--- title: "#50 Kazakhstan off the beaten track: how to trek on your own? – Pavlína Adam, Jakub Jonáš" description: "What do you do when the trail markers disappear? Pavlína Adam and Jakub Jonáš give advice on going off-trail. Listen to the 50th episode of the podcast about an expedition into the forgotten Tian Shan." canonical_url: "https://gramino.com/blog/kazakhstan-trekking-on-your-own-pavlina-adam" last_updated: "2026-04-06" --- # #50 Kazakhstan off the beaten track: how to trek on your own? – Pavlína Adam, Jakub Jonáš Authors: David Czempka Date: 2026-04-06 What do you do when the trail markers disappear? Pavlína Adam and Jakub Jonáš give advice on going off-trail. Listen to the 50th episode of the podcast about an expedition into the forgotten Tian Shan. What do you do when even the last dashed line disappears from the map and all that's left are contour lines? 🏔️ Long-distance trails like the PCT or CDT are the ultimate goal for a lot of hikers. But what if the real wilderness only begins where the "well-trodden highways" end? 🏔️ Our ambassadors Pavlína Adam and Jakub Jonáš head into the mountains to discover their own trails. And sometimes they literally have to fight their way through scree, brush, or icy water. 🧭 We're celebrating our 50th podcast episode with them in style – in the wild Tian Shan mountains of Kazakhstan 🇰🇿. This time, though, they weren't traveling just for themselves. As guides for Expedition Club, they took a group of adventurers to places where they had to force their way between glacial moraines and scree fields full of car-sized boulders. 🧗‍♂️ We talked about what it's like to lead a group of people into the complete unknown, why a guide's psychology is sometimes about filtering reality, and what goes through your head when you spend hours clawing your way up to a pass without knowing whether the other side holds nothing but an impassable glacier or a sheer drop. We also get into technical tricks like scouting the horizon with a drone, harsh lessons from fording icy rivers, and how absurd an encounter with border guards on the Chinese border can be. 👮‍♂️ The whole conversation is colored by the atmosphere of the Central Asian wilderness, the taste of fermented mare's milk, and the rawness of mountains that won't give you a single meter for free. 🥛🥃 ## 🎧 Listen to the podcast on - [YouTube](https://youtu.be/29V0fTY1yQY) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/20eyxPULOBlRfeGY8RYmbE?si=c49a58fc6cd641f6) - [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/cz/podcast/50-kazachst%C3%A1nem-nadivoko-trekov%C3%A1n%C3%AD-mimo-zna%C4%8Den%C3%A9-trasy/id1612950422?i=1000759903622) [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29V0fTY1yQY) ## In this episode, you'll hear: - Why leave the comfort of marked trails at all. - What it's like to lead a group of people into the unknown - What to do when you've been clawing your way up to a pass for hours with no idea whether there's just a sheer drop on the other side. - How to navigate in the wilderness and which apps to rely on. - Whether a satellite SOS button actually works in these parts. - How quickly things get serious when fording icy rivers. - How they handled the dynamics of being a couple in extreme conditions. - What can't be missing from the gear list for a fully off-trail expedition. - How absurd an encounter with border guards on the Chinese border is. - And finally – what fermented mare's milk actually tastes like. Tune in to this episode about the natural evolution of a hiker – the moment you leave the "hiker highways" behind and head where you alone decide the route. ## Guests: The guests on this podcast were our friends and Gramino's ambassadors Pavlína Adam and Jakub Jonáš. You can read more about them on their ambassador pages: - Pája Adam – [profile](/pavlina-adam) - Kuba Jonáš – [profile](/jakub-jonas) ## 📖 Chapters - 0:00 – Intro and guests - 1:13 – Off-trail experience - 6:07 – Why leave marked trails? - 10:00 – Expeditions with clients - 13:36 – Escape routes and alternatives - 16:03 – Reality check - 17:48 – Navigating the wilderness - 19:55 – The mental side and dead ends - 25:12 – Apps and weather - 28:50 – Does the SOS button work? - 30:10 – Detained at the border - 33:32 – Dangerous fording - 39:45 – Glaciers in the Tian Shan - 42:10 – Tent drama and couple dynamics - 45:20 – Solo vs. with a group - 46:45 – Expedition gear list - 51:52 – Meeting the locals - 56:50 – How to go off-trail - 59:40 – Where next? - 1:01:40 – Saying goodbye, and not just to the podcast ## This could come in handy - [Liteway Wash Bag](/p/liteway-wash-bag.md) - [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Pods](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-pods.md) - [Gramino AURA Pouch](/p/gramino-aura-pouch.md) - [Tyvek 75x230 cm (for 1 person)](/p/tyvek-groundsheet-230-x-75-cm.md) - [TOAKS Titanium V-shaped Peg](/p/toaks-titanium-v-shaped-peg.md) - [Liteway Gramless Pack 35 L](/p/liteway-gramless-pack-x-pac-35-l.md) - [Liteway Sleeping Pad Cover](/p/liteway-sleeping-pad-cover.md) - [DexShell Watch Beanie](/p/dexshell-watch-beanie.md) - [Drip It Brazil Minas Gerais 10 g](/p/drip-it-brazil-minas-gerais-10-g.md) - [DexShell Running Lite Sock 2.0](/p/dexshell-running-lite-sock-2-0.md) - [Adventure Menu Cricket Protein Penne with Creole Creamy Chicken](/p/adventure-menu-cricket-protein-penne-with-creole-creamy-chicken.md) This post is also available as [HTML](/blog/kazakhstan-trekking-on-your-own-pavlina-adam). ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.