Trek Inylchek glacier
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 157.48 mi
- Elevation gain
- 20,735 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 19,242 ft
- Max elevation
- 13,786 ft
- TrailRank
- 26
- Min elevation
- 6,739 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Coordinates
- 1903
- Uploaded
- June 22, 2015
near Karkara, Batys Qazaqstan (Kazakhstan)
Viewed 3986 times, downloaded 87 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Waypoints
Picnic
7,014 ft
Karkara valley I
Intersection
8,360 ft
Karkara Valley II
Intersection
0 ft
turn Inylchek direction
Intersection
0 ft
crossing (southwest to the road, northeast is dead end)
Intersection
0 ft
turn to unnamed summit
Intersection
0 ft
crossing with route to Muskhetova glacier
Lake
0 ft
Mertsbacher lake
The lake was discovered in 1903 by German geographer and alpinist Gottfried Merzbacher during his expedition with a goal to get to the foot of Khan-Tengri peak. Later it received its name in honor of its discoverer. Merzbacher Lake is situated at an altitude of 3304 meters above sea level. It has a total area of 4.5 square km and a depth of 60-70 m. The lake is located between glaciers North and South Inylchek (one of the largest glaciers in the world). Each year, between July and August, the lake, containing 129 million cubic meters of water, for 2-3 days suddenly disappears completely. There are many hypotheses why it happens. But none of them has found its full confirmation. "The heart of the Tien Shan" remains unsolved!
Wilderness hut
0 ft
hut/camp Mertsbacher meadow
Mertsbacher meadow is the last green island located not far from the well know Mertsbacher lake. There's a Research Station on the meadow and each summer you may see a lot of scientists coming here from all over the world. They research the movement of glaciers, the meteorological situation in the region and the lake itself. There is a lot of space on the meadow for our tents.
Campsite
0 ft
BC South Inylchek glacier (Pik Pobeda, Khan Tengri)
These two days might possibly be the most difficult of the trip but they will also be the most memorable due to the many ponds and hanging glaciers of the untouched Tien Shan mountain range which one encounters along the way. We will camp overnight at the point where the Komsomolez and Inylchek glacier meet. Camping on the glacier is particularly cold therefore a down sleeping bag is highly recommended. The following day we will arrive to the base camp at Inylchek which is located at the intersection of the southern Inylchek and the Zvezdochka glaciers. From this vantage point one can see the mighty Pobeda and Khan-Tengri peaks. Overnight in tents at the base camp.
Campsite
0 ft
South Inylchek camp 'Iva' at the foot of Nansen peak
Campgrounds are located at the foot of the imposing Nansen peak (5697 m), named after the Norwegian zoologist, arctic explorer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Fridtjof Nansen. The Inylchek Glacier is the largest glacier of the Central Tien Shan. Extending 62 km in length with a width of over 3 km, the Inylchek Glacier is the third longest glacier outside the Polar Regions.
Intersection
0 ft
turn to Pik Alexandr von Humboldt
Waypoint
0 ft
check point Maida-Adyr road/path
At check point Maida-Adyr we are going to enter the border zone, we must leave our permits here. About 1-1.5 hours drive through a village and along Inylchek river, arrival in At Jailoo camp.
Waypoint
0 ft
Enylchek village A364
Drive along Sary Jaz river to the Enylchek village. The river has a length of 200 km and carries its water into Inylchek river which flows to China.
Intersection
0 ft
crossing at South Inylchek glacier
Intersection
11,211 ft
turn to North Inylchek glacier
Waypoint
9,190 ft
road/path
Comments (6)
You can add a comment or review this trail
Magnifique photo ! ! https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/trek-inylchek-glacier-10026384/photo-6022344
That is amazing, well done! Thank you for sharing. I plan to do this route in August... may I ask you a few quick questions? (1) What are trails / conditions like in the valleys and passes prior to arriving at the Inylchek glacier? (2) Did you use crampons or ice axes to go over any of the passes? (3) Did you use a guide?
Hi,
yeah, this is really an amazing trek, gorgious nature of all kinds (moonlike scenery around Enylchek and grassy hills towards the Karkara.
I planned this route before we went there so I would modify it now a bit, see below.
1) Trails are ok, there are a few backpackers so if you have a sence for orientation you should be fine. However I would point out that each July/August the glacier rivers floods the trough which is the only point where one can cross to be able to reach the pass and get outside the Enylchek valley. This is due to breakage of some glacier lakes higher up the valley. One has to wait several days up to a week till the water gets low again. When we were there we waited 3 days till we were able to cross.
2) For the glacier neither ice axes nor crampons are necessary, the whole glacier is covered by stones and there are paths which one can follow. We also decided not to continue to Khan Tengri base camp and we only made it till Mersbacher meadow where there is a research station. The trail through the glacier is extremely demanding since you go up and down all the way in the slippery rubble. Of course one should be careful when crossing the glacier and look for the cravasses (even though it might seem the glacier is still, it´s quite actively mooving) but the crampons would be a unpleasant ballast on your shoes.
3) We haven´t used a guide, we had some old russian military maps which are the only detailed maps for this region. There are few places where the helicopter flies regulary and it´s the Maida Adyr camp, Mersbacher meadow, Khan Tengri base camp, Karkara (it stays there over night). There is no food supply through the whole trek except some really hospitable shepherds in the grassy valleys close to Karkara. I do really recommend trying some of the traditional foods there :)
4) All together it took us 15 days for the whole trek, including waiting days for the glacier river to go down which we used for climbing some nerby peaks. So to correct my uploaded map, we started at Maida Adyr, went all the way to Mersbacher meadow and back the the foot of the Enylchek glacier, ovecame the pass and reached Karkara.
5) It´s easier to start from Enylchek since there is no regular transport from this place and you can arrange a jeap in Karakol where you also pick up your permit. The car can take you all the way to Maida Adyr so you can start close to the second flag in my map. There are regular buses comming from Karkara to Karakol and there is also a small shop in Karkara where you can supply some goodies after the whole trek.
Hope it helps and wish you good luck with your adventure ;)
Hi,
Thanks so much for sharing this one !
We are planning the same route starting in a couple of days. You already gave plenty of priceless info in you comment, but any last recommendation before we leave ?
Cheers,
Tom
Hi,
It has been already some time since I have made this trek. But one thing which I recall was worrying when we arrived to the Enylchek valley, was the water supply. The only source of water is from the glacier. However, there is a lot of sediment in the glacier rivers so when you fill up a water bottle with it, you can hardly see through. It is not harmful in any way, there is no possibility of fecal or other contamination (the river springs right from the glacier). One just have to overcome the visual appearance of the water :D or the other possibility is to let the small particles, which create the turbidity, settle to the bottom a bottle and then decant it.
I hope you will enjoy the trek with all the obstacles it will bring ;)
Dáša
Ok, thanks for your answer. If that's the only problem we should have good time then ;)