Bishkek Archives

The Madison Mountaineering Peak Lenin expedition team caught an early flight from Bishkek to Osh today. Tomorrow, they’ll begin the drive to Peak Lenin Base Camp, but spent today touring the city; it was a great way to stretch the legs after several days of flying in the last week! The team enjoyed several different stops around the city, with beautiful blue skies overhead. The journey continues tomorrow with hopefully many more views to take in. Everyone is in good spirits and excited to move into their base camp at the foot of the mountain tomorrow! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Osh:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Peak Lenin (7134m/23,406ft) expedition. Today is July 1st.

This morning we woke up early and flew from Bishkek (800m/2,600ft) south to Osh (963m/3,159ft). We got settled into our hotel here, and then we walked just around the corner and had breakfast in a nice little Italian restaurant. After that, we headed out to explore the city. Osh has a lot of history; it was a major stop on the Silk Road, and just a few minutes walk from our hotel is a UNESCO World Heritage site called Mount Sulaiman. We spent most of the morning there. There are petroglyphs there that date back 3,000 years. There are two mosques on the site that date back to the 16th century. And up on the shoulder of the mountain is a great viewpoint where we had really nice views of the Fergana Valley. That’s where Osh is located.

We’re looking forward to more great views tomorrow. Tomorrow we drive to Peak Lenin Base Camp (3600m/11,811ft). The drive will take most of the day, and we’re looking forward to getting moved into our tents and starting the expedition.

So we’ll be in touch tomorrow!

Relaxing in Osh

A petroglyph exhibit in Sulaiman Mountain

Our climber, Mike, visiting a sacred cave on Sulaiman Mountain

Our climber, Chris, visiting a mosque at the foot of Sulaiman Mountain.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

Hello, from Kyrgyzstan! The Madison Mountaineering team has arrived, marking the start of their Peak Lenin expedition. Our team has slowly trickled in over the last few days, and came together today for a gear check, orientation, and team dinner to kick things off. It’s been an enjoyable start with tours of the city and some rest after the long days of travel. Tomorrow, we’ll be boarding another flight to continue the journey towards the climb ahead! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this inaugural dispatch to kick off the 2026 Peak Lenin expedition:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Peak Lenin expedition. Today is June 30th and we are in Bishkek (800m/2,600ft), the capital of Kyrgyzstan!

Over the last few days, our climbers have arrived from their home countries. So we spent today doing an orientation and gear checks, and then enjoying Bishkek in the summer. It’s a beautiful city! We were out sightseeing today, and we had some great views of the Tian Shan Mountains, just outside of town. We just wrapped up our team dinner and now we’re heading to bed early.

The plan for tomorrow is to fly south to the city of Osh (963m/3,159ft). We’ll spend one night there and then we’ll start the drive to Peak Lenin Base Camp (3600m/11,811ft).

All is well here in Central Asia, and we’ll be in touch tomorrow.

Downtown Bishkek

Osh Bazaar in Bishkek

Nomadic history on display at the national history museum

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Exploring Osh

Off to Peak Lenin!