"Surprise" 1B cat. diff. (Merdven–Kaya)

The wall is located to the left of the "Chertova lestnitsa" pass. 3-4 km from the forester's house towards Yalta along the road.

0-1

• Turn from the road onto the trail leading to the "Chertova lestnitsa" pass (the trail is well-marked with arrows).
• Ascend along the trail to the ridge, traverse it, and climb (15-20 m) easy rock onto a ledge.

R1-R2. Continue left-up towards the ridge. Reach the ridge and ascend simple rocks (200 m) up (either along the center of the ridge or keeping to its right side).

2-3 Reach a notch (2-2.5 m) on the ridge and descend into it. From here, move left along slanting ledges (3-4 m), bypassing a wall (a detour!), and then ascend ledges onto the ridge. This is the key section of the route (see below for the right bypass variant).

Then ascend the ridge: first, about 15 m of moderately difficult rock, and then simple rock leading to the yayla.

The route is 300 m long. The ascent takes 1.5-2 hours. 7-9 rock pitons are required.

2-3 Right bypass variant:

• Descend into the notch and then move right-up along slabs (10-12 m) towards a pine tree.
• From the pine tree, ascend directly up moderately difficult rock (15 m) to the ridge.
• Then follow the main description.