Supporting local Mountain Guides
Kyrgyzstan is also known as “the Switzerland of Central Asia” because 95% of the country is covered with world-class stunning and untouched Mountains. All mountains are easily accessible via many of the country’s 3000-meter mountain passes. Bearing this in mind and the fact that Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in the world, it made it clear to us that we should support local Mountain Guides.
Hayat Tarikov, Head of CBT Arslanbob
We got in touch with Hayat Tarikov, a Kyrgyz local guide. Hayat is running CBT Arslanbob, one of the 18 community-based tourism branches in Kyrgyzstan. Founded in Kochkor in 2000, CBT is an organization that strives for a form of tourism in which locals have substantial control over the involvement, development and management of tourism and in which the majority of the benefits remain within the community. Hayat is Head of CBT Arslanbob and Arslanbob is the only CBT branch in Kyrgyzstan with an active winter tourism program. And this is how we found our man.
Check out the CBT website over here.
CBT Ski Race
We decided to visit Hayat and CBT Arslanbob to donate ski equipment. Also, we were very excited to experience the Kids Race, an annual event to get kids involved in skiing. With a team of Faction Ski we have joined the CBT Ski Race.
Gear4guides has the aim to support Hayat all the way with his mission to get kids involved in winter sports and to get Arslanbob on the World Freeride Map! The CBT Ski Race is a wonderful event, and we created the video below to give you a better picture of this adventure. Please have a look here.
