Category: climbing

Change of plans and remote rock climbing and nice hikes in Tajikistan (July 2025)

Our plan had been to go to Afghanistan and continue to Pakistan, India and then Nepal.
But after the only border crossing between Pakistan and India had closed after some military fights, we had been stuck in central asia.
After waiting for more than a month we gave up on the border to open again. We researched other options and came to the conclusion that we did not want to go through China with a guide and travel group. It would have cost at least 2000€ for going to Nepal and if the border between Pakistan and India would not have opened in spring 2026 and we won’t find a travel group back, we would have to pay about 7000€ to go back through China. What is more the visa and customs situation was not comfortable in India and Nepal without a third country to do proper border runs.
We thought about southeast asia as well, but the visa and customs regulations in Laos, Thailand etc. sounded complicated and in some countries even impossible.
So we made the plan to go back to Kyrgyzstan, then Kazakhstan, park Rosinante in Almaty for the winter and fly to Southeast Asia by plane until spring 2026 and see if the border between Pakistan and India would be open again.
On our way from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan, we found another rock climbing sector at a pretty remote location. The scenery was amazing!
The crag was awesome as well. Although there were only about four routes bolted. We did one not too hard one. The next day we went for the multi pitch we were looking forward to. To me, it was ridiculous! The route was very dirty and slippery. But still we were lucky, because someone did his best to clean it. There were freshly cutter plants and bushes all over the place. But I did not enjoy this route. It felt just stupid to me and I thought about aborting it.
Racki enjoyed it and so I continued. But honestly, the best moment on this route was when we had reached the top/ exit after four pitches.
Happy to have survived.
At our camp spot next to a bumpy dirt road, we got quite some visitors. Among them was one nice elderly guy. We invited him for dinner, talked via Google Translate and one day he danced to my playing of the cajon. It was pretty funny.
We drove further and did a very beautiful hike.
The hike went all around a very famous white crag.
From there a lot of routes were going deeper inside the mountains.
It got pretty steep.
And the glaciers were as impressive as always.
On the way down, we had some fun sliding down the snow fields.
And we met a head attached to the inner remainder of his body.
This white mountain looked very nice. Here is our tour on komoot.
We went on and after driving a long time on bumpy off road tracks, we found a nice camp spot next to a river.
From our camp spot, we started our next hike and met some locals at their summer camp.
The men were herding etc and the women and girls did everything else.
The hike brought us to a very beautiful waterfall!
It looked really nice. Here is our tour in komoot.
After some days, we continued our way back to Kyrgyzstan and took one of the more remote and lonely mountain passes.
And we made it close to the border to a big lake we’ve only been to once before.
And like most of the times when we arrive at a lake, we helped a group of locals to recover their car from the muddiness.

The tunnel of death, mosquitos, friends, and climbing (June, July 2025)

We went back to Dushanbe and had most of Rosinante’s oils and liquids changed.
With our friends at the car service we arranged that Rackis can order macrame cord via wildberries. We had tried to get some in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan but it was not possible. So we had to wait for about ten days for the stuff coming from China to Russia and then Tajikistan.
We went north of Dushanbe and through the tunnel of death. Coincidentally the song “Don’t worry, be happy” started playing on our radio when we entered it. It was funny. And they had started to fix and clean parts of the tunnel which made it less deadly. But still we could sometimes only see five meters ahead of Rosinante.
We made it to the Iskandarkul, a big mountain lake.
On iOverlander, we found the coordinates of a few climbing routes in one of the comments to a camp spot.
There were only a handful of routes but still climbing was fun as always.
But the mosquitos were crazy. We never had that many before and put on all the protection gear we had.
Most of the routes were pretty tough and the view from the one multi-pitch was nice.
But I felt like there was building up some tension between Rackis and me.
We escaped the mosquitos and searched for a place at the lake with less trees in hopes that there we would face less of these angry monsters.
On the way we found this ruin which never got finished. But we loved the tyre strategy they had used.
The camp spot we found was very nice. Close to the water, less mosquitos.
One day, we did a hike on the closest small mountain ridge and took this bridge. It was a very special and very creative one. Strong and solid. Made out of everything you can find in a forest.
During that time at the lake, my next song got released: encounter.
Here is a list of music services on which you can listen to it.
One day other travelers from Germany joined us and we had a good time together.
After some days, we left the lake and had a look at the nice canyon and waterfall next to it.
The waterfall was the strongest one we had seen so far.
When we continued our drive to our next destination, Rackis and I talked about the tension I felt between us. I feel offended and like Rackis is pissed about something. I’d say we did pretty good/ healthy in how we talked about it. And after that I felt a lot of relief.
It’s interesting how these dynamics between humans develop. I love Rackis and the life we are living together. It feels just right to me. And I feel like the impermanence in relationships is just part of human life.
Our next stop was at another small climbing area. It was super hot, but directly at the climbing routes there were three big trees and so this place was just perfect for climbing and chilling in the summer heat.
The drought was omnipresent. The main river was completely dried out and locals had installed a whole lot of water pipes from the upper parts of the mountains into their village. Sometimes you could see more than twenty pipes at once.
After climbing, we went back to Dushanbe to pick up Racki’s macrame cords and visit our friends.
The best toilet decoration above the pissoir in a bar we visited.
Our friends showed us their home, car and gave us cute presents. It was interesting to talk with them about their future plans and their lives in Tajikistan.
After a couple of days with about 42 degrees in the city, we went off north again to a place we knew from months before.
And of course we found another new donkey friend who came by when we had breakfast and tried speaking to the table to grab some food.
The next day, a nice couple from the Netherlands joined us and we had a day of very interesting talks about a lot of topics.
Of course there were some of the ordinary travelers talks but a lot more interesting ones about life as well. I liked it a lot.
And Mereltje even played a funny jazzy song for us on her ukulele which was super nice.

Special: Rock climbing area “Varzob” in Tajikistan (April 2025)

With some research, we had found this rock/ sport climbing area in Vazob, Tajikistan. And from that point on, it had been clear, that we wanted to visit it.
The crag looked amazing!
And the scenery was fantastic!
It took some time from the road and our camp spot to reach the climbing area, but it was absolutely worth it.
And of course there were always some donkey friends to meet on the path.
The rock was located in pure nature and we loved climbing there.
Although the routes were sometimes pretty adventurous and it was often not obvious which anchor points we should use in the multi pitches.
So everything was a bit experimental and we would not recommend this area for beginners.
We managed to climb four routes.
This one here is the toughest one on that crag.
The overhanging is completely part of the route 🤣
We did not do this one…
With the multi pitches, it’s possible to reach the 110 m high top of the crag.
Some equipment in the wall was not in its best shape. The left bolt got completely destroyed. It’s hard to see on the photo. But we found ways to keep everything save.
We climbed for a couple of days and stashed our climbing gear next to the rock to not have to carry it on the 30 to 45 minutes approach every day.
And our camp spot was pretty special as well. Close to the main road but even closer to a big river so that the sound of the river was louder than the road.
Every evening some children from the next village came visiting us and gifted us food. After the first day we already had to much, but they wouldn’t have left without a successful delivery.
In return we gave them some chocolate and some of Racki’s awesome hand-made bracelets.

Detailed information about the crag, you can find on The Crag.