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Another long driving day back to Barnaul, overnight at the hotel in preparation for a flight back to Moscow, and for Mike, Nan, ex-Marine and myself, a change of airports to catch Lufthansa back to Frankfurt. In the Lufthansa Lounge at Sheremetyevo, the four of us went into a major food orgy, snarfing down as many bags of peanuts and potato chips humanly possible in a matter of minutes. AND, airline food never tasted better in our lives. Shows what two weeks of starvation will do...talk about desperation....
The Altai Mountain Trek would have been a wonderful trip with the proper Siberian organizer instead of the ill-fated one it became. I've always hesitated to book with bare-bones operators thinking they couldn't possibly do a good job in remote areas and instead used Mountain Travel Sobek who always puts quality trips together. Unfortunately for all concerned, their Siberia tour operator not only let them down but created a potentially life-threatening situation for everyone, including Rob.
little cook and Ann
Continue reading "The Siberian Altai Trip Was Over" »
One last uphill, one last adventure...or...debacle. At the top of a hill, Leonid decided to deviate off the trail down to the river and camping spot for tonight by bushwacking. Off he went, flying through brambles, stinging nettles and stabbing bushes with the "jets" close on his heels. ex-Marine and I were hauling *#*, huffing and puffing just trying to keep up and Leonid in sight. I did not want to get lost again and this was not hiking...it was broken-field running. Mercifully, Leonid came to a rest stop and asked where Rob was. How the hell would I know? Rob was shepherd as usual...and always the last one down. Marlynne and Michael gasped up to us and Leonid asked the same question..."Where is Rob." Marlynne said Rob was behind her and little cook behind Rob. Rob told Marlynne to go on ahead as he wanted to wait for little cook. Now, little cook approached the group but still no Rob. We threw ourselves on the ground and waited for one hour, calling and whistling while Leonid ran back up the mountain, in circles and finally came back down to where the group was sitting...without Rob.
Continue reading "Even More Excitement In The Altai Mountains - Siberia" »
By now, you probably agree with us that Leonid was a terrible guide. He consistently gave unclear directions as to time, distance, and whether there would be water along the way to fill water bottles. Quite a few days, we hiked all day without water in open conditions and under a broiling sun, and it wasn't unusual for everyone to become dehydrated. In addition, Leonid's estimation of time was always off because he was so fast, and he catered to the people who were able to keep up with him. They were always out of sight and, again, Rob didn't know the trails. It developed into an accordion effect. Spread out over large distances, until the slower ones caught up, and then the "jets" would take off like a bat out of hell. But Day 10 took the cake.
Leonid and Rob offered two hikes that day. Leonid led six of us on the "slow" trek (Brian, Liz, Marlynne, Michael and us) and Rob took the "jets" to visit a scenic lake before meeting our group at tonight's camp. Below a trail leading up the mountain, Leonid told Slava (horse leader) to wait for us at the top of the mountain and lead us to camp while he went to assist Rob.
Slava
Continue reading "More Adventures in The Altai Mountains - Siberia" »
Up and over another pass with incredible views of Mount Belukha ( the highest mountain in Siberia, at 14,800'). The massif had four peaks with snow glistening, and over 700 square miles of glaciers. Mount Belukha is a favorite for serious climbers and a Korean mountaineering group was there at the same time. (Most ascents are of the eastern peak.) There was also a mountaineering base and Rescue Service station on the shore of Akkem Lake along with a meteo station.
Hiking alongside and through a boulder-filled river to another permanent tented camp. By now, everyone was keeping detailed notes about this exploratory trek. Mountain Travel Sobek was going to hear from us if we survived what was beginning to resemble a Green Beret exercise.
walking through boulders in river
Continue reading "On To Mount Belukha In The Ak-kem Valley - Siberia" »
An extremely long uphill on a good path, and ex-Marine started getting nauseous from exertion (he tends to hike too fast), and altitude. With the "jets" already at the top of the pass, he stopped to lie down along the trail after heaving up breakfast. A 15-minute rest, and Rob along with the two of us proceeded slowly up...and up...and up until the top was in sight with gorgeous views.
A brief bit of information on hiking at altitude. Unless you, like Ann, live at altitude, there is no such thing as hiking too slowly. Jacques, a wonderful mountain guide with Rob and us in Kyrgyzstan, taught us that. You are supposed to take a step...rest on the back leg...take another step...rest on that leg...all the way to the top, getting there rested and in good shape. The next time you watch a documentary about K2 or Everest and wonder why the climbers are hiking at a snail's pace, you'll understand.
horses plodding towards the pass
Continue reading "Up and Over Karatiurek/Karatyurek Pass - Siberia" »
The next morning dawned bright and sunny. The horsemen had returned with all the tents BUT still no silverware, or enough dishes to go around. The entire trek was spent drinking tea out of soup bowls, sharing the few cups and plates, waiting for someone to finish so you could have their cup or saucer. Laugh...that was about all anyone could do.
We also spent the entire trek standing up during all meals since there were no camp chairs to sit on which left only wet ground and mud with an occasional rock or log. That was the very last thing anyone wanted to do after hiking a long, if not downright exhausting, day trying not to be left behind.
Sheila, still smiling
Continue reading "Along The Kucherla River and Karatiurek/Karatyurek Pass in Siberia" »
The flight to Barnaul was on some sort of bi-level Russian plane (absolutely no choice in airlines) with every seat taken. A Barnaul arrival at 6:30 am, and Len-Alp, the Russian tour organizer, had two mini-buses waiting for us with no food or water in it, and no time for breakfast since we had a 9-11 hour drive ahead of us. At first Len-Alp was going to pack 10 people in one vehicle the size of a Land Rover along with two other persons that they insisted had paid for transfers to the base camp even though they were not with our group! It turned out to be close to a 16-hour drive, and we finally found bottled water (carbonated - "with gas" only) along the way.
Rob, and the others had trained from Mongolia to Novosibirsk and from there to a small town on the way to Vysonik. Introductions all around, Rob organized some food and it was off again, arriving at Vysonik more dead than alive. It's always a little bit ludicrous how many high-powered people sign up for off-the-wall trips like this. We had two executives from Goldman-Sachs (both women, one based in New York and the other, London), and an American Express Executive just to name a few.
Continue reading "Barnaul and Vysonik Base Camp, Tyungur Village - Siberia" »
Arrived in Moscow, made our way through immigration without any problem and thank heavens our bags were there. Svetlana met us outside customs and transferred us to the Hotel Rossia, one of the biggest all-time dumps we'd ever been in. The Rossia was one of the biggest hotels in the world, with over 2,700 rooms, constructed between 1964-1975. The only thing going for it was location...location...location, a three-block walk to the Kremlin, and Red Square. The hotel itself was built as a square with an inner courtyard, the lobby filled with prostitutes and our room was "bare bones" or "barely adquate"...take your pick. This room faced the courtyard where due to lack of air conditioning, we got to listen to the reverberation of disco music all night. It was either that or suffocate. And, if you asked the floor matron, or hall monitors, on duty (typically Russian to have a floor matron who watched your comings and goings, handed out keys and dispensed no information) for anything, the answer was..."Nyet...not possible."
I was glad to hear that the Rossia Hotel finally closed its doors January 1, 2006 and was demolished for an entertainment complex. That was a blessing and no great loss to the world.
map showing Rossia Hotel location
Continue reading "A Fast Two Days in Moscow" »
Air ? The easiest method for us was flying from Chicago-Frankfurt on United, and then Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. The following airlines fly to Moscow: Alitalia, Air France, Austrian Airlines, British Airlines, Delta, LOT, Lufthansa, and Swiss International. Almost every airline connects through somewhere and usually arrives at Sheremetyevo1. There are also two other major airports in Moscow - Domodedovo, and Vnukovo.
Visas? Had to get a single-entry Russian visa. Either obtain one from your local Russian Embassy or check out Russian Visa Online. I personally think it's just easier to do it on-line if possible.
Hotels? Only one hotel was necessary. Out by the Frankfurt Airport for the night before we flew home to Chicago. I always go on-line and pick the least expensive hotel by the airport with shuttle service to and fro. This time it was the Steigenberger Esprix Hotel Frankfurt that had the best price.
Continue reading "Siberia and Altai Mountain Planning" »
Years ago, Mountain Travel Sobek organized a trek to Kyrgyzstan that also included a few days touring in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (where the trip started), and Samarkand before flying into Kyrgyzstan. The tour leader was Rob, dynamic, intelligent, personable and fluent in Russian. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I took that trip with Rob and had great experiences. I also arranged for private extension to Bukhara and Turkmenistan (one day I'll write about this incredible trip). The Kyrgyzstan trek coincided with a hairy situation involving the kidnapping of some Japanese tourists and Rob was so extremely qualified, we knew that if there was a way to keep a group safe, Rob would be the man to do it.
So...when Rob e-mailed that he and Mountain Travel Sobek were putting together an exploratory trip, trekking in the Altai mountains of Siberia, with only invited participants (people he knew were good trekkers, congenial and able to go with the flow), I thought...why not! It took ex-Marine a little bit longer (all right...a lot longer and many arguments later) to agree. And then he only agreed because this destination was so remote, there'd be no possibility of political upheaval or terrorism. Who goes to Siberia?
Granted...Siberia sounded a little extreme even for us with its history of "Gulags" and "Political Prisoners." There must have been some reason the former U.S.S.R sent them to Siberia... What was I thinking!
Continue reading "Visit Siberia? What Was I Thinking!" »
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