Kyrgyzstan: Uchitel Peak

Date: June 10th, 2026

As I decided to stay in Ratsek Hut to plan couple of day hikes before I leave Ala-Archa National Park for good, I planned to do Uchitel Peak also calledTeacher's peak. As you read along you will understand as why they have named the peak as such. It has been both interesting and unfortunate for me to say the least on this hike.

Uchitel Peak stands at 4530m, an elevation gain of 1200m from Ratsek Hut at 3360m over a distance of 2.7km, that means it is over 45 degrees inclination in such a short distance. No where in the hike you would have a relief period other than taking short breaks because of exhaustion. The hike starts with short leveled path for 300m and then steep ascent through the well laid path. Then comes medium size stones section which push you down, followed by bigger rocks covering the area. After this comes the dry stretch which leads to small snow patch sections. One side of the trail is covered with deep snow and the other side is covered with medium to large rocky area with still steep section. Final push has 3 big boulder sections separating with snow in between. Lastly there is a 150m elevation gain of 450m of hike, as this is the most easiest section of the hike.

There were 3 hikers who planned to do this hike along with me, one local Kyrgyz guy (Tilya) and two English (Jake and Harry, two brothers) lads. I woke up around 4PM as Jake+Harry woke up early to start the hike. I finally woke up at 4:30AM after 5 hours of sleep, did my morning toilet stuff. Thats when I met Tilya who also plans to do the hike. He came with his friend but, he is not prepared to wake up so Tilya tagged along with me. I took some dry fruits and nuts as snacks with 2 litres of water and started the hike at 5:15AM.

Early morning photo with link pink sun rays

Tilya and I walked till light house and the trail turns to the left with steep ascent with clear trail. Tilya has more strength and stamina so could walk faster, and I am fortunate that he waited for me to catch up to him. I took multiple short breaks as usual and we were almost 1-2 minutes apart. After an hour we spotted Jake+Harry climbing way up in the mountain. We greeted each other by waving at each other and followed up the hike to catch up with them. After another 45 mins of rough gravel section could able to meet English brothers and it was fun to see fellow hikers. They thought we were fast which seems the case as the brothers carried poles, snow crampons that weighed them down.

Leaving English brothers behind :)

All of us started climbing up through the heavy rocky section and interestingly this section seems much more easier than clear section or gravel section. May be I was using my hands that made it easier to climb up or down the hike than hiking poles. Once we crossed the rocky area comes the shallow snow section area and our feet starts getting cold. Tilya was getting even more cold as he has wearing running shoes instead of hiking boats. We walked another kilometer on the patchy snow section and Tilya started slowing down because of the cold feet.

We took frequent short breaks along the way still pushing ourselves and now the difference between us and Jake+Harry was significant, almost 20mins gap. Tilya mentioned that he wants to go home, he took some videos and photos from my phone and said goodbye, promised him that I will send the photos later. With Tilya

First time in my the whole trip I felt nostalgic, missing the warmth and comfort, missing my family back in Warangal. I know my family back home wants me to be there with them but they do not say it, I understand :(. I felt like I am going to miss Tilya even though we didnt communicate alot as he does not speak english. Anyway now I am totally alone up in the hill surrounded by snow on the left and rocks on the right. I am not able to spot the English brothers at this point so decided to wait for 15 mins or so to check with them. After few more minutes I could see them, bit relieved and started climbing up.

Taking a snack break while waiting for the brothers:

The section started getting risky from now on for another 500m with deep and shallow snow. I some times see footprints from previous days hikers so followed them for few sections. I have weak legs so could not have strong footing on the ground and without poles this is when I started using my hands to dig into the snow to feel the grip to climb up. I just chose section where there is half snow and rocks so that I have good grip. At this point I could not spot no one from above nor Jake+Harry below. I yelled for the brothers for couple of times and felt now I am on my own with no one in sight.

Then comes the most toughest part of the hike, there are 3 major huge boulder sections and in between covered with snow. The good part of this sun start coming up on this section of the mountains and things are started warm up which was nice. Since I was not doing good with snow, I decided to go around these 3 boulder sections. It was really grinding with slippery snow sections however, I could clear it with lot of breaks. Looked around for the brothers but of no use, yelled couple of times but all I could hear is my echo, I made my mind that the brothers would have gone back.

You can see in the below picture one boulder section i covered with shoe prints on the snow:

The 3rd toughest section of the boulders is confusing and super challenging. For the last 2 sections I went around it as its much easier than climbing the steep rocks,I thought I would do the same here but, I do not know what I was thinking I decided to climb over the boulders which was a huge mistake. First of all there are not many clear foot holdings on the rock to have good support, next the snow at this section started to melt into ice on the rocks, that means more slippery. I had to use both hands to climb up the boulder, I was sitting for couple of minutes to gain strength and climb up. Looking down is scary as there is steep slope covered with snow and above me is not that much visible as what is next section of the hike.

With good amount of courage and energy spent I could finally climb above the boulder, one thing I learned from my earlier days of bouldering to stick your body as close as to the rocks so that your body weight wont drag you down, learned from my German friend - Christian - too bad we lost in touch of each other. Shout out to Christian, I miss you man, hopefully we can meet again.

Picture to the right taken after i crossed the 3rd boulder section:

After climbing the boulder section, there is a snow section. I could see the clear trail with footprints on the snow which is relieving however, to get there, their is 20ms shallow snow where I could not get a grip with the hands or feet. I was so frightened at this point and as though there is no will to try. Something weird feeling to give up, I do not feel pain in my legs nor knees and I am breathing normal. However, my heart is filled with fear not to proceed further. I tried couple of times to cover to the 20ms section but to no avail. Remember I am just 450m away from the destination with only around 150m elevation gain, that means I have covered the toughest section but no will to do the easiest section of the hike. At this point I do not see anyone who can give me a helping hand or spot any hikers to encourage, normally all my life I pushed myself towards something alone but this time my heart is filled with fear.

As you can see in the left picture the section is not steep to the peak however for the next 15m the snow is shallow and I could not get traction of the snow. Somehow now when I am writing this blog it does not look that difficult. Anyway :(.

Now coming down is a bitch. The boulder section is no bad and icy that its slippery. My legs are shaking and slight cramps are starting on my leg. I struggled alot, switched positions, I could not get foothold on the rock, almost in some sort of panic mode, I remember the time in Bali where I almost drowned in the strong ocean current, but I kept saying this is not the day to die. I heavily used my hands at this point to come down even though I could not get grip with my feet. After some struggle I could get down the section and had a sigh of relief.

Going down I used the snow patch section which is not so friendly. After 15 mins down I met this Uzbek hiking guide coming from the park entrance starting at 5:30AM. Thats crazy, so he covered 6kms of hike to Rezaka hut and another toughest part of the hike to reach where I am. He motivated me many times to try again but I had already given up. If he was there at the section where I was struggling I would have taken his help. I enquired about the brothers and he said they are going down, so I was happy that nothing happened to them.

The Uzbek hiking guide, photo later taken at the Ratsek hut.

Going down was not at all fun with my bad knees and snow. I was almost walking through my butt on the snow to ease myself and lost traction so many times. After several short breaks, I took a long break overlooking at the Bilim lake and the glaciers. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather and enjoyed 20mins of the break.

At the end I met Jake and Harry, Tilya has already left home. I had my big lunch and enough gossip of the hike with the fellow buddies. Well at least safe ending, weather has been great and good company. The unfortunate part is that I didnt finish 4500m hike but the fortunate part is reached above 4000m, above 4300m, first time with with getting back safely :).

The English Brothers:

Items that I packed for the lunch 2 days ago, good stuff :)

To the people who are reading this blog, I personally know people who are going through depression and life challenges, I know how it feels but remember you have already overcome the hardest times so take opportunity of a helping hand. In most cases the easier part of your life is ahead of you, might as well take the award which I did not even though knowing the next section is the easiest section. May be I should I have taken few deep breathes and pushed myself to make it to the final zone. Thats why this peak is called Teacher's peak or Knowledge peak, I failed the test but hopefully learned the lesson can grow out of it.

Next day while I was coming down met Marcin, a Polish guy who went to the peak the day before. He is cool person to hang out and I accompanied him to the parking area on the way down. Took some photos of the mountain goats and the valley.

Thanks for reading the post.