BRITISH KAZAKH SOCIETY
BKS / Olzhas Suleimenov Expeditions for Young Kazakhs

BKS Olzhas Suleimenov Expedition Update

 

Through the good offices of the Kazakh Ministry of Science and Higher Education 26 students from three universities put their names forward for the expedition. Of these, six young women and three young men were selected and declared fit to venture onto the glaciers of the Tien Shan mountains under the leadership of experts of the Central Asian Regional Glaciological Centre (CARGC).

 

All the resources and systems were in place for the start on 19 July when, on Monday 13 July, we had a meteorological update from the CARGC experts. Heavy rainfall had resulted in flash floods causing significant mudflows and landslides in certain areas. Reports and videos from our colleagues at the CARGC showed that several sections of the route up to the glacier base station at 3,450 m above sea level had been destroyed making even all-terrain vehicle transport impossible. The CARGC analysed these unstable conditions in the mountains and the ongoing risk of mudflows and landslides, and, given these force majeure circumstances caused by natural events, we decided to postpone the inaugural expedition until next year.

 

We have informed all parties including HRH the Prince of Wales, who sent his best wishes to all involved in the expedition. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education, our Kazakh partners and sponsors, our Embassy in Astana and the Kazakh Embassy in London understand the situation and are very keen to proceed with arrangements for the expedition to take place next year. In addition, Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek, has suggested that future expeditions should bring British students to Kazakhstan to join forces with Kazakh students. We very much welcome this, given that the British Kazakh Society’s mission is to promote the best of relations between our two countries.

 

The Ministry also wrote that ‘our students have already gained valuable experience by participating in the preparation and selection process. I am personally confident that almost all of them will be eager to take part in the expedition next year, and we will certainly encourage them to do so. Thank you and the entire team for your dedication and all the effort invested in organizing this expedition. We highly appreciate our cooperation and look forward to continuing our joint work and making next year's expedition a success.’

 

We will also set up a less weather dependent parallel expedition just in case bad weather again intervenes. Our BKS Representative in Kazakhstan, Zaira Sarsenova of GRATA Law, is carrying out initial work on this which may focus on archaeological sites in the Atyrau region, again with a demanding trek following.

 

In the meantime, we are engaging the students in a number of challenging week-end events on the mountains to team build and maintain the momentum. The first is planned to take place on 11 October when the two Almaty-based students will undertake a trek up the Big Almaty Peak led by the Kaz Alpine Club. KAC has been involved in planning the trek stage of the expedition from the outset. This will be followed by a meeting with the glaciologists and a briefing about their work. Operations Co-ordinator and BKS Director Indira Weaver has just returned from Kazakhstan where she met with the 3 Astana-based students.

 

The expedition will take place in 2027, the 25th anniversary of the founding of BKS.