ARSLANBOB

I just returned from a week and half in Arslanbob, a tiny Uzbek village tucked in the world’s largest walnut forest in southwest Kyrgyzstan. The purpose of my trip to Arslanbob come as a guest instructor for a fledgling backcountry ski touring program initiated by Hayat Tarikov, the head of Arslanbob Community Based Tourism (CBT). Community Based Tourism originated out of a women’s cooperative that was started in Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan in 1999 in conjunction with the Swiss Development Company Helvetas. CBT came to Arslanbob in 2001 and Hayat became the head, with 18 homestays in the village and 25 guides working for him. The basis of CBT is to connect tourist with locals to provide services ranging from homestays to horseback riding. Kyrgyzstan has the most expansive networks of this type in Central Asia.

Hayat’s interest in ski touring is dual fold. He is most interested in promoting winter tourism as he would like to see a more steady influx of money through the year. Currently almost all tourists come in the summer. This past year, Hayat said over 1500 tourist came through Arslanbob, but only 36 of them came in winter. Beyond tourism development Hayat is also genuinely interested in teaching locals, especially children to ski. Although I had met Hayat about a month ago in Bishkek I was approaching this experience with a great deal of flexibility. I had planned a little curriculum but I was also keen to observe their current backcountry practices.

I was accompanied to Arslanbob by my friends Ryan Willis and Toby Wheeler with Toby’s family. We took two days to drive there, crossing two 3000+ meter passes en route just before a huge winter storm moved across Kyrgyzstan. We managed to get a little skiing in the Susamyer Valley, but found the 40 cm snowpack to be unconsolidated and baseless. We arrived in Arslanbob late at night after a long second day of driving complete with a flat tire, which was repaired for about $1 in 30 minutes on the Uzbekistan border while we ate shashlyck (kebabs) and drank tea.

Arslanbob is a mostly Uzbek village of about 15,000 people nestled against the 4000m+ Babash-Ata Mountains. Considered quite conservative, there are almost 20 mosques in the village. Hayat arranged for us to stay with one of the his CBT homestays in a very nice house tucked amongst a fruit orchard.

We brought the cold weather with us and it dumped 35 cm of snow in Arslanbob our first day. The previous week had seen a lot of rain and the temperature had stayed above freezing. Hayat gave us a tour of town, his office and all his equipment. He has a few decent pairs of skis with ski touring bindings and skins but mostly a lot of old heavy equipment. Acquiring skis here, especially touring skis is not the easiest undertaking.

Our first tour we skied up into the agricultural fields and walnut forests above town with a group of eight. Lacking any visibility we traversed and skied several mellow slopes. There was a wide range of skills among the guides. Several of the guides have decent skiing and travel techniques but most of the guides are beginning skiers and several days we had first time skiers out with us. What I was most impressed by in Hayat and all of his guides was their enthusiasm! It became apparent that what I had to offer was just providing basic tips for winter travel and encouraging good ski skills. All of the guides speak Uzbek and Russian, but only a few speak English. However, Kyrgyz is similar to Uzbek and my basic Kyrgyz vocabulary was understood and very helpful.

The next day brought beautiful clear skies, which allowed us to venture to Toguz-Bulak Jailoo (Nine-Springs Summer Pasture) in more advanced terrain against the base of Babash-Ata Mountain. Again the group was large, twelve of us, as many of the guides were very eager to join the group. It made for lots of rotation breaking trail through the 40 cm of new snow the rapidly warmed through the day with the intense solar radiation. We spent lots of time talking about little things such as travel etiquette, picking routes and basic avalanche rescue. Picking a lunch spot seemed very important to all the guides, and we ended up shoveling a meter of snow off a huge boulder. In true Uzbek/Kyrgyz style we sat around a center cloth covered with breads, jams, cheeses and tea. In the afternoon I showed some very simple stability tests (jumping on small slopes and digging hand pits). We were able to find some great powder skiing on a mellow north slope which many of the guides were unable to appreciate with 190cm straight skis.

The following day it drizzled and again we only ventured to the walnut forests. Hayat and I shared several long discussions about the changing winters in Arslanbob. Rain is becoming more and more prevalent each year according to Hayat and it was interesting to listen to him and the guides discuss about their childhood winters and current winters.

The next week brought a repetitive weather pattern of rain, snow and sun. We stuck to the walnut forests in the rain and snow working on ski skills and just enjoying being out. A Norwegian skier who had worked as a ski instructor, Kjolton, joined us mid-week. With his help, we set up a ski skills obstacle course one afternoon and spent lots of time talking and working on skiing technique. Every day lunches were elaborate and laughter widespread. The enthusiasm of all the guides was contagious and admirable given their equipment and lack of resources.

Hayat hosted a large dinner party for us one evening, complete with plov and a few too many shots of vodka. I presented him his first avalanche probe and a new hat. As the week wore on it became apparent that many of the guides needed to rest more and take care of blisters and sore feet, so it was good that Friday the holy day arrived. Most guides took the day off to pray and Toby, Ryan, Kjoltan and I returned to the base of Babash-Ata. With a smaller group and good weather we were able to climb and ski Green Hill, a smaller peak that sits just above Arslanbob. Incredible terrain and fantastic skiing! The end of the week brought more rain and Toby and his family departed.

I prepared some material for Hayat to use for reference to continue his education in winter recreation. Topics I covered included basic rules of safe travel, recognizing avalanche danger, basic equipment lists and basic information about avalanches. Kjoltan will hopefully translate the documents into Russian, so that non-English speaking guides can utilize the handbooks as well. Also as a favor to a friend, I aided Hayat is writing up a description of his ski tours for advertisement. From what I observed ski touring in Arslanbob has great potential but any visitor that comes to Arslanbob to ski should be flexible in a multitude of ways. To only come for the snow and the mountains would be a disappointment, but to enjoy the company of the local skiers and the cultural makes for a unique experience. But it seems that rain is not uncommon, punctuality is not emphasized and the ski skills of the guides is still developing.

Ryan and I returned to Bishkek in one long day in a shared taxi. It was hard to leave Arslanbob, as there were many mountains and jailoos I wanted to explore further. I am certain I will return again to teach and enjoy the hilarious company of Hayat and his guides. In the future, I would really like to aid him in getting more ski equipment, especially cross-country ski equipment for kids in Arslanbob.

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