It was early in the morning when we woke up. The location was one of the lovely places we had on our trip. High in the mountains near a beautiful lake. The lake was very salty and cold though, a morning swim was out of the question here 🙂 For most of the year the lake is even frozen.

Our goal of the day was the Lenin Peak basecamp. This is one of the plus 7000m peaks in the area. We tried to see it from the lake using a compass, ruler and map, but could not find it. At least we knew it was out there in the distance. The trail to climb it however starts from Kyrgyzstan, about 50km west from Sary Tash.

We had our last Tajik breakfast. Well in fact I should say maybe our first Kyrgyz breakfast because the people in the town were almost all Kyrgyz. We were ready to set off and climb higher with the bike. The bike had no problems with the altitude as well. Our Oddysey PC 535 battery did a good job.

The views when riding were amazing. We rode close to Chinese border and were headed for the Tajik-Kyrgyz border post which is on the crest of the Kyzylart pass at an altitude of 4280m. It is known that the guards can be a bit corrupt here, but we had no problem at all crossing.

 

There were some small rivers to cross during the way, but nothing special. When we almost reached the summit of the pass we stopped for a moment to glance back on the Tajik landscape.

We said goodbye to Tajikistan and entered the border post. Everything went very smooth. Now we were on the way to the Kyrgyz post which is about 20km downhill. It can be a little muddy and wet, but we had no problems. There was also a collapsed road. The crossing on the Kyrgyz side went even smoother. I think it might have been a record in time. Before we knew it we were in Kyrgyzstan and you could know you are in a different country.

It immediately looked a bit like Mongolia to me. Steppe with grass, horses, yurtas. After a while the gravel stopped and we were on a asphalt road with some potholes. We did bad road stopped we were on a new asphalt road which was perfect!

We headed into Sary Tash to buy some drinks, but fuel was not needed. The GS was really economical and at times I would have to fuel up after 500km or even further. We asked about Lenin Peak and took off. We just had to follow the perfect road for 50km in western direction. On the road I had to be careful for horses, cows, sheep, people. But it was good to be on good asphalt again.

After 50km we got in the town of Kashka Suu and we turned left. The asphalt stopped again, and there was a small track now through the fields heading for the Lenin Peak basecamp. It was a beautiful track and we saw some yurtas on our way. We were in the glen between two mountain ranges.

After some time we noticed a green Ural sidecar in the distance. I first thought it was a local but getting closer I saw he was wearing a nice goretex jacket. We had a chat with Axel from France. He would be some in Kyrgyzstan and was also on the way to the base camp to make some snaps. I was a bit jealous as he had so much room to carry stuff, he had a great camera for example with him. He wanted to take some snaps of the peak to show his friends who have climbed the mountain last year.

We decided to ride together to the base camp and camp at a good spot. It was good to be together as the terrain got a bit more difficult with some watercrossings. In the evening we got at the camp, but it was pretty quiet. Actually only the first team to climb the mountain was onsite.

On the higher side of the camp we found a nice spot. We put up our tents and got ready for the night. It could be a cold one as we were at 3600m. I was not tired enough and decided to go for a walk. I took the bike and rode as high as I could. Under the way I passed the dark side of climbing with a monument to remember climbers who had died climbing the mountain.

 

When it got too steep, I left the bike and started walking. It was a nice trail and I was alone with a view on the Lenin Peak. I kept walking until I hit a river which was really hard to cross. In the evening there is more water. As it was getting dark as well, I went back.

We had some food in our tent and called it a day. It was a great location again to sleep. Personnaly I am a fan of nice flats with views, but this beats it by far.