Arslanbob. Southwest Kyrgyzstan's skiing paradise!

After a flight that went rather smoothly, we landed in Osh. This city located in the southwest of the country is the second largest of Kyrgyzstan. It was the scene of the ethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbek in 2010 that claimed thousands of death. This part of Kyrgyzstan is mostly populated by Uzbek. From what we've been told, even during the violence, not any foreigner were targeted. 

Anyway, we had previously arranged a taxi to pick us up at the airport and drive us directly towards Arslanbob. 

On the way, the driver stopped to let us have a look at a Mosque dating from the 11th century. I'm not usually so interested in those old monuments but it is certainly impressive to see that they have been standing straight up for centuries and with all our modern technology, we are not able to build building that can last for even part of this lifespan!

We finally made it to Arslanbob and we were welcome with a dinner that leave us both appetite-less! 

We enjoy the rest of the day to plan our next trip. To do so, we met up with Hayat who is in charge of organizing the homestay in the village.

He also started in 2006 to develop skiing as a motor to develop the tourism during the wintertime. Since this region is mostly agricultural, the unemployment rocket to 90% during the winter. His passion was really genuine and after talking for some time, everything was now set. We were to left the village to hike towards a shepperd hut where we would spend two nights. This slopes were mostly north facing, so we were expecting some decent snow. Even if my 61 year old Dad has never winter camp, he was thrilled to spend two nights in a 0Celcius sleeping bag in a non heated mud shack!

We spend the rest of the afternoon just wandering around town. 

It was certainly one of the most welcoming town I've ever been. Everyone (including kids) were welcoming us as they were passing by. 

We both felt really safe and millions miles away from the warning to avoid the region at all cost!

I guess I was feeling to safe and comfortable and probably forget the usual advice to be careful about what we eat and what we drink since I woke up with cramp during the night…. I spend the following day bedded doing back and forth trip to our toilet…

Fortunately, that only last one day and I was feeling good enough the following day to climb towards the area called Jaz-Jarym to the shepperd hut for our 3 days trip.

We meet up with Hayat at the CBT office. As we were waiting for our cook, one kid passed by flying on some step-on-metal-ski/skate. That was it! I badly needed to try! My enthusiasm dropped significantly when I realized I wasn't able to stay on the skate for more and half of a split second. I guess I'll have to comeback to sharpen my skills! After packing everything, we were off to our trailhead located about 300m higher than the office.

The hike to the hut is only about 600m and doesn't cover much distance either. We took about 3-4 hours to make it up. The copious meal we had over dinner and the numerous break to chill from the harsh sun has certainly has contributed to stretch the journey. 

When we finally arrived at the hut, we quickly dropped our luggage and climb to the nearby face to have some turns before dinner. The snow was really nice and dry. From the top of our run, we had a really nice view of the north facing slope we were to ski in the coming days. 

We spend the evening drinking vodka and talking about how skiing could help develop Arslanbob. Hayat was certainly really passionate about the coming future and since we were about the 25th people to make it up there, he was welcoming any suggestion to fine tune his operation.

We finally went to bed full of expectation for the following day. 

Our expectations dropped significantly has we realized we were quite fogged up in an alpine only environment. We made it out to the nearby slope. After waiting for almost 2 hours at the top of the run for the weather to clear out, we had to realize it wouldn't get any better during the day. 

We made it back to the hut where we spend the afternoon talking about difference between Canada and Kyrgyzstan and drinking tea…. and vodka!

The following day wasn't clear, but the weather seemed to be just about to clear out. 

Excited as kid, we headed to the main slope…. just to get clouded up just as we got to the top. We had nothing to loose so we waited a bit….. and it cleared!!!

We spend the day cruising the nice untracked north facing ridges and playing hide and seek with the weather. The snow was nice, steady and for once rather stable!

We really had a blast skiing this area even if we had only skied a small part of it. From Hayat, the best time to come to ski this area is January since the sun is not as strong and there is less slope that are getting sun baked.

We sadly made it down after our best day of skiing in Kyrgyzstan. As we were getting down, we got fogged up. Fog + dawn doesn't add up nicely for skier since we weren't able to see much on our way down. 

What should happen finally happen and my Dad finally fell and hit himself with his skis… in the forehead! A quick installation of steristrip was made onsite to stop the bleeding and we eventually made it down all the way to our homestead without any other incident. 

We only have only one day left in Arslanbob before having to leave the area to go back towards Bishkek from where we are flying to Frankfurt to ski a bit in the Alps for 2 weeks.

Cheers, 

evans