Khitsan

The rocky peak of Khitsan (3651 m) is located in the eastern spur of the peak of Nikolaev, between this peak to the west and the Khitsan pass to the east.

A combined route to the summit has been laid from the Khitsan pass. The rocks are heavily destroyed, but due to the ridge nature of the route, it is suitable for passage at any time.

197. Khitsan via the Eastern Ridge (combined route, category 1B difficulty, fig. 38).

The path from the CSP of the Tsey region (group of 4–12 people) to the Khitsan pass with the initial bivouac in the hut of the Southern branch of the Tsey glacier is described in route 83.

On the Khitsan pass, turn left and exit onto the rocks of the Eastern ridge of the Khitsan peak. Along the talus on the right side of the Eastern ridge, bypass the "Paltsev" gendarme on the right. Behind it, climb up to the Eastern ridge along the middle talus.

Along the simple rocks of the ridge, exit under the wall, bypass it on the left, and climb up to the Eastern ridge again along the steep, destroyed rocks.

Further, along the easy, местами simple rocks of the ridge, the ascent leads to a sloping snowy slope.

From here, two paths to the summit of Khitsan are possible.

The first option (technically more complex):

• Traverse along the snowy slope to the right with two rocky outcrops in the middle part (insurance)
• Exit onto the destroyed rocks of the false summit
• Movement along the simple, heavily destroyed rocks on the left side of the ridge of the false summit (the snowy couloir is dangerous due to falling stones) up to the saddle of the ridge between the false summit on the right and the Khitsan summit on the left
• From the saddle, left and along the simple rocks with short walls of the acute Southern ridge — exit onto the Khitsan summit ("live" stones — insurance).

The second option — having exited onto the snowy slope, cross it to the left through a snow-covered rocky couloir and climb up to the Eastern ridge of the Khitsan summit along simple, destroyed rocks. Here, turn right, then along the simple rocks of the Eastern ridge with short walls ("live" stones — insurance) — ascent onto the Khitsan summit. From the Khitsan pass — 1.5–2 hours.

Descent along the ascent route. Naumov A.F. Karaugom, Digoria, Tsey (Central Caucasus), M., "Fizkultura i sport", 1976.

PEAK NIKOLAEV