Cultural walking excursion Kyrgyzstan.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn” 

John Muir. «The Mountains of California».

Last minute tour Kyrgyzstan.

In the ridge of Central Tien-Shan, between the snow-capped Shatyr peak (H-6637) and a wide trapeze­shaped top of peak Chapayev (H-6371) there stands an amazingly beautiful pyramid covered with a snow and ice blanket.
Very few mountains can compare to the snow giant of Khan-Tengri in terms of beauty. It is not easy to describe its beauty in words. It is breathtakingly beautiful at sunset, when the neigh­bouring mountains sink into darkness, and only Khan-Tengri, being the high­est among them, is reddened by sunset light, and the shadows of clouds make it look like the red streams flow down the slopes of the mountain.
From time immemorial, local people have called it Кап-Too, where "kan" means blood and "too"a mountain in Turkic. The first scientific data on the mountain was collected in the mid of the XIX century. In 1856-57, a well- known Russian geographer and trav­eller P.P. Semyenov-Tien-Shanskiy saw Khan-Tengri and described it during his outstanding trip to Tien-Shan.
He made the following entry in his diary: “When we reached the mountain of the gate at around one o'clock in the afternoon, we were flabbergasted at an unexpected sight. To the south of where we were, there stood the most spectacular mountain ridge I have ever seen
It was made of, from top to bottom, snow giants, I managed to ac­count around 30 to the right and the left of where I was standing. The entire ridge along with the gaps between the mountain peaks was covered with one single veil of eternal snow.
Amidst these giants towered one, visibly higher snow-capped pyramid, which seemed to double the height of the neighbouring mountains. It was the peak of Khan-Tengri." The description of a highland country, made by P.P. Semyenov-Tien- Shanskiy, drew the attention of fellow countrymen, foreign researchers, and climbers.
Most climbers reach the base camp located at the foot of Khan-Tengri by helicopter. During a 30-minute flight, one can enjoy an amazing view of Central Tien-Shan. An Austrian climb­er and geographer Mertsbakher, who studied the region at the break of the century, was struck by the greatness and inaccessibility of Khan-Tengri, tow­ering almost 3, 000 meters high over the world's second highest glacier Inyl- chek.
A 1000-meter high marble pyra­mid, being almost regularly shaped, crowns the top of this giant. "A man will never set his foot here", exclaimed the famous Mertsbakher after seeing Khan- Tengri. And he was wrong.
In 1931, the Soviet climbers were the first ones to conquer the Lord of the Sky. The uniqueness of this ridge is that its 3000- kilometer northern slope is the longest among other slopes with this kind of exposition (the most difficult and rough ones to climb) among all 7000- meter high mountains of the world, including the Himalayas.
During a 77- year old history of alpinism, ten routes with the highest degree of complexity were made on the slope of Khan-Tengri. Almost all of them won gold medals in different championships. Till today, this record has not been broken.
Climbing Khan-Tengri is the goal of many climbers. It takes 2 weeks to reach the top, including acclimatization outings. Almaty is the nearest large city, from where one can get to the heart of the Lord of the Sky. Undoubtedly, climbing the mountain of this height requires good physical training.
But even visiting this region and just look­ing at the majestic peak of Khan-Tengri, the highest point of Kazakhstan, will make an unforgettable impression on anyone for the rest of his life. This fаmоus реаk is the highest point in Kazakhstan (H-7010) and the most northerly 7,000er in the world. 
The mountain sits on the border of three states - China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The summit of Khan-Tengri is difficult to reach and therefore extremely interesting to both mountaineers and lovers of adventure holidays.
The northern part of the mountain  in Kazakhstan. It is many а mountaineer’s dream to climb the north fасе of Khan Tengri. It normally takes 6 - 14 days to reach the summit, although Kazakhstani mountaineer Denis Urubko set а world record of 12 hours 21 minutes at the international Khan-Tengri festival. 
The first ascent was made in 1931 by the Soviet mountaineer Mikhail Pogrebetsky.  The Tien Shan mountains extend for over 1,500 km in south-eastern Kazakhstan. The highest summit, Pobedy Peak (H-7439), in Kyrgyzstan, is as challenging as an 8,000er.
Looking down from а helicopter, you can see magical emerald-green tongues of ice. These are the longest glaciers - north and South Inylchek (56 km). The Bayankol region (next tо Narynkol) is а land of Alpine valleys, lakes and rivers rarely visited by tourists.
А special permit is required to enter the central Tien-Shan due to its proximity to the Chinese border.

Authority:
The encyclopedia of Kazakhstan, 1996. and  the material for this page is taken from the printed edition."Guide to Kazakhstan" 

Photos by
Alexander Petrov, Vladimir Serbenko