KYRGYZSTAN

BOOKINGS BY GUIDES

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Designed for professional ski/splitboard guides who are looking to expand their expedition portfolio, we offer a couple of options for taking advantage of the work we’ve put into establishing Central Asia’s most epic basecamp. Private bookings are limited to just a few weeks each winter, but reserve our yurts for just you and your client group. Collaborative bookings offer access to more weeks, and give you the opportunity to work together with one of our lead guides to ensure your trip is seamless and your clients leave having experienced the full potential of our zone.

REQUIREMENTS

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GROUP SIZE

Private bookings: Min 4-Max 6 clients

Collaborative bookings: 6 clients required

Please contact us to discuss groups larger than 6.

MINIMUM STAY

3 nights/4 days

EXPERIENCE

Our scenario is ideal for client groups with solid travel experience, who are seeking a true adventure. As guide, it’s your call what degree of mountain experience you require, but our standard requirements are that participants must be advanced to expert level skiers or splitboarders with at least 1 year off-piste/touring experience. The yurts provide access to terrain appropriate for all experience levels, including groups who want to charge. No glacier travel or technical mountaineering is required to access the lines.

PHYSICAL FITNESS

Clients should be in excellent physical condition, and comfortable touring for long distances carrying their own backcountry packs. Single tours from the yurts typically range from 400-1000m in vertical gain, to maximum elevations of around 3,600m.

GEAR

We require fat powder skis (minimum 115mm underfoot…the fatter the better!) and splitboards for snowboarders. Trust us on this one. Kyrgyzstan’s “bottomless” continental snowpack is one of the most unique in the world, and your clients must be able to float big freeride-style turns, at speed. All group members must additionally be prepared with essential touring, avalanche safety, and emergency response gear. Group medical kit and satellite phone also recommended.

TRAVEL & VISAS

Flights to Kyrgyzstan, especially from/via points in Europe, are quite reasonably priced on Turkish and Pegasus Airlines via Istanbul. Kyrgyzstan's progressive visa-free policy means that you and your clients (most nationalities) don't require visas for stays up to 60 days. To make it even easier, we will arrange all in-country transport and frontcountry lodging for your group; details below.

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE

As with our own guided tours, yours will begin the day before the stated start date and end two days after the stated end date. As an example, for the week of January 21-27, we will need you to arrive Bishkek early morning Saturday, January 20 and then depart on or after Monday, January 29. The extra days are for transport to/from our partner village. We will provide additional information to help you book the correct flights and to answer any Qs about arriving early and/or staying afterwards.

DATES & AVAILABILITY

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The yurts are open to private bookings immediately before and after our own guided season. For 2024 we are offering only 2 weeks—timed for ideal “early” and “late season” conditions. Note that these are the same weeks open to self-guided reservations, and that bookings will be honored on a first come first serve basis.

WINTER 2024

WK1: January 21-27 (AVAILABLE)

WK2: March 10-16 (AVAILABLE)

Please inquire about custom dates, or see below for details about our collaborative booking option which offers access to more weeks.

WINTER 2025

TBA

Dates marked “available” are yours with a 20% deposit. Dates marked "requested" will become available again if the requesting group is unable to confirm their reservation within 3 weeks. If your preferred week is either requested or booked, you are welcome to submit a waitlist inquiry.

THE LOW DOWN

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We have a feeling you and your clients are going to like what we’ve got going on! Our camp setup features 3 traditional Kyrgyz yurts located at 2,550m in the Terskey Ala-Too Range in northeastern Kyrgyzstan, easily accessed from our partner village via a 6km skin track. The location is as private as it gets and offers immediate access to backdoor tree skiing and mellow descents, as well as stunning alpine tours to the surrounding summits which top out at +3,600m and offer up everything from open pow fields and cruiser ridgelines to big faces and technical descents. The 3 yurts—one each for kitchen/dining, clients, and guides—are fully winterized and heated by wood burning stoves, offering an intimate and cozy basecamp environment. Our local partners will accompany your group in the village and at the yurts, making sure you and your clients are properly styled out and super well fed. You take care of the guiding...we'll take care of the rest!

EXPERIENCE & PHOTO GALLERY

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We have dedicated an entire page to describing the experience of a week spent at our yurts. For an even deeper look, be sure to scope these photo galleries from guided weeks past.

COLLABORATIVE WEEKS

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Our Lead Ski and Splitboard Guides are happy to collaborate with you to deliver the best possible skiing/splitboarding experience to your clients. Our guides have an intimate familiarity with our zone that will ensure a good progression to the week that takes full advantage of all that's possible. They are experts on all aspects of 40 Tribes operations, including available emergency resources and emergency protocol, and are also close friends with our local partners who work at the yurts. Co-guiding with one of our guides also opens up the primest weeks of our season to your group, when conditions are typically best.

For 2024 our guides will be at the yurts for the weeks of: January 28-February 3, February 4-10, February 11-17, February 18-24, February 25-March 2, and March 3-9 (BOOKED). If not already booked by one of our own guided groups, any of these weeks are open to collaborative bookings. WKS 1 and 2 listed under “Dates & Availability” above may also be booked for a collaborative scenario, however we would first need to confirm the availability of our guides.

WHAT ELSE

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THE YURTS ARE ALL YOURS!

Our private yurt camp—the most epic basecamp setup in all of Central Asia—is all yours, for you and your client group to enjoy. The camp features 3 yurts: one kitchen/dining yurt and separate client and guide yurts, all heated by wood burning stoves and cared for by our local partners. The location of our camp provides immediate access to the surrounding terrain from a starting elevation of 2,550m.

VILLAGE STAY

Bookings include an overnight stay with our partner family on night number one. The homestay experience includes an amazing traditional dinner, comfortable sleeping arrangements, and breakfast before you begin your tour up to the yurts the next morning.

GUIDED ACCESS/HORSE SUPPORT

No need to worry about route finding or shouldering all of your gear on your way up to the yurts. One of our local yurt hosts will meet you in the village, accompany your group for the homestay night, prep horses to porter your gear, and guide you on the 6km tour up to the yurts. Your bags (and a hot lunch) will be waiting for you on your arrival.

GOOD FOOD...AND LOTS OF IT

That’s right, private bookings are fully catered. Our local partners will accompany your group to host, cook, clean, and manage yurt chores. They absolutely kill it in the kitchen yurt, fixing up Western-inspired breakfasts complete with french press coffee and traditional Kyrgyz dinners, cooked over the wood burning stove. Portions are large, and there is always a variety of snacks and hot tea available.

APRÈS SKI

Who doesn’t love a little après ski session? Our yurt bar features tallboy beers and bottles of local vodka and cognac.

FRONTCOUNTRY TRANSPORT & LODGING

We will make your trip even more seamless by arranging all transport and lodging for your group. This includes airport pick up, private round trip transfers to/from our partner village by way of Karakol (approx 440km/6.5 hrs each way), as well as guesthouse lodging for one night in Karakol and hotel lodging for one night in Bishkek after riding out from the yurts.

BOOKING POLICY

A 20% deposit is required to secure your spot, with the remainder due 4 months prior to the tour start date. Our cancellation/refund policies can be found here.