First descents in Kyrgyzstan

Words: Andy Holt

Photos:
Andy Holt,
Liam Green,
Rob Harris,
Chris Sloan and
Dave Marshall

Andy’s Bio

I have now been working in the outdoors since 1998 and in 2004 set up my own business Escape To Adventure which mainly focuses on Kayak courses & White Water coaching and guiding. Having built up an excellent reputation within the paddling community and with our excellent safety track record and low instructor to client ratio Escape To Adventure has been a huge success and continues to grow every year.

For me it’s not really work, this is is my passion, my life and I love to coach and guide these feelings for others to enjoy and learn from.

First descents in Kyrgyzstan

Two years ago, a good friend of mine inspired me to look at an expedition to Kyrgyzstan as he had already been out a few times working for trekking companies and mentioned that the rivers he had seen looked amazing.

So, I started some research and found a few teams had been out there, A couple of YouTube videos and a few write-ups on a USSR kayak website, among others. I also found that there had been a BUKE expedition (British University Kayak Expedition) in 2006 that had also done a good trip report write-up.

The few expeditions that had already been there were mostly multi-day descents like the Naryn River (7 to 10 days) and Sary Jez (3-4 days) and then a few reports of the odd section done in the smaller lesser valleys. I wasn’t interested in the big multi-day descents as these are already established runs but more in the small valleys where only a few lower sections had been done with potential for other sections that were not recorded and still waiting for their first descent. So after months and months of researching the internet, looking at maps, Google Earth images etc. I came up with a plan, and our journey began.

The team

For expedition boating, you must have the right mindset and have already gone through past experiences in similar situations and environments. Things can and do go wrong, and you need to be able to cope, adapt and change your plans at the last minute; you are in an environment where no help is coming if it all goes wrong. You will suffer! With big walk-ins or portages, unexpected campouts, broken kit, injuries and illness – it’s all part of the game, and you have to like the suffering to achieve the final goal. The team has to have a good skill set and can all contribute to a successful outcome and know the psychological aspects of everybody’s needs. With this in mind, I invited a team with previous experience in such environments, leadership safety, and excellent teamwork.

The team members were Liam Green, a kayak and OC1 coach and guide who works in Scotland. Although Liam was the youngest member of the team, he holds the highest coach and leadership awards and is an up-and-coming superstar. Liam has no big ego; he is a methodical, safe, solid leader with excellent communication skills. Then we have Rob Harris. Rob and I go back many years when we knocked off some new descents in Scotland; Rob also has worldwide kayak experience, which gives him excellent experience in remote and expedition boating.

The next member was Chris Sloan, who I met only about five years ago, but I took an instant liking to him as he’s one of these people who are quietly super talented and gets on with it; he also likes to get away from the norm and loves exploration. Then we have Dave Marshall, who is an OC1 paddler. Dave and I have been friends for over 30 years; we climbed, trekked, mountaineered, paddled and skied all over Europe and had many adventures and a few epics. Dave also has worldwide trekking experience and was a solid contributor to this expedition with his previous experience in Kyrgyzstan.

Finally, myself. I have built my kayak coaching and guiding business over the last 20 years, but more importantly, I have a passion for adventure and exploration. My 30 years of experience have given me the edge to sort logistics, find water and have the leadership and safety qualities needed in such environments, along with my self-belief and resilient attitude.

We flew out of the UK on the 23rd of July for a two-week expedition. We had a little hassle at check-in with the size of our boats, but we all ganged up on them, and they gave in and took them, Except Dave’s OC1, which unfortunately took a week to arrive. I was a little gutted for Dave having to miss out on the first week, but he still came along on our days out and enjoyed being the cameraman until his boat turned up.

Artisan Travel

We flew into Bishkek and then had a seven-hour journey across to Karakol, which we used as our base and has the highest mountain range. We used Turkistan yurt camp, also known as Artisan Travel, as our base and for sorting us out with a serious off-road vehicle and driver. We also used Iron Horse Nomad’s vehicle specialists for our shuttle to and from Bishkek.

July is still relatively early season for boating in Kyrgyzstan, with most other expeditions coming out throughout August/September instead. This couldn’t be helped for some team members who have work commitments. We soon realized that all the glacial rivers were running very high with an excellent snow year and hot weather, which put everything a grade higher than the already established runs.

So some runs were a bit too much, being fast, none stop grade 5/5+ with log jams and low bridges. However, there was an advantage as this meant the upper sections were running well, which is where most of our first descents came from. (When I say first descents, these are runs where there are no reports, no beta, no videos, Nothing on the net and no local knowledge of them ever being done).

We started with a river called the Jeti Oguz (locally known as the seven bulls river), less than an hour from Karakol, a beautiful valley with unique red sandstone cliffs. This run already had an established section, but as mentioned, the rivers were running very high, and instead of grade 3/4, the upper part was more 5 with a couple of trees down as well. So we put on halfway down, which was still chunky grade 3/4. We added three kilometres to this section past the usual take-out (First D, maybe?). The whole run reminded me a bit of the lower Oetz-style paddling in Austria.

On the second day, we went up to the Aresham River again, only about an hour from Karakol and looked at its major tributary called the Aka Su. The Aka Su only had a short runnable section below a hydro and above that was serious grade 5/5+ with logjams and no drivable track, so we didn’t bother with this one and went up the Aresham instead.

Now, this is where our super 4X4 came into its own. It’s a serious dirt track with large boulders, steep inclines and river crossings, and you will get the rock and roll ride of your life. With the river, we bypassed the already established middle section and went as far as we could up the upper section. This starts in an open meadow at grade 2, then turns into a fantastic big water grade 3/4 run and takes off at the yurt camp with the hot springs. We ran about 4km and believed this was its first descent.

Day three

With the high levels of the glacier rivers. We wanted to find something at a lower level with the clear blue water of what the Kyrgyzstan rivers are known for instead of the slate grey rivers we had already experienced. Two runs to the East of Issy Kul Lake come from a lower mountain range called the Jugalan and upper Tup rivers. We soon found that these two rivers were much lower; the Jugalan was too low, but the upper Tup had more water and was running a nice blue colour. The problem is the upper Tup is a walk-in, and after a two-hour walk-in and out, we ran out of time. But we will be back!

Days four and five were campout nights in the Jukka Valley, where we did the lower Jukka, which is already recorded. Again, big water grade 4 with one portage at 5+ above the sluice. After running this, we carried on up the valley, taking a peek at a tributary called the Jukka Hake (Little Jukka), which looked like fun alpine grade 3/3+ but had a few too many trees and low bridges for our liking. So we carried on for around 25km up the valley, then camped at about 3,000m, ready to run the upper section in the morning.

spectacular

This upper section of the Jukka was a spectacular big open valley. The scenery was fantastic, with glaciated side valleys dropping into the river and the odd nomadic yurt here and there. At 15km long, it had easier, flatter grade 2/3 sections with around six or seven steeper sections all around 200 to 800m long. So you had a rest between the big stuff, which ranged from grades 4 to 5.

So you had a respite between the big stuff, ranging from grade 4 to 5. We had a couple of portages with too much mank (rock in the river) along with logjams and low bridges. A fantastic first descent and the only downside was Liam missed out as he was sick the night before, and Dave still didn’t have his boat, which left me, Rob and Chris who ran this one.

There is also a middle section of the Jukka that looks grade 4/5 from the bits we could see from the track. It has logjams and drops steeply out of sight, so we left that one alone at the high levels we had and will leave it for some other brave souls.

Day six

Daves’s boat would be turning up that evening at last. Meanwhile, it had been raining overnight, so we decided to return to the Jugalan that we scouted a few days before as it now had better levels. I sat out of this one as I was still a little beaten up from my little dip in the Jukka. However, the crew went and had a look at the Jugalan Canyon but decided it was too full of wood and too blind going into the canyon at about grade 4/5, So they ran from the Jugalan village lower down for around 6km at really sweet low volume Alpine grade 3/3+ and another first.

Day seven was a river called the Kara ka, which borders Kyrgyzstan and Kazistan to the east. This is in a military zone where you need a permit which we obtained before our trip. When we arrived at the border post checkpoint, the military guys said no, even with the permit, and wouldn’t let us run it. We had to go to plan B, which was that the Upper Tup we had already scouted wasn’t too far away.

This was Dave’s first day as he now had his boat and a wake-up call of a two-hour walk-in. However, we were rewarded with a first descent on blue Alpine water at grade 3+, easing to 2 with one 4 at the start. We did about 6-7km on this one, but there is potential for more stuff higher up if you like hiking.

Sary Jez River and tributaries

Days eight, nine and ten were a couple of nights campout to do some of the famous Sary Jez River and tributaries. This valley is again in a military zone so take your permit, or you are not getting in. The valley is very long and took us over four hours from Karakol to drive up to 3,800m, then drop down into the Sary Jez catchment. Again, like the Jukka Valley, we were surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glaciers.

I felt very small but privileged to be in such a remote and immense environment. Something I will keep for a lifetime in my memories. Anyway, back to the rivers! This catchment comes from the largest region of the Tien Shan Mountain range, with peaks over 7,000m. So the rivers are massive, especially at that time of the year, with the multiple glaciers melting and snow feeding them. We went for a tributary first that drops into the Sary Jez, called the Kerolu and went for the lower canyon, which was suggested to be grade 2/3. But at that level, more grade 4 with big holes to avoid; even though it was huge, it was very enjoyable crashing over the enormous waves and laterals.

We then drove up to the top of the Upper Sary Jez and camped the night, ready for the big one the next day. We only had two reports on this one, with the whitewater guide app giving it 3+ but no description and BUKE trip report giving it the same but said there was a last hidden canyon that goes away from the road that could have some ‘Interesting stuff in it’ but hadn’t run the section.

We put on high up its upper reaches, and the first 10-12km was big volume grade 2/3 with the odd abandoned gold dredger to avoid. Once the tributary of the River Ottuk drops in at the military checkpoint, the river steps up a gear going to grade 3+/4. Dave decided this was his take-out before the epicness. Another 7km further on, we could see the lower canyon walls getting closer and closer.

The entry to the final canyon was blind on a big swinging right-hand bend and was must scout grade 5 with a huge curling wave in the middle wanting to feed you into boat munching holes on the outside of the bend. There was a line through it as long as you stayed right of the curler or a sneaky line hard right. I went hard right, and so did Chris but Liam and Rob went for the bigger kahunas central line. I looked over my shoulder and saw Liam left, ‘too left’, and lost sight of Rob as he was somewhere in there as well down in the dips.

Somehow survived

Somehow, they both survived by punching through and dodging holes, and both came out wide-eyed and still in their boats so fair play to them both for going for it. This was only the first big entry rapid to the canyon, and we had another 4km to go. We scouted numerous times and portaged another massive class 5 that fed you into a keeper but also ran some outstanding grade 4/4+; then finally, we were out and took off where the Kerolu joins.

This was by far the biggest volume river we had run, all 25km of it and was on par with the Colorado Grand Canyon style of boating. After this fantastic run, we went to a hidden, hot spring further down the river that only locals know and chilled out before camping again and drove out the next morning for a bit of a rest before our last day.

Day 11

The final day and the temps had dropped somewhat, so there was less melt in the rivers; so we went for a more chilled day on the upper Turgan Ak Su, a pleasant grade 2/3 run where we had medium levels and almost blue water. A final treat to our expedition.

Over the two-week expedition, we had done nine rivers, with five of them being new descents, and I suspect all of them a first for an OC1, with a couple of others mentioned that we couldn’t do. It’s a magnificent country to visit with its vast mountain ranges, beautiful green valleys, and remoteness, a true trekker paradise; there are still areas of exploration and hidden gems. I will be back at some point and may even run commercial trips.

logistics

Finally, a little on logistics from the UK, we flew with Turkish Airlines who do have canoes on their sports equipment. The flights are not cheap, around £1000+ but when there it’s very cheap accommodation and food. We had a basic room with breakfast for under £5 a night or a posh hotel for about £25 a night. We were eating out the same £5-£8 with a meal and beer. You will need a good off-road vehicle, as most valleys are dirt tracks or worse and a driver who can speak the local dialect. Unless you like big water and a grade harder than the river descriptions, then maybe go in August/September when the rivers are calming down.
If you require more info on the rivers we did with logistics, put-ons/off, etc., email me at andrewholt99@yahoo.co.uk.

thank you

A massive thank you to Liam, Chris, Dave and Rob for joining me on this incredible journey and never forgotten; you were all awesome.