Passes in the Osh Region
Osh Passes
Taldyk Pass - a pass in the Alai Range, oriented from north to south, connects the valley of the Gyulcha River in the north with the Alai Valley in the south. The pass is located in the Osh Region, 160 kilometers south of the city of Osh, and serves as a gateway to one of the highest and most beautiful roads in the world — the Pamir Highway. The height of the pass is 3615 m.
In the 1930s, a road was opened from Osh, through the Taldyk Pass, allowing access to China or to Lenin Peak.
From the north, the road ascends impressively in a serpentine manner. On the southern side of the pass, the road smoothly transitions to the 40th Anniversary of Kyrgyzstan Pass (3541) and then descends to Sary-Tash. A rare feature of Taldyk is that traffic is possible year-round, despite its high altitude.
On clear days, there is a picturesque view of the Pamir Mountains, among which Lenin Peak stands out. This seven-thousander, with a height of 7134 m, is located on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
On the roadside through the pass, you can see a monument dedicated to Yuri Frantsevich Grushko, an engineer who participated in the design and construction of the road through the pass.
In 1903, N.L. Korzhenyevsky discovered this pillar with the names of the people who participated in the design and construction of the road to Pamir. These included the famous traveler and explorer Lieutenant Colonel B.L. Grombechevsky, engineers of communications Mitskevich, Burakovsky, Zarakovsky, and Ensign Irmut. For a long time, it was believed that the first wheeled road through the Taldyk Pass was built in 1916 by Austrian prisoners of war. However, Korzhenyevsky's diary indicates otherwise: the first wheeled road to the Alai Valley was constructed 22 years earlier (in 1894) by Russian sapper units.
The Teo Morun Pass (height 3536) is located in the Osh Region and stretches from Sary-Tash to Irkishtam.
The Terek-Davan Pass (height 4131) is located in the Alai Mountains in the Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan and stretches from Gulcha to Irkishtam. The pass is open year-round.
The Terek-Davan Pass was part of the Great Silk Road. In ancient times, the Northern (Fergana) road was of particular importance, facilitating active contacts during the early Han period, especially with Davania, a significant portion of which was located within the modern administrative boundaries of southern Kyrgyzstan, occupying the foothill areas of northeastern, eastern, southeastern, and southwestern Fergana. From Samarkand, the road passed through the Hungry Steppe to the Chach region (modern Tashkent oasis), Fergana, and through the Terek-Davan Pass to Eastern Turkestan. Historically, this was the main passage to enter the Tarim Basin from Western Turkestan. The Kyrgyz controlled the mountain passes connecting Fergana and Kashgar (Taldyk, Shart, Terek-Davan). The Kyrgyz clan Sarttar, who grazed near the Terek-Davan Pass, generally had a monopoly on conducting caravans through the pass and derived their main income from it. It is also known as the Terek-Davan and Terek-Bavan Pass.
The Chiyiryk Pass (height 2408) is located in the Osh Region and stretches from Osh to Gulcha.
