Iskandarkul (Alexander’s Lake) to Marguzor Lake FKT Report
Date: September 9, 2018
Location: Fann Mountains, Tajikistan
By: Wayne Cassidy
Introduction
Both Iskandarkul and Marguzor (part of the 7 Lakes chain) are iconic lakes in Tajikistan and both are popular places to visit for both locals and tourists. The route between them is a series of shepherd trails over three mountain passes. Trekkers sometimes use this route as a way to experience and enjoy the Fann Mountains. I had the privilege in 2007 of leading four tours of European and North American guests over this route. This trek was usually done over the course of five days. Each time I traversed this route, I more deeply pondered the possibility of running/through trekking this route in one day. 2018 was finally the year that I attempted to accomplish this dream.
Training and Preparation
After an extended hiatus from training for 50k races, I began to train again almost two years before this attempt. In the summer of 2017 I completed the Pikes Peak Ultra 50k with over 2000M of climb. My training continued using the Maximum Aerobic Function method to build my aerobic base. My training included several runs in excess of 50k building up to the Tengri Ultra 70k in May 2018. Unfortunately on race day something was wrong with my system (potentially fighting a virus) and my heart rate was elevated from before the start. Ultimately I had to withdraw at the 42k mark with severe whole body cramping and vomiting.
Earlier in the year, I began studying about the low carbohydrate high fat lifestyle for endurance training. After recovering from the Tengri race, I highly restricted my carbohydrate intake and increased my caloric intake from fat in order to allow my body to go into nutritional ketosis and have it transform metabolically to be better at burning fat, becoming “fat-adapted”. I started this in late May and continued with this lifestyle going forward. I maintained this through my FKT attempt. I also sought the coaching of Peter Defty of Optimized Fat Metabolism in order to better optimize my nutritional and training preparation. I also started using a product called Vespa, which is an extract from Asian wasps and is used to promote the usage of body fat as a fuel source in the body. The transition to this program was in response to me noticing that I would hit a wall at a certain point and would experience hard bonking when my glycogen stores would deplete. Trying to keep the stores from depleting would also lead to gastrointestinal issues that were performance inhibiting. My transition to this program went well and it was bearing good results in my training.
The Plan
With the support of my good friend Ed Rogers from the Archa Foundation, we began to plot out a plan of how to organize all the logistics for this event. We decided that one runner would meet me at the base of the Dukdon Pass climb and accompany me over the pass and down the other side to Pushtikul (a small mountain lake).
Another team led by Ed would travel to the far end of the route two days before FKT day and begin trekking the route in reverse. They would trek to the top of the Tavasang pass and leave a stash of food and water there. Then would then descend down to the Sarimat river and set up a tent there for the night. They would leave the tent set up there with a stash of food and water for Wayne and supplies for those who would stay there the night of the FKT before packing it up and trekking out. The day before the FKT they would then trek up the Munara Pass and leave another stash of food and water for Wayne there. They would then trek down and find a good route to contour around to Pushtikul. They would then set up a tent at Pushtikul for the night and to serve as a midway base where the two teams would meet. Additionally, one member from Ed’s team would head up from Pushtikul towards Dukdon and meet Wayne and his pacer on route and accompany them into the midway base.
From the midway base Ed would then pace Wayne on the second half of the route from Pushtikul over Munara Pass and Tavasang Pass to Marguzor Lake.
Run Report
Two days before the run both teams left Dushanbe. Ed and Chris Wood left for Marguzor Lake and I (Wayne), Brian Zerbe and David Harper-Jones left for Saratoq village above Iskandarkul. While my team and I were getting acclimated in Saratoq, Ed and Chris were already trekking the route in reverse. The significant loads that they were carrying took a toll on them as they trekked over the Tavasang Pass and it quickly became apparent to them that it might impact the plan and Ed’s ability to accompany me the entire portion of the route that we had planned for. That night they notified us via sat-phone to prepare for that possibility.
The day before the day of the run, Ed and Chris made their way over the Munara Pass and attempted to find a good and safe route to Pushtikul. Unfortunately, they were once again impacted by the climb over Munara and then they ran into difficulties finding a safe route to Pushtikul. The excellent path they were following stopped abruptly and turned into a dangerous cliff side. They eventually had to abort their attempt to get to Pushtikul and work their way down to the valley floor instead. They trekked for around 10 hours that day and were completely exhausted. They contacted me that evening to revise the planned midway base from Pushtikul to the Archimaidon valley floor where river from Pushtikul joins the main river. They also communicated that Ed would not try to go the second half of the route with me, but would just attempt to go over the Munara Pass with me and send me alone over Tavasang Pass. These changes meant that I would now have to descend all the way down to the valley floor and then my climb up Munara Pass would be longer and more constant with a steeper section to start with at the bottom. We also asked David who would be driving from the Iskandarkul area to Marguzor Lake to hike up to the top of Tavasang and meet me there and accompany me down to Marguzor.
On FKT day, we awoke at 2:30am and made final preparations and pack up. Brian began to trek up to the base of the Dukdon pass and David and I headed by car down to the starting point at Iskandarkul.
At 4:20am, I touched the waters of Iskandarkul [39∞03’50”N, 68∞21’05”E, altitude 2206m] and began my journey to Marguzor lake. The temperature was cool and almost perfect to begin the run. After a flat of about a km, the climb began. The road climbed over 220m over the pass between Iskandarkul and Saratag [39∞03’06”N, 68∞19’39”E, altitude 2582m]. We progressed through Saratag and continued up the valley to the base of Dukdon [39∞03’99”N, 68∞24’09”E, altitude 2597m] where Brian was waiting for us. It took 1h45m to reach Brian at the 12.7km mark. We quickly took on some fresh supplies and Brian and I began the Dukdon climb.
The Dukdon climb was quite steep from the start and was likely one of the most difficult sections of the trip, but thankfully I was still fresh for this part. We made good progress on this climb without issue until about the 3h45m mark of the run. Then with about 400m of climb still to go to the Dukdon pass, I began to experience some cramping issues on the inside of my thigh. I took on some salts and electrolytes and made sure to wash them down with sufficient water. We carried on and the cramp slowly loosened off. The cramps slowed our pace a little, but eventually went away and we finished our climb up to the Dukdon pass [39∞08’31”N, 68∞18’40”E, altitude 3837m] before the 4.5h mark.
The descent off of Dukdon was much longer than I remembered it, but it went well. As we were descending, we began to realize that the valley was larger than we realized and that there was a chance that we could miss Chris who was ascending up from below. We tried to keep an eye out for him and yelled out periodically, but there were hills and ridges in the valley that meant we could be on different paths and miss each other. Chris was carrying supplies including my Vespa packet, which I was trying to take every 2.5 hours. Our concern grew the further we went. We were worried that he might go a long ways in the other direction and be out there alone. Eventually we came across footprints on the path that we suspected were Chris’s. There was nothing we could do but continue on our path down to Ed at the base camp at the valley floor. We arrived at camp [39∞07’57”N, 68∞03’28”E, altitude 2266m] at approximately the 36km point just before the 7-hour mark. I restocked there had a hot cup of ramen noodles and changed my shoes as I was getting a blister on the side of my big toe from my current shoes. That stop I wasted too much time and wished that I had transitioned more quickly there as I spent between 20 to 25 minutes there. Brian wished us well and Ed and I began the next section together.
Ed and I ran down the valley to the beginning of the climb up to the Munara pass [39∞08’25”N, 68∞02’27”E, altitude 2161m]. This section was not part of the original plan as we were intending to approach Munara from Pushtikul lake a good distance above the valley floor, which would join the Munara climb part way up. The climb was quite steep from the start. This really took a lot out of us as the climb continued. For me it was the cumulative effect of the effort to that point and also being without my Vespa supplement, which was supposed to help my body process fat into fuel made this section especially difficult. For Ed, he was feeling the effects of carrying heavy packs over the two passes over the previous two days and so this climb was especially difficult for him as well. Also it was now about noon-time and in the valley the heat was rising. We both struggled for a while on the steep climb. I was sweating heavily and my heart rate was up to its highest point of the entire run on that climb.
We stopped to catch our breath at one point and Ed decided that he thought it was best if I carried on without him and he would head back down to the valley floor and head out that way with the others. He transferred the sat-phone over to my bag along with other safety equipment and we headed off in separate directions.
My climb up the trail to the seasonal settlement above was difficult but straightforward. I remembered this route clearly enough from my trips 10 years previous. The part that concerned me was the portion from the settlement up to the top of the pass. I clearly remembered one of the trips we did on this route in 2007, where the guide led us too far off to the west and we climbed up a good distance only to realize that we couldn’t get to the pass from where we were without heading back down first. I was determined to not make that mistake on this trip. As I made my way up there were a lot of different trails heading on slightly different angles and routes. I just tried to stick to the largest ones that were heading in the right general direction and weren’t heading too far to the west.
The climb grew steeper and my energy levels began to drop. Each step of the climb seemed to grow more and more difficult. In my fear of going too far to the west, I had probably gone to far to the south. This was not a problem from a getting lost perspective, as the steep part of the mountain to the south of the pass that lead up to the peak served as a guide and a barrier. Getting too far to the south however, took me off the easiest most natural paths to the top and I lost the trail. Instead I had to just climb up and make my own path over the rocks. This made it more difficult and slower moving. I was feeling extremely weak and just putting another foot in front of the other was a real effort.
Finally after almost three hours of climbing, I ascended up onto the ridge. It was then that I realized that I had come up a good bit to the south of the pass and as a result, I had climbed up higher than was necessary and was about 500 meters up the saddle south of the pass. I ran down from there to the pass [39∞06’32”N, 68∞00’08”E, altitude 3502m] where my stash of food and water would be waiting. I found the rocks that Ed and Chris had it under as they had described it to me. Unfortunately, when I uncovered it, all the food was gone and there was only a small portion of the water left. As low as I was already feeling, that was a kick in the gut. Oh well, there was nothing that I could do about it, so I just took the water and prepared to move on.
From the top of Munara pass, I could see across the valley to the top of the Tavasang pass. My next big goal was in sight. However, as it was after 3pm at this point, the challenge seemed daunting and loomed large in front of me.
As I began my descent down from the Munara pass, I had difficulty finding a good route down. Trails that I followed seemed to head off away from where I wanted to go and I had to then backtrack or find my way across to another trail. The trails would often peter out into difficult terrain to descend down. I definitely didn’t find the best or fastest way down. However, I did eventually make it down to the high end of the river valley [39∞06’38”N, 67∞59’01”E, altitude 3051m].
As I continued down the river, I came upon the camp of European trekking tour. As I came through their camp I struck up a conversation with their Tajik guides and they invited me to take a rest in their kitchen tent to get refreshed before carrying on. When I entered the kitchen tent, I was surprised to see that the cook was the cook from a trekking trip I had done the previous month with my wife and eldest son to commemorate his 10th birthday. He greeted me with a big hug and invited me to eat whatever I would like as he laid out all kinds of different foods for me. I probably spent longer there than I should have as I had tea and ate fried meat with them. I eventually got myself up and was on my way again heading down the river valley.
As I continued down the trail it ran beside this small river that would eventually feed into the Sarimat river, which ran perpendicular (South to North) to it down at the valley floor. The trail eventually headed off to the south from the small river. The original plan was to follow this trail as it gradually descended to the Sarimat river valley and met the Sarimat river near a seasonal settlement [39∞06’28”N, 67∞57’10”E, altitude 2689m] and a bridge well up above where this small river would flow into the Sarimat river. However, Ed and Chris had explained to me that they had not been able to get there to set up the supply tent and had instead set it up near where the small river met the main river. This would shorten the distance that I would have to travel, but it meant a much more steep and difficult descent to the river. For this reason, I didn’t follow the trail, but instead followed the river and found other smaller trails to use. This descent was difficult and definitely put the strain on my legs as I worked to control my descent. The descent wasn’t too problematic and I eventually saw the supply tent come into view. I snacked there [39∞07’14”N, 67∞57’32”E, altitude 2605m] and resupplied my pack and set off again to tackle the last climb of the day at around 5pm.
I crossed the Sarimat river at the bridge [39∞07’19”N, 67∞57’29”E, altitude 2575m] near where the smaller river joined the Sarimat river and sought advice on the best route up from there from two boys who lived on the property there. Their directions were helpful and I was on my way. Again, starting from where I did and not further up the river meant that it was steep to start the climb and not as gradual a climb to begin as it would have been if the camp was where we originally planned. I was still feeling pretty spent and low energy and it was hard going. However, as I continued to climb up and up, I began to regain some energy and get another wind. This climb went pretty well and I finally got to areas that were familiar to me from 10 years before. From there I was able to find the way without any major issues, although at points I may not have taken the ideal route, I didn’t get too far astray. The sun was beginning to drop and I knew that I needed to hurry and make it to the top while I could still see the way. The length of the climb began to wear me down both mentally and physically, but finally the top began to come into view. Eventually I spotted the pass and saw that David was there, waiting for me with a local shepherd who had helped him find his way to the pass. Once he spotted me he began to descend down to me. That meant a lot to me to have him come down to me and greet me with an encouraging hug. It really picked up my spirits and made the final stretch to the pass that much easier. The shepherd that helped David find his way to the pass was waiting for us at the top [39∞07’53”N, 67∞55’09”E, altitude 3313m]. It was windy there and I put on my jacket to keep warm. There I had access to my next food and water pack and was able to eat and drink and grab some provisions for the descent down to Marguzor lake. The sun had already dropped behind the mountains at this point, so we got our headlamps ready and with some directions from the shepherd, we began our descent.
It was really helpful to have those directions to find the best route off the pass. This allowed us to move more quickly and confidently as the light began to diminish. We were able to make good time down to the river and navigation was much easier from there even with the light fading. David had to slow his pace for me a bit on the descent as my leg muscles were significantly tired and controlling myself and being surefooted was more difficult, so going at a slower pace was a little easier. We were soon in darkness and making our way by headlamp down to the village of Tiogli.
Tiogli [39∞08’04”N, 67∞52’30”E, altitude 2508m] is the quaint village that is perched up above Marguzor Lake in the hills. I had really enjoyed this little village on previous visits as it had character, organization and a pride of place that I didn’t see in a lot of other Tajik villages. I knew that descent to Tiogli should be fairly straightforward. It was the descent from Tiogli down to Marguzor that concerned me. My memory of this section from 10 years previous was that it was a maze of criss-crossing switch-backing trails down the hillside from the village to the lake. It is a fairly open area with visibility from the village down to the lake allowing you to see where the various trails generally head. However, tackling these trails in the dark would be far more challenging as I wouldn’t be able to see where they go.
As David and I approached Tiogli, we discussed the best option for me heading down to the lake. David and I would part ways in Tiogli as he had parked his vehicle there. The options were as follows:
- Use the maze of pathways from the village down to the lake.
- Use the new road, which had been made to the village since I had last been there. This would be much easier to navigate, but would be a much longer route and would bring me to Marguzor Lake several kilometres down from the planned finishing spot where the river enters the lake.
- David on his way up thought he had seen a good trail that followed the river all the way down to the lake.
We decided to check out option 3. The path we were on that followed beside the river, before the village, begins to separate from the river and follows the canal ways to the right as the canal contours around the hill to the village. At this point, we took a path that went left and crossed a bridge over the river. However, after a short distance it petered out. As we came back and crossed over the river there was a trail on the village side of the river. It looked like a good trail and so we decided that I should take it. David carried on to the village to get his car and drive down to the lake to meet me at the finish. I carried on the trail at a solid jog. The trail then seemed to end at the building site of a house. I tried to carry on from there on some narrower little paths. I descended a treacherous slope down closer to the river and then crossed over it to try and find a trail on the other side. I eventually found a bigger trail, but it petered out and I considered just trying to make my way cross-country. After doing this for a bit, I eventually got cliffed-out and seeing no good way forward decided to retrace my steps and go back up and through the village. That was a difficult and disheartening climb back up. I had lost a bunch of time and energy and now was still faced with the difficulty of finding my way down to the lake.
As I ran through the village of Tiogli, I was surprised to find that David was still there repairing his vehicle, which had some technical issues. I carried on through the village trying to find my way to the trails down the hillside. It was dark and the village had grown and changed a lot since I was last there ten years previous making it difficult to find. I ended up just following the road out the end of the village and began to run down the road. I contemplated just continuing on the road, but I got to another road, which seemed to head towards the paths that led down the hillside and so I went that way. The road petered out into the trails and I began to descend down the hill on these trails. It was difficult to know where to go as the trails criss-crossed and the darkness didn’t allow me to see where they led. Many of them led to new homes that had built up on the hillside since I was last there, but did not go further. I numerous times had to retrace my path back to the last intersection and try a different way. Making my way by trial and error, I eventually worked my way down the final two kilometres to the lake below.
I crossed over the road that winds its way around the lake, but there was no lake to be seen. The water levels were low in the lake and the water’s edge was a significant distance away. Not being satisfied to stop where the high water line is [39∞08’09”N, 67∞51’50”E, altitude 2157m], I decided to venture into the darkness to find the reward of actually touching the lake water. After dancing back and forth across the many streams that the river had broken into across the bottom of the lakebed, I traversed another 300 to 400 meters to the waters edge. I touched the water and completed my journey! I reached the high water mark in 16 hours and 39 minutes. I then fumbled my way through the mud and streams out to the edge of the water [39∞08’12”N, 67∞51’37”E, altitude 2127m] reaching there at 16 hours and 45 minutes. Since the water is a moving target, I would suggest that the high water mark beside the road should serve as the finish and 16 hours and 39 minutes should be the officially recorded time.
Unfortunately, David’s technical issues had delayed his descent from the village, so I was left to celebrate this occasion alone. As I made my way back to the road, David drove up and we enjoyed a celebratory hug together and made our way down the valley to the guesthouse where we would spend the night.
We stayed at the same guesthouse that Ed and Chris had stayed at before they began their trek. The owner when hearing of our plans told Ed and Chris that it was impossible to cover our route in one day. He had traversed the entire route numerous times and did not believe it was possible in one day. It was great to be able to prove him wrong. He was amazed and was grilling me with questions as we ate our late dinner. I finally had to excuse myself to finally get some sleep.
The next day David and I drove out to the meeting point at the end of the Archimaidon valley where we picked up Ed, Chris and Brian who had hiked out all of the checkpoint tents and equipment. We then headed back to Dushanbe a victorious crew with hopes that this would be a help to the Archa Foundation in achieving their noble goals.