Kerege-Tash Loop from Bokonbayevo over Tosor-Ashuu

About the Kerege-Tash Loop from Bokonbayevo over Tosor-Ashuu trek

This is the south shore's own high route, and useful precisely because it starts and ends where you are already staying. Four days out of Bokonbayevo, climbing hard on day one — nearly 1,600 m of ascent straight out of the village — then working up through Jaz-Kechuu and Kol-Bel-Ashu-Tor to cross the Tosor-Ashuu pass at around 3,900 m, the highest crossing anywhere on the Issyk-Köl side, to Kokui lake, before dropping back down the Barskoon gorge to Bokonbayevo. Between 84 and 104 km depending on the exact routing. One thing to be clear about, because the naming invites confusion: this loop does not reach Song-Köl. Tosor is where the road over the mountains to Song-Köl begins, and several trips are built around that geography, but there is no continuous horseback crossing from the Tosor pass through to Song-Köl. Multi-day itineraries that combine the two cross the pass on foot or on horseback and then drive to the lake. If Song-Köl on horseback is what you want, the Kyzart routes are the ones. What this gives you instead is a serious high loop that pairs directly with a south-shore yurt camp, and a short season — end of June to end of August — because that is when the pass is passable. Inclusions and exclusions aren't itemised, so establish them in writing.

Frequently asked questions