• Caucasus
  • Elbrus Region
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
• Central Asia
  • Uzbekistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Fann Mountains
  • Tien-Shan Mountains
  • All Central Asia
  • High Peaks
• Siberia and Pacific
  • Siberia
  • Kamchatka
  • Lake Baikal
  • Tuva and Sayan
  • Altai
• European Russia
  • Russian Capitals
  • Russian North
  • Ladoga Lake
• Crimean Peninsula
  • Crimea

Find a Trip:

-- Select region Caucasus Central Asia European Russia Siberia and Pacific Crimean Peninsula
-- All countries, areas
-- All types

Climatic extremes are normal in this region. It becomes wetter from S to N, and from W to E The Akademii Nauk chain acts like a refrigeration barrier, so that severe conditions are experienced E of it. Under the S side of the Vanchski ridge annual precipitation might only vary from 90-260mm But N of Peter the Great chain it may reach 1000mm, being wetter in the late winter and spring. Summer is from July to early October and is normally very arid in the mainly treeless and barren inner valleys. Temperatures are highest in July. 22 C at 2000m. and lowest in January, -7°C at 2000m. Thus winters are comparatively mild and 180-210 frost free days are recorded in a year. Consequently the snowline is usually high for mountains with summits exceeding 7000m in this latitude, e.g. round the Fedchenko glacier, about 4000m. Yet the extent of glaciating is astonishing, only high precipitation in a fairly short annual cycle can account for this.

Glacier melt rivers are fast flowing and notoriously difficult to cross where permanent bridges do not exist In high valleys rivers should be forded by 9am, especially in July-August when the level could be one meter lower than by mid-afternoon. All rivers eventually swell the Pianj, which joins the Vakhsh and becomes the Amudaria, It forms the boundary between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Pianj in Persian means 5 and refers to the number of glacier fed streams it collects on the way. Upper river valleys vary in character Yazgutem is narrow and short flowing swiftly in a picturesque canyon full of rapids: Vanch is wide Bartang is the most impassable with almost vertical canyon walls and a racing stream.

Most of the lakes have been produced by natural dams. huge landslides, some caused by earthquakes block river flow and thus a lake is formed. Water keeps flowing and all the lakes stay fresh.

Lower valley levels of 1600-2200m display a desert landscape with various scrub in evidence, though mostly bare. Close to water, willow, poplar and birch may thrive. Patches of juniper grow on rocky slopes- In a few places woodlands exist Former rich forests have disappeared because shepherds and peasants over centuries have felled trees for firewood This too has resulted in soil denudation.

Kishlaks (villages) are situated on watered/irrigated land to produce orchard surrounds of walnut apricot. apple and mulberry. Small farm-holdings cultivate wheat, corn. watermelon and a variety of vegetables. Despite intensive irrigation for agriculture only 5% of the land can be made fertile. Pamirian settlements and families live in a class system and have their own language dialects, variable from one valley to another it.

May even be different at the top of a long valley from people living near the bottom of the same valley. In places like Rushan. artisan craftsmen are famous for wood carving, and are fine blacksmiths and jewelers.

From 2200-3200/3600m. normally a dry belt. some cereals can be grown among scrub and bushes. Here there are roses, almond trees, cornel and hawthorn, and meadows for cattle. Above 3400m pasture is used for sheep and yaks - few in number because of the steep, harsh terrain.

Fauna is thinly spread with few species in the tough high Pamir environment. Insects and spiders survive in the super-insulation provided by heating up of surface land in summer Two reptiles are known, as well as the field vole, hamster, rabbit and mountain goat. Among predators are bear. wolf. fox. badger and snow leopard. Dominant rock structures are sedimentary and metamorphic, intruded in places by granites This mixture of limestone, marble, slate, quartzite etc. results in an unstable conglomeration easily eroded by severe climatic conditions and is unsatisfactory for climbing steep rock faces at lower altitudes.