After a two-day trip by plane and car, we reached the small village of Kurai, located on the edge of the Altai mountain range. When we found ourselves in the brown, harsh Siberian steppes stretching along the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China, for the first time we were able to admire the majestic massif rising in front of us. The Golden Mountains, as the locals call them, make a great first impression – their huge, white ice faces, furrows of couloirs and steep peaks inspire respect from the very beginning. Soon we reached the Aktru valley – a very charming place and our base camp for the coming days. 

A small frozen lake, located in a valley, was surrounded by numerous huts. A few hundred meters further the valley forks – it is divided into two parts by the impressive northern face of the Karatash peak. In the western part, the eyes of skilled freeriders (whom we considered ourselves immodestly) could easily spot the steep, snow-covered spines – a desire to ride those beautiful formations immediately grew in our heads! A sudden blast of wind, which heralded the imminent arrival of a snowstorm, quickly brought us back to reality – clouds of snow carried by the wind were already visible on the mountain peaks.