Glaciers of Kyrgyzstan

At the highest altitudes, snow falls and doesn’t melt. As more snow falls, it compresses the older layers that are already on the ground, forming ice sheets. When these ice sheets pile up higher and higher, they become glaciers. Some of the ice is forced down mountain valleys, forming U-shaped glacial valleys and hanging streams (which are left in high places when the ice retreats), plus carrying debris along its course and depositing it far from its original source.

The ice in valley glaciers, known locally as ice rivers, can move between 3 cm (1.2 in) and 40 cm (16 in) a day, depending on the size of the glacier and the slope of the valley. At the edges are crevasses, or big cracks in the ice, which can be easily covered with fallen snow and as such are a particular hazard to mountaineers.

Over 8,000 glaciers in Kyrgyzstan cover about 8,100 square km (3,130 square miles), which is about 30% of the total land area and 4% of the surface area.

The most famous glacier is Inylchek (also Engilchek, Enilchek) Glacier, which divides into two branches. Inylchek Glacier is next to Peak Pobeda and Khan Tengri in the eastern Tian Shan. Some glaciers are close to Bishkek, for example Ak-Sai (at 3,500 m or 11,500 feet) or Adygene (3,200 m or 10,500 feet) in Ala-Archa National Park. These glaciers are easy accessible by two- or three-day treks.

All together, Kyrgyzstan’s glaciers contain about 580 billion cubic meters (20 trillion cubic feet) of water - enough to cover the whole country at a depth of 3 m (10 feet).

This list shows some of Kyrgyzstan’s glaciers. Different sources sometimes give different figures for their length and area, which can possibly be attributed to the effects of climate change.