Route at a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Time
- about 5 hours to the glacier moraine, one way
- Start
- the Warm Springs sanatorium
- Overnight
- best done with a tent, camping by the moraine
- Good for
- hikers with mountain experience
The route
From the sanatorium, follow the left bank of the Alamedin without crossing the river. After about an hour and a half, a trail branches off to the left of the main gorge into the Salyk valley. From there it climbs alongside the stream to the tongue of the glacier.
What you'll see
Above the Salyk glacier stand Kyrgyzstan Peak at about 4,860 m, and Spartak and Usechenko peaks, both about 4,650 m. To the west is a rock massif known as the Alamedin Wall.
These walls are compared for their severity with the famous Ak-Sai horseshoe in the neighbouring Ala-Archa Gorge. Around 30 climbing routes have been put up on them, from easy to very hard. With luck, you'll spot roped teams of climbers on the ridge.
Tips
- Set off early in the morning so you reach your campsite comfortably before dark.
- Nights by the glacier are cold even in summer: you'll need a warm sleeping bag and a down jacket.
- Don't go onto the glacier itself without equipment and experience: there can be crevasses under the snow.
- Streams get deeper towards evening as the ice melts. Make river crossings in the morning.