A ridge too far
Our first trek in the Pamirs started with a chat with a wrinkly old man who runs Acted, a French tourist agency in Tajikistan. He offered us a night in a yurt, then a trek (known for tax purposes as a hike) over a 4800m pass and another night in a yurt. After lulling over the map for a while we decided that the route was easy to follow so we wouldn't need a guide and that a yurt at the end only would be sufficient. We also decided that it would be a good idea to do the trek backwards. We were then ready to get into the jeep at 9am the next day, start walking by 10am and be at the yurt for tea time.
9:30am the next day - waiting outside Acted office for wrinkly old man to give driver instructions. 10am - filling car with petrol from old coke bottle. 11am start "hike".
The scenery in the Pamirs is strange. It is a high-altitude, bumpy desert. From the road it looks pretty repetitive at first, but as time goes on and you get used to the view it begins to look amazingly diverse. The drive to the Gumbezkul valley, the start of the trek, took us out of Murgab along a large valley that was orange and rocky at the sides, but green and smooth at the bottom. Suddenly the jeep turned off the road onto a large stony dried river bed, with no visible road most of the time. After a very bumpy ride the car got stuck in a ditch and the driver announced that the road had ended. He pointed up the valley to tell us where to go then got into his car to attempt to get out. We were now alone in the Pamirs, free to do and go where we wanted.
The walk along the valley floor was much longer than expected. At first it was only rocks and dry bushes, but strangely as we got higher we came to grassy fields and alpine flowers. Near the end of the valley, before the steep ascent to the pass, we came across two yurts, a large family and a herd of goats. The children were running about outside playing in the river and chewing sticks of leek. We said hello and began to move on when the father came out of the yurt and asked "chai?" (tea?).
In Central Asia, as in most places worth visiting, tea is very important and will come any time of the day, always with something sweet to eat. We had tea, bread, butter, jam and yoghurt in the warm yurt and then said our goodbyes and set off to the pass.
By the time we got to the bottom of the climb the air was very thin. I was feeling the altitude the most (I think it's because I have really small lungs...) and Pete the least after his recent trek in Pakistan. The climb was definitely the most physically challenging feat i've ever attempted, and 100% worth it. The first part was a relatively steep scree slope, this wasn't bad (although I did cut my hand on a sharp bit. I had two stones in the cut, but have pulled them both out. It's quite an impressive cut because it's kinda curvy so I've decided to look after it well so I can compete with Andy for the best scar). We then had a rocky bit which was great fun, although because of the speed we got out of breath it consisted on a few sudden birsts.
The third part was the highest (obviously) and the hardest. It was the most unsteady, steep and unfriendly scree slope I have ever encountered; and by now we were 4000+. By now I had got rid of my bag and was in fact feeling quite sick from the ascent. Mike was carrying two bags and was feeling the strain, but kept on going beyond what I imagined possible. Pete, being acclimatised, was battling the scree but not having the breathing dificulties Mike and I had. By the end Pete became our encouragement and we made it to the top in style. I decided to have a nice little burst of energy about 5 meters from the top and learnt how to run up scree like a gecko, which was fun.
The top was simply perfect. As we were rising we saw the Gumbezkul valley fading away and the snowy peaks behind it grow. What we didn't see until the very top was the stream-laden Pashart valley and the snowy peaks surounding it. We also had a line of snow on the other side of the pass, which was a short but cold slide to start the descent. We could also see from the top the mush easier path that we should have taken. Oops.
The way down was yet another scree slope. This was great fun. I got to learn how to surf down scree, my headache subsided and I stopped feeling like throwing up, all good things come in threes! We had a nice walk along the river to the yurt which worked its way into the sunset after the late start, the long walk to the start of the pass and the steep scree slope (on further scrutinising of the map we realized that doing the trek backwards had a few more dificulties than the other way. Again, oops.)
We found the yurt were we where supposed to sleep after asking a man in a yurt by a motorbike. In the yurt were two small children, a mother and a grandmother. The mother sat us down on a large long coushin and layed down a cloth. On the cloth she broke some bread, lay some yoghurt, jam and butter, and served us tea. We finished this meal fast and went straight to sleep.
I was woken in the morning to the sound of butter-making. The mother and grandmother were warming yak milk and pouring it into a plastic, hand operated curdling machine. The children stood around singing and stealing the cream. For breakfast we had the same as supper but with the runny fresh butter. We also had our first taste of the Tajik speciality of salty and milky tea, best served with butter, and best drank thinking it's soup.
9:30am the next day - waiting outside Acted office for wrinkly old man to give driver instructions. 10am - filling car with petrol from old coke bottle. 11am start "hike".
The scenery in the Pamirs is strange. It is a high-altitude, bumpy desert. From the road it looks pretty repetitive at first, but as time goes on and you get used to the view it begins to look amazingly diverse. The drive to the Gumbezkul valley, the start of the trek, took us out of Murgab along a large valley that was orange and rocky at the sides, but green and smooth at the bottom. Suddenly the jeep turned off the road onto a large stony dried river bed, with no visible road most of the time. After a very bumpy ride the car got stuck in a ditch and the driver announced that the road had ended. He pointed up the valley to tell us where to go then got into his car to attempt to get out. We were now alone in the Pamirs, free to do and go where we wanted.
The walk along the valley floor was much longer than expected. At first it was only rocks and dry bushes, but strangely as we got higher we came to grassy fields and alpine flowers. Near the end of the valley, before the steep ascent to the pass, we came across two yurts, a large family and a herd of goats. The children were running about outside playing in the river and chewing sticks of leek. We said hello and began to move on when the father came out of the yurt and asked "chai?" (tea?).
In Central Asia, as in most places worth visiting, tea is very important and will come any time of the day, always with something sweet to eat. We had tea, bread, butter, jam and yoghurt in the warm yurt and then said our goodbyes and set off to the pass.
By the time we got to the bottom of the climb the air was very thin. I was feeling the altitude the most (I think it's because I have really small lungs...) and Pete the least after his recent trek in Pakistan. The climb was definitely the most physically challenging feat i've ever attempted, and 100% worth it. The first part was a relatively steep scree slope, this wasn't bad (although I did cut my hand on a sharp bit. I had two stones in the cut, but have pulled them both out. It's quite an impressive cut because it's kinda curvy so I've decided to look after it well so I can compete with Andy for the best scar). We then had a rocky bit which was great fun, although because of the speed we got out of breath it consisted on a few sudden birsts.
The third part was the highest (obviously) and the hardest. It was the most unsteady, steep and unfriendly scree slope I have ever encountered; and by now we were 4000+. By now I had got rid of my bag and was in fact feeling quite sick from the ascent. Mike was carrying two bags and was feeling the strain, but kept on going beyond what I imagined possible. Pete, being acclimatised, was battling the scree but not having the breathing dificulties Mike and I had. By the end Pete became our encouragement and we made it to the top in style. I decided to have a nice little burst of energy about 5 meters from the top and learnt how to run up scree like a gecko, which was fun.
The top was simply perfect. As we were rising we saw the Gumbezkul valley fading away and the snowy peaks behind it grow. What we didn't see until the very top was the stream-laden Pashart valley and the snowy peaks surounding it. We also had a line of snow on the other side of the pass, which was a short but cold slide to start the descent. We could also see from the top the mush easier path that we should have taken. Oops.
The way down was yet another scree slope. This was great fun. I got to learn how to surf down scree, my headache subsided and I stopped feeling like throwing up, all good things come in threes! We had a nice walk along the river to the yurt which worked its way into the sunset after the late start, the long walk to the start of the pass and the steep scree slope (on further scrutinising of the map we realized that doing the trek backwards had a few more dificulties than the other way. Again, oops.)
We found the yurt were we where supposed to sleep after asking a man in a yurt by a motorbike. In the yurt were two small children, a mother and a grandmother. The mother sat us down on a large long coushin and layed down a cloth. On the cloth she broke some bread, lay some yoghurt, jam and butter, and served us tea. We finished this meal fast and went straight to sleep.
I was woken in the morning to the sound of butter-making. The mother and grandmother were warming yak milk and pouring it into a plastic, hand operated curdling machine. The children stood around singing and stealing the cream. For breakfast we had the same as supper but with the runny fresh butter. We also had our first taste of the Tajik speciality of salty and milky tea, best served with butter, and best drank thinking it's soup.
posted by Lowri @ 3:33 pm
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