View large The Tian Shan stretch 2,800 km between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang (China) to the north and west, and Pakistan and Kashmir to the south. Also known as Tangri Tagh meaning 'mountains of the spirits' they can be reached just over a couple of hours from Urumqi, the regional capital of the Xinjiang province. The areas of the range that we climbed were just wonderful, beautiful and covered in crisp white snow. This photo was taken about an hour after the snowfall had stopped, hence our clearly visible tracks, and it was still -30 celcius!!!