Ala-Archa Skiing

Just returned from several days skiing in Ala-Archa with my friends David (a Brit living and studying Russian in Bishkek) and Frieder (a German attending medical school in Bishkek). The trek in was long, the last 2 km took us over 6 hours and we arrived well after dark. We camped out in an old abandoned ski lodge situated at 3500 m (that is over 11,500 ft) at the head of the Ala-Archa drainage. Although the snow was shallow, weak (check out snow profile) and windblown we had a great time exploring, skiing mellow runs at the base of several glaciers and dreaming of returning when there is more snow and longer days.

PHOTOS (click to see more photos)

SNOW PROFILE (click to enlarge)