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Guided XC safari
A guide who flies with you, a vehicle that follows you down the valley, and a weather call at breakfast that can cancel the plan.
The week is built around one rule: the site is chosen from the forecast, not from the itinerary. A programme that promises Suusamyr on Tuesday is a programme that will fly Suusamyr in bad air on Tuesday. We publish the regions and the number of days and let the sky allocate them.
A flying day
Weather call at breakfast — sounding, wind aloft, the day's likely overdevelopment time, and a go/no-go for each pilot's level, not just for the group. Drive to launch. Radio check and task brief. The guide launches with the group and flies the line; the vehicle leaves the launch as soon as the last pilot is off and moves down the intended route rather than waiting. Whoever lands first waits with the car and gets a lift for the rest. Evening: tracks on the screen, what worked, what was a mistake, what tomorrow looks like.
Group size and ratio
Four pilots per guide, maximum. Above that a guide stops being able to watch anyone and becomes a tour leader with a wing.
What this is not
It is not a competition training camp and it is not coaching for a first thermal. It is a week of flying real distance in a place where the retrieval is the hard part. If you want structured instruction, say so when you enquire — the private coaching format exists and it is a different price.
XC safari, 7 days
Price on request
Guided cross-country week on two sides of the Kyrgyz range. Morning weather call, site chosen from the forecast rather than from the itinerary, radio on the whole flight, and a retrieval vehicle that follows the group down the valley instead of waiting at launch.
| Duration | 7 days / 6 nights |
|---|---|
| Group | per pilot, 4 pilots per guide |
| Regions | Karakol · Suusamyr · Chon-Tash |
Included
- XC guide flying with the group
- Retrieval vehicle and driver every flying day
- Radio set on loan, LiveTrack monitoring
- Morning weather and task briefing, evening track debrief
- Guesthouse or hotel with breakfast, twin share
- All ground transfers inside the programme
- Airport pickup at Manas (FRU)
Not included
- International flights
- Your flying equipment
- Insurance covering free flight and helicopter evacuation — mandatory
- Lunch and dinner
- Chairlift tickets where used
- Single supplement
Who flies this one
- Steve Reed — XC guide · the English-language voice of the trip · Check him yourself →
- Vitaly Peredereev — XC guide · flew the top-scoring flight registered in Kyrgyzstan this season · Check him yourself →
Who this is for
IPPI 4 / equivalent national rating, 100+ hours, independent thermalling, comfortable landing out in unfamiliar terrain. SIV within the last three years strongly recommended.
The honest version
Expect 4 to 5 flyable days out of 7. We do not run tasks in overdeveloping air, and Kyrgyz afternoons overdevelop. Non-flying days are spent driving, walking or at the lake, not waiting at launch.
XC safari, 11 days, three regions
Price on request
The version that justifies the airfare. Eleven days across the Chui valley, the Suusamyr high plateau and the Karakol side of Issyk-Kul, which is three different weather systems — so a week of bad air in one of them does not end the trip.
| Duration | 11 days / 10 nights |
|---|---|
| Group | per pilot, 4 pilots per guide |
| Regions | Chon-Tash · Suusamyr · Karakol · Issyk-Kul south shore |
Included
- Everything in the 7-day programme
- Three bases, all inter-region transfers
- Two rest/reserve days built into the schedule
Not included
- International flights
- Your flying equipment
- Insurance covering free flight and helicopter evacuation — mandatory
- Lunch and dinner
- Single supplement
Who flies this one
- Steve Reed — XC guide · the English-language voice of the trip · Check him yourself →
- Vitaly Peredereev — XC guide · flew the top-scoring flight registered in Kyrgyzstan this season · Check him yourself →
Who this is for
As the 7-day programme.
The honest version
Expect 7 to 8 flyable days out of 11. Suusamyr sits above 2,200 m and the cloudbase there routinely goes far higher than anything in the Alps — that is the point of the trip and also the reason oxygen saturation and cold matter.
Related
- When is the best time to paraglide in Kyrgyzstan?
- Does travel insurance cover paragliding?
- What rating and experience do I need for an XC trip here?
- How does retrieval actually work here?
- How far can you actually fly in Kyrgyzstan?
- Can I bring my own wing, and what about gear transport?
Tell us what you fly
Send your rating, hours, personal best and last SIV, and you get a specific answer — a route and a retrieval zone, not a brochure. A person reads it and answers within one working day.
Or just get the season report
One email at the end of each season with the flyable days we actually logged, and one more if the SIV course opens. Nothing else, ever.