27/07/18, Day 6
With our excellent camp spot right next to the launch we had the luxury of a leisurely morning to relax and enjoy the sun. There was a fair bit of cloud around and the forecast we managed to pick up was for a risk of thunder. It looked grand though and we were away by 11, working our way up the valley, along the ridge in fairly mellow climbs with base around 4000m.
It was quite cool today (I should have put my fleece on!) and my hands suffered. After circling around at base waiting for Seb to climb out we pushed on over the col, staying on the edge of the bigger mountains, with a safe margin for the building clouds (which threatened to build occasionally but then petered out). Seb got low again and I had a nice cruise around the rocky face of the mountain while I waited for him to gain height. I wanted to push on to the next col but with communication being a bit of an issue without radios, when Seb disappeared off down the valley to the south I dutifully followed. Seb found a new friend with a vulture sticking on his tail as we went exploring, and his pal came and joined me for a while. We skirted down the edge of the valley slowly losing height and the climbs getting scrappier and broken. Seb eventually landed out on the open valley floor. I found a nice climb as I was heading down to join so went on a wee tour of the valley before dropping in too.
There was a big gathering for the landing party with the usual kids and quite a few others out for the show. It was a nice gathering and an interesting mix of friendly faces. The valley was stunning; a lost world, enclosed on all sides with a deep ravine opening out into a beautiful giant amphitheatre, dotted with yurts and shacks.
It was quite cool today (I should have put my fleece on!) and my hands suffered. After circling around at base waiting for Seb to climb out we pushed on over the col, staying on the edge of the bigger mountains, with a safe margin for the building clouds (which threatened to build occasionally but then petered out). Seb got low again and I had a nice cruise around the rocky face of the mountain while I waited for him to gain height. I wanted to push on to the next col but with communication being a bit of an issue without radios, when Seb disappeared off down the valley to the south I dutifully followed. Seb found a new friend with a vulture sticking on his tail as we went exploring, and his pal came and joined me for a while. We skirted down the edge of the valley slowly losing height and the climbs getting scrappier and broken. Seb eventually landed out on the open valley floor. I found a nice climb as I was heading down to join so went on a wee tour of the valley before dropping in too.
There was a big gathering for the landing party with the usual kids and quite a few others out for the show. It was a nice gathering and an interesting mix of friendly faces. The valley was stunning; a lost world, enclosed on all sides with a deep ravine opening out into a beautiful giant amphitheatre, dotted with yurts and shacks.
Satisfied, we left to hike up for a high camp, with a quick wash in the river on the way. The river was an obstacle that we needed to cross. No problem however, we were transported across on horseback! Heading up the side valley, we had another warm welcome at the next home we passed. We turned down the chai but they insisted we took a fresh bread (#2 that day). It wasn't much further when we passed the next home and another warm welcome. These guys had a yurt though so we accepted the invite and finally got ourselves into a proper yurt! Lovely habitations and we were again treated to more delicious food, this time served up a thick soup with potatoes and barley (I think) with a little sour cheese which complemented it nicely. They'd seen us flying over and I got to see a video of myself up above! It was great to be able to show them an aerial shot of their yurt. We finished the day with 3 loaves of bread.
28/07/18, Day 7
Our last day in the mountains; our goal: get back to Osh. We didn't have too long a hike in the morning to work our way up and along the ridge to a decent, grassy slope to take off from. With good cycles coming through on the approach, it was surprisingly slow to climb out the valley and we had to patiently work our way upwards, eventually finding good climbs right above the huge rock face that disappeared into the ravine at the foot of the lost valley. Hunting for a climb, with the ground dropping away so suddenly and precipitously below was immensely intimidating and exhilarating; I was certainly happy when I was able to put some height between myself and the drop!
Another huge slab of rock awaited us on the other side of the next valley. A great summit of bare, yellow rock that we tentatively skirted our way around under the clouds enshrouding the top, feeling very very small. Storms were building deeper in the mountains, so we made good our escape, pointing our noses out into the plains for the long relaxed glide towards Osh. There were some enticing clouds set up over some small hills near the town we were heading towards and I connected nicely in a good climb, with visions of flying most of the way back to Osh (halfway was surely possible at least!). As I watched Seb disappear below and then start spiralling down to land however I followed suit. With rain starting to push out from the mountains it was either land or fly away. As tempting as it was to see how far I could get I didn't want to do it alone! So another long descent and I touched down with Seb, just outside the small town of Beyru, only 20km south of Osh.
The kids gathered around us as usual, but it was a different crowd; this group was dominated by giggling girls who took great delight in pulling contorted faces at us!
My flights:
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