Via the central bastion of the southern wall. Cat. 3A

From al "Alibek" up along the trail leading to the training slopes of Semenov-Bashi peak. From the rocks up along the grassy slopes in the direction of the southern wall of Semenov-Bashi peak to the large snow circus under the wall. From "Alibek" - 3 hours.

Along the snowy slope with a steepness of 25-30° up to the central bastion of the Southern wall (the start of the route is to the right of the red arrow drawn on a light 8-meter rock). Along the rocks first up, then to the right, crossing the couloir, exit under the wall.

Along the wall up to a large shelf. Control cairn. From the shelf to the right-up along the system of inner corners, shelves, and ridges - exit to a loose mulda and along it to the "roof". Along the easy rocks of the roof - exit to the Eastern ridge and along it to the left to the summit. From the start of the route 6-8 hours. Descent via route 1B (see below).

Recommendations:

Group size: 6 people
Initial bivouac: under the Southern wall
Ropes: 2-3×30 m
Pitons: 10-15 pcs., various

Note: as of July 2002, there was no red arrow indicating the start of the route.

Description from the library of al Alibek

Ascent scheme via route 3A

View of the start of the route. The route passes along the right wall of the couloir, clearly visible in the photo. The arrow indicates the path to the start of the route.

Semenov-Bashi via 3A

Written by Andrey Orlov.

We climbed Semenov-Bashi via 3A in the summer of 2017. Here is a brief report, it might be useful to someone. July 29, 2017.

We planned to head out after lunch to overnight under the Khrustalny pass. Our plan was to climb Semenov-Bashi via the central bastion of the southern wall - 3A. In the afternoon, a strong rain started, turning into a thunderstorm. We waited for the weather to clear up, and eventually left Dombay at 15:30. On the way to Kругозор (Krugozor), it was raining, the trail was good, and in the lower part, it was through the forest. We arrived at the overnight spot already in the twilight at 20:00. We were standing with a group of guys from Minsk, nine people - nice folks. July 30, 2017.

At night, it rained, at 4:00 - kaput, at 5:00 there was no rain, but low clouds without a glimpse of sun. We got up at 6:00, the forecast for today was not bad - partly cloudy, with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon. Looking out of the tent, you wouldn't say that: Ertsog, Dzhalovchat, Belalakaya - in the clouds. The lower boundary of the clouds was at the Chkhalta-Dzykh pass, which is about 3100 meters. Our bastion on Semenov was open, but the summit and the roof were in the fog.

Breakfast was spent in doubts. Our neighbors went for 1B via the eastern ridge. We set off at 7:00. By 9:00, we approached the route. It goes along the right wall of a large couloir, which divides the entire southern wall. Along a small snowpatch, we approached the rocks. The first rope - to the left of a small couloir, where a stream flows.

Then, crossing the couloir, to the right along the overgrown greenish shelves up. Climbing is not difficult, but the rocks are mossy, damp - slippery. Insurance with varying success: cracks are filled with earth, but there are many exfoliations, and loops go in well.

There is a 4th-grade climbing section of about 7 m, insurance in the cracks - medium and small stoppers.

It's quite cold, we climb in polar jackets and fleeces, sometimes clouds fly in, but so far it's not dripping - and that's a thank you.

Three ropes from the start of the route - a large shelf, in the left part of which is a control cairn. We take out a note from a group led by Roman Gubanov dated April 20, 2016.

It's not often visited route - this is evident from the lack of hardware: on the entire route, we found one piton and an old Stregorov's friend. Not a single rappel loop!

How people descend from here in bad weather is unclear.

From the shelf, there are about five more ropes to the roof.

A rope and a half before the roof, we went to the right behind the bend, descended a bit to a shelf and along it up to a monolithic wall with a piton. Bypassing the wall to the right, we exited to the roof. Then on foot to the ridge and to the left to the summit, where we were at 15:50.

We exchange notes with the guys from Minsk and head down. Descent via 1B. To the right of the ridge - shelves, along which we mainly move. Then:

rappel into the couloir with snow,
to the left onto simple rocks,
along them down to the talus.

We descended to the tent by 19:00. The guys from Minsk treated us to tea, thanks to them. We consulted with them on the route - they were going to climb it the next day.

The route is interesting in its own way, uniform, not littered with hardware. There is a lot of greenery on the rocks, and if it's wet, it's slippery. Climbing is generally not difficult, but there are sections where the cracks are filled with earth, making it problematic to place protection. We used the description from the Skif club (http://www.skif.msk.ru/summits/kavkaz/SemenovBashi.html↗).

Equipment: