Passionaria

The Passionaria peak (4000 m) is located in the central part of the Kalper ridge, between Vilsa peak to the northeast and Moskvich to the southwest. To the south, into the Kassar gorge, Passionaria has relatively gentle, heavily destroyed slopes with numerous couloirs, where no ascents have been made. Routes to the summit are only laid from the Tsey gorge. First ascenders:

• N. Tarasenko
• D. Donskoy
• P. Kurilov
• V. Sotnikov Reached Passionaria on August 5, 1934, while traversing the ridge from Lagau to Vilsa.

217. Passionaria from the west via the couloir and southwest ridge, Category III difficulty (E. Stroganov, E. Voskresenskaya et al., August 12, 1947). From the KSP of the Tsey region (group of 4–8 people, departure at 3:00 AM due to avalanches and rockfalls in the couloirs) follow the trail on the left bank of the Skazdon river to approach the "Green Hill" of the left-bank moraine of the Skazgsky glacier. Bypass the "Green Hill" from the left. Then turn left and move up along the stream to the "Gates" of the wide snowy western couloir descending from the saddle of the Kalper ridge between Passionaria on the left and Moskvich on the right. By passing a huge sharp rock standing in the center of the entrance to the couloir, approach the rocky platforms on the right side of the lower part of the couloir along the right side of the wide snowy western couloir (avalanches and rockfalls are possible).

ASCENT PASSPORT I. Climbing category: technical 2. Climbing area: Caucasus (2.7 from Gurdzyvcek Pass to Mamisson Pass), p. Passionarii 4000 m, via West wall of the bastion and Northwest ridge 3. Peak, its height, and ascent route 4. Proposed difficulty category: 5A cat. diff. 5. Route characteristics: Height difference: 940 m Length of sections with 5th-6th cat. diff.: 290 m Average steepness: 42° 6. Pitons driven:

PASSPORT

1. Rock climbing.
2. Caucasus, Tsey Gorge.
3. Mt. Passionaria, 4000 m via the chimney of the Western bastion wall and NW ridge.
4. Proposed: Category 5B difficulty for first ascent (second ascent).
5. Elevation gain 800 m, length 1150 m. Length of Category 5B–6 sections — 160 m. Average steepness of the main part of the route — 85° (3400–3560 m).
6. Pitons hammered: rock: 32, bolted: 0, chocks: 25, ice: 0.
7. Team's travel time — 9 hours.
8. Overnights — none.
9. Leader — Leonid Borisovich Volkov, Master of Sports.

Leaving the snowy couloir descending from the saddle between the peaks of Passionariya and Moskvich to the right, we move left and upwards in the direction of the snowfield descending from under the wall. On the left, there are two bivouac sites located under the wall on separate rocky pillars. There is no water, but snow and ice are available. After ascending 70–80 m up difficult rocks with piton protection, we reach an internal corner. Along the internal corner with an overhanging rock at 80–90°, we traverse right and upwards for 20 m across a greenish-gray slab to a chimney. The chimney is narrow and steep, 7–8 m (piton, ladders). From the chimney, we exit onto a ledge-platform 40 m, then left and upwards across difficult rocks to a slab (30 m, 70°) with a crack. Initially along the crack, then straight up (piton, wooden wedges). Above the slab, we move left and upwards across rocks of medium difficulty to an internal corner (almost a chimney with a breakage at the bottom, 60 m, 70–80°). From the internal corner, we exit onto a reddish, crumbly ledge 20 m, going left along the talus (traverse left 5–6 m). I control cairn. After the traverse, we ascend the wall 6–7 m (85–90°, bolted pitons) to a sheer internal corner 17–20 m, 80–85°. Above the corner is a small platform with smooth, crack-free slabs. From the platform, across smooth slabs 40 m, 80° left and upwards to a horizontal ledge. Along the ledge, we traverse left and, bypassing an overhanging internal corner, reach a vertical chimney (rocks are wet). Up the chimney 40 m to a smooth wall of gray-green color. It's better to go without backpacks and then organize their retrieval. The rocks are difficult, with few holds and cracks.

Остро­ну уг­лу 20 м вле­во на па­не­ли is not a sentence, so translation will be done for the given text: To the sharp angle 20 m left on the panel. The pin is broken 18 m to the right. Further along the left side of the ridge along steep smooth slabs 80 m, 65–70 % to the "gendarme" on the ridge.

• The "gendarme" is circumvented from the left
• Further along the slabs to the snowy saddle 80 m
• Beyond the high "gendarme", the western slope of which feeds the glacier From the failure to the snowy saddle, movement is always on the left 3–4 m below the ridge. From the snowy saddle along the ridge to the red rocks of the big "gendarme" 50–60 %. The big "gendarme" is circumvented from the left-upwards with an exit to its ridge 60–80 m, 60–65 %. Along the sharp ridge (80 m) to the massive pre-summit "gendarme". The pre-summit "gendarme" — rocks with small holds, but they hold well (120 m), and along them to the ridge.

R0: Initial bivouac R1: 15 m, 5, 70° R2: 5 m, 65° R3: 30 m, 4–5, 60° Miscellaneous rocks R5: 10 m, 4, 60° R6: 15 m, VA₁, 70° R7: 10 m, 5, 65°

V. PASSIONARIA VIA NW RIDGE BASTION, 5B cat. diff.