First off, great trip report and story told. Your awareness of the surrounding people, culture and genuine regard for their involvement and well being is heartfelt and surely recognized by whomever reads this. I can empathize.
Several years ago, I lived and worked in Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia, which is the Hui (a different sect of Chinese Muslim) Autonomous region located in the northwest reaches of China, east of Tibet and just south of Inner Mongolia. While living here, I came to appreciate the people, their kindness and overall culture much like you seemed to have with the Uyghur, Kyrgyz, and Kazak. I too find it incredibly troubling how (generalizing here) many Western societies oftentimes paint negative imagery of Muslims without first attempting to understand them on a firsthand basis. Publications like this one will at least help make people first think about the origin of their beliefs before categorizing the whole.
Finally, on a side note, while living in Yinchuan, during Chun Jie (Chinese New Year), a few other Western teachers and I were lucky enough to travel to Lhasa and from there make an abbreviated trek out to BC of Qomolangma (Everest in Tibetan). While on our journey and gazing over similar stretches of peaks you did, I became inspired to not only climb mountains, which I now do, but also to fear and respect the Nature and mountains we are allotted the opportunity to frequent.
Thanks so much for posting your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing about others' similar experiences. I can only imagine how culturally interesting, yet difficult your time in Yinchuan must have been. Cheers.
Bryan
astrobassman - Oct 23, 2013 10:26 pm - Voted 10/10
Excellent write up
I really enjoyed reading this. Your appreciation and enjoyment from experiencing both the local culture and climbing a big high remote mountain is evident. Well done.
Thank you for this very interesting and detailed report from Muztagh Ata! This is just what you need when making plans for such mountains. Congratulaions to the summit. If I understood correctly you made your calls on the mountain with regular cell phones? You didnt bring any VHF radio? cheers.
Andre, thanks for your comments! That's correct. We used a regular cell phone operating on an android platform. We brought radios but did not use them at all.
One thing.
Skiing Muztagh Ata shows up as the parent of Kunlun and Muztagh Ata as the "grand child".
Of course it should be the other way around:
Kunlun ---> Muztagh Ata ---> Skiing Muztagh Ata
I don't know where the error is as "Skiing Muztagh Ata" also shows up on the correct sub level under trip reports from Muztagh Ata.
Thanks for the question. You can enter points into a GPS manually by using the coordinates. Try looking it up online with your specific GPS model. We got the coordinates from someone at basecamp that had recently summitted. Make sure you are using the same map datum as the person you are getting the info from! Most people use WGS '84.
I find it interesting that people just focus on the Uyrghur's. There are at least 13 ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang. The Kazah's will still take their livestock and graze the summer pastures up in the Tian shan as there ancestors have done for many centuries.your talking about an area with a history that dates BC.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8154490/Chinese-villagers-descended-from-Roman-soldiers.html
Jason Halladay - Oct 17, 2013 1:31 pm - Voted 10/10
AmazingThis is a great, comprehensive report of what surely was an amazing experience. Kudos.
BLong - Oct 17, 2013 3:29 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: AmazingThanks Jason!
gert - Oct 17, 2013 4:07 pm - Voted 10/10
Fantastic!Thank you for telling us your story!
Gert
jdenyes - Oct 21, 2013 6:20 am - Voted 10/10
Such great photos and such great details!Very cool! I enjoyed reading it a lot, with one arm, what a warrior! Thanks for sharing.
Crabman - Oct 21, 2013 8:24 am - Voted 10/10
the important bits ...First off, great trip report and story told. Your awareness of the surrounding people, culture and genuine regard for their involvement and well being is heartfelt and surely recognized by whomever reads this. I can empathize.
Several years ago, I lived and worked in Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia, which is the Hui (a different sect of Chinese Muslim) Autonomous region located in the northwest reaches of China, east of Tibet and just south of Inner Mongolia. While living here, I came to appreciate the people, their kindness and overall culture much like you seemed to have with the Uyghur, Kyrgyz, and Kazak. I too find it incredibly troubling how (generalizing here) many Western societies oftentimes paint negative imagery of Muslims without first attempting to understand them on a firsthand basis. Publications like this one will at least help make people first think about the origin of their beliefs before categorizing the whole.
Finally, on a side note, while living in Yinchuan, during Chun Jie (Chinese New Year), a few other Western teachers and I were lucky enough to travel to Lhasa and from there make an abbreviated trek out to BC of Qomolangma (Everest in Tibetan). While on our journey and gazing over similar stretches of peaks you did, I became inspired to not only climb mountains, which I now do, but also to fear and respect the Nature and mountains we are allotted the opportunity to frequent.
Cheers for sharing such a great story.
BLong - Oct 27, 2013 4:36 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: the important bits ...Crabman,
Thanks so much for posting your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing about others' similar experiences. I can only imagine how culturally interesting, yet difficult your time in Yinchuan must have been. Cheers.
Bryan
astrobassman - Oct 23, 2013 10:26 pm - Voted 10/10
Excellent write upI really enjoyed reading this. Your appreciation and enjoyment from experiencing both the local culture and climbing a big high remote mountain is evident. Well done.
andre hangaard - Oct 27, 2013 11:57 am - Hasn't voted
very useful!Thank you for this very interesting and detailed report from Muztagh Ata! This is just what you need when making plans for such mountains. Congratulaions to the summit. If I understood correctly you made your calls on the mountain with regular cell phones? You didnt bring any VHF radio? cheers.
BLong - Oct 27, 2013 4:31 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: very useful!Andre, thanks for your comments! That's correct. We used a regular cell phone operating on an android platform. We brought radios but did not use them at all.
markhallam - Oct 27, 2013 3:54 pm - Voted 10/10
Enjoyable read......and what a fantastic trip! Congratulations on summiting - and thanks for sharing your experiences.
best wishes, Mark
Corax - Oct 28, 2013 7:04 am - Hasn't voted
Great!Great trip report and lots of good information.
One thing.
Skiing Muztagh Ata shows up as the parent of Kunlun and Muztagh Ata as the "grand child".
Of course it should be the other way around:
Kunlun ---> Muztagh Ata ---> Skiing Muztagh Ata
I don't know where the error is as "Skiing Muztagh Ata" also shows up on the correct sub level under trip reports from Muztagh Ata.
emma - Jun 17, 2014 4:45 pm - Hasn't voted
Gps points preloadHi, I am going to Ma next week. How did you preload GPS points without a map? How did you get them?
Thanks!
BLong - Jun 17, 2014 4:59 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Gps points preloadEmma,
Thanks for the question. You can enter points into a GPS manually by using the coordinates. Try looking it up online with your specific GPS model. We got the coordinates from someone at basecamp that had recently summitted. Make sure you are using the same map datum as the person you are getting the info from! Most people use WGS '84.
Best of luck!
bigdamo - Jan 29, 2016 9:12 pm - Hasn't voted
Ethnic minority groups XinjaingI find it interesting that people just focus on the Uyrghur's. There are at least 13 ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang. The Kazah's will still take their livestock and graze the summer pastures up in the Tian shan as there ancestors have done for many centuries.your talking about an area with a history that dates BC.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8154490/Chinese-villagers-descended-from-Roman-soldiers.html