Azerbaijan
Greater Caucasus
Our home range. Shepherd paths, villages above 2,000 m, and Bazarduzu at 4,466 m.
4 routes
Azerbaijan · Tajikistan · Turkmenistan · Russia
Four countries.One ridgeline.
We run treks and ascents for six to ten people along the mountain spine of the old Silk Road — from the beech ridges above Lahic to the Ak-Baital pass at 4,655 m.
Where we go
Four ranges we know by name, not from a catalogue. Every route below is one our guides have walked in the last two seasons.
Tajikistan
Fann Mountains and Pamir
Turquoise lakes under granite, and the highest road in the former Soviet Union.
3 routes
Turkmenistan
Kopet Dag and Balkan
Desert ridges, a burning crater, and canyon walls striped like a cut agate.
2 routes
Russia
Central and Eastern Caucasus
Elbrus at 5,642 m, and the cliff villages of inner Dagestan.
3 routes
Routes by altitude
Altitude decides what a route asks of you — more than distance, more than the number of days. Here every trip sits at the height it actually reaches.
- Elbrus, 5,642 m 5 642 m
- The Pamir Highway and the Wakhan corridor 4 655 m
- Bazarduzu, 4,466 m 4 466 m
- Fann Mountains: Kulikalon and Alauddin 3 860 m
- Khinalug and the Shahdag ridge 3 200 m
- Dombay and Arkhyz 3 000 m
- Iskanderkul and the Sarytag valley 2 900 m
- Dagestan: Sulak, Gunib, Chokh 2 400 m
- Lahic and Basqal: coppersmiths and ridgelines 1 800 m
- Darvaza crater and the Kopet Dag 1 800 m
- Gobustan petroglyphs and the Absheron fires 400 m
- Yangykala canyon and the Caspian shore 300 m
How we guide
Six to ten people
Group size is capped per route, not per season. On technical ascents it drops to six, with two guides. Small groups move faster, camp lighter, and can turn back without a vote.
Guides from the valley
Every route is led by someone who grew up within a day's walk of it. They know which bridge washed out this spring and whose kitchen is open in Khinalug in October.
Weather days built in
Ascent itineraries carry spare days before they carry summits. On Elbrus that means four of nine. A summit you had to force is one we would rather you missed.
Permits handled
Border zones in the Pamirs, Dagestan and the Kopet Dag all need paperwork, and the rules change. We file it, track it, and tell you what we need from you and by when.
From the trail book
We turned back 200 m below the summit because the wind came up, and nobody argued. That decision is why I would book with them again.
Eight of us, one van, and a guide who stopped every hour to point at something we would have driven straight past.
First time above 3,000 m and I never felt like the slowest person in the group was a problem. That was me.
Plan a trip
Tell us roughly when you can travel and what you have walked before. We answer within one working day, in the language you write in.