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@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 16, 2026, 5:58 AM

Ella's fever passes overnight ...

"Next morning Matkerim goes with me. In half an hour's trotting we reach a lateral moraine on our right. Then he departs with the horses to lead them to the pasture. 'Come back for me towards evening,' I say to him."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #TianShan #SaryTor

"Descent of the Djengart Ridge," Ella Maillart, 1932. A traveller on horseback navigates a steep, snowy slope near the Sari-Tor region in the Tian Shan mountain range of Kyrgyzstan. Petrov Glacier is located on northwestern slope of Ak-Shyirak ridge, located in Jety-Oguz district of Issyk-Kul region. This surreal structure is a massive, overhanging snow cornice (or wind-sculpted snow ridge) shaped by severe high-altitude winds blowing over the crest. The tiny silhouette of a person on a horse provides a powerful sense of scale, contrasting human presence against the colossal forces of nature.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 15, 2026, 8:27 AM

“The summit was reached! Auguste relates, 'We attacked it from the left. Slept very well, but weren't able to eat. The crampons were useless, the snow is powdery right up to the top.'

'Ella, it's just made for you,' Volodya says, 'a perfect mountain for skiing.'"

#EllaMaillart #Kyrgyzstan #SaryTor

Kokshaal-Too Range, Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan, Ella Maillart, 1932 Volodya Engelhardt, Russian biochemist and prominent member of the Academy of Sciences, rests on a snowy, rocky ridge and looking toward China. He is wearing a soft bucket-style sun hat, dark glacier glasses and a heavy wool cardigan, and is equipped with a traditional canvas pack rope and classic vintage ice axe. The first ascent to the top of Sary-Tor was made at the end of July 1932 by Auguste and Kapitolina Letavet. Ella Maillart peaked it the following day, skiing down from the summit in a round-trip which took her 17 hours.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 14, 2026, 8:20 AM

"'Ella! take your temperature,' Capa bids me thoughtfully. 'You don't look yourself at all.' 'Of course not. There is no need. I'm hot because it's so stuffy in here.' But she insists. Results a reading of 103.5°. Devil take it, what can it mean?"

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #SaryTor

'Mila Engelhardt at a campsite in Sarydzhaz', Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan, Ella Maillart, 1932 Soviet researcher and mountaineer Milissa 'Mila' Engelhardt (nee Lyubimova) sits inside a classic A-frame ridge tent pitched in a rocky, open landscape in Sarydzhaz, Kyrgyzstan. This is a remote, high-altitude valley border region in the Tian Shan mountains known for its harsh terrain, sweeping glaciers and dramatic peaks. Mila is wearing a plaid shirt and a white hat, whilst physician and mountaineer Auguste Letavet stands outside in a long coat.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 13, 2026, 7:22 AM

“In the middle of Ak-Shyirak, a snowy gilded pyramid rises in the setting sun, the harmony of its proportions reminds me of Mont Blanc. “No one has ever climbed this summit,” says Auguste meditatively, and his blue eyes sparkling in his scarlet face."

#EllaMaillart #Kyrgyzstan #AlShyirak #SaryTor

The dramatic, ice-capped dome structure of Sary-Tor - 4946.9 metres above sea level and the third highest peak in the Tian Shan mountain range - characterised by heavy permanent snow fields, deeply grooved ice-fall couloirs and prominent crevasses across its upper flanks.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 12, 2026, 7:50 AM

"Ella," says Volodya in a thrilled voice, "that trickle you saw flowing out of the glacier we crossed is the source of the Syr Dazia, the great Iaxartes of the Ancients, which pours its waters in the Sea of Aral ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kazakhstan #Kyrgzstan #Turkestan #TianShan #SaryTor

'Sources du Syr-Daria et sommet du Sari-Tor', Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Kyrgyzstan), Ella Maillart, 1932 A glacial landscape feeds the headwaters of the Syr Darya - one of Central Asia's most vital river systems - in the Tian Shan mountain range within the Kyrgyz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (present-day Kyrgyzstan).
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 11, 2026, 6:52 AM

"The wideness of the horizon has to be inside us, cannot be anywhere but inside us, otherwise what we speak about is geographic distances." - Ella Maillart

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #Karakol

A smiling young woman wrapped in a heavy cloak adorned with embroidered circular motifs and unique woven textures popular among nomadic and local cultures in Central Asia during the early 20th century.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 10, 2026, 9:05 AM

"Ahead, the south is barred by the white line of the Ak Chiriak range where our eyes again and again admire a most tempting summit. As for the rivulet trickling out of our glacier, it is the source of the great Syr Daria ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #China #TerskeyAlatau

A rider on horseback travels alongside a vast glacier and lake at 4,800 metres near the Kashka-Suu Pass in the Terskey Alatau mountain chain, Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (modern-day Kyrgyzstan), Ella Maillart, 1932 The Kashka-Suu Pass is an ancient highland route traditionally navigated by nomadic caravans moving between Central Asia and China.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 9, 2026, 4:58 AM

"Squatting in front of a neighbouring yurt, four workers, with all their might and with wands that whistle in their hands, beat smartly on some camel-wool scattered over a sheet. Rhythmically the arms rise and fall, the elbows are pulled back sharply ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan

'Natives Beating Felt', Kyrgyzstan, Ella Maillart, 1932 Workers lean over a striped reed mat containing wet, layered wool fibres, pressing and kneading them to bind the fibres into a solid piece of felt. A bucket and a tool handle stand beside the mat on the ground. Practiced mainly by nomadic tribes, this laborious process of wet felting involves raw wool being moistened with water or an alkaline solution, wrapped tightly in a woven reed mat and repeatedly beaten, kneaded and rolled by a synchronised row of workers using their hands, forearms or feet. This mechanical pressure causes the microscopic scales of the wool fibers to permanently interlock, creating durable, water-resistant sheets used for carpets, tents, clothing and blankets.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 8, 2026, 7:00 AM

"On their visits to one another, the women of the aul are continually spinning; or one of them, squatting on the ground may be weaving. ... As usual, every one of them is keen to handle my camera, and finds great pleasure in looking through the view-finder."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan

A smiling Kyrgyz woman spinning wool on a drop spindle with a central whorl and wound wool yarn at Ak-Shyyrak in the Tian Shan mountain system of Kyrgyzstan. The shaft is the straight wooden rod held vertically to spin and twist raw fibres into continuous threads, whilst the whorl is the weighted, rounded disc in the middle which acts as a flywheel to maintain momentum and steady rotation when flicked. The yarn cop is the oval bundle of freshly-spun wool fibres wrapped securely around the shaft just above the whorl.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 7, 2026, 7:18 AM

"Next morning, I look eagerly at this new world 11,000 feet above the sea. On a sloping glade of short grass six yurts are grouped together. Women milk the mares and tease the mute of the camp who stares at us with mouth agape."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #Yurt

Wool Felt Making, Kyrgyzstan, Ella Maillart, 1932 Framed by the Tian Shan mountains, a Kyrgyz woman stands by a traditional yurt, a highly versatile, portable structure engineered from a wooden lattice frame covered in thick sheep's wool felt. A samovar and other utensils are placed nearby on the ground. In the background on the right, a group of women are gathered closely on the ground, rolling and pressing wool fibres to create the felt sheets (kiyiz) used to insulate these structures against Central Asia's harsh weather.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 6, 2026, 7:51 AM

"They all want to know where my husband is. 'In Frunze,' says Mila, before I have time to answer, 'where he is awaiting our return. He was ill and so unable to leave with us.' "'You must remember,' says Mila to me in French ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #Baking #Tokochi #Tandoor

'Baking Flatbreads And Tokochis In A Tandoor', Ella Maillart, Kyrgyzstan, 1932 A Kyrghyz woman seated cross-legged on the floor, wearing traditional headwear and everyday garments, carefully apportions and shapes dough pieces for traditional round flatbreads (tokoč/tokochi). This traditional Central Asian flatbread is a regional variant of naan common across Kyrgyzstan and the wider Silk Road region. In the foreground is the opening to a sunken hearth or clay oven (tonir/tandir/tandyr/tandoor) with several rounds of already baked circular breads stacked on a cloth nearby and inside the rim.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 5, 2026, 5:43 AM

"'Here money means nothing at all: the only currency is sheep, and it is into sheep that all their savings go. The Kirghiz editor in Kara Kol had told me how in 1918 his first wife had cost him twenty horses ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #TianShan #Nomad #Wife #Sheep #Horses

A young female member of the Komsomol (Communist Youth League) wearing a light headscarf and collared shirt, Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. The first Komsomol cells in Kyrgyzstan emerged in 1918–1919. In 1925, the regional Komsomol organization was formally established, which in 1937 was transformed into the Komsomol of Kyrgyzstan. As of January 1, 1985, its ranks numbered 634,000 Komsomol members.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 4, 2026, 7:05 AM

"I feel very pleased: I have really been initiated into the daily life of the Kirghiz as I longed to be in my dreams in far-away Paris. How that metropolis would appal my slow-moving neighbours if they could suddenly have a sight of it."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #Baking #Tokochi

'Kneading Dough For Tokochi', Ella Maillart, Kyrgyzstan, 1932 A Kirghiz woman kneels on the floor of a domestic bakery and kneads dough in a wooden trough for tokochi (a traditional flatbread) to be baked in a tandoor.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 3, 2026, 8:34 AM

"Then the Chief invites us to enter his yurt after making sure the women are ready for us. The whole family observes us with calm, grave faces. The man of the house has a scanty beard, narrow eyes, a white felt hat and feet in lambskin boots: the wool inside and laced at the ankles."

#EllaMaillart

A nomad family in the Tian Shan (Heavenly Mountains) region, near Karakol, Kyrgyzstan relaxes on woven floor carpets next to a traditional reed screen (chiy) which lines the inner walls of their traditional felt yurt to insulate against harsh mountain weather. The father sits alongside his two children wrapped in winter garments. In the background, stacked geometric felt textiles, woven reed mats (chiy) and personal gear line the curved wooden lattice frame of the yurt. The photograph preserves the memory of the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Central Asian families right before the sweeping geopolitical transformations of Soviet collectivisation in the region.
@pipster18.bsky.socialOct 3, 2026, 1:33 AM

"The sooner we learn to be jointly responsible, the easier the sailing will be." - Ella Maillart #SaturdayMotivation #QuoteOfTheDay #ContinuousImprovement #Coaching #LyonStrategic #EllaMaillart

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@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 2, 2026, 7:11 AM

"I wish they could tell something of what they saw when the Turco-Mongol nomads were masters of Asia. No doubt the nomads are doomed now that they have been turned into members of a socialised state and their cattle requisitioned for collective farms."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Yurt #Kyrgyzstan

'An Aul In The High Plateaus, 12,000 Feet Up', Ella Maillart, 1932 Horses stand prominently in the foreground of this nomadic encampment on a summer pasture (jailoo) in the high-altitude Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. In the background, you can see traditional felt tents known as yurts engineered specifically for seasonal migration and offering excellent insulation against harsh mountain winds. Children and adults are wearing traditional, practical attire suited for high-altitude weather - women, headscarves or structural headpieces like the elechek, men and children, protective wool or felt hats.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialOct 1, 2026, 6:18 AM

"The nomad's life enthralls me. The Kirghiz are simple, hospitable and, above all, free. It was that quality which made its deepest appeal to me. Wherever I go, it is always the secret of such simple, straightforward races that I seek ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography #Kyrgyzstan #TianShan #Nomad

A shepherd and his children in a traditional nomadic encampment surrounded by traditional yurts (yurta or ger) at a summer jailoo (high-altitude pasture) in the Juuku Gorge (Djuuku Gorge), Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan. There are horses grazing in the background.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialSep 30, 2026, 7:48 AM

"At last, senses dulled with fatigue, I hear barking: we are nearing our first aul. As the convention demands, we wait at a distance while our guide palavers with the headman."

#EllaMaillart #Photography

A high-altitude summer pasture (jailoo) with felt tents (yurts), a yak, and travelers on horseback in the Juuku Gorge, Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan. The foreground features two traditional felt yurts engineered by nomads to be entirely portable, weather-resistant and easily assembled or dismantled as seasons shift. A domestic yak (or high-altitude cattle hybrid) grazes on the left side of the frame, alongside several horses mounted by travelers or local herders on the right. The background reveals the dramatic, snow-capped peaks of the Juuku Gorge valley, illustrating the remote and rugged conditions of traditional seasonal migrations.
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialSep 29, 2026, 7:34 AM

"From the crumpets of a pack-horse the stiffened skins of wolves, ibex and marmots hang in quantities. We sight a marmot and track it down. The bird, released from its noose is cast off after it ..."

#Photography #EllaMaillart #TianShan

'Kirghiz With Musket And Support', Tian Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan, Ella Maillart, 1932 A Kyrgyz nomadic hunter wearing a traditional, heavy quilted winter coat (chapan) and a distinctive wide, dark fur hat (telpek or ushanka style). A rifle slung across his back indicates he was hunting wild fowl and larger mammals. Draped over the saddle and the flanks of the horse is a successful haul from the hunt. This includes multiple game birds (likely partridges or snowcocks) hanging by the front, along with the legs and fur of a larger harvested animal (such as a wild mountain sheep or ibex).
@ellamaillart.bsky.socialSep 28, 2026, 4:43 AM

"The leather glove, in order that the reins may be held, is cut for only one finger and a thumb. A slip-knot fastens a long thong to one foot. The man's fist rests on a wooden fork socketed in the saddle ..."

#EllaMaillart #Photography
#Kyrgyzstan #TianShan

'A Karakirghiz with Chinese Glasses', Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Ella Maillart, 1932 A nomadic Karakirghiz hunter on horseback, poses with a large golden eagle (or berkut) used for hunting small game. Berkutchi are Central Asian nomadic hunters who train wild golden eagles (berkut). Rather than treating the bird as a pet, it is considered a sacred life partner. They almost exclusively capture and train female golden eagles because they are significantly larger, stronger, and more aggressive hunters than males. A young eagle is typically taken from its nest and trained intensely for several years. It hunts cooperatively with its owner for about 10 to 15 years before being released back into the wild to find a mate, ensure its bloodline and live out its natural life. This hunter wears traditional thick attire suitable for mountain terrains, protective eyewear, and a specialized gauntlet to shield his arm from the bird's massive talons.
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