Aktru (27-29.07.2013)

DSCN8026 cpy cover photo 2013-07-28 14.58.46 We arrived at the Aktru field station of the Russian Academy of Science and Tomsk University. I bunked with Dimitry. DSCN7976 The next day we took off to visit the veg monitoring sites IMG 7999 Group photo: front, L to R, Dimitry and Anatoli, back, L to R, Eugeny, me, Elena, Lena, Marina and Julia
DSCN7977 One of the tongues of the Aktru Glacier DSCN7978 Another sign with many destinations DSCN7979 The Aktru River DSCN7980 looking the other way, treeline ecotones
DSCN7981 we hiked up the valley past "Lazy Man Lake" DSCN7984 bis I had never seen a lichen ground cover DSCN7986 We continued beneath cliffs DSCN7987 from which debris flows periodically washed down, burying pine root systems
DSCN7989 getting closer to Aktru Glacier DSCN7990 with colonizing vegetation DSCN7991 more veg DSCN7994 Eugeny and Dimitry
DSCN7996 more lichen DSCN7997 larch communities and stone pine communities at the confluence DSCN3914 we had to ford a river- it was cold! DSCN7998 Irena and Natalia decided to stay on the far side
DSCN8000 we continued up toward the glacier's snout DSCN8001 edelweiss! DSCN8003 commenorative plaque DSCN8005 the glacial snout
DSCN8006 discussions held across a torrent DSCN8008 on our side of the stream we had "tea" DSCN8009 This is a famous landmark: the position of the glacial snout more than a century ago by Sapozhinkov, a famous explorer DSCN8011 looking down valley from one of the forest plots
DSCN8012 Siberian stone pine cones DSCN8014 treeline art DSCN8017 more treeline art DSCN8019 a roaring glacial torrent
DSCN8021 treeline has moved several times here DSCN8023 the high ridge above us DSCN8024 I found this abandonned tripod up on the moraine DSCN8025 another tongue of the glacier
DSCN8026 historical photos show that a century ago the glacier covered the cliff below it DSCN8030 rocks fall off cliffs DSCN8031 the confluence DSCN8032 a mixture of larch and pine
DSCN8035 and of course more lichens DSCN8036 Galia, Oleg and Dimitry coming down DSCN8037 the higher peaks DSCN8039 Anatoli taking a core
DSCN8040 a boulder that fell off the cliff above but landed in the forest without damaging any of the neighboring trees! DSCN8041 larches and source of boulders DSCN8043 coming back across the Aktru River DSCN8045 the Russian Mountaineering Federation runs climbing classes in Aktru. This is what happens when " one doesn't listen to the instructor"
DSCN8046 back at camp, a budding gymnast DSCN8049 solar panels that keep us in light at night if the generator konks out DSCN8050 a stage(??) built by the Mountaineering Federation DSCN8051 The field station manager at Tomsk University built these new units to rent to tourists
DSCN8052 with sinks without plumbing DSCN8053 we however stay in the "Winter House" 2013-07-27 19.22.39 It was our day at the "banya" -sauna and bath. This is the cooling off room. The banya was the best built building in the whole valley DSCN8054 Next day we passed a monument to a bunch of skiers and snowboarders who rented a helicopter which subsequently crashed in bad weather. Money could not save them.
DSCN8055 Right next door, a monument to Russian women climbers DSCN8056 Permafrost is omnipresent and so trees just root in the active zone, the top 10-20 cm of soil DSCN8059 Nutcrackers work over the stone pine cones DSCN8060 we climbed up toward tree line
DSCN8061 where there was avalanche sign DSCN8062 and young trees invading the alpine DSCN8063 we continued across the talus DSCN8065 past plants I recognize from the Alps
DSCN8066 to other stone pines DSCN8067 we continue up DSCN8069 to get a great view of the valley, its debris cones and its moraines DSCN8070 I have a video that shows these new debris flows in action but it is very large!
DSCN8071 the shrinking Aktru Glacier DSCN8073 time for tea DSCN8074 and time to harvest some cones for boiling and eating later DSCN8075 Anatoli is concentrating
DSCN8076 on tossing the cones into a bag held by Lena DSCN8078 past the flag trees are cliffs with individual trees DSCN8079 we set up this photo as stone pine must be at least 20 years old before they form cones. We were trying to trick Dimitry DSCN8081 Down lower on the slope we are back in the forest
DSCN8082 and return to the station DSCN8084 Dimitry found me this cone that had been ravaged by a squirrel DSCN8086 you can almost feel the squirrel's teeth! DSCN0103 Later we held a seminar
DSCN8087 and then had a grand send-off dinner with fish roe! DSCN8088 Elena, her daughter-in-law Julia, and Galia, who is ethnically Russian but holds a Kazakhstan passport DSCN8089 Next morning, we load our stuff and ourselves into an "Oh-az" DSCN8090 This is the first part of the road, the stream
DSCN8091 This points the way to the trash bin. The Russians have a big consciousness raising effort re: trash DSCN8092 A last look around at the station. DSCN8093 Eugeny and Elena Timoshok DSCN8095 Anatoli and Alexander, my banya mates
DSCN8097 Oleg, Galia, Marina, budding gymnast, and Elena Timoshok DSCN8098 Aktru Station staff DSCN8099 the Mountaineering Federation were giving out bandannas DSCN8100 The "Oh-Az" was certainly perfected in WWII
DSCN8101 Check out the horn! DSCN8103 The road/stream DSCN8104 on the outwash plain we left the stream to one side DSCN8107 but down in the forest, the road really deteriorated.
DSCN8108 We had to get out, to lower the vehicle weight and to give the driver free rein at getting out of this hole. Amazingly he did it! DSCN8110 More mud DSCN8111 The air intake is cleverly in the passenger compartment DSCN8115 more mud
DSCN8118 passing wasn't always easy DSCN8119 and we were soon back at "the bridge one drives next to" DSCN8120 it is probably safer to be lower down DSCN8121 but you really don't want to stall in mid-river
DSCN8122 we made it across without major incident DSCN8127 and dropped down onto the steppe DSCN8128 more in-coming traffic DSCN8129 the main highway passes through that town
DSCN8133 through a muddy window, the West DSCN8134 The Chuya River DSCN8135 Our stalwart vehicle DSCN8136 the steppe is the Kurai Basin
DSCN8137 landscape DSCN8138 back in the vehicle and across the bridge DSCN8141 the town was a little frontier-ish DSCN8144 but kids are born and grow up here
DSCN8146 down the main road at Ak-Boom we had lunch DSCN8147 at a restaurant with a poured red deer. DSCN8148 Across the street, adventure tourism DSCN8149 Further down the road, rock engravings
DSCN8150 the places has been inhabited for a long, long time DSCN8156 Not too far away, anthropologists have found the remains of the Denisovian people, a hominid different from us, as is the Neanderthal DSCN8152 the Chuiskiy Trakt DSCN8153 landscape around the Chuya-Katun confluence
DSCN8154 free range horses DSCN8158 The Katun River. The absence of 100 km of road up this valley meant that we needed to go 400 kms around. DSCN8160 The muddy Chuya and greenish Katun waters DSCN8162 Russian car camping. You can't hear the boom box.
DSCN8163 The Katun below the confluence DSCN8167 The cliffs above the confluence DSCN8169 Irena, Galia and Natalia at the confluence DSCN8171 We spent the night at an ethnographic campground. Think camping at Little Bighorn
DSCN8173 Tea time at the park. DSCN8176 Oleg and I go the yurt DSCN8177 interior details DSCN8179 Galia, marathoner/student/cook
DSCN8180 This valley is one of the centers of the Altai people. DSCN8181 There are steles and burial mounds all over the place. DSCN8182 It is a mysterious, shaman-istic place DSCN8183 a burial mound
DSCN8184 landscape DSCN8185 the steles are aligned with magnetic fields (so I was told) DSCN8186 Elemental DSCN8188 Our host was the Director of the Park, Sitting Bull. No, his name was Danil and he was trained geologist.
DSCN8189 Even so, he showed us the Navel of the World