Our border crossing from Kazakhstan to Russia at the small town called Mikhailovka went very well. We had to unpack a lot of boxes and stuff from Rosinante, but the border officers let us do it together and so it was an easy thing to do. And the officers really checked the stuff we unpacked and it didn’t feel like a useless action like it had before on other borders.

The officers were a pretty young team of women and men and even though they couldn’t speak English or German the communication went very well with Google Translate. We had a short and friendly interrogation and had to fill out a form with information about our family and stay in Russia, and our phones got briefly checked and our IMEIs were saved.

After about three hours we were in Russia and happy about the nice crossing.

On the Russian side, we went to the first climbing spot at the east shore of the lake Kolyvanskoye Ozero. You can see details in the allclimb mobile apps.

When we arrived at the location, we were first a bit disappointed because the whole area was fenced and the main gate closed. But while searching for a camp spot in front of the gated area, we met a very friendly Russian couple who opened the gate for us, called the owner of the area (which was a children’s camp), and got us permission to stay for a couple of days.

Our camp spot was beautiful and just next to the climbing routes.

The routes were all in very good condition and on limestone crags which were spread over the area. It looked very nice.

We got quickly into climbing on these crags even though the Russian difficulty ratings were, as always, very optimistic, and in the shade the rock was sometimes too cold to touch for a longer climb.

During our stay, we met a climber couple from Russia who drove about four hours from their home town to stay for a couple of days in that climbing area to camp.

There were very interesting routes. Some felt a bit like tufa climbing in Thailand and Malaysia. On two routes I was suffering a lot. Especially one pushed me past my mental limit. I couldn’t say why exactly, but at one moment in the route, I just got very stressed and angry. But I survived, and Racki and I did very good climbing.

We continued our transit through Russia and went in the direction of a town called Belokuricha. In the town, we went for groceries which was interesting: they had all the western brands in the supermarkets. A lot of special stuff. We thought that it wouldn’t be like that. Paying was only possible in Rubles, which we had organized in Kazakhstan. The locals we met were very friendly and some were interested in what we were about to do in Russia.

In the town, we met again with Merel and Leon, our climbing friends from the Netherlands.

The climbing crags were located in a very beautiful and dense forest. It was a very nice and natural place.

The patterns on the rocks were amazing!

And we all had a good time climbing, with some frustrations and panic attacks and lots of joy.

The mosquitoes were crazy and the only things protecting us were mosquito repellent from Thailand and smoke.

Merel and Leon left after one day and Racki and I continued climbing for some more days. This route was my favorite one. I was not so used to climbing slabs, especially not slabs of this level, but I managed to do this route without a break even though it was very hard and I had to make use of the smallest steps or “enough-things” as we call them, that I had ever used. “Enough-things” is a combination of “nothing” and “enough” and should be part of the official climber’s dictionary.

And we celebrated our BenDy (BENni + cinDY) anniversary with drinks and a nice view.

We met a cute little friend in the woods and off we went in the direction of the border to Mongolia.

On the way to the border, we did only one more proper stop at a sightseeing spot called Mars.

The weather was changing a lot and the rocks looked interesting.

Everything was prepared in the style of old spaceships and planet Mars expeditions.

We took my little astronaut friend Astrid with us for some photos.

She’s a climber as well.

And likes to chill.

At this Mars place, we met Tanja and Marcel for the first time in real life after Racki had already been messaging with them for weeks about traveling and our China trip, of which we would do the entry border crossing together as an agency-guided group. They were nice and we already shared some nice stories about life and traveling.

In between all the things we did in Almaty, we went to Tamgaly Tas to climb there again. And this time I had my favorite birthday present with me: a custom handmade dino tail chalk bag!!! This thing is so awesome! Thanks, Racki!

The climbing felt great again. And it was interesting to climb on these rocks again. To me, it felt in a way easier and simpler than the climbing in Malaysia and Thailand. And the scenery was super nice. Especially the big birds of prey flying close to us while we were on the wall.

A lot of friends came to visit us in Tamgaly. It was very nice. For a couple of days, our friends, the Startroopies (Sarah and Wouter) joined us, and this time not only them, but Wouter’s father, sister, and brother as well.

His father celebrated his 65th birthday with us. It was very nice. And the Startroopies gifted us another special chalk bag: a yeti-style one!

And the same day, he tried sport climbing for the first time.

One day, our friends “The Gügels” visited us. Together we went for some climbing, and the boys tried to catch some fish. Together we figured out a very good option for me to get a new smartphone: asking the regular group of German expats if somebody would be flying soon from Germany to Almaty and could bring me one.

The dinosaur tail found a lot of friends, and one day, I lent it to a Kazakh climber who gifted me a dino shoe sticker for that. Dino fans!

Merel, Leon, Arni, and his dog Cleo joined us as well, and we climbed a whole lot!

Everybody had a good time, and it was so nice to see everybody continuing the climbing experience. Arni especially got really into it after trying sport climbing for the first time with us. After his first day, he immediately got climbing shoes and a whole lot of equipment. And thanks to Arni’s Starlink, which he lent us, Racki and I were able to stay for three weeks in a row in Tamgaly.

Something was different in Tamgaly than last year: our stray dog gang was missing. But one day, all of a sudden, they were all back and as crazy and cute as ever. We think that some locals had taken care of them during the harsh winter and brought them back.

We had a look at a nice mountaineering competition of a mountaineering club from Almaty.

In between, I got a new guitar: Phoebe! Absolutely beautiful and super nice. I kept practicing almost every day.

And Racki and I decided to change our plans: instead of going west, we decided to pay the money and go east: Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Cambodia, Laos, China, Kazakhstan. We were very excited about it and especially curious about climbing in China!

Together with the Startroopies, Merel, and Leon, we had a fantastic karaoke night! It was hilarious: riverside motherfucker!

And we had some minor sandstorms! Interesting to have about 15% humidity again after 90% in Southeast Asia.

One day when I was belaying Racki, I had a look around and discovered that some Kazakhs had somehow managed to drive their pretty small car pretty deep into the river. Even for the Kazakh level of driving and treating cars, this was a new level for us. There was nothing we could do about that because driving there, to the other shore of the river, would take us hours.

They didn’t seem to be happy about the car in the river. At some point, they started fighting, and when one guy was punching the other several times in the face and pushing his head under water several times, I didn’t feel so good anymore about this whole situation.

The river was wide and there was nothing we could do about it, but still it didn’t feel good. Luckily the guys stopped fighting soon, and the next morning, their car was out of the river again.

Racki and I climbed a lot of newly bolted routes and older routes we had never done before. I was especially happy with two more 7a routes which took me quite some time to figure out, but after solving the puzzle, they went very well. I loved the climbing life!