Shaan-Kaya — 6

Author: Alexander Lavrinenko, Odessa

Alexander Lavrinenko

Shaan-Kaya is located in the Alupka area. It is not part of the Southern ridge, but is pushed forward to the sea, in front of the Alupka wall. The wall height difference is about 250 m. In the central part, the wall overhangs. 6 routes are laid along the wall (Note: as of December 2001, 8 routes were climbed), all are 6th category of difficulty.

To get to Shaan-Kaya, you need to:

Get to the Alupka "Pitomnik" stop
From it, go up the road
Pass through the vineyards
Get to the dirt road, which leads almost under the wall

There is water in the spring, 15 minutes walk from the wall.

Route overview

The "Zenit" route was climbed in 1968. It passes through the center of the wall. It is a bolted route that leads through a 120-degree overhang to the summit. The route crosses several belts of unreliable rock, with bolts hammered into "sounding" slabs.

The route is objectively dangerous, but at the same time does not require any technical skills, as well as the ability to climb. I don't dare to determine the complexity. The route was recently climbed by Crimean climbers Shelkhakov and Popov, if I'm wrong, let them correct me.

Author: Nikolai Shimko, Sumy. Photo: Nikolai Shimko, Dmitry Romanenko Shaan-Kaya.

"Zenit" Route

I'll start with a little background. The opening of the alpine season took place in the first days of January. After climbing Petros and sliding down on a board, there was a thirst for new ascents.

After returning home from Petros, there was a desire to go to the mountains again. After settling some matters, in a few days, I was ready for a new trip.

One January day, my friend called me and said:

Are you ready to go to Crimea? I, of course, replied:
Yes!

But I completely forgot that my session was starting. It was not possible to postpone the session, and besides, there was no weather in Crimea, so the trip had to be postponed.

The session is over! I was bored. Dima Romanenko and I needed to climb a mountain, and of course, we would climb the "Zenit" route (we needed a 6-A category route). After reading a bit about the route, we arrived at our destination. We were already under the wall. It was the 7th...

Waking up in the morning, we planned to climb the "Yalta 66" route and...

We climb two sections, the belay stations are reliable, and the carabiners are suitable. We had to improvise...

We waited, waited, and finally, Roshko Vova and I (Dima and I) tried this route...

The 3rd section is not easy, but there are about 25 bolts. The rock is unreliable.

The 4-5th sections are together, 38 m. On the 5th section, I felt that I was...

We climbed the section without any incidents.

After descending, we found that our camp had been robbed. There were many unnecessary people around Shaan-Kaya. After the fire that raged there a few years ago, many trees died, and now there is a logging of the dead forest.

We decided to climb again the next day, with a 3:00 am start. It rained all night, and there was a hurricane-force wind.

The next day was no different from the previous one:

rain,
stronger wind.

When we were returning home, we saw the consequences of this hurricane - broken and uprooted billboards lay along the road.

After two days of rest, we were bored with inactivity. We decided to climb the next day, no matter what.

The next day, we were at the end of the rappel by 6:30, and started climbing at 7:00. The 6th and 7th sections became even more overhanging, about 105°.

The bolt quality at 5-7 m is such that it's monolithic - you can put less gear.

Having climbed the 6th and 7th sections - 35 m. And then there's a destroyed...

I had to make a lot of effort to climb this section.

The last bolt is not where it's supposed to be...

The rock is not solid, and the bolts are not reliable.

As we climbed higher, the angle of the wall became more and more overhanging.

The angle of the wall was between 85° and... it started to get dark. When Dimon reached me, it was completely dark. We had 10 m left to climb on our own. We finished the route at 19:30.

Conclusion: The "Zenit" route is one of the most overhanging routes. Success depends on luck and the ability to climb. The probability of pulling out the bolts is limited, as is the probability of...

And yet, if you have the right equipment: