Meridional Ridge

Meridional Ridge

The main nodal uplift of the Central Tien Shan on the border of Kyrgyzstan and China is the Meridional Ridge, approximately 90 km long and with an average height of over 6000 m. The northern continuation of the ridge is the Kakshaal-Too. The highest peaks include Peak Friendship (up to 6800 m), in the Akatau range - Peak High (up to 6964 m), and Peak Military Topographers (up to 6873 m), as well as Bezimenniy (6814 m) and Marble Wall (6140 m), located at the intersection of this ridge with the latitudinal ridges of the Heavenly Mountains, Sarydzhaz, Kalyk, and Kokshaal.

Peak Pobeda is separated by the Chon-Teren Pass (5800 m). To the west, it adjoins the Sary-Dzhaz ridge, south of which is the Tengritag ridge (approximately 40 km long), which contains Peak Khan-Tengri (up to 6995 m) and another 7 peaks above 6000 m. In the Meridional Ridge, as well as in the Sary-Dzhaz and Tengritag ridges, there are about 50 peaks, with more than 50 climbing routes predominantly rated 4A - 6A category; 3 routes rated 2B - 3B category.

The southern part of the ridge represents the largest node of modern glaciation. The North Enylchek glacier flows down from the slopes of the Meridional Ridge, and the eastern source of the South Enylchek glacier, Ukur, and Tugbelchi. The northern part of the Meridional Ridge descends to 4000 m but also contains over 30 glaciers. The foot of the ridge is covered with steppe vegetation. Forests of Tien Shan spruce are replaced at an altitude of 2800 m by subalpine and alpine meadows. Nival landscapes are well developed.

The passes in the Meridional Ridge are not used for tourism purposes, although there are relatively simple crossing paths. Helicopter flights from Przhevalsk to the Enylchek glacier are used to reach the southern part of the Meridional Ridge.