The Tian Shan mountain range is rippled with craggy mountain peaks that reach a maximum height of 24,406 feet! To keep size in perspective, here are the highest mountain peaks per each continent:

Highest Peak in Australia – Kosciusko - 7310 feet / 2228 meters
Highest Peak in Europe – Elbrus - 18,510 feet / 5642 meters
Highest Peak in Africa – Kilimanjaro - 19,340 feet / 5895 meters
Highest Peak in North America – Denali - 20,320 feet / 6194 meters
Highest Peak in South America – Aconagua - 22,834 feet / 6960 meters

Kyryzstan’s Peak Pobeda is taller than the highest peaks of every other continent except Asia, where as everyone knows, Everest is the champ.

Peak Pobeda lies on the western edge of Kyrgyzstan, in a sparsely populated region only miles from the Chinese border. You can’t drive there by car, point, and say “Look mom, the 20th highest peak in the world!”. The journey to the top of world requires mailman legs or a MI-8 Hip chopper. Most take a jeep part of the way, with ample hemorrhoid cream in tow. The ride redefines bumpy and takes hours. After the road ends, a foot trek of two days awaits - three days for the weak. Rock avalanches and mountain lions will greet you along the way.

Ala-Archa National Park

The closest national park to Bishkek is Ala-Archa, an alpine wonderland covering 98 square miles. Admission is just $1, a bargain considering the average overcrowded US national park charges $50-$100. Expert climbing experience is not necessary to enjoy the park’s splendor. Trails range from modest climbs through juniper forests, to near vertical ascents of rough granite. The mountain climbing action film “Cliffhanger” was initially scheduled to be filmed in Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Archa park, but was relocated to a tamer, less technically challenging mountain range in Italy’s Alps.

Ski Resort

An abandoned ski resort is located 5 miles from the park’s entrance and can be reached by car. The flower of the Soviet downhill skiing trained at Ala-Archa since the 50s. Western champions visit and pay their dues to the dinosaurs of the sport while earning the bragging right of, “I skied Ala-Archa”, a bar line that will melt any snow bunny. All lifts are defunct, though there are other ways to reach a remote mountaintop. Every month or so a helicopter flies overhead and jettisons a skier onto virgin fresh powder stacked six feet high. Bode was rumoured to have skiied Ala-Archa after drinking a 1/5 of Kumis.

19th Soviet Party Conference Peak

One of Ala-Archa’s most famous attractions is the glorious 19th Soviet Party Conference Peak, named in honor of the 19th Soviet Party Conference. Old Communists sit at its base, look up and reminisce about the good old days, when water and electricity were free, everyone had a job, and an apartment rented for only $2.