Travels in Terskey Ala-Too Mountains.

"A vast plateau - syrts - stretched out before the travelers, on which small half-frozen lakes were scattered, located between relatively low mountains, but covered with eternal snow on the peaks, and with luxurious greenery of alpine meadows on the slopes"

P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky "Journey to Tien-Shan". 1856 – 1857.

A trip along the Barskoon gorge to Akshiyrak plateau.

Entire southern slope of Terskey Alatau from the foot almost to the watershed ridge at an altitude of 3200 - 3700 meters above sea level is represented by syrts (Morainic depression) ("back", "elevation") - plateaus that have long been subject to denudation, i.e. destruction and leveling under the action of glaciers, water and wind.
Morainic depression are wide, gentle valleys, bordered by mountains, sometimes steep-sided. They lie at an altitude of 3,500 - 4,000 meters above sea level. In some Turkic languages, "syrt" (Morainic depression) means "back". A flat, elevated syrt with abruptly breaking edges really does resemble the back of a mountain range.
In Kyrgyz, this word means "external", "located outside, to the side". Morainic depression are a residual (relict) form, preserved from an ancient flat, leveled country, which in the Tertiary period was subject to mountain-building processes, and individual massifs were greatly elevated.
It is always cold on Morainic depression, even in the short summer; winter is long and severe, the landscape is dull, inhospitable, the vegetation is mostly low-growing and tough and only in places green and dense. Cattle are usually driven here only in the summer, but winter grazing is also often practiced on the southern slopes, in places where there is little snow.
Numerous glacial boulders and moraines cover part of the surface of the Morainic depression. There are many small saucer-shaped lakes here, and swampy areas, locally known as "saz", ​​are common. Frozen soils do not allow water to pass into the underlying horizons, so water, collecting in the gentle basins of the Morainic depression, where evaporation is very weak, swamps the surface.
Here is how P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky describes the picture of the Tien-Shan Morainic depression: “A vast plateau stretched out before the travelers - a syrt, on which small half-frozen lakes were scattered, located between relatively low mountains, but covered with eternal snow on the peaks, and on the slopes with luxurious greenery of alpine meadows.”
On the Morainic depression, snow in the summer is a common phenomenon. Sometimes heavy snowfalls and frosts affect the pastures at the very beginning of autumn. The surface of the Terskey syrts is only slightly (by 7 - 10 °) inclined to the south, to the sources of the Big Naryn - the Arabel, Sarychat, Taragai rivers.
Flat and shallow river valleys and wide hilly depressions alternate with smoothed interfluves and low ridges. The crests of these ridges are rounded or flat, rising only a few hundred meters (up to 800 m) above the valleys and covered with “loaves” of snow and ice.
The relief and the entire appearance of the Morainic depression were formed as a result of ancient powerful glaciation, traces of which are visible everywhere: moraines grown into the ground, large boulders, sheep's foreheads, many swamps, small (less than 1 square kilometer) shallow lakes with marshy low banks and swamps.
Permafrost here is also a remnant of ancient glaciation, it is widespread at an altitude of more than 3400 m, its upper boundary lies in the soil at a depth of 1 - 1.3 meters. By preventing the seepage and runoff of groundwater, permafrost contributes to the formation of swamps.
The prevailing westerly winds, crossing the Terskey-Alatau, leave the moisture of the air masses on the northern slope of the ridge and reach the Morainic depression largely dehydrated. This circumstance, combined with the great height of the Morainic depression, causes the severity and dryness of the climate: moderately warm summers and moderately severe, almost snowless winters.
150 - 350 mm of precipitation falls per year. In summer, there are frosts every night. During the day, a strong wind blows, with calm only in the morning and evening. On the Morainic depression, the unfavorable conditions for the existence of glaciers on the slopes of southern exposure are balanced by the severity of the climate at high altitudes.
As a result, the glaciation of the southern slope is only slightly smaller in area (45%) than the glaciers of the northern slope of the Terskey-Alatau (55%). On the southern slope of Terskey, in the Morainic depression zone, eastern Ashutor Pass, one of the largest glaciers of Terskey is located - the glacier Kolpakovsky (length about 10 kilometers).
On the southern slopes of Terskey-Alatau, especially on the Arabel and Ton Morainic depression, short glaciers (usually 3 - 4 kilometers long) lie in trough valleys with a small drop. Weakly dissected and highly elevated areas of glacier feeding, mainly in the Ton and Konurulen area, join and form a continuous firn field. 
Morainic depression are a classic area of ​​distribution of unique glaciers of flat peaks, they have neither a worked-out bed nor a rocky frame, and therefore are devoid of rock material and do not form large moraines. Such glaciers cover small, rounded peaks untouched by erosion with caps, are fed by atmospheric precipitation and have a thickness of 100 - 150 meters.
The snow line on the Terskey Morainic depression lies at an altitude of 4000 - 4270 meters above sea level. The small slopes and the closed nature of the Morainic depression have caused the slow flow of rivers that are not able to carry away the products of rock destruction, so the rivers of the Morainic depression are clogged with a layer of sediment.
The landscapes of the Morainic depression are typical of the grass-wormwood steppe at an altitude of 3100 - 3550 meters above sea level, fescue-feather grass steppe (3500 - 3800 meters above sea level), semi-desert and cold desert (3550 - 3800 meters above sea level) in various combinations.
A small part of the territory is occupied by alpine meadows with mixed grasses on the slopes of the northern exposure (3500 - 3800 meters above sea level). The Morainic depression are rightly called the land of cereals and sedges. Sparse steppe and desert vegetation predominates here; cereals, fescue, small feather grasses and “cushion plants” - subshrubs of acantholimon, cinquefoil, oxytropa, siboaldii, dryadanthus and others.
In swampy lowlands this vegetation gives way to cobresia (sedge) meadows and tussocky areas. The high nutritional value of the grasses and weak snow cover allow the use of syrts as valuable summer and winter pastures. The Morainic depression are inhabited by such inhabitants of the highlands as the snow leopard, and such representatives of the mountain steppes as the tolai hare, steppe polecat, jumping jerboa, gray hamster, isabella, horned lark, bustard, as well as the red wolf and other animals.
The abundance of voles supports the existence of predators: ermine, polecat, fox, kestrel, barrow buzzard and little owl. Red ducks nest in abandoned marmot burrows. The most typical animals of the Morainic depression are argali and snow leopards, and above the Morainic depression, on the rocks, are teke ibex; on the moraines, slopes and edges of the plains, there are numerous colonies of gray marmots and narrow-skulled voles.
As a result of the extermination of argali in the Tien-Shan, there are few left, and moreover, in the most remote places untouched by man. Argali, or wild sheep, unlike ibex, avoids rocks and most willingly inhabits mountain steppes on plateaus, gentle slopes, and salt marshes.
Argali are large animals, their weight exceeds 100 kg, the head of males bears massive, thick, spirally twisted horns. They live in herds. Leaders whistle in times of alarm - a signal of danger. Hybridization of domestic merino sheep with argali allowed to develop a new breed of sheep - argali merino, combining endurance to harsh natural conditions and high productivity.
Hunting for argali is prohibited, only the capture of animals for zoos is carried out. Herds of argali and ibex are usually followed by a snow leopard. This rare cautious cat (body length about 130 cm, weight up to 70 kg) has smoky-gray fur with dark rings about 5 cm in diameter and a long (about 90 cm) tail.
The snow leopard is the only animal of the highlands that prefers a nocturnal lifestyle: at night, the leopard silently creeps up on herds of argali or teke and attacks its prey. In addition to large animals, it feeds on marmots and small rodents, as well as snowcocks and partridges.
It attacks humans extremely rarely. There is a known case when a female mountaineer fell behind on a glacier and deviated from her group; having climbed an icy hill, the girl came close to a snow leopard: the animal crouched down on the ice and nervously twitched the tip of its tail.
To drive the leopard away, the mountaineer began to sing and hit the ice with an ice pick. The animal slowly moved away, giving way. Snow leopards are caught in traps for zoos. At the same time, the behavioral features of the animals are interesting.
A wolf caught in a trap sometimes gnaws off its own leg to free itself, leaving it lame forever. The snow leopard is so afraid of pain that it does not try to free itself from the trap, even when only its toes are pinched. Unlike large animals, such an inhabitant of the Morainic depression as the gray hamster is a cute, trusting animal with large beads of black eyes. Sitting on the palm of our hand, the hamster ate grass with appetite, and on frosty nights slept in a woolen sock.

Authority:
B.I. Rukavishnikov. "Lake Issyk-Kul and Terskey Alatau Ridge". Moscow, "Physical Education and Sport", 1970.
"Years of Searching in Asia". Murzaev Eduard Makarovich.

Photos by:
Alexander Petrov.