SAMAYA x THOMAS PUEYO

 

 

©Photography by Thomas Pueyo @thomaspueyo

 

The FFCAM's Groupe Excellence Ski Alpinisme National (GESAN) is a group of around ten skiers selected over a two-year period to undertake an exploratory expedition to the heart of wilderness areas. In March 2022, GESAN has chosen Central Asia, in particular Tajikistan, a rather unknown country, as it was closed until recently and tourism is extremely low in winter. Thomas Pueyo tells us about their expedition.

 

"First of all, we had to do a lot of mapping.

 

The first step was to find local contacts and see if anyone had skied there, in order to identify a massif, as the region is immense. We collected old military maps, not at all accurate, but still giving us some information, and used Google Maps a lot. The international language is Russian, as this is a former Soviet Republic, which adds to the language barrier.

 

We also had to think about the best weather window, to avoid the monsoon. We drew up several plans with different massifs, to cope with all possible conditions on site and to have fallback solutions.

 

We were very lucky, the weather was great.

 

©Photography by Thomas Pueyo @thomaspueyo

 

Plan A was to go to a part of the Pamir, the western end of the Himalayas, to an area that had been identified as skiable.

 

We took a day's 4x4 drive from Dushanbe, the capital, into the first valley of our ten-day itinerary. The areas we were about to cross were completely deserted, and we were totally self-sufficient, carrying all our equipment and food on our backs, the use of pulkas being made impossible by the terrain.

 

We had days when we were linking camps. When we found suitable valleys, we would set up camp for several days, then multiply star climbs on faces over 5500 meters.

 

We counted every gram of all our equipment. Ultra-light tents were almost mandatory.

 

©Photography by Thomas Pueyo @thomaspueyo

 

The lines we drew were on mountains for which we had found no history. These were the first spatulas to be placed there. It was almost unheard of each time.

 

It's a bit stressful, though, because we're in places where there's no help at all. There's a lot more margin for error, because the slightest problem can become extremely complex.

 

The most important aspect of our expedition is the people. It's a culture, a country that nobody knows. After 10 days of total autarky, we arrived in a small village called Jilandi, with a few cows and the 1940s Soviet truck.

 

Arriving in a place like this, with our modern equipment, produced a huge gap. We had maybe half the village's wealth on our backs.

 

The locals welcomed us with open arms, despite the language barrier that made the exchange difficult. Yet it was one of the most memorable moments. Tajikistan is still a closed country, with all its post-USSR heritage and the current challenges posed by China, which is setting up a number of companies in the country for its mining resources. It's important to talk about their lives, the violence and what they experienced during and after the USSR. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much point in flying so far.

 

©Photography by Thomas Pueyo @thomaspueyo

 

We also passed through Ziddi, a village two hours from the capital, which had already been visited by the Swiss in the 1990s. They had left skis behind, and the locals started skiing with them. Today, the kids use the same old equipment, with real sealskins that they attach to the skis with cords. We've also left some more recent equipment for them to enjoy.

 

For our next expedition in March 2024, we have chosen Kyrgyzstan, in this same exploratory spirit."