We left our camp spot near the last lake in Tajikistan and searched for a spot with good internet in a small town near the border to Uzbekistan. This mission turned out to be pretty difficult. After almost two hours of searching, we gave up and decided to cross the border to Uzbekistan and drove to Samarkand.Samarkand was beautiful. It was Rackis and my anniversary and we had a nice dinner. After weeks in remote places, it’s nice to have some city life. We visited the most famous places in the city.We are not so much interested in city sight seeing, but the light show on the most famous historical buildings was nice and beautiful.This place was interesting as well. A center of self made, local workshops where you can even do workshops. In Samarkand we met some other travelers. It had been a while. But for me most of the talks with them were not that interesting: where are you from… , where are you going… , oh, you are traveling for so long already…, the locals don’t know how to handle trash…, do you have Instagram…After some days in the city, we went up some low mountains to have it colder and to do a pretty long hike. Our camp spot was beautiful.The weather was not so clear, but still the hike and the views were awesome! And we did some climbing to reach the top most part of our trek.This is one of the summer camps the local shepherds and their families are using. Sometimes the men stay up in the mountains alone and sometimes their families are joining them. Here’s our tour on komoot.An original Snikkers cake in one of the many mini markets. It’s funny what stuff they have.We went on and found a pretty nice, remote spot near a pretty touristic area. There we did another hike. These pavilions on the photo were very new and had a great view but not accessible for cars because the track leading there was closed. Here’s our tour on komoot.We continued and cleaned Rosinante in a small car wash. A nice guy came by and gifted us some cola. He loved Germany and was so happy to meet us. For us coming from Germany has never been a problem so far. Most locals even love Germany because they often see an opportunity to earn more money in it. Sometimes we tell them that the work mentality and demands could be quite different, sometimes we just nod and tell them that life in Germany is more expensive.Some maintenance work in our next spot. It took us some years to recognize that we could sharpen our axe with the grinding pads on our electric driller instead of using our sharpening stone.Racki continued making wonderful bracelets. This one was especially amazing.She made it for a friend and it had so many beautiful details.Our next spot was in a jungle near an offroad track leading to a waterfall. On our way there, we recovered an offroad taxi which had slipped in the muddy ditch in a small village.This is one of the offroad taxis. Most of them are old Russian jeeps. If these are the only cars you encounter and there are no ordinary limousines on a road or track, you know that the track will get serious.The view from the jungle. Pretty rare in the stan countries.From our jungle place we did a short hike to the beautiful waterfall.Next stop in a small town called Shahrisabz and some sightseeing.Old guy out of stone.From there we went to the next water reservoir/ lake and found a nice spot.It was pretty hot and everybody was looking for some shade or a refreshing swim.As nearly always, a donkey rider came along and we had a conversation about this and that with Google Translate, arms, and hands.From the reservoir, we went to a beautiful canyon.We found a beautiful camp spot on a hill with a nice view.And beautiful visitors.One day, we took a longer hike. See it on komoot. In the canyon, we found a lot of beautiful stones for Racki’s next macrame creations.At our next spot, Racki made me this little alien friend called Helmut. We love him and since then, he’s been hanging around in our cabin.The place we found, was located on a hill with a nice view to the mountains on one side and to the next city in the other. The approach was pretty offroady. When we were driving on the road, we saw a pretty big flame in the distance and joked about that maybe the locals did something a bit stupid and that this might be the reason for the flame. But quickly we thought that the flame was just an ordinary flame of some gas mining or refinery. But when we saw how high this flame was from our camp spot, we googled. Turned out that a year ago, there was an accident while drilling new boreholes in one of the gas fields. The closest villagers had needed to be evacuated and the flame had been ignited to prevent gases from injuring the locals living in that area. This flame was huge. Especially at night, it looked crazy! We don’t know how high it was, but it must have been around 50 meters.Our next spot, you can see Rosinante at the bottom of the photo, was pretty close to a settlement. We had a lot of visitors and short talks about Rosinante etc.We did a nice hike to a waterfall we had found on the map. But there was no waterfall (anymore). But still the hike was nice. We met a lot of goats, sheep and their shepherds.Instead of a waterfall there were only small springs. Here is our tour on komoot.We went on and found another beautiful camp spot. The view was amazing.
My diarrhea was still ongoing but we had to leave Tajikistan because our visa days were almost finished. The border crossing west of Dushanbe was the most ridiculous so far. The Tajik Side went easy and fast but the Uzbek customs officers saw a need in “investigating” a lot of our stuff. Still feeling weak, I had to unload and unpack a lot of stuff. The officers did just have brief looks at the stuff. For me this whole process made no sense at all. So I got frustrated and a bit pissed. But I did not complain or refuse the process. After the crossing we found a nice camp spot at a big water reservoir.The reservoir was a famous attraction for the locals and a lot of people came by and had a chat with us. Especially with a group of young Uzbek guys we spent a bit more time talking about differences in German and Uzbek lives, cultures etc. Some of them could speak fair English and indeed they were English teachers and so the communication was more fun than work. As always they could not believe that Racki and I were not married and had no kids. Especially the kids topic was almost disturbing to them. We described how a romantic teenager Young adult love life may be in Germany and they were astonished. After some days we met one of the guys at his place. We talked more and his mother and sisters did our laundry. We wanted to do it on our own but this was not possible and at some point it felt insulting not to let them do itWe visited another famous attraction.A beautiful waterfall.Not far from the waterfall, we found a nice relaxed camp spot and did a nice hike. See it on komoot.When we came back to Rosinante, some new friends chilled in the shadows of our tent.The squeaking noises did not stop and at the camp spot with the cows, I investigated it again and found the reason: one of the bushings on the front suspension was destroyed. We tried to get it repaired in Uzbekistan but it was not possible. Mostly because of the Chevrolet monopoly. So we decided to go back to Dushanbe, to the car garage we had been to before. There, our guess got confirmed: the bushing was gone. We felt bad about it because it was so obvious. But even mechanics we had check Rosinante for the squeaking noise did not recognize the destroyed bushing. But it felt good that we found the reason for the squeaking noise and that nothing on Rosinante got several damage.And the day at the garage was pretty fun as well. We met our mechanic friends again and got to know a nice couple from Spain.From Dushanbe we went back into the mountains and found an awesome spot at the Alauddin Lake.This place was really nice.And the lake was beautiful as well.This waterfall was quite special because the water was just running on the stone until it fell down. The lake at the highest point of our hike was very different than the lower one.It was a nice hike. See it on komoot.From the Alauddin Lake we drove close to the Kuli Kalon. The hike there was beautiful as well.In the first part of the hike went a big group with a guide. But on the mountain pass, we met nobody.It was a beautiful and interesting hike, see it on komoot.With serious gravel and rock parts and some small rockfall.
We left Thor in Batumi and drove with Rosinante to Arsha to do some rock climbing (more in the next post).
After a couple of days Julip joined us. We had been in touch since I had met them in Turkey some months ago and we made the plan to climb the Kazbegi. The third highest mountain in Europe with a 5033 meters high summit!
The experience levels of us four were very different when it came to real mountaineering and none of us went higher than 3500 meters before. So we made the plan: parking near the Gargeti Trinity Church at 2100 meters, go up to the Bethlemi Hut at 3650 meters, sleep one night there, practice some rescue actions the next day at around 4000 meters and acclimate to the height, go back to the hut for another night and go for the summit very early the next day.
For me it was my first tour with crampons, ice axe, rope and all this stuff. I loved it!
This tour was absolutely amazing!
All of us had big backpacks with around eighteen kilos but the first part to the Bethlemi Hut went super good. Close to the Bethlemi Hut we had to pass the first glacier. I loved to put on the crampons and walk with them on this massive glacier. Water was rushing beneath the ice crust and sometimes above it and it was awesome to see the summit all the time.
At the Bethlemi Hut Julip built up their tent and Cindy and I put our stuff in the room we had rented. For dinner we had the food we had prepared in advance and the next day we went for proper mountaineering!
Racki and I did not catch a lot of sleep because from one o’clock on, another group of people sleeping in our room was preparing their start to the summit. But we were excited and decided to explore the path which would lead us to the summit the next day and to train rescue procedures at about 4000 meters.
We passed huge fields of rocks and when we reached the ice fields we put on the crampons, made our ice axes ready and attached us to one rope. We were walking close to the enormous cliff of the glacier. Because of the melting ice there were frequently rocks falling down the cliff and rolling towards us. Some were small but others were huge and exploding into several parts when hitting the wall or the ground. None came close to our path. But nevertheless it was a crazy experience because mostly I heard some ice cracking, turned my head to the cliff and saw the rocks flying.
After jumping over some smaller crevasses we reached about 4000 meters and looked for a nice big and deep crevasse to jump in and practice some rescue procedures. When it was my turn to jump into the crevasse, I hesitated. I checked the rope attached to my harness. And hesitated again. Rock climbing got me pretty much used to the harness and the rope and some falling. But the idea of jumping into a deep crack in the ice of an enormous glacier felt very different to me. But once I jumped, it was pretty comfortable and a nice experience.
After we finished our practice, we started our way back to the hut and after just a couple of meters one leg of the second of our group broke through the snow and ice and he got stuck. Just a second later the same happened to me. It was super easy to get going again but a nice finish of our practice.
Back at the hut we had dinner and went to bed early but Cindy and I could not sleep because it was always so noisy in the hut, in our room, and outside there was a group of puppies crying all night.
At about one o’clock we got up and prepared for our ascent to the summit and had some breakfast!
It was cold and dark. We put on all the layers of clothes we had and started. I was excited, high on expectations and felt absolutely adventurous.
We took the same path we had taken the day before and it turned out to be very comfortable to have taken it before. In the dark the enormous cliff of the glacier was invisible but the cracking sounds were much more present in the dark. Although they were less frequent because of the lower temperatures.
After overtaking two other groups, we passed our practice spot and continued. It was so magnificent and awesome! Attached to the rope we went up and up and had a good rhythm that was comfortable for everyone.
Cindy and I got cold feet and hands but it was all ok. The path got steeper and steeper and when the sun made it over the first mountains surrounding us, the view got absolutely astonishing.
After hours of climbing, we reached the plateau right in front of the summit. The path from there to the summit looked impressive and steep. After a short rest, we pushed on!
We used our ice axes to not lose grip and pushed on and on. When we were about one hundred meters away from our goal, the sun rose over the summit and her warm and bright light illuminated the snow. There we were standing. Together, attached to one another, alone as a group on the steep slope, standing on ice with our crampons and ice axes, tears in our eyes. Overwhelmed by the effort, the adventure, joy and love. This moment! I’ll never forget it. And I’m so happy to have experienced it with my lovely Racki and our good friends.
On the summit, at 5033 meters, we had a magnificent view! On top of the world, I’d say. And after congratulating each other, out of nowhere Lip started to make a marriage proposal to Ju. It was so beautiful and heartwarming! And we didn’t know that he was going for it.
What an experience!
After a couple of more minutes, we started to go down again. On the way my guts started to feel not good and a heavy diarrhea started. Not the best place for something like that. But it could have been worse if it had started before reaching the summit. On the way to the hut, we passed some other groups and it all went well. At the hut , Cindy and I decided to continue our way down because we did not want to spend another sleepless night and I was not looking forward to going through my diarrhea on the only improvised outhouse toilet for dozens of people.
After reaching Rosinante, Cindy and I were exhausted and tired. We felt like zombies but made it for some groceries and went back to our camp spot in Arsha.
This experience. We all did so well and the connection and communication between us during this whole adventure was so amazing and positive . It was awesome!
