From the village of Mazeri, follow the forest road to the Dolra River; go up to the bridge on the right bank, and beyond it - on the left bank of the river. After the Dolra River turns left, above the confluence of the Ushba River to it from the right, cross the Dolra River by the bridge and exit to the summer shelter Becho on its right bank. From the shelter:

• upstream on the right bank,
• then along steep grassy slopes,
• and higher - on scree,
• further - on a large moraine. From the moraine:
• initially upwards,
• then traverse along heavily destroyed rocks of the right slope of the gorge (loose stones),
• ascend to the right side of the tail of the Dolra glacier,

62. Donguzorun Vostochny via North-East Wall (Yu. Kaunov's Route, Cat. 4B, Fig. 8, 14). The path from the "Baksan" Alpine Camp (group of 4 people) to the initial bivouac on the right-bank moraine platforms of the Donguzorun Vostochny Glacier is described in Route 61. From the moraine (departure at 2–3 am), cross the Donguzorun Vostochny Glacier and reach the base of the North-East wall of Donguzorun Vostochny peak. Ascend 10 m up steep, moderately difficult rocks to a small ridge on the right side of the wall, slightly left of the avalanche debris. Continue up moderately difficult rocks on a poorly defined ridge, parallel to the avalanche chute, to a platform (cairn). From the platform, ascend directly up moderately difficult rocks, then up a 60-meter snowy slope to the left, towards a rocky outcrop of the wall. Overcome the wall head-on via rocks more difficult than average (pitons for protection!) and reach a poorly defined internal corner. Ascend the corner, then its right side, directly up (pitons for protection!). Continue up the wall to an icy chute. Ascend the chute or the rocks on its right, and then left side, 50–60 m up (pitons for protection!). Exit the chute to the right onto rocky outcrops and ascend to the upper part of the chute. From here, traverse 50 meters to the left through the icy chute (icefall, avalanches!) under the black wall (most challenging section of the route). Ascend 20–25 m directly up difficult rocks of the wall (pitons for protection!), then traverse 15 m to the left, and ascend an 8-meter chimney and 30 meters of moderately difficult rocks to a rocky tower on the wall (cairn). From the tower, ascend 150–200 m up an icy-snowy slope (crampons), then an 80-meter snowy ridge, and a 100–120-meter slope to the ridge of the main massif. Turn right and ascend the broad snowy ridge to the summit of Donguzorun Vostochny peak. 12–14 hours from the initial bivouac.

From the Baksan valley along the trail leading to the Don-Guz-Shrun pass. From the upper lake, we turn left to the ridge lowering and exit to the bottom pass Don-Guz-Shrun along the scree and gully. Descent 10–15 m down the broken rocks to the glacier and further up the glacier to the right on the southwest ridge of Nakra-Tau. Here, on the flat part of the ridge, is an overnight stay. The path from the Baksan valley to the overnight stay takes 7–8 hours. From the overnight stay site, we descend down the scree into the glacial circus, separating the northwest and west ridges of Nakra-Tau. Descending down, we cross the circus in the direction of the well-defined snow col of the western ridge. Up the steep snowy slope (4–5 ropes), we ascend to the col and exit to the "naran" - the exit from the "Karmen" to the flat snow plateau. Along the snow plateau, we move east to the South Don-Guz-Ortov plateau. From the plateau, we ascend up the gentle snow slope in the direction of the pass between the peaks Don-Guz-Shrun and Nakra-Tau. Having reached the gentle part of the slope, we turn right to the snow ridge, along which we ascend in the direction of a small zenith выступ in the ridge leading to the Don-Guz-Shrun peak. Along the skeleton of the bergschrund and further up the snow-ice slope, leaving the rocky outcrops to the left, we exit to the ridge. Along the simple rocks and snowpatch of the ridge, we ascend to the Main summit of Don-Guz-Shrun. Descent is via the ascent route. The path from overnight stay to overnight stay takes about 12 hours.

• The ascent can be made in any quantitative composition.
• In August, the exit and descent to the "naran" are challenging; on the ground, you need to have tension ropes, three ice hooks, and four clamp devices.

4

The Lesser Donguz-Orun is located in the smooth Zakavkazsky ridge between Lecho to the east and Donguz-Orun to the west. The height of the peak is 1468 m. To the northwest lies the middle peak of Donguz-Orun. From the middle peak of Donguz-Orun, a ridge branches off, which turns west and, through a saddle, forms a Makra-Tau pyramid (or May Donguz-Orun - 1440 meters). The western ridge, Nakra-Tau, steeply descends to the Donguz-Orun pass. This is the eastern ridge that runs from the Donguz-Orun peak along the Songi valley to the Becho pass. The third ridge branches off from the middle peak of Donguz-Orun in a northeasterly direction to the Kogu-Tau-Veti peak. The northern wall of the peak is trapped by snow firn and drop-offs, feeding the left branch of the Isegi glacier. The western slope of the peak drops steeply to the Donguz-Orun glacier. On the wall, two cross-shaped narrow glaciers are clearly visible. At the peak, there is a huge firn field that feeds the Nakra, Kapp, and Dakra glaciers.

Report

On the ascent to the summit Donguzorun Glavnaya via the southwest slope, category 2A, by the team of MAC "Freeline", September 30, 2024.

I. Ascent Report

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Description of the ascent route to Donguz-Orun via the northwest wall (counterfort) — 1962

The Donguz-Orun massif (4468 m) is located in the Main Caucasian Range, in the upper reaches of the Baksan valley, and is quite familiar to mountaineers. The ascent route to Donguz-Orun via the northwest wall (counterfort) has been traversed twice, but there is no description of the route, and it is not known exactly where the climbers' paths lay, whether they coincided for both groups, or what variations these groups took. We embarked on the route, considering the wall to have sufficient difficulty both technically and tactically, and the route to be: — logical, — interesting, — deserving of the most serious consideration and evaluation, and likely to gain wide sporting popularity in the future. It was necessary to study the most expedient paths for its traversal and compile a more or less stable description. The Donguz-Orun massif is composed of ancient rocks, predominantly gneisses, layered in such a way that the slopes of the northern sector of the massif, with their great steepness, have the character of smooth wall sections interspersed with very steep slabs of tiled structure. The route via the northwest wall is combined, with large sections of formed ice. The height difference from the foot of the wall to the summit is about 1900 m.

000243-004H

M

Dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Khergiani

73

Report

• on the first ascent of Donguzorun (Main) via the North wall, 5B category of difficulty

Central Caucasus

1978 Team of instructors at the Baksan alpine camp:

• Stadnik V.F. — CMS
• Chegel V.I. — CMS