Passionaria

The Passionaria peak (4000 m) is located in the central part of the Kalper ridge, between Vilsa peak to the northeast and Moskvich to the southwest. To the south, into the Kassar gorge, Passionaria has relatively gentle, heavily destroyed slopes with numerous couloirs, where no ascents have been made. Routes to the summit are only laid from the Tsey gorge.

First ascenders:

• N. Tarasenko
• D. Donskoy
• P. Kurilov
• V. Sotnikov

Reached Passionaria on August 5, 1934, while traversing the ridge from Lagau to Vilsa.

217. Passionaria from the west via the couloir and southwest ridge, Category III difficulty (E. Stroganov, E. Voskresenskaya et al., August 12, 1947).

From the KSP of the Tsey region (group of 4–8 people, departure at 3:00 AM due to avalanches and rockfalls in the couloirs) follow the trail on the left bank of the Skazdon river to approach the "Green Hill" of the left-bank moraine of the Skazgsky glacier. Bypass the "Green Hill" from the left. Then turn left and move up along the stream to the "Gates" of the wide snowy western couloir descending from the saddle of the Kalper ridge between Passionaria on the left and Moskvich on the right. By passing a huge sharp rock standing in the center of the entrance to the couloir, approach the rocky platforms on the right side of the lower part of the couloir along the right side of the wide snowy western couloir (avalanches and rockfalls are possible).

From the Category difficulty point of the Tsey region, it takes 5–6 hours.

From the platforms, ascend 300–400 meters up the steep icy-snowy slope of the couloir (avalanches and rockfalls are possible — piton belay) to the saddle of the ridge between Passionaria and Moskvich. Set up a bivouac here. From the platforms in the couloir, it takes 3–5 hours.

On the saddle, turn left and reach the first pillar via the snow-covered (cornices) rocks of the Southwest Ridge, bypassing it on the left along rocks of medium difficulty.

Further, along simple snow-covered rocks of the ridge, approach under the Big Pillar, overcoming it along rocks of medium difficulty on the ridge ("live" stones — piton belay). From the pillar, there is a simple descent to the ridge.

Along the simple Southwest Ridge, approach under the summit rise of Passionaria:

• Ascend a short narrow couloir to a wide sloping shelf.
• Along it, bypassing the rise, move left-upwards to the Northwest Ridge.
• Here, turn right and ascend to the summit of Passionaria along the simple Northwest Ridge.

From the saddle, it takes 5–7 hours.

Descend via the ascent route. From the saddle, a descent into the Kassar gorge is possible. Descend from the saddle early in the morning due to possible rockfalls and avalanches. The duration of the route is 2–3 days.

Source:

• Naumov A. F. Karauhom, Digoria, Tsey (Central Caucasus), M., "Fizkultura i sport", 1976.

Fig. 43.