Ala Archa walk, Kyrgyzstan

A whistlestop research trip to the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, which just happens to be characterised by superb mountain scenery. After an early morning arrival at Manas airport, I made my way to the rooftop restaurant of the hotel to stunning views of the Ala Too range which tower above the capital Bishkek. Although I had little time at my disposal for leisure, I soon arranged for a taxi to take me up to the Ala Archa valley, which is well known as the most accessible way of penetrating the mountains from Bishkek. Sure enough, in around an hour we arrived at the roadhead in a superb valley. The Ala Too is essentially a subsidiary range to the legendary Tien Shan 'celestial' mountains which rise to 7,400m at Pik Pobedy on the Kyrgyz/Chinese border. Here, the mountains were a lot lower, at around 5000m, but the superb crystal clear weather still allowed for some cracking views up to Korona and Free Korea peak from our highpoint near the roadhead. It was, naturally, very frustrating to be unable to get onto the peaks properly - but I was just glad to have had the opportunity to get up here. My young driver, Joldosh, had perfect English having spent a year working at Pret a Manger in Kensington! He'd brought his partner along for the ride, so we all had a delightful walk down through the juniper woods (after which Ala Archa is named), to the glacial Ala Archa river which was a remarkable light blue colour at this point. The trees were just beginning to turn to autumnal shades and the weather was wonderful. It was 30C+ in Bishkek, but here light breezes and the altitude rendered it delightfully comfortable, with deep blue skies and crystal clear views. Walked up and down the valley for a while, realising with some frustration that it would have been relatively simple to have nipped up one of the lower peaks in a day, particularly as the conditions were so good.