69. Ai­lama via South­east Ridge (com­bi­na­tion route, E. Abal­a­kov, cat.5B, fig. 5, 15, 16).

From Tsurun­galskaya saddle of the Main Caucasus Range (point 65, 63):

• 250–300 m up­wards over rocks of medium dif­fi­cul­ty be­low the first rock tur­ret of Ai­lama South­east Ridge;
• 200–220 m up­wards over rocks of me­dium-above dif­fi­cul­ty and dif­fi­cult rocks, cor­n­ers, couloirs to the tur­ret's shoulder;
• 50–60 m along a nar­row ledge on the left from the shoulder;
• 120 m up­wards over snow­cov­ered, de­stroyed rocks of me­dium dif­fi­cul­ty of the couloir to the snow col be­hind the I tur­ret.

On the col — bi­vouac. From Tsurun­galskaya saddle — 5–7 h.

From the col 20 m to the left through an icy couloir and 40 m up­wards over steep dif­fi­cult rocks of the buttress to the ridge. Along the snow­cov­ered 40–60-metre South­east Ridge (cor­n­ice) to the II tur­ret and from it 80–100 m down­wards over a steep nar­row snow ridge (cor­n­ice) to the col (cor­n­ice) be­low the III tur­ret.

From the col along steep rocks of me­dium-above dif­fi­cul­ty of the South­east Ridge, by­pass­ing the black wall on the left, along a dif­fi­cult chim­ney 70–80 m up­wards to the III tur­ret. Fur­ther 300–350 m along a sim­ple de­stroyed, in plac­es nar­row snow­cov­ered (cor­n­ices) South­east Ridge, pass­ing:

• IV tur­ret,
• V tur­ret,

de­scend to the col be­low the VI tur­ret — tow­er (cor­n­ice). Bi­vouac. From the pre­vi­ous bi­vouac 6–10 h.

From the col 40–50 m up­wards over rocks of me­dium-above dif­fi­cul­ty to the first tow­er of the VI tur­ret, and then along a nar­row ridge to its sec­ond tow­er, from which 30 m rappel to the col be­low the VII tur­ret (cor­n­ice).

From the col along steep rocks of me­dium dif­fi­cul­ty with a dif­fi­cult 40-metre wall in the low­er part as­cend to the VII tur­ret (Ai­lama — 2).

From the VII tur­ret along a long —

ir­reg­u­lar ridge with two 40-metre dif­fi­cult walls and two 40 m rappels; along the nar­row snow ridges (cor­n­ice) of the South­east Ridge of the VII tur­ret to the col be­low the sum­mit tur­ret.

From the col along dif­fi­cult rocks on the left side of the tur­ret 80–100 m up­wards to the snow ridge. Along a wide icy-snow ridge with rock out­crops 250–300-metre South­east Ridge as­cend to the sum­mit of Ai­lama. From the pre­vi­ous bi­vouac 5–7 h.