Hike: Part 1

A few weeks ago we were tripping around in the mountains here: The Tian Shan. At the end of the day we spotted a huge peak that was shaped like a pyramid, without snow on it. We came back to work and told a bunch of our fellow hikers and then organized a loose group of them to go back and climb it. We call ourselves A.I.C.H. Almaty International Club of Hikers (pronounced, fittingly, ache).

We began our hike at about 5,000 feet. Unlike B.C., there's very few trees above 5-6,000 feet. It was a nice sunny day. We found some early 'September' snow, but that didn't stop us. At about 8,000, there was a neo-yurt. They were selling tea, bread, coke, and, of course, vodka. So we had some--tea, that is. This is Kyle, Malu, Streeter, Brock, and the Gaines gang, enjoying a little break. The locals were a little concerned that we were just sitting around in our T-shirts soaking up some sun. Anything to do with "the cold" horrifies them, including ice-cubes in their drinks. Most of them are 100% certain that you can get a cold if you eat too much ice-cream (I'm not making fun of them; they really do believe it).