Dalar
via the north wall of the bastion with exit to the summit along the eastern edge
Team of MGS "SPARTAK"
Coach and head MS USSR Kavunenko V.D.
Reconnaissance of the wall
The first acquaintance with the wall took place through photographs from different sides and detailed consultations. However, this allowed only a general impression to be formed. Therefore, one of the very important tasks was a detailed study of the wall.
The first reconnaissance exit to the wall took place on June 15, 1964. The wall of the bastion is composed of gray granites, with an average steepness of 75°, and the wall's length is about 500 m. The first observations showed:
- Passing the wall directly along the corner would require a lot of piton work (150–200 m) without a combination with free climbing.
- A few tens of meters to the east (40–60 m), a logical exit was noted along a crack going vertically upwards to the upper part of the bastion, where a combination of free climbing with the need to use artificial support points is possible.
From the upper part of the bastion to the eastern ridge of the pre-summit tower of Dalar leads a single snow-ice ridge.
The ridge is very steep, breaking off on both sides with snow-ice drops, which turn into 400-meter rock cliffs. This section of the route caused serious complications in choosing the method of belay, especially on the snowy sections. To resolve this issue, a special exit was organized along the eastern ridge to the summit of Dalar.
On June 22, a group of 4 people (Kavunenko V.D., Shataev V.N., Polyakov L.D., and Magomedov Kh.K.) went out to the north-eastern edge of the summit Dalar. Judging by the description, as well as by consulting with the first ascenders, we knew that this route was significantly more difficult than the usual routes of 5B category.
On this route, there was a general check of the young participants, first declared for the Union championship.
In addition, we observed the wall of the bastion for 3 days: we studied in detail the snow-ice ridge and determined the locations of possible bivouacs.
For the final exit to the route, it was necessary to accurately determine the state of the snow and to reconnoitre the summit tower in more detail. For this purpose, a group consisting of:
- Kavunenko V.D.,
- Shataev V.N.,
- Balashov A.M.,
- Abalakov O.V.,
- Utkin B.M. made a first ascent to the summit Dalar along the eastern ridge, the route passed is rated by the group as 5A category.
Testing the snow in the upper part of the ridge showed that with the help of an ice axe and a steel cable, it is possible to organize reliable belay.
It was established that on the north-eastern wall of the bastion there is water during the day. This "discovery" pleased us very much, as it greatly simplified the issue of nutrition and drinking regime.
On July 19 and 20, 1964, Kavunenko V.D. and Shataev V.N. studied the "life" of the bastion wall for a day and a half.
On this exit, radios of the type "Nedra" and "Kievlanka" were tested. The "Nedra" type radio station proved to be more reliable.
In the intervals between exits, the team paid great attention to training on the rocks in the camp area. A number of rock climbing routes were passed using pitons.
Ascent
July 23
At 16:00, the assault group and the observation group left the Uzunkol camp. The weather is clear. At 18:00, the whole group settled down at the lower Kichkinikol bivouac. From here, the entire route is clearly visible.
July 24
The morning is clear and good. The air is transparent, and the entire relief of the wall is clearly visible. After a hot breakfast, the assault group heads to the base camp under the wall. During the reconnaissance exits, the wall was studied to the smallest detail. But despite this, the wall is continuously observed throughout the day. Not a single falling stone was recorded during the whole day. This means that the wall is absolutely safe from rockfall. Final check of equipment. The group's quartermaster, Volodya Shataev, checks the correctness of the load distribution. Equipment and food are distributed so that, if necessary, the "triplet" and "quartet" are independent of each other. On the first night on the wall, such a distribution was particularly useful. The tents had to be set up 40 m apart.
July 25
V. Kavunenko and V. Shataev left early in the morning to process the lower part of the wall. Descending into the bergschrund, the first piton is hammered. The "U-shaped" glacier's action is felt - the rocks are smooth, with few cracks for hammering pitons. The first rope is passed. The progress upwards is very slow. The rays of the still not hot morning sun warm pleasantly. And here is the first surprise: we have to move under a powerful cold "shower" towards the overhanging rocks. Further, there is a very difficult traverse to the right, then a small overhanging section, and the "water procedures" are over. The steepness decreases somewhat, and we retreat to a wide talus shelf. Here, you can even sit. Ahead is the most difficult section of today's day - the black rock belt with overhanging rocks. It was decided at the bottom - to pass this section along a smooth sheer plate to the right. The traverse under the overhanging rocks to the right proved to be extremely difficult. The first pitons are hammered, twice we have to move to the right with the help of small pendulums. The passage of the plate is greatly complicated by the need to move up and to the right from the overhanging rocks. Hammering pitons to the side is inconvenient, and besides, the ledge is constantly "moving away" from underfoot with a pendulum to the side. Using a large ladder in this section is impossible. We had to hang assault ladders on all pitons. The last piton is hammered, and we reach a ledge where two people can stand. The entire rope is used, more than 200 m of belay lines are hung. The wall is already in the shade, it immediately became cool.
Quickly down, we had to take another "shower". In the base camp, we are warmly welcomed, fed with a hot dinner. Before going to bed, we discuss how to pull the backpacks on the difficult traverse to the right.
July 26
The group leaves at dawn. By 12:00, the whole group has passed the processed part of the route. The vertical crack is filled with ice, we have to go to the right along the wall. Unnoticed, because of Dalar, clouds crept in, a light drizzle began, which turned into a downpour. We stand for a while, covered with cloaks, all in different places, but the rain does not stop.
We slowly move upwards. Water gets under our shirts through our sleeves. We approach the place where the bivouac is planned. Unfortunately, only three people can fit here. 40 m to the left, we find another small platform. The rain stopped as suddenly as it began. The warm rocks dried quickly. There is still plenty of daylight left. The guys are busy organizing the bivouac, V. Kavunenko and O. Abalakov go to process the route.
Ahead are overhanging rocks, it was not possible to bypass them along the vertical crack due to ice. We had to return. The only option is along the overhanging crack to the right, where a strong stream of water is beating. It seems that the water is trying with all its might to sweep the climbers down. Another ladder is hung, and the water barrier is passed. But this is not the end - about 30 m of difficult climbing had to be overcome under a cold "shower". That's enough for today. We need to go down.
The tents are already set up:
- you can't lie in them,
- but you can sit very comfortably.
We quickly change clothes, have a hearty dinner, and fall asleep instantly.
July 27
The weather is good. But in the area of the ridge, a fierce struggle is underway: the north wind is still holding back the onslaught of black clouds coming from the south. The success of today's day, and maybe the whole ascent, depends on who will win.
Taking everything necessary for work on the rocks, the first rope goes up. Everyone else is in no hurry, as after the processed route, the way is blocked by a sheer smooth plate, and it will take a lot of time to pass it. The piton drill works flawlessly: 4–5 min - and the piton is hammered. It took about an hour and a half to overcome this key section.
After the plate - a small ledge, on which two people can hardly stand. A large ladder is hung, now everything is ready for the movement of the whole group.
- The first rope goes forward.
- The second takes its place and pulls out the backpacks.
- The third pulls up to the second.
Ahead is a monolithic sheer wall made of gray granite. Here, the advantage of "Vibram" shoes is noticeable. The slightest roughness - and you can confidently put your foot. There are no cracks, pitons have to be hammered only with a drill. Belay points have to be organized on small ledges (half a foot). In most cases, there is no room for two people to gather.
The movement upwards is blocked by a completely smooth overhanging rock belt. The first person passes very difficultly with a traverse to the right on ladders - to a wide (3–4 m) chimney (the rest pass this traverse with a big pendulum).
Movement along the chimney is impossible, everything is filled with ice. A great difficulty was caused by the transition of the chimney to the right. Here, too, we had to use a pendulum. To the right of the chimney - ascent along very difficult rocks with the use of artificial support points - upwards.
The snow is visible in the upper part of the bastion, quite close. A few more difficult sections - and the first rope reaches the upper part of the bastion. It's hard to believe that you can not only stand freely but also walk without the help of your hands. Only here we noticed that our ally - the wind - won such an important victory for us.
We spend a long time laying out platforms, but our bivouac turned out to be excellent - you can lie down freely.
July 28
The weather is noticeably deteriorating. We quickly pack up the camp. Oleg Abalakov goes ahead. Along a steep snowy slope, we reach the ridge, very sharp and steep.
Reference: ice drops, to the left, steep snow breaks off with a rock cliff. The middle, steepest part of the ridge is covered with a thin layer of snow. We have to:
- cut steps
- organize piton belay.
In the first half of the day, we reach the eastern ridge of the summit Dalar. In the south, huge thundercloud "towers" are gathering.
Four people remain on the ridge, and three go under the summit tower. Under the summit tower, O. Abalakov, V. Kavunenko, and K. Magomedov laid out a platform, and the pair went to process the last difficult section before reaching the pre-summit ridge. Towards evening, a thunderstorm broke out, but it was not unexpected for us. All metal objects were left far away.
July 29
Early exit. Today we need to climb to the summit and try to descend as low as possible. The descent route is well known to everyone, some participants have descended along it twice. The weather is deteriorating, and it's clear that it's going to last.
We pass the processed part of the path, and again we have to resort to the help of pitons and ladders. A light drizzle is drizzling with interruptions. But here is the last difficult section - and we reach the ridge. The way is familiar to everyone, and in 15 min, we stand on the summit of Dalar.
A short radio communication - and we begin our descent. The descent was carried out clearly: in less than three hours, we are already on the glacier. Snow is falling in large flakes. No one wants to stop for the night - there's still plenty of daylight, and the camp is ahead!!!
| № | Date/Section | Steepness | Length | Relief characteristics | Technical difficulty | Method of belay | Weather conditions | Time | Rock pitons | Ice pitons | Piton hammers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25/07 | 80° | 3 m | Smoothed rocks | Difficult free climbing | Piton | Good on snow | 6:00 | 1 | – | – |
| 2 | 80° | 15 m | Rocks with small holds for hands | Not difficult climbing | Piton | 3 | |||||
| 3 | 85° | 7 m | Rocks with good holds - exit to a ledge where three can gather | Medium difficulty | Projection | ||||||
| 4 | 60° | 7 m | Left-up under an overhanging ledge - good holds | Free climbing of medium difficulty | Projection | ||||||
| 5 | 95° | 2.5 m | Overhanging rock ledge with good holds | Passed with very difficult climbing | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 6 | 70° | 25 m | Right-up along large-block rocks | Medium difficulty | Piton | 2 | |||||
| 7 | 80° | 10 m | Rocks with small holds | Difficult free climbing | Piton | 2 | – | – | |||
| 8 | 85° | 10 m | Narrow crack - very wet rocks | Free very difficult climbing | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 9 | 85–90° | 3 m | Traverse to the right under overhanging rocks. Rocks are wet | Passed with the use of ladders | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 10 | 80° | 20 m | Rocks like "ram's foreheads" with a small number of holds | Difficult climbing | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 11 | 70–75° | 15 m | Rocks are smoothed, at the end - exit to a wide talus shelf | Rocks of medium difficulty | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 12 | 50 m | Talus shelf - movement to the right under a snowpatch | Not difficult climbing | ||||||||
| 13 | 70° | 5 m | Inner corner, at the end - can stand with difficulty one person | Medium difficulty | Projection | ||||||
| 14 | 80° | 25 m | Crack to the right-up with a small number of holds | Free very difficult climbing | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 15 | 70° | 7 m | Smooth plate with a small number of holds | Difficult free climbing | Piton | 2 | – | – | |||
| 16 | 90° | 6 m | Smoothed rocks with a small number of holds - exit under an inner black corner | Very difficult climbing | Piton | 2 | – | – | |||
| 17 | 3 m | Traverse to the right with good holds | Easy climbing | ||||||||
| 18 | 65° | 6 m | Plate, at the top - black, with a small number of holds | Difficult climbing | Piton | – | – | 1 | |||
| 19 | 5 m | Traverse to the right on a sheer wall under a yellow stain, one of the key places of the route | Difficult with ladders, freely hanging, all the rest - with a pendulum | Piton | 2 | – | 3 | ||||
| 20 | 80° | 2 m | Right-up wall made of monolithic rocks | Difficult climbing | Piton | ||||||
| 21 | 50° | 10 m | Yellow rocks leading to a smooth plate | Medium difficulty | Projection | ||||||
| 22 | 85° | 12 m | Smooth sheer plate, leads to a rock shoulder where everyone can gather | Passed with a platform, for everyone - assault ladders are hung. One of the key places of the route | Piton | 15:00 | 9 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 23 | 80° | 5 m | To the right of the 2 m crack along the plates with almost no holds | Difficult climbing | Piton | Light rain | 1 | – | – | ||
| 24 | 65–70° | 20 m | Smoothed plates | Medium difficulty | Piton | Rain | 15:00 | 2 | – | – | |
| 25 | R2–R3 | 50° | 40 m | Gray plates with 1.5–2 m sheer walls | Medium difficulty | Piton | Rain stops | 6:00 | 4 | – | – |
| 26 | 55° | 15 m | Right-up along the plates to the overhanging section of rocks | Medium difficulty, but wet | Piton | 2 | – | – | |||
| 27 | 90° | 4 m | Vertical crack | Very difficult, water beats like a fountain | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 28 | 95° | 3 m | Overhanging section of the crack | Passed with a ladder under a stream of water | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 29 | 70–75° | 8 m | Plate, almost without holds, leads to a small ledge where one person can stand | Wet plates, very difficult climbing | Piton | – | – | 2 | |||
| 30 | 1.5 m | Traverse to the left into a crack | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||||
| 31 | 85° | 10 m | Sheer wet crack | Plates with an unpleasant slope towards the valley | Piton | 2 | – | – | |||
| 32 | 50° | 15 m | Smoothed wet plates | Very cautious climbing of medium difficulty | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 33 | 90° | 3 m | Crack, filled with ice inside | Very difficult climbing | Piton | 18:00 | 12 | 2 | – | ||
| 34 | 90° | 10 m | Gray plate, at the top - two people can stand | Passed with a platform, for the rest - a 10 m ladder | Piton | 2 | – | 8 | |||
| 35 | 80° | 20 m | Smoothed rocks without holds | Climbing on friction | Piton | 2 | – | 1 | |||
| 36 | 75° | 10 m | Traverse left-up along smoothed rocks without holds to a yellow plate | Very difficult free climbing | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 37 | 70° | 10 m | Rock plate - holds are small and almost none, cracks are all "blind" | Mainly movement on ladders, местами very difficult | Piton | 1 | – | 4 | |||
| 38 | 5 m | Traverse to the right along talus rocks to a "shoulder". There is water, a stream. Everyone can gather | Medium difficulty | Projection | |||||||
| 39 | 40° | 25 m | Gray plates to the right of the crack | Medium difficulty | Projection | ||||||
| 40 | 65° | 15 m | Gray plates without holds with small depressions | Difficult climbing on friction | Piton | 2 | – | 1 | |||
| 41 | 65° | 60 m | To the right of the crack along gray plates without holds with small depressions | Very difficult climbing on friction | Piton | 4 | – | 3 | |||
| 42 | 5 m | Up along the chimney | Very difficult traverse with ladders, other sections - with a pendulum | – | 3 | – | |||||
| 43 | 65° | 3 m | Up along the chimney | Climbing on artificial support points | Piton | ||||||
| 44 | 70° | 12 m | Smoothed rocks without holds to a crack going up to the right | Difficult climbing, местами ladder | Piton | – | – | 2 | |||
| 45 | 80° | 15 m | Wet crack leading to a platform for two people | Very difficult climbing on wet rocks | Piton | 2 | – | 1 | |||
| 46 | 60° | 10 m | Plates with small holds | Medium difficulty | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 47 | 50° | 10 m | Plates with ledges and good holds | Easy climbing | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 48 | 20 m | Traverse to the right through a stream along a ledge formed by a brown vein | Easy climbing | Projection | |||||||
| 49 | 80° | 2 m | Up along the plate | Difficult exit | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 50 | 45–50° | 55 m | Destroyed rocks, местами wet | Medium difficulty | |||||||
| 51 | 95° | 2 m | Rock ledge with good holds | Difficult climbing | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 52 | 25° | 10 m | Along simple rocks - exit to the bastion to the snow | Easy climbing | Projection | 17:00 | |||||
| 53 | 28/07 | 60–65° | 40 m | Exit along snow to the snow-ice ridge, snow lies on ice | Very difficult exit | Ice axe with cable | Sun | 6:00 | |||
| 54 | 50° | 150 m | Ice ridge covered with a 10 cm layer of snow on the left, on the right - ice drops | Piton | Clouds, visibility 50 m | – | 9 | – | |||
| 55 | 35° | 40 m | Snow ridge | Ice axe with cable | Clouds, visibility 50 m | ||||||
| 56 | 50° | 40 m | Snow slope with passage of a bergschrund | Ice axe with cable | Clouds, visibility 50 m | ||||||
| 57 | 40 m | Exit to a rock shoulder through a gap | Medium difficulty | Projection | Cloudy. Heavy cloud cover. | 11:00 | |||||
| 58 | 30 m | Ridge leading to the pre-summit tower | Medium difficulty | Cloudy. Heavy cloud cover. | |||||||
| 59 | 60 m | Left along a ledge, местами snow with a steepness of 55° | Piton | Heavy cloud cover. | 1 | – | 1 | ||||
| 60 | 45° | 120 m | Right-up along rocks like "ram's foreheads" towards a yellow plate | Medium difficulty | Piton. Projection | Heavy cloud cover. | 5 | – | – | ||
| 61 | 20 m | Not reaching the plate 40 m, traverse to the left into a couloir | Medium difficulty | Projection | Heavy cloud cover. | 16:00 | |||||
| 62 | 29/07 | 50° | 15 m | Rocks covered with a thin layer of ice | Difficult cautious climbing | Piton | 5:30 | 2 | – | – | |
| 63 | 85° | 2 m | Inner corner filled with a thin layer of ice | Passed with ladders | Piton | 1 | – | – | |||
| 64 | 85° | 5 m | Smooth plate without cracks, местами filled with ice | Passed with ladders, unpleasant climbing | – | 2 | – | ||||
| 65 | 75° | 23 m | Plate-like rocks with small holds, covered with a thin layer of ice | Difficult climbing | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 66 | 80° | 4 m | Plate without holds | Passed with ladders | Piton | 1 | – | 1 | |||
| 67 | 20° | 30 m | Exit along a barely noticeable ledge to a counterfort | Medium difficulty | Piton. Projection | 1 | – | – | |||
| 68 | 70° | 40 m | Step-like rocks with a small number of holds - movement towards the pre-summit ridge | Difficult free climbing | Piton | 3 | – | – | |||
| 69 | 2 m | Left traverse under an overhanging ledge. Thin ice. Exit to a talus shelf | Difficult climbing | Piton | 1 | – | – | ||||
| 70 | 15° | 40 m | Talus shelf leading to a ridge | Easy difficult | Projection | ||||||
| 71 | 40 m | Easy ridge - exit to the summit Dalar | Easy climbing | Projection | 10:00 |
5 hours
Snow-ice ridge
Summit tower of Dalar
Section 22