Fan mountains

So I have arrived in Zerafshan valley, home to the Fan mountains, I am staying in Penjakent and working with the Zerafshan tourist board. I will blog about Penjakent another time but wanted to share an experience I had recently with some new friends also working in the area.
I was offered a place on a trekking weekend to the see the highest point of the Fan mountains called Chimtarga which stands at almost 5500m, for those like me who had no idea about mountain peaks Mont Blanc one of Europe's tallest stands at 4800m.
The five of us set off for Artuch which was our starting point, we set up camp for the night and enjoyed a beer or two while talking about our route the following day and watching the sun slowly filter away over the mountains.

sleep preventer

After a somewhat restless night caused mainly by laying on the odd rock or two and the intermittent gentle tones of a donkey tethered nearby, I am now up and  watching the sun rise above the mountains, at this stage before we set off we are already at 2000m so the night is chilly and the idea of a cup of coffee from Joachim was greatly appreciated while I cooked breakfast of course.
We packed up and cleared the mess and set off for the view of Chimtarga and the glaciers, I didn't know what to expect, not really having done what I would call proper trekking! well I can report that next to running a marathon when I was 26 years old this was probably the toughest thing I have done, carrying approx. 25 lb of stuff in a rucksack we clambered across harsh terrain which elevated to 3000m in 6 km  which took about 4 hours but all the hardship was put to one side when I first saw the view of the summit. I have been to the Alps and enjoyed them immensely but the sight of the glaciers and lakes was truly breathtaking.

It was explained to me that getting to these kind of altitudes in Europe is difficult because of the snow layer starting further down the mountain making it difficult to climb and requiring more equipment.
I was happy to sit and take in the views around me for the rest of day and because I don't think I could have walked another step. The temperature even at 3000m was still 30c. we were lucky enough to witness an avalanche from Chimtarga the noise was incredible and the pictures I have hear just do not do justice to actually being there.

Chimtarga avalanche

we ate pasta in the evening and made a fire from the dead wood of the juniper trees around us and drank vodka till the fire faded, now you would have thought that with all that excitement I would sleep pretty well wouldn't you, needless to say I was up watching the sun rise once more before we took the path back to Artuch, I have to say a massive thank you to Joachim and the gang for letting come along on what was a very memorable experience. 

Andreas has a very good camera! look closely at the stars )