The Programme
Friday 24th: Plan to arrive in Bishkek at least one day before. This is advisable in case of either flight delays or baggage arrival problems.
Day 1. Saturday 25th: Transfer to the guesthouse. A private minibus transfer takes us from Bishkek International Airport to the guesthouse for the first night, a traditional dinner and a good nights sleep.
Day 2. Sunday 26th: After a hot breakfast we set off (with a packed lunch provided) for exploratory splitboard tour. Along the way we’ll be making snowpack assessments and an avalanche training refresher with you. After the day is done we return to the guesthouse for dinner.
Day 3. Monday 27th: On this day we’ll really warm up your snowboarding legs and get you used to riding at a higher altitude, with assistance from a snow-cat. This should be a fun and easy access, powder day. We’ll return to the guesthouse for dinner and the 3rd night.
Day 4. Tuesday 28th: We will make a tour, starting from the guesthouse and returning in the late afternoon for lunch and a sauna. Dinner and the 4th night at the guesthouse.
Day 5. Wednesday 29th: Today is going to be a one special as we’ll be on horseback. We’ll transfer to a nearby village where we’ll meet our horses. The horses will take us on a calm approach deeper into the valley and to the zone for that day. We’ll leave the horses (with a guide) and continue the ascent on splitboards to the peak. A big descent follows all the way back to the village. We transfer back to our guesthouse by car for dinner and the 5th night.
Day 6. Thursday 30th: After a good breakfast we’ll make a tour much deeper into the valley. We will climb and ride lines along the way before stopping for the night in a backcountry yurt. the yurt is clean but basic and a local guide will be on hand to cook us dinner and keep the fires burning throughout the night for us. Any overnight toiletries and small travel bags will be taken up to the yurt by a snowmobile. We spend the 6th night in the yurt.
Day 7. Friday 31st Jan: After breakfast at the yurt we’ll tour and explore for the day, riding anything we like the look of. After we’ll head back down to our village in the afternoon. (Luggage will be transferred back to the village via snowmobile). It’s dinner and the 7th final night at the guesthouse.
Day 8. Saturday 1st February: We will have an early departure as we will return to Bishkek via a slightly longer alternative route around the south side of Issyk Kul lake. This is to allow us to visit some beautiful red rock formations in ‘Fairytale Canyon’ and make a visit to see a traditional golden eagle hunter. The eagle hunter will explain the Kyrgyz nomadic tradition of using eagles to hunt and give a demonstration of how they train the birds.
We then make the journey back to Bishkek where the trip ends. From here you can either take a late onward flight or choose to stay a while to explore Bishkek. You would need to book a hotel for the evening if you do.
Fitness & Ability
We will look to make a vertical ascents of around 1200m per day so your fitness level will allow you to do this over consecutive days. You will most likely also have been on a Rider Social trip before, if you haven’t we will need to talk with you to assess the general group fit and ability level.
What’s Included
- 6 days of UIAGM splitboard only guiding with Paul Verdier
- 7 nights’ accommodation (camp and guesthouse)
- Ground support vehicles – cat-ski, horses and snowmobiles
- Private return transfers from Bishkek International
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner on 7 nights
What’s Not Included
- Flights to Bishkek
- Personal Insurance
- Splitboard equipment
- Backcountry safety equipment
- Alcohol
- A hotel in Bishkek on the night of Saturday 1st February should you choose to stay over.
Payment Policy: A deposit of €595 is required immediately upon booking your session with The Rider Social. The balance of your trip costs are due 8 weeks before the course start date. Failure to meet the payment deadline 8 weeks before the start date will forfeit your place on that session without refund.
Cancellation policy: For cancellations made up to 8 weeks before the course start date, 10% of the ‘deposit’ amount paid will be refunded. For cancellations occurring within 6 weeks of the course start date no refund payments will be made. If cancelling a course within 6 weeks of the course start date, payments made cannot be refunded, carried forward or moved to another course.
Refund policy: The Rider Social is not liable for refunds or compensation due to late arrival, failure to attend or complete a course due to injury or illness, travel restrictions, resort closure, adverse weather conditions, force majeure or any other causes or conditions outside the control of The Rider Social
Covid: In the event that you can’t attend your session due to Covid, associated travel and holiday disruptions including (but not exclusive to) resort closure, FCO imposed travel restrictions, airline train or ferry travel bans imposed by International or local governments, a 50% refund of the balance paid, minus the non refundable deposit amount, will be refunded to you (the client).
In the event that you can’t attend your course due to you, (the client) being personally affected by illness, inability to travel due to illness or any other personal restrictions affecting your travel The Rider Social will not be liable to refund any monies (as stated in the refund policy above). It is strongly recommended that you have adequate personal insurance for illness, personal cancellation and personal travel disruption.
Upon booking any advertised session of any duration with The Rider Social you are in agreement of the Payment & Cancellations policies listed above.
