 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I subscribed to this forum a year ago in my quest for ski equipment in London. You guys have been very helpful so I wanted to update you as to what I've been doing with all that gear.
This spring, my friends Uwe, Emilie and I went to Kyrgyzstan for a week, in order to skin up and ride down the Tian Shan mountains. We booked a package through Ski Pro, an agency run by local Kyrgyz people, which offers yurt based trips near Karakol, one of Kyrgyzstan's main cities close to the beautiful Issyk Kul lake.
As pictures are worth a thousand words, let me show you a short video I made of our trip there:
https://vimeo.com/96214102
Overall it was an amazing experience, where an excellent ski trip with great snow and weather was very well complimented by all the parts which aren't shown in the video, including:
- free flowing vodka and fun card games every night in the camp with the welcoming, kyrgyz people part of the agency who took great care of us
- banya, the russian sauna, which was installed in camp, in which one's supposed to flog oneself with tree branches to get the blood circulation going
- a fun day at Karakol's ski resort, where the facilities are directly imported from France (including the signs) and where only rich people (novoruski) and tourists go which is an interesting experience
- visiting bishkek and karakol with their colourful markets, their remnants of the soviet era (lada cars, stalinist buildings, communist leaders statues), their friendly people including Valida, a super sweet girl who was very excited to show us the capital and made sure we made the most of it
- joining a kyrgyz wedding dance party on our last evening
- etc... so many memories are still imprinted in my mind
Overall, one of the best trips I've done, and I can only recommend the experience.
Here is a link to the agency we used for those interested: http://www.backcountryskikyrgyzstan.com
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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dualmoo, Thanks for posting! Looks interesting! A few photos will be good as well 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Tremendous. Some big skies there.
Thanks for sharing.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Awesome!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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nice one - brings back happy memories (apart from the free flowing vodka...)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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nice edit 
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Epic!
Thanks for taking the time.
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ditto - great to see these more esoteric destinations being skied. watched the whole video looking for Valida....
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Like, want
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hi,
Thanks all for your kind comments.
Here are some photos for those who requested: As opposed to the video these also show the non-ski parts of the trip, and so display the full range of experiences we had there. Valida does show up in them, towards the end, in Bishkek 
mountainaddict, we did this trip. We went to Karakol ski resort on the friday (day 7 in the programme); there is ample time to ski there (we had 4 hours), and some of the agency staff joined us before their weekend, but we did have to pay for our own ski passes as it wasn't included. There are various activities around karakol (visits, snowshoeing, horseriding), and knowing the team they will gladly accept to take you around with their van to do whatever you'd like, either on day 7 or even instead of a normal touring day (my friends visited Karakol when they were tired), but you will have to pay for any extras. Finally, it wasn't a vodka only holiday, large quantities of beer were drunk too
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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mountainaddict, thanks! it was indeed an eye opening trip, mixing our ski passion with the cultural experience of far away travelling is something I'm becoming more and more a fan of!
To reassure your Mrs, we felt quite safe in Kyrgyzstan. Not only have we been together with locals for most of the trip, even when we were on our own we have always felt welcome and never threatened. Kyrgyz people are very hospitable. We were helped though by the fact that my friends speak russian, if you don't speak it you may want to hire a guide if you want to spend a few extra days in the country, or just do the barebones trip and have the ski pro team take you and drop you off at the airport so you're always with them - by the way they have english speakers so you should be fine in their hands.
On the political side, Kyrgyzstan has actually been pushing quite hard for a few years to get more tourists to come (even though they've had limited success I think), and residents of many countries can enter without a visa. But it's true that they have seen a few revolutions recently so I would make sure to check the political context before going there.
As for becoming crazy in the yurt, not at all. First of all the vast area of mountains nearby gave us a sense of freedom that is hard to beat, and living in a yurt in the middle of all this nature doesn't feel cramped or stuck at all! Also we did spend most of our day outside skiing, and were very tired when coming back home. After drinks and dinner, the actual time spent awake in the yurt was quite short, so left little time to become bored. I would say this was a total non-issue. The comfort level, on the other hand, may be a bit tough depending on your expectations: the loos are in a little wood cabin outside, the shower is hand operated with a pump, and the beds are wooden with a thin soft mattress on top. Definitely not a four star hotel! But that's the standard fare on expeditions which we were all used to and expecting, so was not at all a problem for us.
Here is a little bonus video of the friday we spent at the ski resort:
Powder & Silk - Kyrgyzstan Ski Touring (Bonus: Karakol Ski Resort) from David Durrleman https://vimeo.com/97482253
Cheers!
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You know it makes sense.
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Wow some narrow runs there you ski with a speed
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Excellennt dualmoo - thanks!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Fascinating report. As an aside there's a reasonable pool of people in SE Asia who like to ski. That is foreigners living in Singapore, KL etc as well as an increasing amount of affluent locals. At the moment they face very long trips (12hrs flight min) to Hokkaido, Europe, US or NZ to get their fix. I would love to be able to take a nine hour direct flight to Central Asia and hit the snow there. May be one day it will be do-able.
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FAQ
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