, native_name_lang = ky , settlement_type = , image_skyline = Sary Tash, Kirghizstan.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = Sary Tash village with the

Pamir mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...

, image_flag = , flag_alt = , image_seal = , seal_alt = , image_shield = , shield_alt = , nickname = , motto = , image_map = , map_alt = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Kyrgyzstan , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name =

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

, subdivision_type1 = Region , subdivision_name1 =

Osh Region Osh Region ( ky, Ош облусу, translit=Osh oblusu; russian: Ошская область, Oshskaya oblast) is a region (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Osh, which is not part of the region. It is bounded by (clockwise) Jalal-Abad Re ...

, subdivision_type2 = District , subdivision_name2 =

Alay District , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = The Pamirs with Lenin Peak from Sary-Tash.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The Pamirs with Lenin Peak from Sary-Tash , imag ...

, subdivision_type3 = , subdivision_name3 = , established_title = Established , established_date = 1950 , founder = , seat_type = , seat = , government_footnotes = , leader_party = , leader_title = , leader_name = , unit_pref = Metric , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = , area_land_km2 = , area_water_km2 = , area_water_percent = , area_note = , elevation_footnotes = , elevation_m = 3170 , population_footnotes = , population_total = 2337 , population_as_of = 2021 , population_density_km2 = auto , population_demonym = , population_note = , timezone1 = KGT , utc_offset1 = +6 , timezone1_DST = , utc_offset1_DST = , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code_type = , area_code = , iso_code = , website = , footnotes = Sary Tash

Sary-Tash ( ky, Сары-Таш) is a village and major crossroads in the

Alay Valley The Alay Valley ( ky, Алай өрөөнү, ) is a broad, dry valley running east–west across most of southern Osh Region, Kyrgyzstan. It spreads over a length of east–west. The valley extends in north–south direction with varying width ...

. Its population was 2,337 in 2021. Until 2012 it was an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

.Law 27 September 2012 No. 168 on the transformation of individual urban settlements of the Kyrgyz Republic and relating them to the category of village or city
/ref> Nearby towns and villages to the north include

Ak-Bosogo , pushpin_map = Kyrgyzstan , mapsize = 200px , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Kyrgyzstan , subdivision_type1 = Region , subdivision_name1 = Osh Region , subdivision ...

() and Chagyr (). Although this remote village has only some shop-cafes, a petrol station and five guest houses (March 2016), it is an important road junction connecting China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Its name is derived from Turkic roots and means "yellow-stone". To the north, M41 goes over the

Taldyk Pass Taldyk Pass is an all year round pass in the Alay Mountains of Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan. The road from Osh to Khorugh (eastern Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan) ...

Gülchö , pushpin_map = Kyrgyzstan , mapsize = 200px , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Kyrgyzstan , subdivision_type1 = Region , subdivision_name1 = Osh Region , subdivisio ...

and

Osh Osh (Kyrgyz: Ош, romanised Osh; uz, O‘sh/Ўш) is the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". It is the oldest city in the country (e ...

in the

Ferghana Valley The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...

. To the south, after leaving the

the M41 rises to the 4280m

Kyzylart Pass Kyzylart Pass (russian: Кызыл-Арт; ky, Кызыл-Арт ашуусу) is a mountain pass and border crossing in the Trans-Alay Range on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The highest point is 4,280 m (14,042 ft). The border ch ...

into

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

as part of the

Pamir Highway The M41, known informally and more commonly as the Pamir Highway (russian: Памирский тракт, translit=Pamirsky Trakt ), is a road traversing the Pamir Mountains through Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with a ...

. to the east on A371 is the

Irkestam Erkeshtam, also Irkeshtam or Erkech-Tam ( ky, Эркеч-Там, Erkech-Tam, ), is a border crossing between Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang, China, named after a village on the Kyrgyz side of the border in southern Osh Region. The border crossing is als ...

pass to Kashgar,

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. To the west, the A372 leads down the

. The pass at the west end (towards Dushanbe, Tajikistan) is a bilateral border crossing closed to foreigners.

Population

History

Sary-Tash was visited in 1894 by Swedish traveller

Sven Hedin Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...

, who wrote his caravan before his mountaineering ascent "fell on their knees in the snow, offering Allah a prayer for a happy pass through the dangerous Kyzyl-Art, where sudden disastrous storms often occur." Exploring the pass, he saw a pile of stones piled in a heap, decorated with "tutami", a type of poles, which were hung with fur pendants, colorful rags of fabric, horns of mountain goats and rams.

Notes

External links

Satellite map at Maplandia.com
* Laurence Mitchell, Kyrgyzstan, Bradt Travel Guides, 2008 Populated places in Osh Region {{Osh-geo-stub