Ski-touring on the Suusamyr and Ferghana range

Welcome to Kyrgyzstan! Pick-up at the airport where you are greeted by a member of the team who will drive you to your hotel in the heart of the Kyrgyz capital, where you will have breakfast. After getting to know your guide and settling the last administrative formalities, we leave for the bucolic small freeride ski resort of Ak Tash located on the foothills of the Ala Too range, visible from Bishkek. The small family resort of Ak Tash which has 2 ski lifts and a small hotel restaurant is the haunt of the rare Kyrgyz freeriders who love nature and thrills.

During the day, after reviewing the equipment, briefing on the peculiarities of Kyrgyz snow and mountain safety rules, your guide will take you on a first short ski non-groomed slopes of the small station to warm up and take the temperature of the Kyrgyz snow. You will also have the chance to borrow a unique, homemade ski lift that is sure to amuse you! A little advice, raise your spatulas well! Dinner and overnight in the small family hotel.

Today, we are gaining altitude! Departure after breakfast for another small Kyrgyz resort, Too Ashuu, on the slopes of the upper valley of Suusamyr. To get there, we cross a pass at an altitude of 3200m. We then arrive in a vast white paradise, with immaculate mountains as far as the eye can see and a tiny resort with a few small houses where we will spend the night, the only refuge in the heart of winter in this region.

After lunch and the usual safety checks, your guide will take you a little higher up to a panoramic point over the entire region that will leave you speechless, if the weather is right of course. There is no ski lift here, so we're off to a real hike! In the heart of winter, the temperature can come close to -20 / -25 degrees at the top downwind, take warm layers!

Whatever the temperature up there, once back at the resort you will have the opportunity to appreciate one of the benefits of the culture common to all the countries of the former USSR, namely the "banya", the traditional sauna. Russian that is taken here with an aperitif! And in the sauna, no swimsuit, towels will be provided ... We then move on to dinner and spend the night in our cottages.

Today we are enjoying a full day of ski touring with our guide on the wide slopes of the long valley of Suusamyr. The guide will determine the route according to the terrain conditions and the level of the group. It is therefore not impossible that a short transfer by vehicle is possible. Snacks will be provided during the day. There are a multitude of possible routes in this region, there will be something for everyone!

At the end of the day, we reach our winter yurt camp in Ötmök by road, stuck in the middle of a mountain pasture covered by more than a meter of snow during the winter. The Kyrgyz people, nomadic pastoralists since their origins, still live in summer in their yurts, traditional tents made of wood and felt. The yurt is the very essence of the nomadic way of life that the Kyrgyz people still perpetuate in the mountains. In winter, however, sedentarization has taken place and families live in the villages. A family therefore lets us occupy their yurt during the winter to access the ski slopes and experience this ancestral way of life! Dinner and overnight in the yurt!

Enjoy an exceptional day of ski touring with your guide on the various slopes of the Ötmök valleys, nestled between the Talas, Kyrgyz, and Suusamyr mountain ranges, featuring peaks reaching up to 4000 meters in altitude.

Before setting off, we will conduct a safety check, ensuring the presence of individual safety equipment (avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe) and performing snowpack tests.

Several routes are available, tailored to different levels of difficulty, with short vehicle transfers possible. The slopes are smooth and vegetation-free, situated above the tree line. A mountain picnic is planned for lunch.

At the end of the day, return to our cottages for a convivial dinner and activities. An authentic and unforgettable adventure awaits you!

This morning we set off for southern Kyrgyzstan and the Fergana Valley, on the border with Uzbekistan. Our route crosses the mountains, along the lake of Toktogul then the Naryn river, still embryo of the powerful Syr-Daria, the nourishing river of Central Asia irrigating with its twin the Amu Darya all Central Asia until the late Aral Sea. Known by the Greeks under the name of Oxus, Syr Daria was in its time the northern border of the empire of Alexander the Great, and a natural barrier between the nomadic peoples of the steppes and the sedentary civilizations of the inhabitants of the mythical cities. like Samarkand, Bukhara or Merv.

We arrive at the end of the day in Arslanbob, a picturesque village populated by Uzbeks and nestled in the shade of the mountains, in the heart of the largest walnut forest in the world. Check in with the locals, dine and sleep in good, soft beds.

Breakfast, early morning start to ski in Jayloo Jaz-Jarym, lunch or small picnic, dinner, overnight in tent or come back to village to B&B house

After these beautiful days of skiing, we take the road early in the morning for Osh, the capital of southern Kyrgyzstan in the heart of the Fergana valley, shared by Kyrgyzstan to the east, Uzbekistan to the west and the Tajikistan to the south. This region is a true oasis, which enjoys a fertile land and a pleasant climate. It is also in the Fergana valley that large stopover towns were erected on the Silk Roads, such as the towns of Osh and Ouzgen, which we are going to visit today.

We visit the historical complex of Uzgen where it will be an opportunity to learn a little more about the history of the Silk Roads ...

Arrival in Osh where we have lunch in a "chaikhana", a traditional Uzbek tea house.

We quickly visit the city center and Solomon's mountain before heading to the airport where we take a one hour domestic flight at the end of the day to Bishkek. Quick late dinner in town and overnight at our guesthouse.

Depending on your flight time, your guide will join you to the airport and help you check in for your flight.  If your flight is later in the day your guide will show you more places in Bishkek before your flight. We hope you enjoyed your trip to Kyrgyzstan and we hope you come back again to explore other counties in Central Asia with us.