Trek to Glacier Hopping

Arrival in Bishkek early in the morning. Pick-up at the airport. Transfer to a guest house where you can take a short rest and eat a late breakfast.  Transfer to Karakol, eating lunch on the way. Arrive in Karakol. Overnight stay and dinner at a hotel.

Tents

Trek from At-Jailoo along the Inylchek River to the beginning of Inylchek Glacier. Breakfast. Trek with our backpacks on the road. We'll take lunch boxes with us and leave the camp early in order to be able to cross the At Jailoo River before 9 am while the water is still low. The water will be cold, but much easier to cross than later in the day. Within an hour we'll reach a place called Prijim. If the water levels permit, we'll cross another stream here. Otherwise we'll have to ascend and descend a steep, overgrown path which will add an extra hour of trekking to our day. It all depends on Lake Merzbacher. If the water from the lakes hasn't started its exodus yet then we'll be in luck and can just go ahead and cross the stream. Otherwise we'll have to take the detour. Whatever happens though, we highly recommended bringing along sandals that you can wear to cross rivers and streams.

The Inylchek Glacier is the largest glacier and centerpiece of the Central Tien Shan. Extending 62 km in length and having a width of over 3 km, the Inylchek Glacier is the third longest glacier outside the Polar Regions. It is estimated that the glacier holds enough ice to cover the entire country of Kyrgyzstan in three meters of melted water (Stewart, 2002). The first outsider to travel into the area and visit the glacier was the European Pyotr Semenov in 1857. Climbing in the area began in the early 1900’s and continued through the 1930's. Under Soviet rule, the permitting system restricted foreign access. It wasn't until after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 that foreign climbers began to climb in the area (Stewart, 2002). After breakfast we'll take our lunch boxes and leave the camp at about 9 am. Expect some very steep ascents and descents in this section. We will try to cross over to the right slope of a terrace. The trail crosses the terrace and later, some small rivers until it washes out on a mountain slope of the Putevodnyi Glacier. We'll be following land that swells up and down until we break to eat lunch on the glacier at around 1:00pm. Next we'll ascend another steep terrace along a narrow trail and continue to cross a wide variety of terrain. Arrive at the Glina camp where we will have some tea or coffee and rest. The camp is named Glina (which means “clay” in Russian) because of its location on a green clay field. Dinner at 6:00pm. Overnight in tents.

Breakfast at 9:00am. Again we'll be trekking up and down various terraces, but will also cross about 10 km of straight path. Once we trek across a small glacier, passing a river and having lunch on the shore of a small lake, we'll go for a swim and rest. From there it's another hour to get to the next camp. Upon arrival we'll have some tea or coffee, then dinner at 6:00pm. We'll get an excellent view of Lake Merzbacher from the camp. Merzbacher glade is the last grassy place in the area located just across from the unique Lake Merzbacher. There is a scientific research station on the glacier. Scientists from all over the world come to work here every summer. They study glacial movements and the meteorological patterns of the region as well as Lake Merzbacher itself. The glade has a large grassy area which is flat enough for camping. Overnight in tents.

Breakfast at 9 am. We'll take our lunch boxes and leave at 10:00am. Trek across South Inylchek Glacier up to Lake Mertzbacher. The glacial terrain is covered in ice, rocks, sand, and mud. The trekking time both ways is 4-5 hours. Sandwiched between the northern and southern branches of the glacier lies the mysterious Lake Merzbacher, which forms every summer and then, sometime in August, bursts through the ice banks and the waters flow into the Inylchek River. (Actually, the timing varies – for example in 2012 it happened in July.) In reality, only part of the lake drains – the lake, which is 6 kilometers long and one kilometer wide, is in fact divided into two by a bridge of ice and while the lower half empties regularly, the upper part is always full of water. Also, the lakes empty twice a year – once in the summer and once in the winter – but most people only know about the summer event. In 1903 the German geographer and mountaineer, Gottfried Merzbacher, first discovered the lake while leading an expedition into the Tian Shan Mountains aiming to reach the summit of Khan Tengri. Forced back by ice, from their originally intended route through the Byankol Pass and along the Semyenov and Mushketov Glaciers, they attempted a different approach – along the Enilchek Glacier. Once again they failed, but they had shown that Khan Tengri was in fact on a ridge and not in the center of that particular knot of the Tian Shan Mountains as had been thought. The expedition will be better remembered, however, for the discovery of the mysterious lake that now bears Merzbacher’s name. Overnight in tents.

Breakfast at 8 am. Set off at 9:00am. This is a long day of trekking surrounded with beautiful landscapes – snow, rocks and multi-colored ice – black, white and sometimes even striped. For the first part of our trek, we'll cross over terraces and, right before we reach Shokalskyi Glacier, then make a smooth descent. The trail leads to the glacier and the black moraine which flows out of Komsomolez Glacier. We follow it up to the glacier itself. The terrain is very diverse: rivers, crevices, ascents and descents. Hiking around this area takes a lot of time and energy, but is well worth it! This will be our first night on the glacier. The wind usually picks up here and becomes quite strong after 4 pm. It'll be cold, so pack accordingly. Dinner will be served around 6:00pm. Overnight in tents.

Breakfast at 8:00am. Departure at 9:00am. Trekking in this part of the Tien Shan mountains is absolutely fabulous. A distinctive characteristic of the region is a great number of unnamed, virgin peaks about 5,000 meters above sea level.  Straight from the camp we'll cross the Proletarsky Glacier moraine, arrive in the middle of the Dikyi Glacier moraine, and walk up the moraine to Dykyi Glacier. The first section we'll be hiking is very uneven, so expect a lot of uphill-downhill trekking. Closer to the glacier the moraine becomes more even- fewer crevices, creeks and water crossings. Break for lunch. In front of Proletarsky Glacier we'll be going straight up. Dikyi camp is located behind Pesnya Abaya Peak (roughly 30 minutes). From Dikyi camp there's a beautiful view of Khan Tengri, Pobeda, Gorky, Chapaev, and Trehglavaya Peaks. Tea, coffee, and dinner at 6:00pm. Overnight in tents.

Optional: Climb to Pesnya Abaya - 4,901 m a.s.l. Breakfast at 8 or 9 am. Today's trek is a short one, so we can leave at around 10:00am. We'll trek across the whole glacier until we reach the central moraine where the next base camp is situated. The route we'll be taking is covered with rocks, ice and interrupted by creeks, lakes and cracks. Nevertheless it's possible to make our way across without ropes and crampons. Arrive at the base camp (4,000 m) at about 2:00pm and eat lunch. Dinner will be served at 7:00pm. Inylchek Base Camp is ideally situated in the heart of the Northern Tien Shan at the South Inylchek Glacier at approximately 4,000 meters above sea level. It has a picturesque view of Khan Tengri ( 7,010 m) and Pobeda (7,439 m) Peaks. Overnight at the BC in tents.

Enjoy a day of rest and relaxation at South Inylchek BC. South Inylchek BC is open from July - August every year and is visited not only by alpinists, but by other travelers who enjoy taking in the sights of the mountains via helicopter as well. Overnight in tents.

Hotel

Guest House

Hotel

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