Sary-Tash is a crossroads at the top of the world, a straggle of low houses, yurt camps and cargo trucks at a little over three thousand metres in the southern Alay valley of Kyrgyzstan. Three roads meet here: the one north to Osh, a long day away, the Pamir Highway climbing southwest toward Tajikistan, and the track east to the Chinese border at Irkeshtam. The name means yellow stone, and the colour comes from the dry grass and the dusty hills. Nothing else for a long way is bigger, which is why every overland traveller seems to stop.
The riding is a mix of epic and exhausting. From Osh, the highway climbs through green foothills and over the Taldyk Pass before dropping into the Alay valley, a wide, high, windswept trough of grassland, with the wall of the Pamir-Alay range along the southern side. The road is mostly tarmac, with sections of rough surface, potholes and washouts after rain or snow. Altitude affects riders and engines alike, so take time to acclimatise and carry warm gear, since temperatures can plunge even in summer. Fuel is sold in the village, though quality varies and supplies can run short, so top up in Osh and carry spare if you can. The best season is June to September, but snow and hail can arrive in any month.
The real show is on the skyline. On a clear morning, the long white wall of the Trans-Alay range, topped by Lenin Peak at more than seven thousand metres, rises above the valley to the south, so close that it looks like a painted backdrop. The air is thin, dry and extremely clear, and the light is fierce. Herders drive yaks, horses and sheep across the valley, and in summer, nomad families set up yurts on the pasture, offering tea, bread and fermented mare's milk to passers-by.
Sary-Tash is a place with a long memory of travel. The old Silk Road passed through here, with caravans carrying silk, spices and other goods between China and Central Asia, and the Pamir Highway was upgraded by Soviet engineers in the 1930s as a military and trade road. Today the village is a stop for overlanders, truckers on the China route and climbers heading for base camp.
Accommodation is basic: homestays with a warm stove and a plate of plov, or a yurt with felt blankets. Bring a sleeping bag, cash in Kyrgyz som, snacks and plenty of water, and be prepared for cold nights and a long ride.