So­kol — 4

Along the val­le­ys and along the uplands, cat. 4B diff.

R0–R1: 35–40 m, 5b+. Pro­tec­tion is self-pro­vid­ed, can be or­ga­nized eas­i­ly, but only some­times. Sta­tion on a small tree on a shelf.

R1–R2: 40 m, cat. 6A diff. Pro­tec­tion is self-pro­vid­ed, or­ga­niz­ing it is quite prob­lem­at­ic: pitons + nuts. At the end of the rope, there are a cou­ple of old piton. Un­com­fort­able sta­tion in the be­gin­ning of a de­te­ri­o­rat­ed crack on a bad piton and on own gear.

R2–R3: 35 m, cat. 6A diff.

Pro­tec­tion:

• self-pro­vid­ed, at the be­gin­ning of the rope it's prob­lem­at­ic,
• then pro­tec­tion is not re­al­ly need­ed, but if you want to or­ga­nize it, it won't be re­li­able.

Sta­tion on a large pine, on a shelf.

R3–R4: 40 m, cat. 4B diff.

Pro­tec­tion via trees.

Sta­tion on a tree, on a shelf.

R4–R5: 55 m, 5c+.

Self-pro­vid­ed pro­tec­tion.

Sta­tion on a big tree at the end of the ridge.

You should length­en the quick­draws!

R5–R6: 55 m. Walk­ing along the ridge be­tween the hang­ing val­le­ys. Sta­tion on a tree. From this point, you can eas­i­ly de­scend:

• left down the hol­low,
• for the per­sis­tent ones — fur­ther up and to the right.

R6–R7: 50 m, 5a. Sim­ple pro­tec­tion via trees. Sta­tion on a tree on a shelf.

R7–R8: 50 m, 5c. Pro­tec­tion is very poor­ly or­ga­nized. On this pitch, you'd want a pre-driv­en bol­t, but there isn't one.

Up­per part:

• Along the de­te­ri­o­rat­ed, rum­bling boul­ders
• Mov­ing up and to the left
• There's no point in belay­ing — every­thing is un­sta­ble

Sta­tion on a shelf, on own gear. Very dan­ger­ous pitch. Sta­tion is self-pro­vid­ed, or­ga­niz­ing it is prob­lem­at­ic — the rock is un­sta­ble.

R8–R9: 45 m, 5c. Pro­tec­tion is self-pro­vid­ed, + you'll come across an old chan­nel, but you can't fit a car­a­bin­er in its hole — only a wire from a nut. Sta­tion on any tree grow­ing on the shelf. Fur­ther on, there's a sim­ple exit to the tri­an­gu­la­tion mark (R9–R10).

Route vari­ants:

R0­–R2: Straight up, by­pass­ing the R1 sta­tion. R7­–R8: from R6, through a big pine and a small tree on the shelf on the left side of the huge slap and then fol­low the line of R7­–R8. This vari­ant is short­er, and, de­spite its for­mi­dab­le ap­pear­ance, it's safer.

Rec­om­mended gear:

Rope 50­–60 m, 14­–16 quick­draws, 4­–6 long and 2­–3 short slings, cam­ming de­vices (es­pe­cial­ly large siz­es), nuts, pitons, ham­mers.

Gen­eral im­pres­sion:

The route was most likely climbed in the dis­tant 70s, but there are prac­ti­cal­ly no traces left on the route (at least on the first pitch­es). Chal­leng­ing cat. 4B. Rec­om­mend­ed for those who en­joy work­ing with gear. As­cent time is 5–6 hours.