Kosh-Agach is the last real town on the Chuya Highway, a windswept settlement on a high steppe in the far southeast of the Altai Republic, close to the borders with Mongolia and Kazakhstan. It sits at about 1,750 metres above sea level on a broad, dry plateau ringed by snow-capped ranges, and everything about it feels remote: the huge sky, the dry grass, the cold air that smells of dust and sage. It is a place where the steppe of Central Asia begins.
The Chuya steppe is one of the coldest and driest places in Siberia. Cold air pools in the basin on winter nights, and temperatures can drop to minus fifty, among the lowest recorded in Russia outside the north-east. In summer the days are bright and warm, but nights are cool, and there is almost always a wind. The surrounding mountains, with their glaciers and bare rock, rise to nearly four thousand metres, and the whole area looks like a geographical stage set.
Most of the people here are Kazakhs, descendants of herders who came from the steppes to the south, and Kosh-Agach has the largest Kazakh community in Russia. You will see yurts at summer pastures, horses and flocks of sheep grazing on the plain, and sometimes the sight of riders on horseback herding livestock. The local people are known for hospitality, and hospitality means tea, bread and mutton.
Not far to the south lies the Ukok Plateau, a high, remote tableland where, in 1993, archaeologists found the frozen burial of a woman of the ancient Pazyryk culture, tattooed and preserved in ice for about two and a half thousand years, who became known as the Siberian Ice Maiden. The area is a protected zone and reaching it requires permits.
The road to Kosh-Agach is a long, open run across the steppe, with the surface in good shape in places and broken in others, and heavy winds that can blow riders sideways. Distances are large and services are few, so plan fuel carefully. Kosh-Agach has a few stations, shops and a handful of simple guesthouses, and it makes sense to fill up whenever you can. Border zone rules apply near the frontier, so carry your documents and check for permits before heading further south.
The best months are June to September, and by October snow can already be falling on the surrounding ranges.