Tien-Shan Mountains, Kazakhstan

Nearly half of the 1.500 mile – long (2.500 km-long) Tien-Shan (Chinese for “Celestial Mountains”) lie in Turkestan (formerly Soviet Central Asia), most of this in Kyrgyzstan. The northern fringe extends into Kazakhstan the southeast edge reached into Uzbekistan. Like the Dzhungar Alatau and Pamir Mountain system bordering it, the Tien-Shan marches on east-west lines. Tien Shan is an interesting place for climbers to make ascents of peaks located above 7.000 m, like Khan-Tengri (7.010 m) and Pobeda (7.439 m).