Almost Heaven in Kizil-Shoro

     Maybe you saw our frenzy of Facebook postings during our brief meeting with wi-fi technology in the city of Osh? Maybe our computers are not as useful as we thought they would be! From this bustling and vaugely dangerous city near the border of Uzbekistan, we made our way up the Ak-Buura river valley through an incredible 40 kilometer long steep-walled canyon to the tiny and remote village of Kizil-Shoro. Kizil means red, but we could never learn what "shoro" meant. Maybe "breathtakingly beautiful"?

Azuilkhan and Abdulakbar's home in Kizil-Shoro. Our gracious and chai-crazed hosts.

     We had heard that there was a possibility that there was skiing potential in this area, though skiers had never been here. Time for a little exploration! On the advice of our host family, we ventured up into the various jailoos located above town. Our tours included Bielle Pass, Mingh-Tkah and Mingh-Jlkah.

Mingh-Jlkah Panorama

     Our days began with a secret cup of coffee, boiled in our room, then potato soup with potatoes and "eagle" meat, and chai. We'd then head off into the mountain and into the bright sunshine. After 4-5 hours of hiking and skinning we'd find ourselves at around 4,000 meters of elevation, or around 12,000 ft. 

D skinning above Kizil-Shoro Village

      Everything about this place was heavenly for skiing . . . except the skiing! In additon to an amazingly thin snowpack, barely covering sharp, skibase-eating rocks, we found terrifying avalanche conditions.  We did manage to find turns everyday, some better than others, and actually had a great run down the North facing slopes above the jailoo at Mingh-Jlkah on our last day.

D and the boys of Kizil-Shoro

       This little blog isn't really in-depth enough to get into the nitty-gritty details of some of our adventures, but ask me when we get home about Deb's naked bath/rubdown at the hands of Azuilkhan, the breakfast porn DVD, or the 4 hour coal-truck ride back through the canyon to Osh city. I'll tell you a good story!

Blending in!

    Onward to the city of Kashgar, China. The bus leaves sometime between 7pm and midnight and takes 12 hours or 24 hours depending on who you talk to. We figure we have a 50/50 chance of making it over the border with our visas. Facebook, Youtube and maybe Google are unreliable or banned in China, so it may be a while before we are able to be in touch.

 

Jalalabad and a Goodbye to Arslanbob

O     After two weeks straight of amazing skiing, during which, each day we would swear to each other that we'd just had "the best day ever", we were ready for three things: a hot shower, maybe some pizza and a little wireless internet therapy. Three crowded marshruka rides and three hours later, we were in downtown Jalalabad.

One of the best days ever!

      We struggled in Jalalabad, and it seemed we were striking out on all fronts. With just a few hours of daylight left, we were saved by an angel who we met in a taxi. Our new friend Venera welcomed us to her home, gave us a hot shower, fed us a huge plate of plov and chai, and unleashed her children on us. No internet therapy, but honestly we didn't have time for Facebook.

Venera, the Angel of Jalalabad.

     

     Deb asked this beautiful and intelligent woman how she had met her husband and we learned that she was one of Kyrgyzstan's many "Kidnapped Brides". She had been taken during her university studies by her future husband and his family. She said she cried everyday for the first month, but was now excited to maybe add a couple of daughters to her crazy brood of three boys. We later learned that about 20% of Kyrgyz relationships are "Love Marriages".

     We returned, refreshed to Arslanbob and after another week of skiing, it was time for goodbye. We made so many great friends in town and our farewell was a difficut one. Of course, there was a party with lots of chai, naan and a little vodka. As tough as it was to hug Hayat and all the Arslanbob guides goodbye, the hardest parting was with Abdullahjon and Ullmashon. Not a few tears in everyones eyes, but I have a feeling we will be back to this awesome mountain town, maybe to ski Babesh-Ata in the Spring! 

Abdullahjon and Ullmashson, we'll be back!

        

Kjartan and Noorvuz

     After spending a week in Arslanbob last year, two ski mountaineering objectives were on my list-Kjartan and Noorvuz Peak. Both summits immediately attract a skiers eye with clean ridge line approaches and classic fall line descents. With good stability and boot top hero powder, we were able to bag both this week!

      We skied up into Jerz Jaroom from town on a clear cold morning after a couple of days of putting in skin tracks. The North aspect of Kjartan had stuffed, leaving us with amazingly soft debris to ski.

JDY with  Kjartan in the background

Island of safety on the Kjartan descent.

      Noorvuz was bit of a gamble with the weather Gods teasing us all day long. After doing some homework scouting the route and putting in some skin tracks, we left early after eating yet another huge breakfast thanks to Ulmashon. Thankfully, the weather held for easy route finding on the way up.

Noorvuz and ridge line route to the summit.

      After a bit of rock scrambling we reached the summit, only to have the clouds hammer down on us. We skied super conditions with "variable" viz almost 4,000ft back to Arslanbob. A Mega-Classic ski peak by my standards. 

Noorvuz summit "photo op"!

        We will be back to Noorvuz  again. We could spend a week playing on unskied North facing 40* couloirs. For now, we may take a day or two off, go to Jalalabad, a try to find a hot shower!

An Uzbek Wedding

     Our friend Hussnadin's son got married. Naturally, there must be a party! Hussnadin is a carpenter, so I was excited to see his house as well. Because the party was near Bilcas, our favorite tree skiing area, we decided to bring our gear with us so we could ski afterwards. Hayat joined us at the party and came skiing as well.

      We had a big breakfast at Abdullahjan's, arrived at the party around 10am and were immediately served a gianormous bowl of mutton soup, bread and plov. In order to not be impolite, we had to finish most of the food.  We were stuffed!

Deb @ the men's table

D and Hussnadin in the outdoor kitchen. It was about 5*F.

Hand washing after the meal

Humbled and Inspired

      After nearly a week of storms and more than three feet of snow in the Babash Ata Range, we were greeted this morning by blue skies.

Time to head into the alpine and take a look around. Of course our Lada's alternator exploded on the way up. No day without an adventure!  We made great time breaking trail, and we're atop the North facing slopes of Jez Jaroom by noon.

     Sweet powder skiing all day long. It literally feels like we have whole country of untracked powder at our feet.

        Skiing the 3,000 ft back to Abdulajan's we bumped into a lone skier doing laps in his back yard. He wore rubber boots strapped with twine and "locked" into 70's era Marker bindings and Blizzard skis. Sticks for poles! Big high five for this dude. We were both humbled and inspired.

Arslanbob Ski Race

     Our arrival in town coincided with the first ever Arslanbob Ski Race. Fortunately, we had a few days of Walnut Forest training to really get our ski legs under us before the big day. The kids raced a 1,500 ft. downhill course after being towed up by horse to the high point of "The Dog Road" 

Start of the Kid's Race

       

Chingaz the downhill champ!

      

    Twenty adults raced a very challenging 6.5 kilometer course with around 3,000ft of vertical. Guides from town dominated the long uphill, but Deb managed to chase them down on the flats, and with a quick transition to downhill she was near the lead. In a sprint finish, she came in 2nd place (1st place in the Women's Race) She says she should have won. Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, I say.

     

1st Place in the Women's Race.

       Over three feet of new snow since we arrived. Time for some powder skiing!

Jet Lag Epic

      When flying to the other side of the planet, there is a price to pay. As hard as we tried to force ourselves into Kyrgz time it took three days to finally be able to sleep during the night and wake in the day.  Fortunately, that's how long it took for our bags to catch up with us in Bishkek. We had a super place to hang out at Interhouse Hostel, lots of long walks in the Capital with great city people watching.

D chilling @ Interhouse.

        We chose to fly South to Arslanbob instead of enduring the 15 hrs. car ride. In the end the cost was the same. We were greeted in Arslanbob with a winter storm that brought over two feet of snow. Great for the snow base, but not so good for the avalanche hazard. The local avalanche forecaster (JDY) issued a high danger warning for day one. Nevertheless, we found decent powder skiing in "Lachin's Land", got lost skiing through town on the way home and ended up in the middle of a wedding party. Had to do a shot of vodka with an apple chaser in order to escape! 

Après ski in Arslanbob