Through the highest peak of the Big Balkhan which rises to a height of 1,880 metres above sea level is not the largest mountain ridge in Turkmenistan, an ascent to it presents most fascinating and brightest impressions. For these mountains which tower above the Karakum Desert as if huge ‘island’, are notable for landscape diversity.
The members of the Agama Mountain Climbing dedicated their recent ascent to the Big Balkhan to the 20th anniversary of independence and 16th anniversary of neutrality, the significant dates in the history of Turkmenistan. By the way, the Turkmen mountain climbers marked the anniversary year with a number of actions – they climbed to the highest peak in the country, Airybaba, two times and organized rock climbing festivals and a mass race the Markau peak. On the days when the country was celebrating the Independence Day the mountain climbers were climbing the Garassyzlyk peak located on the border between Eastern Kopetdag and Central Kopetdag. It has become a tradition for the Agama Club to go on walking trips each week to the ridges of the Kopetdag Mountains and learn to climb the climbing walls. All this enable them to be in good shape. To increase sportsmanship is main goal of every athlete, and all the more so of mountain climber who specializes in climbing vertical slopes and ascending the peaks.
Balkhan is the mountain with its own history. It has a lot of landmarks such as the sites of ancient settlements in Damdamcheshme, and old fortresses on the mountain slopes, and the famous path Eshek Yoly that the first explorers climbed along. However, what amaze most in this region are natural amenities and enchanting landscapes of this mountain ridge.
…The clouds were gathering over the Balkhan, they were floating above the gorges promising the rain. The mountains carefully keep rain water in their depths thriftily sharing it with travellers. Balkhan is known for a great number of springs. Taking the opportunity, I asked Sergei Grigoriev, a rock climbing fan from Balkanabat who guided our group to the first spring on our way, to tell the springs he knows. I listen attentively and try to remember their names, I count off on my fingers, but they are too few. I realize that this is a difficult task to cope with and feel for my notebook and pen in my backpack.
Meanwhile, we climbed to over 1,100 metres above sea level threading our way along the rocky paths amongst the steep flow slides. The vertical walls of the rocks rose around us, and a picturesque nook, which can be rightfully called the Garden of Eden, appeared before our eyes in their shadow. The crowns of fig trees, apricot trees and mulberry trees grow upwards to the sky, and the vines stretch everywhere. A fruit grove was so thick that we can pass through only along the beaten tracks because of the pleached trees which block the way. The bowl of spring sheltered behind the wall of bushes under the canopy of cliffs. The bowl is filled with crystal-clear water which oozes out of the stone walls its way through rocks covered with an emerald carpet of moister-loving fern known as true maidenhair. It is worth making an hours-long trip across the precipitous slopes to see this wonderful place.
The Big Balkhan continued amazing us with a diversity of scenes. Yesterday we wandered in the stony sleeves of narrow canyons where the rocks towering above our heads hide the sky, but there, in the upper canyons the vast expanses of a big plateau which crowns the ridge appear.
A grey shroud of clouds covered the sky and poured tirelessly the vicinities with drizzling rain. Sometimes the clouds as if having grown heavy with moisture went down pouring the slopes, the upper canyons and juniper trees with ‘milk’ of an impenetrable fog. A chain of the silhouettes with backpacks disappeared in the blue-gray mist, and we tried to stay closer to keep each other in view.
The mist cleared only at the crest of the mountain. The stony bowl of the Satmaz spring lurks behind it on the stone shelf of the vertical wall where the trip participants walk down to get some water. This spring is open to the four winds unlike the other springs hidden from travellers in the gorges. However, it is difficult to reach – steep cliffs and unscalable walls stand guard over it.
Our trip was long, and the day is drawing to a close. The rain has stopped, and taking this opportunity we put up the tents on the area sheltered by juniper trees from the wind. We are on time, it is beginning to snow. It is snowing timidly, then heavier and heavier, and the darkness of night throws handfuls of snowflakes into a face. It turned out that the wall of the Big Balkhan had parried the blow of the Arctic cold. The northern slope of the ridge was buried under snow, but the bad weather didn’t reach the south where the administrative centre of the velayat stretches out at the foothills of the Balkhan.
... The following day was sunny, and the wind was dashingly driving the scraps of the clouds which seemed to have ultimate power yesterday. The Big Balkhan dressed itself up in snow-white attire woven from myriads of snowflakes which sparkle in the sun blinding the eyes. This uncommonly enchanting scene made us stop, and the strong wish to take pictures of this beautiful landscape appears but we have to continue the trip to the peak – the main aim of our ascent that is quite close.
The people say that the mountains conquer, but it’s not true. How can a man subjugate a huge boulder with the steeps several kilometres deep, with its gorges, forests and plateaus that are open to winds? No, the mountains are rather ascended. So, we climbed to the Big Balkhan, the ridge towering over the neighbouring plains over millions of years. Balkhan has seen and knows much, how the seas advanced and disappeared, how the impetuous streams of Uzboy flowed at its foothills, how the Karakum Desert spread out around it. In recent decades Balkanabat town, which beautifies with every passing year, has sprung up to the south of the ridge.
Leaving these mountains, one of the fascinating regions of the native land, we felt a little sad. During these days we tried to make friends with the mighty Balkhan, and it seems to treat us favourably. So, our sadness was fleeting, a very short time will pass and mountain climbers will return there, new routes have been mapped out.
The members of the Agama Mountain Climbing dedicated their recent ascent to the Big Balkhan to the 20th anniversary of independence and 16th anniversary of neutrality, the significant dates in the history of Turkmenistan. By the way, the Turkmen mountain climbers marked the anniversary year with a number of actions – they climbed to the highest peak in the country, Airybaba, two times and organized rock climbing festivals and a mass race the Markau peak. On the days when the country was celebrating the Independence Day the mountain climbers were climbing the Garassyzlyk peak located on the border between Eastern Kopetdag and Central Kopetdag. It has become a tradition for the Agama Club to go on walking trips each week to the ridges of the Kopetdag Mountains and learn to climb the climbing walls. All this enable them to be in good shape. To increase sportsmanship is main goal of every athlete, and all the more so of mountain climber who specializes in climbing vertical slopes and ascending the peaks.
Balkhan is the mountain with its own history. It has a lot of landmarks such as the sites of ancient settlements in Damdamcheshme, and old fortresses on the mountain slopes, and the famous path Eshek Yoly that the first explorers climbed along. However, what amaze most in this region are natural amenities and enchanting landscapes of this mountain ridge.
…The clouds were gathering over the Balkhan, they were floating above the gorges promising the rain. The mountains carefully keep rain water in their depths thriftily sharing it with travellers. Balkhan is known for a great number of springs. Taking the opportunity, I asked Sergei Grigoriev, a rock climbing fan from Balkanabat who guided our group to the first spring on our way, to tell the springs he knows. I listen attentively and try to remember their names, I count off on my fingers, but they are too few. I realize that this is a difficult task to cope with and feel for my notebook and pen in my backpack.
Meanwhile, we climbed to over 1,100 metres above sea level threading our way along the rocky paths amongst the steep flow slides. The vertical walls of the rocks rose around us, and a picturesque nook, which can be rightfully called the Garden of Eden, appeared before our eyes in their shadow. The crowns of fig trees, apricot trees and mulberry trees grow upwards to the sky, and the vines stretch everywhere. A fruit grove was so thick that we can pass through only along the beaten tracks because of the pleached trees which block the way. The bowl of spring sheltered behind the wall of bushes under the canopy of cliffs. The bowl is filled with crystal-clear water which oozes out of the stone walls its way through rocks covered with an emerald carpet of moister-loving fern known as true maidenhair. It is worth making an hours-long trip across the precipitous slopes to see this wonderful place.
The Big Balkhan continued amazing us with a diversity of scenes. Yesterday we wandered in the stony sleeves of narrow canyons where the rocks towering above our heads hide the sky, but there, in the upper canyons the vast expanses of a big plateau which crowns the ridge appear.
A grey shroud of clouds covered the sky and poured tirelessly the vicinities with drizzling rain. Sometimes the clouds as if having grown heavy with moisture went down pouring the slopes, the upper canyons and juniper trees with ‘milk’ of an impenetrable fog. A chain of the silhouettes with backpacks disappeared in the blue-gray mist, and we tried to stay closer to keep each other in view.
The mist cleared only at the crest of the mountain. The stony bowl of the Satmaz spring lurks behind it on the stone shelf of the vertical wall where the trip participants walk down to get some water. This spring is open to the four winds unlike the other springs hidden from travellers in the gorges. However, it is difficult to reach – steep cliffs and unscalable walls stand guard over it.
Our trip was long, and the day is drawing to a close. The rain has stopped, and taking this opportunity we put up the tents on the area sheltered by juniper trees from the wind. We are on time, it is beginning to snow. It is snowing timidly, then heavier and heavier, and the darkness of night throws handfuls of snowflakes into a face. It turned out that the wall of the Big Balkhan had parried the blow of the Arctic cold. The northern slope of the ridge was buried under snow, but the bad weather didn’t reach the south where the administrative centre of the velayat stretches out at the foothills of the Balkhan.
... The following day was sunny, and the wind was dashingly driving the scraps of the clouds which seemed to have ultimate power yesterday. The Big Balkhan dressed itself up in snow-white attire woven from myriads of snowflakes which sparkle in the sun blinding the eyes. This uncommonly enchanting scene made us stop, and the strong wish to take pictures of this beautiful landscape appears but we have to continue the trip to the peak – the main aim of our ascent that is quite close.
The people say that the mountains conquer, but it’s not true. How can a man subjugate a huge boulder with the steeps several kilometres deep, with its gorges, forests and plateaus that are open to winds? No, the mountains are rather ascended. So, we climbed to the Big Balkhan, the ridge towering over the neighbouring plains over millions of years. Balkhan has seen and knows much, how the seas advanced and disappeared, how the impetuous streams of Uzboy flowed at its foothills, how the Karakum Desert spread out around it. In recent decades Balkanabat town, which beautifies with every passing year, has sprung up to the south of the ridge.
Leaving these mountains, one of the fascinating regions of the native land, we felt a little sad. During these days we tried to make friends with the mighty Balkhan, and it seems to treat us favourably. So, our sadness was fleeting, a very short time will pass and mountain climbers will return there, new routes have been mapped out.
