kayakstan.net :: Day 17 - mechanical problems
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Once resupplied in Karakol, both trucks headed west along the south shore of lake Issy-Kul, stopping to camp at the bottom of the Baskoon valley. This was to be our last camp for a while at a sensible (and warm) altitude, so we made the most of it by taking our very competent drivers Andrea and Sergey, and interpreter Rinat, for a wee paddle on the lake. A very enjoyable evening ensued, with Andrea swimming, making up for it by giving us each a big cup of vodka, and beating us thoughly at his local card game.
The next morning we set off towards the upper reaches of the Naryn river which drains quite a large proportion of the central Tian Shan, and the journey took us south over the Ala-Too range - our highest pass so far at 4021m.
The ascent up the pass proved too much for both the trucks. Andrea's was the worst with all guesses at the speedily devised sweepstake being broken with over 40 stalls. At the top of the pass, after what seemed like the drivers manually fuelling the engine every 100m, we celebrated by singing - it was Dave's Birthday afterall. A bit of a breather to let the drivers fiddle around with the trucks let some of us test our french cricket skills, while the more energetic scaled the nearest summit to take advantage of the stunning view.
With the drivers having fixed the trucks we pushed on down the other side of the pass, and made another icy camp at an altitude of about 3500m. It was the perfect temperature to condense all your breath on the inside of a breathable bivibag rendering it like a slow washing machine. Nice.
The next morning Tim, Dave and Graham decided they'd like to do a multi-day on the river, 50km of flat, 50km of Gd2-4, climaxing in the uncertain paddle/portage 'waterfall canyon'. The rest of us headed north after dropping them off to explore the tributaries that join together to form the Small Naryn, itself a trib of the 'big' Naryn.
It was at this point we really started to run into problems. The trucks weren't really fixed, despite the driver's best efforts, and had an engine life of about 200m before first aid needed to be applied. The 'road' to the north ended in inpassable bog. By the end of the day we were back where we started. Bugger. Another washing machine bivibag experience then.
The next morning we started at day break towards the town of Naryn (confusing, isn't it?) - I think it was now a mudflap in the fuel pump, the seat back having failed. The mudflap proved a good choice, and we made good time... until we encountered an inpassable landslide across the road. No way through meant a long loop back round the way we had come to meet the others.
James, Rob, wouter, Martyn and Phil C decided to hop on the river for what we thought was 3 days of chase boating the other trip. Phil H ('too old' to paddle grade 3 for a lot of km) thought he'd rather slave drive the trucks back to Karakol to get fixed and around on the the main roads to the agreed confluence meeting point. His choice was a good one possibly, as he got put up for free by Turkestan in their very plush guesthouse. Power shower, proper sitdown toilet, and even a TV. Lucky bugger! Turkestan does have beds, and by the looks of it can be very comfortable indeed, we've just been too cheap to take advantage of this when we stayed before...