Words and photographs by Epic founder, Chris Lininger
As July rolled into August this season, I arrived in Bishkek to begin preparations for our 2023 Epic expedition in Kyrgyzstan. I was met by intense heat in the capital city as temperatures around the world also broke records left and right.
Epic first came to Kyrgyzstan in 2019 for a trip development mission and I had only been back one time since then, so the stoke was high to explore this magical Central Asian country once more.
Our team (of 9 Canadians and one Venezuelan) arrived on July 30th and the stage was set for an Epic two weeks of adventuring through wind-swept canyons, Swiss-like river valleys, high-altitude deserts, rolling plateaus, towering mountains, and pretty much every landscape imaginable in between.
The below photos chronicle our journey from the high-altitude Lake at Song Kul – trekking through the Celestial Mountains – and to the truly wild China-Kazakhstan borderlands around Sary Jaz.
This trip was so special as it brought together a group of people who had not thought much about Kyrgyzstan before coming across our trip. Minds were blown. Lots of melon was consumed. Coffee was shared over many a sunrise. Not many negatives could be found during our nightly sharing session of our team’s “highs and lows”.
Community through adventure and shared experiences; this has been one of the core principles of Epic since day one and a strong theme that defined this trip. This concept brought this group of friends together in a way that is hard to find by any other means as they discovered the country’s warm hospitality, incredible world-class landscapes, and the raw adventure that is Kyrgyzstan.
Below is the photo gallery from our summer 2023 adventure in Kyrgyzstan. We hope you enjoy it!
If you are interested in joining us in 2024, be sure to keep an eye on our Kyrgyzstan trip page as we will be launching new trip dates very soon.
