Марона

Ascent to the peak of Maron from the north (2A cat. difficulty)

From the camp located on a flat gravel site in front of the peak Iсследователей and Чон-Турасу, we head through the ridges of old lateral moraines to the NNE ridge of the peak. x) Description compiled by A. Perelman. The ridge itself, starting from the snowy part downwards, is even and only has a dip in one place, shaped like an inverted letter "П". The ridge is bordered on both sides by sheer cliffs. On the eastern side, a talus slope stretches under the ridge, while on the western side lies the Maron glacier. We skirt the ridge from the north along a steep, rocky, grassy slope (45–50°). It's best to ascend gradually, without descending to the grassy clearing with a cirque in the Chon-Turasu valley. The stream flowing from the Maron glacier remains to the right of the path in a canyon. After 300 m of ascent, we reach the lower, flat part of the cirque. The stream flows between boulders. To the left are grassy slopes (under the ridge), while to the right, a long and narrow moraine begins. The moraine goes to the left, southwest. Between the moraine and the foot of the wall, a 300 m wide tongue begins. The tongue extends under the surface moraine. To the right of the moraine, a large talus cirque opens up, with a pass saddle visible in its upper part. The moraine abuts a rock at its upper end, which is quite weathered and crumbling. The glacier in this area widens to 500–600 m. It's heavily littered, covered in dirt, rocks, and sand, and is crisscrossed by streams. Further on, the rock expands into a low rocky spur, apparently descending from the peak Февральской революции. At the lower part of the rock, at a height of two meters, there's a small, very even, sandy and pebbly platform. It's well-protected from the wind and dry. We hammer in several pitons and set up a tent on ice axes. The approach to the overnight stay took less than 5 hours.

ASCENT TO PIK MARONA VIA THE NORTH-EAST RIDGE (cat. grade 3A) 2729 From the camp located on a flat, gravelly area of the upper modern erosion base of the Issledovateley and Chon-Turasu glaciers, we head towards the NNE rock ridge of Pik Marona, situated between the Chon-Turasu river and the Marona glacier. We cross ridges of old lateral moraines and, after 15 minutes, approach the slope of the ridge at a point where a powerful talus slope descends from under the rocky ridge. To the left remain:

• massive rock outcrops of black-green rock,
• scree slopes of fine gravel stretching from them. We ascend directly up the talus slope to a rock wall, then move:
• first along the slope,
• then along terraces upwards along the wall,
• across fine scree, clay soils, and occasionally easy rock. After 2 hours of ascent, we reach the end of the terrace. This location is easily identifiable by two small caves, and the terrace almost immediately ends.