210. The Big Tsey horseshoe (Adai — Ulargee — Zaromag) (a combined route by K. Korolev, 5B cat. of difficulty). The path from the CSP of the Tsey district (a group of 4–8 people) to the Adai summit is described in route 166. From the Adai summit, descend down the ice-and-snow SW ridge to the first group of rocks, which are bypassed on the right. Then, 40 m down the steep ice-and-snow slope on the right side of the ridge. Then traverse down to the right along the steep ice-and-snow slope to the snow SW ridge. Along the snow ridge with rocky sections of medium difficulty in the lower part, approach the steep rocky ridge. Along the steep, heavily destroyed, simple and medium difficulty rocky ridge descend to a long, gentle ice-and-snow SW ridge, along which approach the rocky "saw". From under the "saw", descend from the ridge 40–50 m to the left and along the ledges, simple and medium difficulty rocks on the left side of the ridge, bypass the "saw" by traversing. Behind it, ascend to the platform of the snow col between the SW ridge of Adai summit and the gendarme "ZIL" of the E ridge of Zaromag summit. From Adai summit — 6–8 hours. From the col, along the wide (80–100 m), steep ridge, approach under the wall of the "ZIL" gendarme. Along the rocks of above medium difficulty on the right side of the wall — ascent to the ridge and along it — exit to the "ZIL" gendarme. The further path to Zaromag summit along the E ridge is described in route 178. From Zaromag, descend along the simple, short, gentle rocky, then snow 200-meter W ridge. Further:

• Descend to the left along the narrow, steep ice-and-snow 300–400-meter couloir, bypassing the rocky drop of the ridge.
• From the couloir, traverse to the right along the snow-covered rocky slopes to exit to the ridge connector.
• From the connector, along the boundary of ice and rocks, bypass two small gendarmes on the left and behind them exit to the col of the snow ridge.

Ascent Record

1. Ascent type: Rock climbing
2. Ascent area: Caucasus, Tsey Gorge
3. Proposed category difficulty: 2B
4. Summit: peak Oniani 4200 m via Eastern ridge
5. Elevation gain: 1000 m Average slope: 30–40°
6. Number of pitons: 1
7. Total climbing hours: 10 h

Pik Oniani

The peak (4200 m) is named after the climber Kyrylyb Oniani, one of the first explorers of the region. It is located in the middle part of the Tsey range between the peaks of Artsishevsky to the southwest and Zolotarev to the northeast. The southern, rugged rocky edge of Pik Oniani turns into a short spur, bounding the Uilpatinsky glacier cirque from the east. The rocky areas on the western side of the spur are named after the climber Taisia Volgina. To the Songuti glacier, the peak descends with a steep ice-and-snow slope with rare rocky outcrops, and to the southeast, to the Chetyre glacier, towards the Tsey gorge — with rugged rocky counterforts. 146. Pik Oniani via the Western ridge, 2A cat. dif. (K. Oniani, A. Vakhrameev, Ya. Moskaltsov, E. Furguf, August 29, 1938). Fig. 33. The path from the Tsey region KSP (group 4–12 people) to the col of the range between Ulargom and Oniani with the initial bivouac at Volgin's overnight stay is described in route 142. At the col, turn right and exit onto the Western ridge of Pik Oniani. Along the way:

• Along the easy snow-covered 50-meter Western ridge, approach the sharp serration, which is bypassed by a traverse along simple rocks (insurance) on the left.
• Behind the serration, along the narrow snow ridge — a steep ascent to the snow takeoff to the left of the rocks of the Western ridge.
• From the takeoff — a short descent, then 200–250 m upwards along the gentle snow ridge (cornices) or slope to the left of the rocks of the Western ridge.
• Further along the simple, destroyed rocks on the left side of the Western ridge, ascend to Pik Oniani.

Oni­ani Peak

The peak (4200 m) is nam­ed in me­mory of the mountai­ne­er Kilij­bi Oni­ani, one of the first re­sear­chers of the area. Lo­ca­t­ed in the mid­d­le part of the Ts­ei Ridge be­tween the Artsy­shevsky peak to the south-west and the Zol­o­tar­ev peak to the north-east. The south­ern des­tr­oyed rocky edge of the Oni­ani peak tur­ns into a short spur, li­mi­ting to the east the cirque of the Wil­pa­tinsky gla­cier. The rocky plat­for­ms on the west side of the spur are nam­ed af­ter the mountai­ne­er Taisi­ya Vol­gi­na. To the Son­guti gla­cier from the peak des­cends a b­ro­ken ice-and-snow slope with ra­re rocky out­cro­ps, and to the south-east, to the Four gla­cier, to­wards the Ts­ei val­ley — des­tr­oyed rocky coun­ter­for­ts.