Karakol

Our travel reporter Zach Paley, a.k.a. Mr. Worldwide Skibum, spent the spring in Kyrgyzstan taking in the mountain air, drinking vodka, freezing in his tent, carrying his skis over scree for hours on end and experiencing so much more. Here he reports on a special kind of ski adventure: ski mountaineering near Bishkek, in Karakol and on Lenin Peak.

Kirgyzstan, Kyrgizstan, Kyrgyzstan: No matter how you turn it around, or write or speak about it - if you mention this vacation destination, you will mostly be met with puzzled looks. Either because the other person has no idea where the country in question is located, or because they don't understand what you are doing in such a remote country. It was precisely this lack of understanding that strengthened our decision to spend our vacation in Kyrgyzstan (we opted for this option), more precisely in the Tian Shan.

Huge mountains, vodka, chai and a German-Swiss connection in search of foreign cultures, adventure and powder lines in Kyrgyzstan.