The following itinerary is intended as a working guide only and it is a subject to variation as a result of local conditions, weather and governmental restrictions. We reserve the right to alter (lengthen or shorten) the trek at any time if necessary. Aeroflot domestic timetables are altered occasionally and it may be necessary to vary our itinerary to adapt to these changes.
Arrival to Bishkek in the afternoon and 3-4 hours drive to Issyk-Kul Lake. Overnight in a lodge.
After an early breakfast we drive via Karakol to the Chon-Kyzyl-Su Gorge, 9-10 hrs, with lunch on the way. Camp near the Jiluu-Suu hot springs.
We walk up the Chon-Kyzyl-Suu Valley, then the Kara-Batkok Gorge, 4 hours. Initially we walk along a mountain road, then a mountain path, through coniferous forest, to our campsite in the forest by the river.
Today starts with a good path for us to follow through alpine meadows with herds of horses grazing. We have lunch on a grassy slope below the Archa-Tior Pass before crossing the scree to ascend the pass, 3700m (1 hour). This is the toughest hour of the trek. After the col there is 15 min. of scree running to reach another good path on the moraine ridge. This takes us on to grassy meadows to camp. Total walking for the day is about 7 hours.
A good path continues down the Asan-Tukum Gorge to the Jety-Oguz Valley through alpine meadows and then forest. On the way we have a beautiful view of the main ridge - this is the Jety Oguz Wall with the Jety Oguz Peak, 5181m. We cross several sleeves of the Jety Oguz River using bridges, logs and fords. We camp at the forest boundary below the Teleti Pass near a spring., 5 hours.
A 6-7 hour walk takes us over the Teleti Pass, 3650m, to our camp in an alpine meadow. Initially we follow a path through alpine meadows and along the Teleti Stream to the edge of the moraine. Here we have lunch. The path continues almost to the pass through lunar landscape. We cross the col to descend to our campsite.
We walk down the Teleti Valley through meadows and then forest to the Karakol Valley. A good road leads us to our base camp for two nights under some impressive Tien-Shan pyramidal fir-trees, 5 hours. The Camp is near the "Karakolski Revun" (Karakol Roarer), a 300m long set of rapids. We can enjoy he evenings by the camp fire.
From our base camp we go on a one day excursion along the Karakol Gorge to a view point of the Karakol Peak, 5218m, and the West kultor Glacier. Return to the same camp. Ca. 7 hours. By mid day we will be enjoying good views of the Karakol Peak.
Spare day in case of bad weather.
We leave the base camp taking a path through the forest to visit the "Sirota Refuge" with its carved wooden statues. We continue along the river to the Ala-Kul Lake with impressive views of the water fall - the Ala-Kiol Lake tumbling from the rocks. We take the path along the coast to our campsite by the lake arriving in time to enjoy a magical sunset, 6 hours.
From the lake we ascend to cross the Ala-Kul Pass, 3600m, from here we can admire a beautiful panorama of the entire Terskei-Alatoo Ridge: Jety-Oguz, Karakol, Dzhigit peaks and the Ala-Kul Lake at the bottom are seen. Beautiful! Our descent is over scree to reach a path to our last campsite in the Kel-Dykeh Valley; another evening to enjoy around a camp fire; 6 hours.
An interesting excursion take us to view the Ak-Suu Wall. In the afternoon we visit the Altyn-Arashan (Golden Spring) hot springs to swim. 40-45oC.
We drive to the Lodge by the Issyk-Kul Lake via Karakol, collecting any luggage we left there.
We drive back to Bishkek for dinner and to overnight.
Early morning departure.
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