Ailampa Lakes Trek (Jyrgalan Region)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 25.26 mi
- Elevation gain
- 5,174 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 5,174 ft
- Max elevation
- 11,730 ft
- TrailRank
-
27
4
- Min elevation
- 7,409 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Coordinates
- 375
- Uploaded
- June 16, 2018
- Recorded
- June 2018
near Dzhergalan, Ysyk-Köl (Kyrgyz Republic)
Viewed 1496 times, downloaded 132 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
A landscape and culture experience that follows a winding river up the Ailampa Valley — passing yurt camps, nomadic herders and their grazing animals along the way. Featuring the panoramic blue waters of Ailampa Lake and Ailampa Glacier, it’s one of Jyrgalan’s most picturesque routes.
For more information, contact Destination Jyrgalan at destination.jyrgalan@gmail.com or www.jyrgalan.com.
This trail recording was created with the support of the USAID Business Growth Initiative.
For more information, contact Destination Jyrgalan at destination.jyrgalan@gmail.com or www.jyrgalan.com.
This trail recording was created with the support of the USAID Business Growth Initiative.
Comments (4)
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Be careful neither this trail nor Map.me are accurate to join the second lake from Ailampa lake. It makes you go in the stones. Better to follow the small river and climb up in the Stones hundred meters before the lake.
I have followed this trail verified View more
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Easy to follow
Scenery
Difficult
There have been several rock falls between the original recording and now, and since covid there have been few people doing the trails.
I wasn't able to get to the lakes because of very bad weather, but I would encourage the following things to be considered:
1) The path up to the lakes is very steep and can be dangerous in wet weather
2) After coming back down the lakes, you have to go almost all the way down to the valley floor and up again to cross the pass to get into the next valley. There is a potential route by just crossing straight into the valley directly from the lakes, but this has not been attempted by anyone to the best of my knowledge.
3) The contouring to get into the second valley (I.e. gaining elevation before crossing the pass) was quite risky with unstable ground. Probably better to sit on the valley floor and go directly over the pass or else refer to comment 2 above.
4) This is the most important comment. When coming down the Cholik Tor pass on the second day, make absolutely certain you stick to animal trails. The path on this wikiloc around Cholik Tor is completely impassable now because of rock falls and vegetation. It is _incredibly dangerous_ to follow this path. Following the animal tracks requires several stream crossings, but bite the bullet and get your feet wet to avoid a broken leg or worse.
My honest suggestion would be to either go back the way you came, or else cross the second pass and link up with the Boz Uchuk trail back to Jyrgalan.
Justin, I just redid part of this loop a few weeks ago (coming in from Boz-Uchuk) and didn't have any of the issues you noted in #4 - can you tell me a little more specifically where you had trouble? From Cholik Tor valley floor down to the Jyrgalan valley?
Hi Stephen, yes down into Jyrgalan valley through the narrow pass (which I believe is called the Cholik Tor pass). It is not impossible to do, but not religiously using the trail on the wikiloc. Before you enter into the narrow passage it's best to cross to the east side of the river, then to the west side quite soon after, and then again to the east. I think the wikiloc crosses to the east before the pass, and then crosses to the west and stays there which takes you through rock falls and deep vegetation.
Hope that helps, let me know if you need more detail.