our 1991 trip

Hard to remember the details 14 years later... Just a general outline: Flew out of Moscow (Domodedovo airport) to Barnaul --> took a bus ride (super-crowded as it was/is typical in Russia) to Gorno-Altaysk --> hired a van to go maybe 100 km or so (out of ~800 km total to our destination) by Chuyski Trakt --> group split in half, and hitchhiked two big trucks ("KamAz", for those who knows) going by Chuyski Trakt to Mongolia --> arrived to Chibit --> trek 3-4 days to Shavlo Lakes --> went up glacier to the Beauty Peak base --> from there explored the area by day hikes and short climbs, went up passes Moskvich (Moscouvite), Abyl-Ayuk, some other which I can't remember now --> crossed the range via Upper Shavlinski pass and descended to Lake Maashei (Maazhoi), from where went down to the valley and to the village of Aktash --> hitchhiked a couple of "KamAz" trucks returning from Mongolia, and arrived back to Gorno-Altaysk. The total trip duration was, I think, 3 weeks. After all that we went to berry (I don't know how to call it in english -- oblepikha) plantations near Biysk and sold ourselvef into slavery for a couple of weeks to return some money we spent on the trip and gear. Then we flew back to European part of Russia (due to lack of tickets to Moscow from Biysk, some of us, including myself, had to fly to St-Petersburgh, then take a train to Moscow).