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International 2002 Muztag Ata
Expedition
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Since I still had
some vacation time available for this year, even after
the three weeks of climbing in Bolivia in June, I took
the opportunity for a months long climb in
southwestern China. Near Kashgar (sometimes known as
“Kashi”) is a mountain called “Muztag Ata” (known as
the “Father of Ice Mountains”) at 7546 meters (24,756
feet) that is well known in climbing circles for its
accessibility difficulties along with bad weather. So
that is where I headed for in August 2002!
On August 2nd I took an
eight-hour flight from Washington, D.C. to London, and
stayed at a hotel just outside of the Heathrow
airport. (I dislike Heathrow since every time I fly
in there seems to be only two passport control
officers on duty and it takes forever just to “enter”
the country. Argh!) The next morning I met part of
the team, which consisted of a Brit, a South African,
another Yank (from Boston), and a Malaysian. The
Scottish leader was already in Pakistan rounding up
some supplies (tents, stoves, climbing equipment) that
were left over there last year from his visit. He had
left the gear in Pakistan hoping to climb there this
year, but with the present political difficulties he
decided to head for Muztag Ata instead and needed to
retrieve the gear, travel overland to Kashgar, and
then meet up with us. So our group from London then
proceeded to take a six-hour flight on British Airways
to Baku, Azerbaijan, which continued on with a
three-hour flight to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. As you can
imagine none of us were wide-awake when we arrived at
Bishkek (formerly known as “Frunze”) on August 4th at
6 a.m.
Needless to say we had some
visa difficulties at the airport, since no one seemed
to be able to find our pre-approved arrival letter
from the government. (Invitation letters are secured
from the local mountaineering clubs/agency, which are
suppose to make it easier to arrive there and stay
there!) After some time with the visa official he
approved most of our entries, except a South African
one (he could not find that country in his rules
book), and we paid $60 U.S. dollars to enter the
country several times (i.e. a multiple entry visa).
Once I went through passport control and customs I
found our mountaineering and travel agency contact,
and he gave me a copy of the pre-approval letter to
show the visa official. By that time the official had
found a copy of the letter and reimbursed us our
money. (Afterward the fee from the club/agency turned
out to be $75 U.S., which makes me think arriving on
our own is surely a better deal all around!)
Since a small (six person)
Italian team was also arriving on this flight we all
hoisted our climbing bags on to a lorry/truck for
transport while we all took a pre-arranged bus for
some sleep. (The locals were all over us at the
airport to “assist” us for a fee with our bags, while
none of us had any local currency (“soms”). The bus
was very nice and we started off on our eight-hour
ride to Tash Rabat, near the border towards China.
After two hours on decent but bumpy roads we stopped
at a local restaurant and had “breakfast”. The menu
was not in English and our local guide/fixer
translated it from Russian to English as best he
could. (“Fish fingers” became instead some
indescribable meat patty, which I sampled and then
decided not to finish.) As we went on, hour after
hour, the roads got worse and worse. The lunch stop
was at some “hole in the wall” run down place, and the
Italians took one look at the place and passed on
eating there. While the rest of us tried the fried
fish, that was not too bad, and mainly tried to
re-hydrate with soda pop. (There was no bottled water
around and none of us were all that keen to drink the
local water.) We finally turned off the road in the
late afternoon and stopped at the yurt huts that were
to be our home for the evening.
The yurts (round enclosures
made of willow wood and dyed cloth, with a hole in the
top for the smoke from the cooking fire to escape
from) were not bad, and metal beds were placed all
around inside of them to accommodate five of us in
each yurt. It was also interesting that even though
we were in Kyrgyzstan most of the people we had met
were Russians who had emigrated from Siberia or some
other Russian place. At the same time we met the
local Kirghiz populace when we stopped for food. We
all cleaned up a bit in the local stream and then took
a short ride to “Tash Rabat”. This was actually an
old fort from the silk route days (circa 1300 A.D),
and it was interesting to see how they must have lived
back then. Even though the fort is in a state of long
decay you could still see places where the painting
inside of it has survived. Some of us then walked
back to the camp to get some exercise before the BIG
Russian type meal (soup, borsch, bread, meat,
potatoes, and tea) were served along with vodka. (We
all passed on the liquor, although some nice wine was
also served.) I must read the “Travels of Marco Polo”
some day to get an idea of how he traveled throughout
this area, and then chronicled the journey.
The next morning, August 4th,
found us on our way at 9:30 a.m. for a bumpy two- hour
ride to the border, and first through two military
checkpoints to get to the border. (This is where
having all of our papers in order, and being
associated with an invitation to visit the country,
finally served us in good stead.) In fairly quick
order we were through the main Kyrgyzstan border post
and on the short ride between the two guarded border
outposts. Once at the true border we passed under the
arch at Turugat Pass (3752 m/12,307 ft in altitude)
and transferred our bags and equipment to the waiting
Chinese bus. (The Italians were in another bus the
rest of the way.) We also met our Chinese
Mountaineering Association (aka Xinjiang Autonomous
Region Mountaineering Association) liaison officer,
who in fact turned out to be a local Muslim Uygur
young man from Kashgar. Hassan actually worked for
the Kashgar Mountaineering Association, which had as
its director his brother! Hassan has great English
speaking skills, which was a bonus, and he also was
ready for our arrival with bottled water and bread
that was gratefully accepted by all of us.
Once everything was
transferred to the waiting bus we started the long
descent towards Kashgar on very good roads. There
were not very many villages along the road, but at the
first one we were stopped by the military and they
made a cursory check through our personal backpacks
for pornography and/or religious materials. Once
through this quick bag check we continued onward to
the official Chinese border post, a good hours drive
down the road into the country, and had our passports
and bags checked. This did not take long, since
hardly anyone was at either border post when we went
through, and we continued onward again to Kashgar. It
took us approx. 3-4 hours to get there in the
afternoon, since the government is making a concerted
effort to improve the road and drainage, thus there
are many breaks and detours on the road to accommodate
the upgrade work.
That evening we arrived in
Kashgar thus completing our 700km/434 mile journey to
there. We also met the Scottish leader of the team
and who had safely traveled into Pakistan and through
the border with the climbing equipment, and who was
enjoying himself at the “Big Nose” (what the Chinese
call us folks) bar. Good place to meet, and after
moving into our rooms at the Seman Hotel (the
ex-Russian consulate area from years ago) we moved
over to the Chinese restaurant and filled ourselves
with about every imaginable combination of things that
could be mixed with noodles and/or rice. Of course
this meant getting reacquainted with chopsticks, which
we would use for the remainder of our visit in China.
(Fortunately we kept our handy spoons for eating while
up on the mountain above base camp.)
It should be noted that even
though the Kirghiz are the dominant ethnic group in
this area the Han Chinese, the major ethnic group in
main China, are certainly in charge with the Peoples
Liberation Army in overall control. The main
government is definitely in control, while also being
very liberal in their allowance with the local
majority keeping their religion (Islam) and local
customs intact. The Han Chinese are also making a
major investment in building modern structures,
usually with very poor workmanship just like in Tibet,
while nearby are the mud and brick traditional homes
of the local Kirghiz population. Already many areas
have been changed to the more “modern” tall and
densely packed housing versus the more wide-open
spaces of the older neighborhoods.
The weather during this early
portion of the trip was generally hot while low in
altitude and in the cities, while the journey on the
mountain roads generally proved to be much cooler and
nicer. The temperatures reached into and above the
high 90’s F during the day in Bishkek and Kashgar in
August, and fortunately the humidity is low then.
To attempt to get on to the
right time zone sleeping schedule we spent the next
day in the city and took in some sights, walked
around, and generally prepared ourselves for the trip
to the mountain the following day. (The government
works on Beijing time that is three hours ahead of the
“local” time, so we had to be careful what time people
meant when making plans for the remainder of the
trip.) The highlight of the day was the visit to the
“Fragrant Concubines” tomb, which looks like a
miniature version of the Taj Mahal. The story is that
sometime around 1650 the lovely daughter, who must
have smelled nice, of the local headman was sent off
to Beijing as a tribute to the leader there, and while
there became a favorite at his court. (That she died
of poison must mean that someone else did NOT like
her!) The story goes that when she died it took 3 ˝
years to cart her body back to Kashgar for burial
there in the tomb, and a cart is displayed at the
entrance to the tomb. Even now the tomb is in good
condition and has a well-kept garden in front of it,
also like the Taj Mahal. Late that evening our Aussie
climbing friend joined our merry band of men, since
flying through Beijing and Urumqi from Australia was
easier than the route we had taken from London.
Part
Two >>>>>>>>>
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