February 2016 Kel Suu, Kyrgyzstan Trip

ryanh1006

Kyrgyzstan Expat
Some expats and myself cooked up a winter wonderland trip that we plan to run this week. Kel Suu is a very remote lake in Kyrgyzstan near the Chinese border. Access is difficult in the summer, so winter should be even more fun! We're told that the road south around Chartyr Kul is passable in the winter, so we'll be going that way instead of out through Bosogo like we do in the summer. Below are some summer time pictures and I'll try to follow it up with some winter pictures when we get back. The general vehicle roster is: Ford Ranger T6 diesel, Toyota Land Cruiser 105 diesel, 1 or 2 Mitsubishi Delica diesels, and a gasoline VW Toureg.

Summer 2014 without water
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June 2015
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August 2015
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Well, in the dead of winter it should be awesome and freakin cold!
 
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ryanh1006

Kyrgyzstan Expat
So the short story is, we made it! Long version below!

So our target of this short trip was the remote lake, Kel Suu, which is near the Chinese border in Kyrgyzstan. Our route and destination are in the map below. The Green Line is day 1, the Red Line is days 2-4, and the Blue Line is day 5.
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I should note that I organized the whole trip, so if something went wrong I would feel responsible. Hence I pretty much overpacked. Plenty of tools, plenty of extra gear, etc. In all there were 10 of us on the trip in 4 cars. In my car I had my friend and employee, Azamat, the only one in the group who had been to Kel Suu before, as well as my American friend Jeff who is opening a hunting and expedition company here. We took one of my fleet 4x4s, a 2014 Ford Ranger T6 Double Cab with 2.2 diesel engine and 6-speed manual transmission. It's fitted with a steel frame, aluminum skin cap on the back, so we had more room than we could possibly need to haul gear. The truck is shod with Maxxis Pressa Ice SUV tires in 265/70/16 size.
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Friday, 19 February 2016. We started the morning around Bishkek packing up the truck and getting everything ready to roll.


Everyone had agreed to meet in the evening in Naryn, so we did the first leg solo. We finally had everything gathered up around lunch time, so we stopped for the last few supplies at Alamedin bazaar and some street food to tide us over till dinner. About half way to Naryn we made a detour up a 4x4 trail overlooking Orto Tokoi Reservoir to take some photos (especially promo photos for the truck).

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We arrived in the evening in Naryn and stayed in the comfortable Khan Tengri hotel without any issues. Plenty of time around maps that night after dinner and we were all stoked for the coming day.

Saturday, 20 February 2016. Naryn is a lot colder than Bishkek, so we were excited to that all the cars started without incident the next morning. Azamat and I made a trip over to the border police station to meet with the guy in charge of the zone we would be in. We had to sign off that we knew where we were going and that we'd be good. Evidently some Russians last year wandered into China and spent three months in jail. At least that's what the guard said. He also informed us that they got their УАЗ stuck the other day out in that area. Oh, and to throw in for good measure the Marco Polo sheep are down low now and the wolves are having a party. After that encouraging meeting we gathered our border permit for the group and hit the road.

Other than a section of broken pavement and dirt through the Naryn to At-Bashi pass the road is clean all the way to Tourgart now. The Chinese have built new asphalt. We made a quick stop in At-Bashi to pick up our hostess, Jirgal Edje. Since At-Bashi means "Horse Head" in Kyrgyz, they decided a build a huge horse's head right downtown. Too good a photo op to pass up. Here's our convoy. From left to right, my 2014 Ford Ranger, a lifted 2006 Hyundai Starex 4WD (essentially a licensed Mitsubishi Delica), a late 2000s VW Touareg V8, and a 2001 Lexus LX470.
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We entered the border zone courtesy of a nice young guard who spoke English having visited Montana. We drove till we came to the final border control to China and hung a hard left along the border to the east. The road follows the border fence (which is still at least about 10km from China most of the time) for quite a while.
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Eventually as the border turned a bit further south the road started getting some snow. This really isn't normal for Kyrgyzstan. With El Nino this year we're just not getting snow. Most of the road was smooth, but here and there were holes in the road hidden by the snow that were great for testing suspension travel and bump stops. Mostly we just drove through small drifts and kept going.
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Driving along the southern shore of Chartyr Kul Lake.
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After heading through a wide, river valley toward the east we finally reached the turn toward Kel Suu. There really wasn't much indication. Azamat thankfully recognized the turn even though he usually come through from the eastern route through Bosogo Jailoo. There is this sign post that's sort of not helpful.
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We stopped for a break near the sign and had our first small problem of the trip. The Starex had picked up a small hole in the rear tire. A quick plug fixed it right up.
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The road ahead was traveled rarely, but there were tracks. Most were from a few local residents using Lada Nivas.
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The road winds through a canyon and across a rickety bridge.
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Heading on further is a small pass that brings you out into the Kel Suu valley. The river flows out of the lake through a cave and spreads across the valley floor.

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Truck-Skating should be a sport! River crossings are much easier when they are 70cm thick ice!
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It's about 15 years late, but I think we got a great advertising photo for Lexus!
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Your's truly on the ice.
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Our group was very international. We had a members from: Australia, Austria, Germany, Spain (Catalan), the USA, Kyrgyzstan, and Bulgaria. Our hostess, Jirgal Edje is in the middle with the red hat.
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We arrived later in the evening to the hunting lodge which the family runs for people coming to the area for Marco Polo and Ibex.
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That night we were actually served Kurdak (stir fry of meat, potatoes, and onions) made from Marco Polo left by a hunter. Probably the most theoretically expensive dinner I've ever had!
 

ryanh1006

Kyrgyzstan Expat
Sunday, 21 February 2016, Morning.
Having spent the night in the "lodge" we headed out on horseback in the morning looking for Ibex. Some of the group had planned to ski, but this winter there is very little snow cover in the area due to El Nino (we hope). So everyone saddled up and we went further into the mountains. Our horses were a breed called simply "the Kyrgyz Horse." It's a bit rare now to find good examples, but this deep in the mountains these haven't interbred with other breeds. The horses are not exceptionally large, but they are sturdy and extremely sure footed. All of us agreed these were some of the best horses we've ridden in Kyrgyzstan. They aren't so lazy your always fighting with them, but they are easy to control even for novice riders.
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When we left the lodge the temperature was probably around -5C, but dropped as we headed up the valley and toward some low peaks.
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The horses are very sure footed!
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Eventually, not far from China, we dismounted and walked to the top of one of the small mountains to glass for Ibex.
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The black mountains are actually in China!
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We did successfully find Ibex. they were about 4km away across a valley. The picture below actually shows a herd of about 60 head. Photo shot with a 2010 Olympus EP-2 micro four thirds camera with a 200mm telephoto lens.
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Zoomed out to about 50mm.
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One of our guides, a local shepherd named Almaz, on the left.
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ryanh1006

Kyrgyzstan Expat
Sunday, 21 February 2016, Afternoon.
Returning to basecamp, we ate a hearty meal of stewed meat and headed out to try and see Kel Suu. We figured we would try driving since sometimes there is an open road. Local shepherds (Yak herders) told us that with one to two hours of shoveling we should make it. RIGHT! Or not. The snow was old and icy and the road narrow. I didn't have chains, but the Starex and Lexus did (the Touareg was back at base conserving fuel). even they kept sliding too much to be safe. so we parked on the road and climbed the rest of the way on foot about an hour and a half.

THE LAKE WAS STUNNING!

Easily one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The ice was up to two meters thick and full of air pockets, upthrusts, and cracks. Maybe someone can tell me why, but the ice was actually terraced with the further up the lake you went getting lower.

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There is no visible outflow from Kel Suu because it drains through a cave. In the summer if you go out on the water you need to stay well clear of the cave because of the current, but now you could walk in.
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I took a cheap drone up with me, but turns out that $60 drones don't like 3600 meter elevation. Couldn't get it more than a meter off the ice.

I'm not particularly artistic, but I had some fun with the ice upthrusts and strange air bubbles frozen in the ice. This first one I call Vader's Melted Helmet.
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After killing a bunch of time trying to be artistic, we hiked back out after dark. You can just see the lights from one of the cars when some of the guys got back early. But at least we had an almost full moon (Monday was the full moon).
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ryanh1006

Kyrgyzstan Expat
Monday, 22 February 2016.

The weather had turned a bit by morning, and while the previous days were just cold, Monday it started snowing. We decided that the best course of action was to get an earlier start in case the snow picked up. Plus each small valley has its own micro climate and you never know what's next around the corner. It's not like we have a weather man in every valley here. Our first stop was Jirgal Edje's summer home where extra yurts are currently stored. The shepherds had picked up some skulls and horns of Marco Polo and Ibex killed by wolves.

Azamat with some of the horns.
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Taken by themselves, the Marco Polo skulls look like they should be planning world domination!
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The drive back out was largely uneventful.
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Herds of Yaks are a common site around the area:
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In the main east-west valley to the north of Kel Suu we had seen a nearly abandoned, Soviet-era village on our way in. We stopped on the way out and it looks like with some investment it could really make a fantastic outdoors base!
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It even has a hotel!
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I'm not joking about it being a fantastic outdoors base. The valley is stunning and there is access to tons of different potential activities. The main issue would be finding the right investor who wants to put money into something in a semi-volatile country near a major international border. (That said I run a rental and tourism business, so investment in Kyrgyzstan is possible).

The valley near the village:
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The next stop was the ancient caravan stop, Tash Rabat.
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There we discovered that the Touareg had been running for a bit on a flat tire and had trashed it. I was walking around the other side and heard a hissing, and sure enough the other rear tire was leaking! Screw out and plug in on the second tire. VW has a crazy inflate when you need it spare in this car, and it wouldn't seat on the rim. Took about two hours with various methods used including lighting carb cleaner to try and get the bead seated. Eventually we succeeded and followed closely behind the VW to make sure it didn't blow out. The owner had a summer tire sent from Bishkek overnight on a taxi so next day it could be fixed properly before the ride back to Bishkek.
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We made it back to Naryn that night and enjoyed getting to take hot showers at Khan Tengri Hotel again.
 

ryanh1006

Kyrgyzstan Expat
Tuesday, 23 February 2016.
Leaving Naryn we all road together for a bit before we split off having decided to take the long way home. In Kochkor we headed west toward Kyzart Pass. We stopped in Kyzart Pass for some fresh fried fish then heading down we spotted a cemetery. Kyrgyz have long built "Cities of the Dead" for cemeteries, though this seems to be a trend that's fading.
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We happened to pass a rare sight in Kyrgyzstan, an ice hockey game!
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What was really funny was the surrounding transport! Cows wondering by Japanese Domestic Market Minivans, bicycles, and horses.
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The road through the Kokomeren Gorge near Kyzyl Oi was largely clean.
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As we approached the end of the gorge into the Suusamyr valley, we noticed a large pile of clouds building up. Turns out Suusamyr was still cold and we were driving into the collision between warm and cold air. The valley was blanketed in clouds all the way down to the ground. Visibility in the valley was only about 20 meters or so.
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As we started to climb the Too Ashu pass heading out of the Suusamyr valley, we suddenly punched through the clouds to see a sunset over the valley full of clouds!
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It was wonderful to get back home to my wife and my 3 month old son, but this was pretty much the trip of a lifetime! I live in Kyrgyzstan and have been a lot of amazing places, but this was by far one of the finest trips of my life.
 

MANUCHAO

Aventurero
what a great trip report..!!!
Thank you for sharing this part of our world with ExPo....
Threads like these are what this site is all about...!!!

:beer::beer::beer::beer:
 

no heros

New member
Wow. Great pictures, and cool trip!

Thanks for sharing - I would have no idea about the opportunities in Kyrgyzstan otherwise.
 

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