The Ala Archa Mountaineers’ Cemetery
The Ala Archa National Park contains several places of interest.
Perhaps the most poignant is to be found on the path which leads to the right of the gate of the base camp. After climbing up a fairly steep slope the path leads though a wooded area where there is a cemetery with nine graves and memorials to another 32 “fallen” mountaineers which is maintained by members of the Federation of Alpinism and Rock Climbing of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The federation has a website (http://www.memorial.in.kg/) where you can more information – in Russian only. however – including:
- information about the history of mountaineering and climbing in Kyrgyzstan;
- biographical notes/obituaries about some of the personalities of Kyrgyz mountaineering, including:
- a helicopter pilot whose craft crashed in the Arpa Valley, south of At Bashi. Over the course of many years he had ferried climbers, hunters, skiers and others to remote mountain sites - and often flew “rescue missions”. A helicopter rotor blade stands as a memorial to him in the cemetery;
- a 17 year old who died of a heart attack during a volleyball game in Moscow;
- a prize winning film producer who specialized in stories set in the mountains;
- photo galleries
The cemetery was begun in September 1964, with the grave of the mountaineer Vladimir Kurgashev – one of the nine who are actually buried on the site. Every year, on September 14th, hundreds of people arrive at the site in the Adygene Gorge for a solemn meeting to commemorate and honour the “departed” alpinists. Even on an ordinary weekend, this shady spot may see up to 100 visitors.
One of the graves is located just outside surrounding the main collection of monuments, and some people say that this is because he committed suicide, (cutting himself free to save his comrades who were tied to him, rather than pull them down with him).
The cemetery has a Visitors Book in which people can write impressions of their visit. Between November 2004 and September 2005 there were over 1500 entries made in it.
During the course of 2006, a special memorial, (designed by the local architect, George Kuz’menko), is being constructed . It will comprise of a series of steps leading up to a marble platform from which rises three “pyramid” shapes. It was inspired by the nearby Peak Korona and is meant to resemble a crown - “korona” means “crown” in Russian. (Coronet Peak is visible from the observation area set just below the final rise to the cemetery on the other side of the hill.)
After the cemetery, the path continues for 7km up to the Adygene glacier.
Bishkek