The air up there
The Pamir Mountains drawing us in
The highest pass to be encountered on the Eurasian leg of our journey is Ak Baital, the highest altitude road in the former Soviet Union. At 4,655m Ak Baital is of a higher elevation than either of us has driven, although we think Han holds the altitude record of 4,800m as a passenger from an Andean trip a few years back.
Han’s epic high altitude bus ride had them pulling out the oxygen bottles and smelling salts, and I’m sure she pictured us cartwheeling off some precipice after a fade-out at the wheel.
Accordingly when looking at the elevation profile of our Pamir itinerary (thank you Caravanistan) we thought it prudent to prep ourselves with Diamox and a progressive approach from Osh (963m) via Sary Tash (3,150m).
Our lead up was not ideal. In Osh I’d been levelled by my third instance of food poisoning in five weeks, while Disco was being fed a diet of increasingly sketchy diesel. One can filter out water and dirt, but a lowered cetane rating (less bang) is harder to fix.
On the morning before Ak Baital it’s fair to say I was picturing the surface of Hoth, minus the Tauntauns. We both donned winter pants, socks and boots while Disco was battened down for blizzard conditions. I visualised changing a wheel in whorls of snow and sleet.
Ak Baital at 13 degrees Celsius: somewhat milder than expected
Ak Baital proved in fact very straight-forward. With a consistent incline and good surface Disco powered up with no issues, the turbo largely offsetting the leaner air. We overnighted in Murghab (3,650m) and, lacking forced induction, experienced some breathlessness when hoisting our luggage and walking around town.
Next morning and 100kms or so out of town we swung south towards the Wakhan Valley, which one enters through the Khargush Pass (4,344m). The surface here is somewhat more technical, the track peppered with boulders often exceeding Disco’s clearance. The final steep, rock-strewn incline proved too much - Disco was simply unable to rev sufficiently to spool up the turbo and produce enough power to move forward at walking pace.
Like a roller coaster prepping for launch we reversed back down for a run up. Khargush Pass was taken in a headlong Dakar-esque rush of bottoming suspension, roaring engine and thumping underbody bash plates.
At the end of the day, preparation stretching all the way back to decisions made in Oz came together with favourable conditions and we had a much easier time of this stretch than many.
Next big elevations will be Peru!
