Winter tale of Urikbel, Uzbekistan

Hello! Last time I talked about my trips around Uzbekistan more than four months ago. During this time I went to a beautiful place called Zaamin (I already wrote about it in previous posts). After over two months I finally opened the season of winter trips.

Unfortunately in recent years winter in Uzbekistan does not please us with snow. The temperature is almost always positive. Just recently it was already +15 degrees Celcium. In December and January it only snowed two or three times and melted immediately. So now in order to see the snow you need to go to the mountains. Especially few weeks ago in Uzbekistan was opened a new ski resort of international level called "Amirsay".

But climbing the mountain slopes and picnics under the pines is prettier to me than any fashionable chalets with heating and mulled wine, so when "Mysterious Uzbekistan" announced a trip to a winter fairy tale on Mount Urikbel, I immediately enrolled in a group. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who missed this winter, snow and mountains, since the group gathered quite large - almost thirty people. The organizers promised us a walk through the juniper forest to a frozen waterfall.

I used to go to the mountains in winter to ride along the Chimgan slope or spend the night in a cottage in some kind of recreation area. But this is not serious - to arrive in a warm car, walk along a cleared path to a cozy cottage. So this was my first full winter hike, when I needed to walk with a backpack on my back in all sorts of rough terrain and falling into the snow.

We plunged into minibuses and set off for the city of Angren. In Tashkent, the day before was rained, so it was cloudy and foggy. At the entrance to the start of our walking route, we drove into a small valley. There was a thick fog and cars crawled like turtles but soon we began to climb the mountains and the view of this valley covered with fog was simply fantastic. As if a cloud had come down. I tried to capture this picture on the camera, but dirty car's glass and shaking significantly complicated this task.

But then we arrived in the village of Nishbash. The cars could no longer go further and we had to stamp our feet. We walked along a small hollow and began to climb the mountainside. In summer or autumn it would be a very easy and enjoyable route and we would be able to cover it in a couple of hours, but in winter the speed slows down significantly. Our speed was probably one kilometer per hour. But the beautiful winter nature more than compensated for all the inconvenience!

In the village another member of the group joined us - a local dog named Muynak. According to the guides, this dog likes to go with tourists, accompanying them along the entire route. For this they treat him with various goodies.

The bright sun, blue sky and snow-white snow - just gorgeous! We began to climb the slope of Mount Urikbel and climbed a small plateau. The views from there were magnificent.

While walking along the shady side, it was rather cold. But as soon as he went out into the sun, it became hot and everyone threw off their jackets, exposing their heated faces to the cool air. Of course, we spent some time on this plateau taking pictures from various angles.

After all the girls from our group photographed themselves photos for their facebook and instagram accounts, we went on further to the frozen waterfall.

I used to see icy waterfalls only in pictures on the Internet, so when we came to the crevice I didn’t understand that it was a waterfall. It was not so big, but I liked it anyway.

It was time for dinner and we decided to take a halt. The waterfall was on the shady side of the mountain and it was very cool there, so we delved a little into the juniper forest on the sunny side.

Here we made a halt. To the joy of Muynak, every tourist shared his food with him. Personally, I gave him half of my supplies. Muynak’s appetite can only be envied - he literally swallowed pieces of sandwiches, practically without chewing. With equal greed, he ate both sausage and ham, as well as cheese sandwiches. The only thing he refused was fresh cucumbers.

After lunch, part of the group remained at the place of rest and the other part decided to go upstairs and photograph the surroundings.

Muynak followed us. By the way, the feeling that this dog understands everything perfectly and knows how to pose does not leave me. We climbed to the top of the mountain to a small platform from where a beautiful panorama opened and began to take pictures there in turn. Muynak waited for everyone, lay down with a proud view of the edge of the slope, as if inviting us to take his pictures. Of course, everyone began to admire and photograph the dog from all sides.

However, when the photo session ended, the whole impression of the “master of the mountains” immediately disappeared. Muynak making sure that he was no longer under the camera sights, began to wallow and ride in the snow like the most ordinary mischievous dog.

But came the time to go back. We finally looked around the mountains and went down to the village, where cars were waiting for us.

Despite the fact that I was cold and wet, I really liked this trip. Be sure to go somewhere in the very near future. Moreover, I have seen enough photos of Urikbel at different times of the year and set a note for myself to return here in spring and autumn.

!steemitworldmap 40.927692 lat 70.172815 long Winter tale of Urikbel, Uzbekistan d3scr