In july, Brad Mcmillon and I set off for the Ak-Su valley of the Karavshin region of southwest Kyrgyzstan. The place has fantastic huge granite big-walls and we were one of the first americans to visit since the 2000 hostage crisis involving four North Face expedition members. This region is one of the most remote and unspoilt areas I have ever visited and while we found confounding weather conditions we still managed to enjoy the surroundings and the friendliness of the local people. Kyrgyz pastoralists take to the high mountain pastures in the summer and while not crowded, it was impossible to walk by a yurt without being invited in for tea, bread and some kind of yogurt variant. We were at basecamp in Ak-Su for only about 16 days, (too short in my opinion) and
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