Tourist travel to mountains in Kyrgyzstan.

“I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them”

Mark Twain.

Travel from Issyk-Kul lake to Karakol.

Petrov glacier is located on the northeastern slope of the Ak-Shyirak ridge, in the Jety-Oguz district of the Issyk-Kul region. The largest glacier in the north-eastern part of the Ak-Shyirak massif is the complex valley glacier Petrov, which consists of: the Petrov East glacier, the Petrov West glacier and the Petrov North glacier.
Petrov East glacier is 13.6 kilometers long, with an area of ​​24.3 square kilometers, a perimeter of 31.48. The upper limit of the glacier is located at an altitude of 5100 meters above sea level.
Petrov West Glacier is 11 kilometers long, with an area of ​​26.55 square kilometers, a perimeter of 36.51. The upper limit of the glacier is located at an altitude of 4916.8 meters above sea level.
Petrov North Glacier is 6.8 kilometers long, with an area of ​​15.39 square kilometers, and a perimeter of 27.8. The upper limit of the glacier is located at an altitude of 4800 meters above sea level.
The upper boundary of the glaciers is located in a deep longitudinal valley between the northern and middle Ak-Shyirak ridges and, through several high saddles, connects with the firn basin of the Jaman-Su glacier in the northeast and with the North Kara-Sai glacier in the southwest.
Below the end of the glacier is a lake. In the mid-50s, the lower 4.6 square kilometers of the lower part of the glacier was dead ice with deep canyon-like stream beds and an abundance of thermokarst funnels. However, at the 1957 AFS, traces of glacier activation were visible.
Later, after a brief revival, the glacial tongue became dead again. Significant glaciation has a valley of the river Kara-Sai, deeply penetrating into the depths of the massif. For this glacier, a strong development of the feeding area is typical in comparison with the tongue area (L.K. Davydov).
The lower part of the glacier is covered with transverse fissures, ice sheets and melting funnels. The ice surface in this part is heavily littered with moraine material, represented by blocks and fragments of predominantly gray granites.
The glacial tongue ends with Petrov Lake, located at an altitude of 3730 meters above sea level, which is adjacent to the youngest terminal moraine that has not yet been covered with turf. The second terminal moraine runs parallel to the first. It is partially turfed, with the remains of dead ice.
The third most ancient moraine is the most distant from the glacier in the western direction. Shafts of terminal moraines rise several tens of meters above the valley floor. They consist of a disorderly heap of small and large granite boulders.
The valley of the Kumtor River below the Petrov Glacier was developed by an older glaciation. It is lined with moraine and fluvioglacial deposits.
Geographical coordinates of Petrov Glacier North: N41°54'54.60" E78°18'37.17"
Geographic coordinates of Petrov East Glacier: N41°53'24.52" E78°19'04.68"
Geographic coordinates of Petrov Glacier West: N41°51'30.68" E78°16'33.86"

Authority:
"Glaciers." L.D. Dolgushin, G.B. Osipova. Series "Nature of the world." Moscow, the publishing house "Thought". 1989.
N.M. Prokopenko. "Crossing the Central Tien Shan along the route Karakol - Uzengegush - Naryn".
Leningrad, Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1933.

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.