How my hike to Bukreev peak turned out to be a hike to Furmanov peak

Finally some good stuff! Hiking, mountains! This is what I came here for.

I came to Almaty yesterday in the evening and met my new host Ascar. I wanted to hit the bed early as I spent 20 hours on a train. But Ascar suggested that he would show me the city a bit (it was 11 pm) after which we would grab a beer and so we did. Later on Ascar wanted to go clubbing which I am not a fan of and anyway I wanted to start the next day early. So Ascar went to a club and I went to his place. Still I went to bed at 2 am, really a good time if you want to go hiking.

What I like about my trips is that I sometimes or perhaps often wake up not knowing how I will spend the day. Ascar suggested that I go to Big Almaty Lake but after reading that it is crowded at weekends I decided not to. I got up past 8 am, really a good time to go hiking, and ended up taking a bus at 10.30. I decided to hike to Pik Bukreeva. The bus didn’t take me quite where I expected, the village was about 2.5 km away so I walked. I tried to hitch a ride but the two cars didn’t stop. After I had passed the village I found out that the paved road goes for another 5 km and I dislike hiking on roads so I decided to hitch hike again. The first car stopped. There was a lovely couple who were going to a waterfall I also wanted to see. We chatted for a bit in Russian and they even paid the entrance fee for me. Incredible.

When I reached the waterfall I found out that it wasn’t really the way to the peak and anyway it was too late to hike there. People told me I could still make it to another peak called Pik Furmanova (3050 m). So I started looking for trails. When I finally started hiking the right way, I lost the trail and ended up going steep uphill. It wasn’t nice at all. But I don’t like giving me up especially in the mountains so I went up like a crazy person. I was so happy when I met people at about 2580 m who were hiking from another valley (where normally people start this hike). The last part was hard and I reached the peak at 4.15 pm which is really late.

But I made it and I was so happy and amazed that I spent there an hour. When everybody had left the sun popped out from behind the clouds as if just for me. It was truly amazing. Sheer bliss.

The landscape was really amazing. I don’t know how many times I said wow’, ‘good stuff’ or ‘krása’. The photos don’t do it justice.