Explore-Share logo and link to home

Ice climbing course for beginners in Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan

Ice Climbing course for beginners Ala Archa
Ice climbing course for beginners in Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan
Ice climbing course for beginners in Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan
Ice climbing course for beginners in Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan

Join this ice-climbing educational course in Ala-Archa Gorge (Kyrgyzstan) led by certified mountaineering instructor & KMGA aspirant Alexey!

Not specified

Tian Shan

14 Days

Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov

Fit

First Time


Description

If ice climbing is something you always wanted to pursue, this is your chance. Join me for a 15-day course, especially designed for beginners, in Ala-Archa Gorge, just 41 km out of Bishkek. Also, for intermediate climbers, it is a unique opportunity to find lots of life-hacks and boost their skills.

Ala-Archa Gorge, right at the heart of the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan, is a perfect area for ice-climbing at all levels of difficulty, so it is for your first steps in this empowering activity.

To begin this program, I will meet you at the Manas International airport near Bishkek. Next, we will transfer to the Ala-Archa National Nature Park (2,000 m).

Up in the mountain our main accommodation site will be the Racek mountain hut (3,340 m). Every day we will depart from the hut to different slopes and climbing areas, mainly the Ak-Sai glacier area.

I will provide you with a complete educational ice-climbing course lectures and practical training sessions. The main topics will include:

  • Technical ice climbing

  • Dangers in the mountains

  • Climbing gear and its usage

  • Movement and safety on different types of mountainous terrain

  • First aid and skills in transporting an injured person with anything available

  • Movement and belay on snow and iced slopes"

  • Crevice rescue in a group

A central part of the program consists of ascents to the Ak-Say area summits, with peaks above 4,000 m. The overall difficulty of the routes we will go on varies from levels F to TD+. You can see the detailed program, day by day, below.

While I will provide all the climbing equipment, the remaining personal equipment needs to be rented separately.

Note that while the basic program is 15 days long, it can be adjusted to the guests' goals and wishes. Finally, every client must get compulsory insurance for climbers.

Interested in this Ice Climbing course for beginners in Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan? Request your booking! If you are interested in Rock Climbing, take a look at this Rock climbing course for beginners in Ala Archa Gorge, Kyrgyzstan program.

Price includes

- Guiding fee

- Accommodation included

- Transport during the trip

- Breakfast

- Lunch

- Dinner


Itinerary

Day 1: Manas airport - Bishkek

  • Meeting at Manas International airport

  • Transfer to Bishkek

  • Check-in on equipment

  • Walk around the city, shopping for food, personal supplies and missing equipment

  • Overnight at hotel in Bishkek

Day 2: Ala-Archa National Nature Park

  • Transfer to Ala-Archa National Nature Park (2,000 m)

  • Accommodation at the hotel

  • Acclimatization walks

  • Lecture on “Dangers in the mountains”

Day 3: Racek mountain hut

  • Ascent to the Racek mountain hut (3,340 m)

  • Accomodation in the hut

  • Review lecture on climbing equipment

  • Practical lesson on “Knots and their use in mountaineering”

Day 4: Practice day

  • Movement and self-rescue on a snow slope

Day 5: Ak-Sai glacier area peaks

  • Acclimatization ascent to Ak-Sai glacier area peaks (4000+ m / Level of dificulty: F)

Day 6: Practice day

  • Movement on an ice slope, basic crampones technique

Day 7: Practice day

  • Ice screw usage, climbing slopes of different angles with one and two ice axes

Day 8: Practice day

  • Roppeling – ascent and descent on the fixed line, work with climbing gear

Day 9: Pracitce day

  • Technical ice climbing with ice tools of diferent types

Day 10: Ak-Sai glacier area peaks

  • Ascent to one of the Ak-Sai glacier area peaks (Difficulty level: PD to D-)

Day 11: Practice in descent

  • Practice in descent on the ice slope: Abalackov sling, screw-off system

Day 12: Practice day

  • Crevice rescue technique

Day 13: Ak-Sai glacier area peaks

  • Ascent to one of the Ak-Sai glacier area peaks (Difficulty level: PD to D-)

Day 14: Day in reserve

  • In case of bad weather, or to rest

Day 15: Bishkek

  • Descent to Bishkek

  • Accommodation at the hotel

  • Time to rest or walk around the city

Day 16: End of program

  • Departure from Bishkek

 

Details

Accommodation

Hotels, Racek mountain hut or camping

Meeting point

Manas airport, Kyrgyzstan

About the guide

Languages

Kyrgyz | English

Certificates

KMGA


What people are saying about Alexey Pototskiy

Tomer Firon

5.00

August, 2022

Alexey was beyond our expectations! He was extremely friendly throughout the whole 10 days, super professional, and very attentive. He was very flexible about the program, both due to weather conditions and our requests, in a way that made sure we covered all the content we expected to cover. From the moment we met, Alexey was eager to help us preparing for our course (even in the day before the course started). He also helped us a lot with planning the rest of our stay in Kyrgyzstan after the course ended. Once we got to the hut (where the course took place) it was immediately clear the Alexey is a true local expert, who knows every route and every possible complication and how to make sure we were all safe all the time. The reason for the 3 stars review on Explore-share service rating is that it was a bit complicated to pay for the course (1 star) and that the details of the course were unclear (regarding itinerary and prices of the small stuff- food, accommodations, included gear etc.- 1 star). But we are definitely happy with the outcome!

Matthew

5.00

August, 2018

Dear Alex and Anastasiya, we want to thank you two for this awesome adventure! We want to thank you for your patience (it's not easy to handle such a crazy group of singers, laughers, crazy people ;) ), your professionalism, your smiles, your warmth and your positive attitude! We will keep these days in our hearts and send think back to you two with a smile on our faces! Thank you. Matt, Susi, Mann Roberto

Jørgen

5.00

October, 2017

I ended up climbing for 2 weeks in Ala Archa with Alexey, and then I climbed Khan Tengri by myself. I was not able to attempt Pobeda because of some frost damage on my fingers, but I hope to be able to try it one day. Alexey was a great guide and it was awesome to climb with him!


 

Join our newsletter!

Stay up-to-date on the best adventures.