Ala Artscha National Park
| Ala Artscha National Park | |||
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| Location: | Kyrgyzstan | ||
| Next city: | Bishkek | ||
| Surface: | 194 km² | ||
| Founding: | 1976 | ||
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The Ala Archa National Park ( Kyrgyz : Ала-Арча) is a 194 km² large mountain - National Park in the Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan . It is located in the Kyrgyz Alatau , part of the Tian Shan , around 40 km south of the capital Bishkek in the Tschüi region .
Surname
"Ala-Artscha" means "multi-colored juniper", and the park got this name because of the extensive vegetation of its mountain slopes with hemispherical juniper , which appears here in many shades and which is particularly valued in the Kyrgyz tradition. The smoke of a juniper fire is said to drive away evil spirits, but the tree should not be planted near the home because - according to tradition - over time it sucks the power from the people living near it.
The park
The park was established in 1976, has a total area of 194 km² between the coordinates 74 ° 24 'and 74 ° 34' E or 42 ° 24 'and 42 ° 36' N and extends from about 1500 m altitude at its entrance to 4895 , 4 m height with the peak Semjonow-Tjan-Schanski , the highest mountain peak in the Kyrgyz Alatau. The tree line is around 2500 m above sea level. The park includes the gorges of the Ala Artscha river and its tributaries and the surrounding mountains with around 50 peaks and around 20 large and small glaciers . The glaciated area covers a total of 33 km² (around 17% of the total area) and has shrunk by 17.9% since 1964. The thickness of the glacier has also decreased since the 1970s. Smaller mountain rivers that flow into the Ala Artscha River are fed by the meltwater from these glaciers.
Ala-Artscha has a rich flora and fauna, with more than 800 species of plants and around 170 species of animals. In addition to birds and small animals, the extremely rare snow leopards , Pamir argalis , Siberian ibex , Siberian deer , wolves , brown bears , lynxes and Himalayan marmots can be found in the higher elevations of the park .
use
The park is easy to get to from Bishkek (around 45 minutes by car). It is open all year round and the entrance fee is minimal. Ala-Artscha is a popular destination for hiking, picnicking , camping, mountaineering, climbing , glacier hiking and ice climbing . There are riding and skiing opportunities in the immediate vicinity . Riding tours along the main trails can also be arranged in the park. Camping is allowed in certain places. Angling and fishing, hunting, picking berries, flowers, blossoms and herbs, catching butterflies and other insects, and bringing dogs with you are not permitted.
The most popular seasons are late summer and early autumn. In spring and early summer the mountain rivers are rapid and dangerous. The “Alpinada” festival takes place on May 1st, where hundreds of people camp in the valley and more than 100 of them climb the 4,143 m high Komsomolets peak .
From the park entrance the road from Bishkek leads about 12 km into the park to a small cluster of buildings, the “Alp-Lager”, including a new lodging house, the “Ala-Artscha-Hotel”, which was built a few years ago. There are dozens of hiking trails in the park, including the 1.3 km walk along the Ala Artscha River, which is convenient even for inexperienced hikers, and the three main paths that start at the end of the street.
A footpath to the east that can be mastered in 4 to 5 strenuous hours , the most difficult of the three, initially climbs very steeply, then always high above the bed of the Ak-Sai brook to the foot of the Ak-Sai glacier . After 3.75 km you will reach the Ak Sai waterfall . On the Ak-Sai-Glacier there is a base camp for mountaineers from the Soviet era , the Ratsek Hut, at an altitude of around 3200 m ; Generations of young mountaineers were trained there. Today it is the base camp for mountaineers in this area. You can stay there overnight, but you have to bring your own food. Every summer there is a camp of mountaineers at the hut. From there, appropriately equipped, you can get to the Glacier Valley in one to two hours. The most famous peaks of the park rise around the Ak-Sai Glacier, among them especially the Peak Korona ( 4860 m ) with its six peaks and the Peak Swobodnaja Korea ( 4778 m ) with its imposing north face. The Corona of Spades is often used in preparation for expeditions in other areas of Kyrgyzstan. Its 1000 m high, steep north-west side above the Utschitjel Glacier is so difficult that it is not often climbed. Also in this part of the park are the four-thousanders Ak-Too ( 4612 m ), Utschitjel ( 4527 m ), Teke-Tor ( 4442 m ), Isiskatjel ( 4570 m ), Dwurogaja ( 4380 m ) and Boks ( 4200 m ), as well as a little further east or south of Frunze ( 4245 m ) and Skriabina ( 4650 m ) with the Skriabina glacier.
A second footpath, the middle and most used of the three, runs on a former roadway for a length of 22 km along the Ala-Artscha river bed and after about 10 km and 22 km respectively, reaches two ski areas that are no longer used in the midst of further four-thousand-meter peaks. The way to the former ski hut at the former Upper Ala-Artscha mountain ski base, where you can spend the night if there is space, is long and tiring, takes six to seven hours, and is not always passable: in winter and spring because of the deep snow, later because of the difficulty or even impossibility of crossing the raging river.
A third path goes southwest into the beautiful, wooded valley of the Adygene River, which is inhabited by many trout, with its waterfalls. After about 1 km the path leads past a small cemetery for fallen climbers in a larch grove, in which most graves only contain pieces of clothing or equipment, as the bodies of the casualties could not be found or recovered. A small memorial right next to the cemetery commemorates a mountaineer who cut his safety rope so as not to drag his comrades into the abyss. A helicopter - rotor blade reminiscent of the helicopter crews who crashed in the area. The path then continues for about 7 km through a spruce forest to the Adygene glacier below the Adygene peak ( 4393.4 m ) and the Panfilova peak ( 4257 m ). This is arguably the least visited part of the park, despite its abundant bird and wildlife.
Photo gallery
The Ala Artscha River
The Ala Artscha Gorge
In the Ala Artscha National Park
In the Ala Artscha National Park
In the Ala Artscha National Park
Mountains above 4000 m
Mountains and peaks with a height of at least 4000 m in the Ala Artscha National Park are (sorted by height above sea level ; unless otherwise specified, according to Komissarov :)
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literature
- Vladimir Komissarov: Mountaineering Regions of Kyrgyzstan . ITMC Kyrgyzstan (itmc@elkat.kg), Bishkek 2017 ( digitized version [accessed November 14, 2019], Russian: Альпинистские районы Кыргызстана .).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ala-Archa National Park ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) ( English )
- ↑ a b topographical map (1: 100.000, p. K-43-54, edition 1986), part of the Kyrgyz mountains and a. with Pik Semjonow-Tjan-Schanski (center left) and the rivers Ala-Artscha (left) and Alamüdün (right) on mapk43.narod.ru (with heights above sea level )
- ↑ Manfred Buchroithner u. a .: Glacier monitoring in the Ala Archa National Park (Tien Shan) ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, English)
- ↑ The last time a Chinese tourist drowned in the Ala-Artscha River was in July 2013. ( Chinese citizen drowned in Ala-Archa river ), on kabar.kg (English)
- ↑ South side of Pik Korona ( Memento from July 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), on mountains.tos.ru (English)
- ↑ Kyrgyzstan: Ala Archa ascents ( Memento of December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (The American Alpine Journal) (English)
- ↑ North side of Pik Svobodnaja Korea ( Memento from July 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), on mountains.tos.ru (English)
- ↑ North side of the Korona (Crown) Group ( Memento from July 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), on mountains.tos.ru (English)
- ↑ Komissarov: Mountaineering Regions of Kyrgyzstan , p. 278
Web links
- Ala-Archa National Park - Kyrgyzstan , on waymarking.com
- Alpine Fund: Climbing in Ala Archa National Park ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), on alpinefund.org
- Maps of climbing routes in the park ( memento of November 14, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), on mountains.tos.ru
- Photo gallery of the way to Ak Sai Glacier , on everytrail.com
- Sketch of the map of the eastern part of the Ala Artscha National Park ( memento of December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), on politexnik.spb.ru
