Donny's Guestbook

Yep, I think so. Generally, we prefer not to hike with a guide but if I go back to Uzbekistan I'd probably get one.

Benefits and negative impacts of involvement in citizen science water projects in Nepal
Thanks a lot for your interest in the research. You are correct for the Ethiopia study. The on-the-ground impact was citizen science monitoring for improved understanding of water resources for adaptive management for improved food security. The higher-level impact was to encourage authorities, NGOs and researchers not to dismiss shallow aquifers as unproductive and vulnerable to climate variability. In Nepal I was researching other people's ongoing or former water projects. I aimed to determine if the involved communities were benefitting from their involvement in the citizen science aspects of the projects. Much has been published about the benefits of citizen science to scientists and authorities but few have looked at the impact on citizens themselves. The conclusions were that communities are benefitting (from knowledge gain to increased social capital to improved livelihoods) but to various degrees and often in unexpected ways. However, there are also, albeit infrequent, negative impacts of involvement that were often unknown to project organisers, such as involvement being burdensome or having created conflicts. The findings have been fedback to the organisers for them to adapt their projects. There are also a couple of papers in production to disseminate the findings more broadly.

I hope I haven't come across as anti-Uzbekistan, anti-coach trip, and anti-retired people going on holiday! The photos are reminding me how stunning it was and the people are great. But for backpackers who are looking for independent travel and more untouched sights, I would probably recommend the other Stans. Whereas for people who want something different from their usual Mediterranean holidays but don't want to have to think for themselves too much regarding transportation and accommodation then I would really recommend Uzbekistan!

Hi Chris Thanks for your comments. To answer your queries: 1. I've just checked my photos and it was 2nd August 2016 when I climbed it. In April you still might have snow up there which could complicate things. There are probably some webcams on nearby ski resorts that you could access online before you get there to check the conditions. 2. The route I took wasn't narrow at all (only the very summit) as I went pretty much straight up the face rather than across the ridge from the neighbouring summit. Most blogs, and my "Highpoints of all European Countries" guidebook suggest going along the ridge. However, I read someone else's blog who failed the ridge route twice as they felt it was too dangerous before succeeding on the straight up route so I followed that one. It is a concave slope so steeper close to the top but I remember picking my way in between the solid rock on which you can use your hands. Getting down was not as bad as I expected as you can jump and slide straight down the scree. Probably only a few parts of the descent near the top were facing towards the slope. Good luck with it. Liechtenstein was unexpectedly lovely.