Expedition: Asia

We packed our bags and headed half way around the world to central Asia to explore the rivers and mountains of beautiful Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Tien Shan Mountain Range is full of exciting whitewater opportunities for motivated adventurers. This region has a long and rich cultural heritage that is so incredibly welcoming you won’t want to leave. We are excited to share the stories of our adventure as well as the food, the culture, and the wonderful stories that have made Expedition: Asia a trip we will certainly return for. If you are interested in joining us next year please drop us a line at the bottom of the page and thanks for following along this exciting expedition.

Expedition Asia Episodes

This would end up being our final day on the water during our trip to Kyrgyzstan. After the injury on the Karakol and the team decided to take the morning off of rafting and opted for a beautiful waterfall hike. Starting at a Yurt camp over 8500 feet in elevation the trail climbs feet in only miles.

We only had a few days left on our expedition to Kyrgyzstan so we headed out for a river we saw on the map which looked enticing. We wanted to make some solid progress around Lake Issyk Kul. Halfway around the lake was a great looking gorge we scouted on google maps...The Mighty Tamga.

Kyrgyzstan turned out to be incredible for boating, but that's probably what we should have expected from a place that is 70% mountains. After a nice night at Nurdoolot Guest House in Karakol, we packed up and headed for the river.

Expedition Asia finally kicked off in good form with our adventure on the Grigorievka river. We had an early start with no power, now water, and no heat on a cold rainy August morning. We didn't know what our target river for this day would be like or what we would find, but we were pretty sure all the rain was charging up the rivers.

After getting bogged down in logistical issues in Kazakhstan the team finally got everything squared away and on the road to the real prize Kyrgyzstan. It was a long road and an entire day of travel to reach Issyk Kul or "Hot Lake" where we would be based for the next week.

Since the team left their paddles in the US the hunt was on to find some options before we headed out to Kyrgyzstan. We heard that the Barakholka Market would be the place to find them. Ultimately, the market proved to be a bust and there were no paddles to be found.

Our first installment of Expedition: Asia brought us across the world to Almaty, Kazakhstan. We had a lot of down time to recover from the jet lag so we decided to check out the local Shymbulak mountain resort. It is an incredible mountain and a great way to get out of the city and explore some of the local mountains.

Sponsors

We also want to give a huge thank you to some of our sponsors for helping to make this expedition happen:

• Immersion Research

• NRS

• Watershed Drybags

• Hiko Sport

• Chums

Join an Expedition