Crimea, Kuba-Kaya. "9 March" Route, 4A
Kuba-Kaya, via the right part of the tower to the top of Koba-Kaya Central, "9 March", 4A, (P. Shvets — S. Pugachev, 2008)
Total length — 300 m
Of which:
- IV-V category — 120 m
- A1 — 6 m
The route was climbed as a "reconnaissance" and is unlikely to be repeated. There are 3 logical and beautiful options to ascend the Central tower, all not below 5B, and only the right part of it promised some relief. We chose the simplest option between the hangings of the lower belt and climbed. Within the first 30 m, we found holes for skyhooks and a drilled hole with a Chinese construction anchor as a sleeve (very fresh). Apparently, it was for rappelling, because further up, until the summit, we didn't encounter any more pitons.
Further on, avoiding unnecessary adventures and bypassing all the steep but short walls, we approached the Central tower, chose the simplest of the three options — the left gap — and climbed it. Soon it turned out that it wasn't that simple to conquer in that short spring day. For environmental reasons, graffiti like "Kisa and Osya were here" are currently not in vogue, so we limited ourselves to a minimally harmful (but very useful for descent) drilled hole. The sun promised an early sunset, so we decided to ascend to the summit via the simplest route, i.e., via the right part of the tower and the western ridge. We found rocks of 4-5 category difficulty, местами разрушенные, but overall very pleasant and picturesque.
To cap off the day, we were gifted a fantastic view when:
- the sea was shrouded in a pink mist all the way to the horizon,
- only the mountain tops bathed in the sunset sun...
Kuba Kaya, March 9, 1953, 4 hours
Source: Alpinist