Different Kind of Storm Day: The 2010 Kyrgyzstan Revolution

THE PLAN WAS… Molly Tyson and Jaime Musnicki, both of Victor Idaho, arrived at the beginning of this past week to join me for an exploratory ski expedition into the Jetim-Bel Range. With support from the Hans Saari Ski Exploration Grant, we were planning to spend 14 days pursuing ski mountaineering objectives in this remote range of the Tien Shan. We planned a departure from Bishkek on April 8th, which provided us a few days for final organizational chaos after Jaime and Molly’s arrival to Kyrgyzstan. From Bishkek we were to travel to the village of Barskoon, on the south shore of Issyk-Kul Lake before traveling via jeep over two 3,500 meter passes to our drop off location at 3700 meters in a high steppe valley just north of the Jetim Bel.

WHAT HAPPENED WAS… On Tuesday April 6th, the day Molly landed in Bishkek, demonstrators took over several government buildings in Talas, located in the far northwest corner of Kyrgyzstan. Via my network of local friends I heard about the events in the early afternoon but it took several hours for word to spread to the streets of Bishkek. The opposition party, Ata-Meken (Fatherland), were calling for protests in Bishkek and across Kyrgyzstan the following day. That evening, as I was riding a bus back to my apartment, dark skies threatened rain and I heard one local say if it rained people probably would not find the motivation to protest.

Wednesday- April 7th

Our day began as any other as protestors started gathering in Bishkek. Mid-morning Molly and I conducted an interview on the impacts of climate change with Dr. Kochumkulova, a local cultural expert. It became clear that things were escalating when the interview was cut short when Dr. Kochumkulova needed to move her car to protect it from protestors. Still, local people were going about their days, so I continued running last minute errands, including buying 2 kiddie sleds for hauling expedition gear from a seven year old Russian boy. Returning to my apartment in the city center banks were closing, the streets were clogged with traffic and my taxi driver starting speaking louder and louder into his cellphone. Turning onto Kievskaya, one of the main streets, our tiny little silver taxi was suddenly the only vehicle insight and we found ourselves facing hundreds of oncoming protestors. My driver pulled over, turned around at told me “Shass, shass (just a minute)”. He hopped out of the taxi, locked the doors and headed into the crowd shaking hands and greeting various protestors whom he clearly knew. After the crowds passed, he drove me the final two blocks home. From the apartment windows, Jaime and Molly witnessed the same crowd pass. My flatmate arrived home within a few minutes. Within an hour smoke from burning buildings filled the sky and gunfire filled the air. We gathered pieces of information about the conflict growing violent from coworkers, friends, local news and the occasional sounds of gunfire. At one point looking down into the street, we watched a group of young boys surround a police car and throw rocks through all the vehicles windows. A shaking policeman with an automatic weapon in hand finally exited the vehicle and temporarily halted the oncoming mob before the car drove away.

April 6th 16:00 - Armed Policeman disperses a crowd of violent protestors

April 6th 16:30 - Smoke billows skyward from the Ministry of Defense

Shortly after darkness, looting began on the streets below. We watched crowds of men smash into all the stores on the streets below us. As crates of oranges spilled onto the streets, new furniture was being pulled out onto the sidewalk and small boys ran by with new stereos. Mobs would move on from businesses but within minutes new mobs would appear to continue the plundering. A thin line seemed to exist and in our neighborhood the looting never transcended into homes. Feeling relatively safe on the 4th floor, we headed to bed as people on the street headed home with new refrigerators and bags of stolen groceries. Jaime awoke in the middle of the night and peered out the window. The streets were swarmed with people taking as many things as they could get their hands on – refrigerators, chairs, desks, skis, huge bouquets of flowers. While earlier in the evening there were mobs of men and very few vehicles, now there were cars lining the road to transport the bounty of the looting. People had shifted focus from destruction to removal.

April 6th 21:35 - (Above)-Protesting turns to looting shortly after dark

Thursday – April 8th

Morning light revealed the extent of the looting. Discarded good and building debris were strewn about the street with wilted roses from the flower shop down the street and orange peels highlighting the mess. As people scavenged through piles for any valuable remains, a group of men took celebratory vodka shots at sunrise, occasionally yelling out “Bakiev is dead” in Kyrgyz. With daylight, the streets started to slowly fill with people stepping out to survey the damage. The first sign of normalcy was sidewalk cleaners making their rounds sweeping their long grass brooms in wide arcs across the streets. The opposition had declared their victory and had placed Rosa Otunbayeva as the interim leader. This seemed by the flight of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the president, had fled to his home in the south. Our planned departure time for our expedition passed. With roads and all local transport shut down leaving was not only foolish, but also impossible. After establishing that the violence had ended, with some local friends we left the apartment to walk through the neighborhood taking in the extent of the looting. Grocery stores were stripped bare, storefronts destroyed; several government buildings completely destroyed by fire and many businesses around the center were riddled with bullet holes. Other store owners were emptying their inventory preparing for the possibility of another night of looting.

^{April 7th 11:35 - Scorched to the skeleton, nothing but papers remain at a government building downtown (above left) and debris from looters are all that remain at Narondni, a local chain supermarket (above right)}

^{April 7th 12:35 - (Above) A man looks throw broken shop windows in downtown Bishkek}

At the White House, the building that holds the country’s president and parliament, we stopped to observe both the growing crowd and the numerous vehicles that had been rammed into the front gates before being burned. Local Kyrgyz and Russian families walked the streets with us, snapping photos with their cellphones and seeming just as stunned as us. Control of the new party seemed questionable as burning continued at the White House and papers continued to be tossed out the windows of this and other government buildings. By early afternoon, we returned and settled back into the apartment. In our neighborhood things remained quiet through the night, as a citizen militia group patrolled the streets for looters. However, other parties of Bishkek experienced continued violence and gunfire through the night.

^{April 7th - (Above) Men stand on an abandoned tank to see over the crowds gathered around the Whitehouse}

April 7th - (Above) Crowds inspect burned cars in downtown Bishkek

Friday April 9th

Taking the advice of the U.S. Embassy and other knowledgeable locals, we find ourselves still in Bishkek. Our current plan is to hold off at least through the weekend on making any moves towards Barskoon and the mountains. We, along with everyone else, are interested to see how the new government manages re-establishing order and security in the country. From most appearances, on the street, people are continuing on with their lives. Rumors abound about what the weekend will bring. There is speculation the president is attempting to rally support, but there is also talk that soon he will announce his resignation. In the mountains, there is often bad weather that we must sit and wait out in the safety of camp. On this expedition, our ski plans are on hold as we sit in Bishkek waiting out a different type of storm days.

Historic Photographs

Glacier Inventory of the USSR

Published by the Soviets in 1974 as part of an inventory of all the glaciers in the USSR , these historic photographs are of glaciers in the At-Bashy Range. Reference numbers of the glaciers correspond to maps and estimates of size. This summer, I plan to reproduce many of these through repeat photography to provide visual documentation of changes in ice cover. Additional data, including area estimates, from the USSR inventory will aid my analysis on quantifying glacial retreat in the At-Bashy Range. It took a while to find these historic inventories tucked away in local office, but I was thrilled to finally find them. For future work, I will be scanning all of the inventory that covers the Tien Shan and digital copies will be inventoried with The University of Central Asia.

Source: Katalog Lednikov SSSR [Glacier Inventory of the USSR](in Russian) 1974 Centralnaya Aziaya [Central Asia], Tom 14 V 1 Kyrgyzstan Part 6 Katalog Lednikov SSSR [Glacier Inventory of the USSR]

Historical Maps

Glacier Inventory of the USSR
Published in 1974, these historic maps indicate glaciers in the At-Bashy Range, as part of an inventory of all glaciers in the former Soviet Union conducted from 1964-1974. Reference numbers correspond to estimates of size and a few selected glaciers have photograph documentation. Click on the maps to enlarge them.

OVERVIEW MAP

Source: Katalog Lednikov SSSR [Glacier Inventory of the USSR](in Russian) 1974 Centralnaya Aziaya [Central Asia], Tom 14 V 1 Kyrgyzstan Part 6 Katalog Lednikov SSSR [Glacier Inventory of the USSR]

Skiing Arslanbob

Spring was in the air as I returning to the Uzbek village of Arslanbob in Southern Kyrgyzstan to do some more skiing with children and the local CBT (Community based tourism) guides. Green pastures and grazing animals dotted the landscape on the drive down. I befriended my taxi driver and upon arriving in Arslanbob, tea with his family turned into a four hour dinner, finished only when his wife wrapped me up in her finest headscarf.

My first days rainy weather deterred skiing, but better weather finally got us out with local children. I was joined by several of the guides, as well as Kjartan, a Norwegian telemark skier who spent over a month in Arslanbob this winter working with CBT. With the kids, we headed up into the agricultural fields and walnut forests to work on basic ski skills. The enthusiasm and pride of the children is contagious. Despite their old equipment and having to walk uphill for every turn, they skied the entire day.

Kjartan and I, along with our friend Toby organized a three day winter camping trip for the rest of the week. Local Uzbek guides, Hayat and Mischa, joined us for their first winter camping trip. Several local guides accompanied us as carrying some extra gear. Using horses, with skis strapped on the sides, we rode up through the village of Arslanbob. Passing a game of ulack (like polo but with a dead sheep) dark skies turned into rain. We stopped to drink tea in a manger and let the rain pour down around us. Clearing skies encouraged us to continue up out of Arslanbob into the mountains and to Jaz-Jarym. Here we set up camp in a Shepard’s hut as the rain turned to snow.

Socked in the following morning, Mishca set off for home with his umbrella protecting him from the continuing snowfall. With no visibility we drank tea until lunch time when parting clouds urged us to go explore. Despite the flat light we managed to ascend and ski off one of the main ridges. We then sought out terrain with more features, including a beautiful chute that we skied twice and marked Hayat’s first couloiur descent. Temperatures dropped as the snow continued…

The next morning clear skies beckoned us from our sleeping bags at first light. We managed to eek out enough fuel for tea, water and breakfast during the most incredible sunrise. Completely enclosed by the mountains of Babash Ata and Jaz-Jarym, the ski potential was almost hard to fully grasp. We first headed south, north aspects were holding 30-50 cm of new snow. Stability tests reconfirmed my confidence in the snowpack. We skied two beautiful ridges off the southern ridge of Jaz-Jaryn, working higher each time before crossing the valley and heading up a beautiful unnamed peak. Toby and Hayat skied off a north slope, while Kjartan and I ascended the summit of the peak and skied an aesthetic line of powdery bliss. From our descent, we traversed and boot packed to follow the tracks of our group down into the gorge and back to camp.

The descent to the village took just over an hour, before we gorged ourselves on plov (rice and mutton) and bread. The following day, we said our goodbyes and headed south to Osh where trees were budding, flowers blooming and birds singing. Nestled into the agriculturally rich Fernanga valley, Osh is the heart of southern Kyrgyzstan. Over three thousand years old and it has a distinctively less soviet feeling than the northern part of the country. From Osh, Kjartan flew home to Norway and Toby reunited with his family. I spent two days exploring the city before flying back to Bishkek on a rickety old plane. En-route back north, we flew directly over Arslanbob and Jaz-Jaryn. Once again, but this time from the air, I was overwhelmed by the unbelievable ski terrain which bodes well for fledgling ski guide program in Arslanbob.

At Bashy Map

A newly produced map of the At-Bashy Range, where I will be spending May-August working on my main research project. Click to enlarge...

Uchitel peak

This past weekend with a truly international team (British, German and American) four of six of us made an incredible winter ascent of Uchitel peak (4526m) in Ala-Archa Park south of Bishkek. Although not a technical peak, the snow and elevation gain amounted to two longs days. Mammut has done a wonderful job helping to restore the Ak-Sai or Raztek climbing hut we used enroute. Wow! The mountains here are amazing!

Adygine research station

Spent a day out with local researchers breaking trail up towards Adygine research station in Ala-Archa National Park. We dug some full snowpits, they certainly have some different techniques here. Last year, two of the field assistant were caught in an avalanche and partially buried. Now they walk with long strings attached in the event they are caught, they can be found via the string. The mentality of avalanche safety here is still developing and has a long way to go.

Snowpack Synopsis

From my touring and digging in the snow around the country,
here is a discussion I wrote of this season's snowpack in Kyrgyzstan.

Kaindy

Photographs and a summary from a week of exploratory ski touring in the Chong Kemin Valley above the village of Kaindy. The trip started with a marshutka off the road and cold temperatures. With Ryan and Abre of The Kyrgyzstan Plan, we left the village of Kaindy and climbed over 1000m to set up base camp overlooking the KungeyAla-Too Range. Despite the ranging winds at the beginning of our 5 days out, we toured through incredible terrain and managed to find many protected pockets of powder. We remotely triggered a small hard slab avalanche bootpacking a ridge our last day (click here to read my discussion of this season's snowpack).

Back in Bishkek it feels like spring. As the Kyrgyzstan Plan prepares for the arrival of the rest of their group, I am back to making maps and excel spreadsheets for the time being.

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