«Truba»

I never thought I'd become a mountaineer; I wanted a quiet, peaceful life. I was quietly saving up for my wedding, but my dear left me. And then I decided not to waste the money and bought mountaineering gear instead. And here I am again, on a train, heading somewhere. This time it's Crimea, Parkovoe village, Morcheka mountain. I'm a very ambitious person, and when I set my mind on something, I go all out. I might initially overestimate my abilities, but what always reassures me is that I check them, just in case. Enough, not enough? :) So, the goal is set:

• Warm up with the Truba route,
• Then on to Machombo.

First day.

We arrived in Sevastopol around 11:00, bought some food and wine, and took a minibus to Parkovoe village. After getting off at the stop, we asked for directions and headed towards the linear house. My first deep impression was the quarry and the excavations. The only thing that came to mind was a phrase from the movie Terminator: "And the machines rose from the ashes of nuclear fires."

All around us were:

• Abandoned machinery,
• Excavators,
• Rock crushing installations,
• Semi-abandoned and abandoned buildings,
• Many large boulders.

Everything looked very impressive. After walking for another five minutes, we encountered our second impression - the rock formation "Zub" (Tooth). Seeing it, a thought immediately flashed through my mind about Patagonia, Cerro Torre!!! Igor immediately nicknamed "Zub" as "Peak 1000 hu...s". Seeing all that was before our eyes, we just sat down on the ground. The weight of our backpacks certainly, the weight of our backpacks contributed to this.

I'm not sure if I accurately estimated the distance, but over a stretch of 1–1.5 km, everything was littered with huge boulders. It was like a paradise for bouldering enthusiasts :)

After resting a bit, we headed towards the campsite. Upon arrival and seeing the campsite, I was impressed for the third time. There was a table, benches, shelves for food - it was like a high-comfort campsite.

At the campsite, we met:

• Sasha Maksimenya,
• Kira,
• Sasha from Belarus.

They had climbed the "classic" route that day and were planning to leave the next day.

After settling in, we went to check out the start of the routes. What we saw was breathtaking: smooth, almost vertical, vertical, and overhanging walls. I was simply speechless.

We walked along the wall, searching for the start of the routes and were just amazed. It was like El Capitan, which I had only seen in photos and videos. This was the mountaineering I had been craving.

This place became sacred to me. I was just beaming with joy. Approaching the start of the Truba route, we just looked at each other - no words were needed here. A huge groove, about half a meter wide, goes up the wall for about 20 meters. It was like a fairy tale. Very beautiful.

After checking out the remaining routes, we returned to the camp and celebrated March 8th together with the Belarusian brothers and sisters. Sitting by the campfire, we talked about everything, drinking wine and smoking cigars in turn.

Route

Waking up at 6:00 AM with a slight hangover, I quietly tried to convince my conscience not to lecture me about a sports regimen :) I tried to explain to it that this was Crimea, and it was impossible to do without wine here. Stepping out of the tent, I looked at Morcheka: in the morning sun, the walls were pink, and the sky above was blue. All this took me away from the reality of gray, routine days.

Landscapes are great, but we needed to get moving. I'm not sure what could have taken three hours, but we weren't ready until 9:00. After saying goodbye to the others, we headed under the route and spent another hour rummaging through the gear.

R0–R0.5

Igor wanted to climb only two ropes on this route: the first one and the one in the Truba groove. Moreover, he wanted to climb the first rope completely without protection. At first, I wasn't against it, but after he climbed the first five meters, I asked him to use protection anyway.

Forget about crazy super-men like Dean Potter, the Huber brothers, and other representatives of mountaineering elite. I'm for safety. But Igor was stingy with protection points and put only three on 20–25 meters. He climbed it - Igor made a station, thus splitting one rope in half. I started packing up and cursing the amount of unnecessary gear; I even wanted to leave it under the route.

When I climbed to the station, I grumbled at my partner's protection points, especially when I saw a quicklink clipped to a rappel rope threaded through a hanger.

At some point, Igor called out to me and asked me to pose - I happily played the role of a mountaineering star.

When I reached the station, I grumbled even more when I saw that Igor was tied into a blocking sling of unknown origin. At some point, I even wanted to rappel down. What does TGT do to people? I used to not be so picky about safety. After grumbling for a couple more minutes, I handed Igor his backpack, saying that the first person to climb would do so without a backpack.

R0,5–R1

After climbing about ten meters, I found myself in a difficult situation: all my limbs were balanced, and I really wanted to make a protection point. I looked at the "carrot" without an eyelet and remembered Sasha Maksimenya's advice about using a repcord to create a protection point. I couldn't come up with the idea of hanging a nut on the "carrot" at that moment, so I somehow managed to pull out an anchor hook with one hand, inserted it into a crack, hammered it in, and clipped in a quicklink - doing everything with one hand.

Gaining confidence in the anchor hook and finding a small ledge at waist level, I made a dyno with 10 kg of gear, reaching for something in the void. This dyno seemed to last forever. At some point, I thought I wouldn't be able to make it and would be pulled down, but I managed to dyno - and found a great handhold in the void.

Further along a horizontal crack, I made my way to the station and stood on self-protection. And then I took a breath - and thoughts arose: "This is mountaineering, this is what I understand!"

After making the station, I started taking in Igor. When he reached the anchor hook, he tried to knock it out but did so unsuccessfully - the hook flew down. Approaching the "carrot," Igor started asking me provocative questions about how I climbed.

At first, Igor tried to attach a repcord to the "carrot" using a klemheist, but it was too short. Then Igor just threw it over and when he pulled on it, the repcord slipped off, and he swung like a pendulum under the station. This is mountaineering!

R1–R2: We're hanging on the station. I was about to take Igor's backpack and start belaying him. But he said he was only interested in the rope with the overhang, and that I would climb the remaining ropes. Not expecting this turn of events, I gathered my spirit, took my gear, and started climbing.

The climbing was pleasant, a solid pleasure. I climbed, placing protection points every 5 meters. Looking down, I saw that the previous nut had popped out, so I placed another one. Climbing another five meters, and again - it popped out. I placed another nut, pulled on it in all possible directions - everything was fine. I reached the hanger, the rope was running out, and I made a station. Additionally, I hammered in an anchor hook and placed a friend.

I took in Igor, and at the station, we joked around and took some videos.

R2 — «Central pine»

You need to read the description periodically, not just rely on your memory and logic!

This was my big mistake: due to the fact that we had split the ropes, I saw the wrong pine. I climbed towards the pine - saw the hangers on the Machombo route - climbed on them until I hit a hook stuck in "up to the tomatoes." Here, I remembered Mikhail Komarov and Alexander Yurkin's article and their words: "Probably, someone was very scared." I rappelled down and swung left.

If the description doesn't mention a pendulum - it means you've gone the wrong way. Folk wisdom, indeed.

I climbed to the central pine and felt that there was no traverse to the left along the three-trunked rocks.

I shouted to Igor to bring out the description. We read it, checked, read it again, and checked again. We decided to rappel down, as the rope was single, and I had practically climbed 50 meters. We had to rappel in two stages, with more pendulums. In general, this incorrect rope cost us 2 hours. But it added to our wisdom.

I was already thinking:

• about taking a rappel rope, 50–60 meters - I'll definitely take it next time;
• and about reading the description at every station.

R2–R3

I start climbing, go around a ledge, climb about 5 meters - and I really need to go to the bathroom. I'm freezing too. I return to the station and suggest that Igor rappel down, and we'll climb it calmly tomorrow. But he replies that he's not going to climb anything tomorrow. He suggests that I do my business on a ledge, but I decide to hold on.

I go around the ledge and start climbing an internal corner. All thoughts about the cold and the need to go to the bathroom disappear, and I just climb upwards. I warm up and enjoy the climb. Here's the station.

• Self-protection!
• Belay ready.
• Got it.
• Go!

R3–R4

A good, pleasant rope, something to think about. You're climbing an internal corner and hit an overhanging "belly." The "belly" is like a song - its surface is like a puzzle: when you touch it, pieces fall off. You climb and think: legs, just legs. After some passive moves, I climb out onto a huge ledge with a tree. I make a station on the tree; there's a plastic bottle tied to it, but it's empty, and I'm thirsty - just my luck. I take in Igor. And here's the long-awaited traverse R4–R5.

The station and the Meodova cave couloir:

• Truba
• Arches
• Vaults

Too bad it's getting dark, and we're in a light cloud

We rappel down R5–R6. And we walk around, mouths agape: "God, it's so beautiful here!" I recall Zadornov: "Smeralos'." We looked at the cave, took out our headlamps, and decided to climb further.

R5–R6

Not to be told in a fairy tale, not to be described with a pen. I climbed up wet, mossy rocks. Everything was very beautiful and unusual - diverse stalactites, peculiar handholds. And not a hint of friction. Practically like a cow on ice.

I hammered a hook into a crack - and out came a clay-like paste :) I approached a ledge, all four limbs engaged, trying to find a handhold. Here's the long-awaited one! I weighted it - and it broke off. Somehow, I ended up with my chest on the ledge, in a precarious balance. My goodness is heavy, and the law of gravity still applies.

I feel the loop with friends pulling me down and throw it onto the ledge, repeat the process - on the other side with nuts and quicklinks. The state of balance seems to have stabilized. Slowly, I transfer my weight and climb onto the ledge.

It's dark, damp, and dirty - it's like spelunking, but still very beautiful. I'm looking for a hook path. I climb to an overhang, make an A0 move :) - and hit a fir tree. And I don't know what to do: from above, it's impossible to climb over, from below - nothing is visible.

I climbed through the fir tree - it felt like a tourist in a larch forest, by God. You get caught on everything:

• removed friends - got caught on quicklinks,
• removed quicklinks - got caught on friends.

Horror. With great difficulty, pulling the rope like a burlak on the Volga, I climbed onto the station. I'm resting. Bliss.

Somewhere far below, Igor's headlamp is visible. I make a station, take him in. Due to the large number of rope drags, the rope is barely moving - you might as well pull it with a pulley system.

I'm thinking about how Igor will climb this rope with a backpack? But he climbs like a tank - he made it, no problem. He even trained on the Caucasus with a 30-kilogram backpack over the "Donkin's Pass" back and forth.

R6–R7

We read the description - we now have a lot of night time, and there's no need to rush.

Further on, we climb simple three-tiered rocks to the last rope. I climb in the dark, but what's the difference - I'm like a speleologist. I recall Yevgeny Korol. I climb out onto a ledge. Here's the sharp ridge! But I'm not so lucky: I really need to go to the bathroom, and I just can't hold on.

I quickly make a station, take in Igor, grab some unnecessary paper from him, and retreat to the side. And my conscience is bothering me, and I can't do anything about it :).

Having done my dirty deed with great remorse, I climb further. Here's the final station.

R7–R8

Just a little more, just a bit. As they say, the main thing is not to relax at the end. Who was talking about the purity of style? The purity of style is in everyone's head. Everything quickly falls into place when fear comes. And I come to the conclusion that in mountaineering, a fall is an emergency. That's why I climb slowly and very carefully, making sure each protection point is reliable.

Night climbing. Slowly but surely, I climb to the station. Every action is experience. The more a person walks along the path of life, the wiser they become. And only with age comes an understanding of the value of everything that happens and has happened in our lives. "You can't make mistakes and fall if you're not going anywhere" - my father used to say. That's how I see the world now. And only now do I realize this.

We stand on the yayla, drink water, eat Snickers bars, sort out our gear, and put on warm clothes. Ahead of us is a descent.

Descent. Campsite. Lights out

With simultaneous and alternating belay. We descended for about two hours. It's dark, however :) We got a bit lost, true. In general, we must give credit to the people who made the descent route. We were at the camp at 22:00. And the first thing we did:

• started cooking dinner and mulled wine;
• congratulated each other on the climb;
• met and saw off the "Night Speleologists";
• went to sleep.