MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall / Winter 2017

At his home in Karakol, Kas welcomed us into two traditional yurts filled with relics of his great grandfather. The tunduk, an opening in the top of the roof, cast checkerboard shadows on the canvas wall of the yurt; representing the strength and unity of the Kyrgyz people. Snow leop- ard, wolf and bear furs hung from the walls and Ibex horns adorned the woodwork. A pile of sheep bones used for a children’s game called chuko, laid on the floor. This would be our home for the next two weeks and Kas proved an excellent host, arranging the “goat polo” experience and an afternoon with some traditional falconers who hunt with golden eagles. He also fed us unusual parts of several animals and kept the stream of Kurut —a salty fermented milk—flowing. Our first snowboarding objective was Palatka Peak, a 5,000 me- tre mountain just outside Karakol, but our journey – on horseback – was foiled by huge, frozen blocks of avalanche debris blocking the trail. The next two weeks of trying to snowboard would end in sim- ilar scenarios with wet slides ripping to the ground on every aspect. We seemed to have missed our window of stable snow by a few weeks. Discouraged, we bailed on our northern mountain aspirations and headed south in search of higher peaks and more stable snow. We would have to do so without Kas however, as his car was impounded because it matched the description of a hit and run and the investigative FALL/WINTER 2017 MLCM 97 Almost 70 per cent of the country is covered in mountains and 90 per cent of the land is 1,500 metres above sea level. TOP RIGHT Kyrgyz shepherds vie for control of a headless goat during a Kok-boru match. ABOVE Suban, one of our many taxi drivers, in front of his Soviet era 4x4 Uaz van. BELOW Children in the village of Sary-Mogol catch one last game before the sun sets behind the Pamirs.