the Djergalan river valley. We set up a tent camp at the ‘Yurt Lodge’ – although there weren’t any yurts there at the time. We were alone in the valley for the entire week. We had snow fall most nights, with over 80 centimetres one night.

There was a wild weak layer in the snow pack, that meant we were very cautious, sticking to slopes up to 30 degrees and making use of tree-covered slopes for stability and visibility. I have never heard so much whoomping or seen so many spontaneous avalanches. Trail-breaking was exhausting and we tended to set one trail in the morning and then ski loops off it. But the snow was glorious – so light and so fluffy.

We returned to the town of Karakol for have a rest and re-supply. We then got a ride out to the valley of Turgenaksu, where we set up a tent base camp next to an old summer shed and outhouse. The weather changed completely, temperatures soared and we had a week of clear blue skies and warming snow. The views were beautiful, we could finally see the 7000m peaks on the distant horizon. We could finally safely climb up peaks and along ridges.

But we didn’t get any spring snow, it moved straight from powder to glue, the avalanche risk continued to haunt us. We were rapidly loosing snow on the lower slopes and increasingly forcing skis through thick bush and twisted trees. It was a lovely place to see and we did get some very good turns, but overall it was not the trip I had been hoping for.