Ak-Suu Traverse — Horse and Foot

About the Ak-Suu Traverse — Horse and Foot trek

This is the biggest route in the region and the one worth understanding properly, because no fully ridden version of it exists. The eight-day product is an explicit hybrid: days one to five on horseback from Jyrgalan through Terim-Tor, the Boz-Uchuk lakes, the Almaluu gorge and Altyn-Arashan, then a changeover at Ala-Köl where you hand back the horses and walk the last three days over the Ala-Kul pass at 3,906 m and the Telety pass at 3,792 m to Jeti-Ögüz. Seven passes, six of them above 3,300 m, 102 km. The changeover lands exactly when saddle soreness peaks and asks your legs to take over, which is the honest difficulty of the trip. If you want to stay mounted throughout, the alternative is a separate six-day ride from Turgen through Ak-Suu to Altyn-Arashan — 88 km, Karakol to Karakol, over the Boz-Uchuk and Ailanysh passes, six nights in tents — which is the closest thing to a fully ridden traverse on offer. The walked versions are longer still, 110 to 140 km over seven to nine days. Pass heights disagree between operators: Ala-Kul appears as 3,800, 3,860, 3,900 and 3,906 m, Telety as 3,770, 3,792 and 3,800 m. Quote ranges rather than single figures. Nights alternate between yurt camps, tents and guesthouses, and the tent nights at 3,100 to 3,550 m will be below freezing; sleeping bag and mattress are included. Starlink is bundled, which tells you what the coverage is like.