The Fann Mountains

Between Penjikent and the Zarafshan valley, the Fann Mountains stack more classic trekking into a compact range than anywhere else in Central Asia: the range counts about a hundred peaks, with Chimtarga topping out near 5,490 metres, and beneath the summits a necklace of lakes - Alauddin's impossible turquoise, Kulikalon's amphitheatre bowl, dark Iskanderkul on the range's edge - links together over passes crossed with donkeys carrying the loads. Summer camps of shepherds and trekkers share the meadows, the weather runs drier and more reliable than the greater ranges nearby, and the logistics stay refreshingly simple: hire a guide and donkey-man in Penjikent, walk in, and let the passes set the rhythm.

The landscape

• Alauddin Lakes - the turquoise basins under Chimtarga's wall.
• Kulikalon bowl - the lake amphitheatre below Chimtarga pass.
• The high passes - Alauddin and Kaznok crossings between valleys.
• Shepherd summer camps - yurts and flocks on the meadow floors.

When to go

Mid-June to mid-September is the window - earlier the passes hold snow, later the camps pack up. July and August give the safest weather; nights freeze at the upper lakes in any month.

Practical notes

This is genuine mountain trekking: passes over 3,000 metres, scree descents and thin air that punishes the unacclimatised - build in easy first days. Facilities are tents and homestays, not lodges. Routes are unmarked; local guides are cheap, excellent and effectively necessary. The reward-to-crowd ratio embarrasses the famous ranges.

Nearby

Iskanderkul on the range's eastern edge, Penjikent's ruins and the Seven Lakes valley.

Key facts