23 Ulluuuz via the E slope of the E ridge — 5A cat. diff. (V. Samokhvalov, A. Ryabukhin, Yu. Slezkin and O. Trubnikov — August 7, 1964). The path from the “Bezengi” alpine camp to the Severny Ulluuuz Glacier see in description 12. On the moraine of the glacier under the slopes of the Archimedes peak — a bivouac. From the bivouac (in ropes and crampons!) across the glacier and then upwards, 200–250 m to the right of the lower rocky spur. Across the bergschrund, ascend directly upwards 700–800 m along the ice-snow slope, then along a not very pronounced couloir, to the right of the second triangle of the rocky spur (protection! avalanches!) with an exit to the snow plateau of faults above the rocky triangular spur. From the plateau:

• ascend along the snowy slope through the bergschrund;
• further along the snow-ice slope 200–250 m upwards to the lower right rocky spur under the summit tower (avalanches!);
• on the right side of the spur (“live” stones! pitons!) 10–15 m upwards. From the top of the spur:
• 300–400-meter traverse left-upwards along the ice-snow slope under the rocks of the summit tower (pitons!);
• along the ice slope-couloir, ascend to the saddle of the East ridge of the Ulluuuz summit.

149. Shaurtu Glavnaya via the Northeast Ridge (combined route, category 2A difficulty, Fig. 14, 16, 17).

From the "Chegem" tourist base (group of 4-12 people), ascend via a forest trail on the left bank of the Shaurtu River, then, after crossing the Tyutyurgu stream, continue up grassy slopes in a wide hollow between a large right-bank (orographic) moraine of the Shaurtu Glacier on the right and slopes of the western spurs of the Kargashilsky Ridge on the left. Then proceed along the moraine to the upper areas at the end of the moraine. From the "Chegem" tourist base, it takes 3-4 hours. From the moraine, enter the glacier and move along the northeastern branch of the Shaurtu Glacier (closed crevasses) towards a rocky outcrop, which you bypass on the left. Behind the outcrop, turn right, cross the heavily crevassed northeastern branch, and then reach the moraine at the foot of the western ridge of Shaurtu Glavnaya peak. Set up a base camp on the moraine. From the "Chegem" tourist base, it takes 5-6 hours. From the moraine, on the right side of the northeastern branch of the Shaurtu Glacier (closed crevasses), approach the saddle of the Shaurtu massif, located between the Glavnaya and Severny peaks. From the glacier, pass over the bergschrund via a snow bridge and ascend 200-250 meters up an icy-snowy slope (avalanche risk, belay required) to the saddle of the Shaurtu massif. On the saddle, turn right and ascend the snowy northeast ridge (cornices) to the first pillar. Overcome the pillar via easy ridge rocks. Then, along the snowy, sometimes sharp (cornices) 300-400-meter northeast ridge (cornices, belay required) and easy snowy rocks, reach the summit of Shaurtu Glavnaya. From the base camp, it takes 5-6 hours.

Shkhara: via NE ridge and N edge

Shkhara (Main), NE ridge — Cat. 5A

The initial bivouac can be organized either at the "Austrian overnight stays" or on the Shkhara pillow — a snow plateau below the western slopes of the NE ridge. From the "Austrian overnight stays," descend to the glacier and, passing under the steep ice step of its tributary flowing from the Sella pass, cross the Eastern branch of the Bezengi glacier, exiting under the icefall in the couloir between the NE ridge and the North edge of Shkhara. Ascend the couloir to the right of the icefall via a snowy slope with a series of ascents. 400–450 m. The couloir is avalanche-prone (threatened by ice discharges on the northern slopes of East Shkhara), so at the beginning of the ascent, stay closer to the rock outcrops of the North edge. Upon reaching the upper boundary of the icefall, you should:

• Turn left,
• Cross avalanche gullies,
• Exit onto the snow plateau above the icefall — the "pillow".

Gülchi

The Gülchi massif (4477 m) consists of the peaks Gülchi and Rtsy­vash­ki. It is located in the western part of the Sugansky Ridge, between the peak of Sugan­Tau (located east of the Rtsy­vash­ki pass, to which the Southeast ridge of Gülchi descends) and the peak of Komsomol Ukrainy (to which the North ridge of Rtsy­vash­ki approaches). From under the wall of the Southwest shoulder of Gülchi in the Akhsu gorge depart:

• Southwest ridge with the peak Akhsu,
• from the East shoulder to the East Rtsy­vash­ki glacier descends a steep rocky edge. Between the southeast and south ridges of Gülchi lies the Akhsu glacier, feeding the Akhsu river, and in a small corrie under the southern slopes of the peak Akhsu - a small glacier Maly Akhsu, the flow of which is a tributary of the Akhsu river. From the summit tower of Gülchi to the northwest departs a practically uninterrupted ice-covered ridge of the main massif Gülchi, ending with a small two-humped peak Rtsy­vash­ki. Beyond Rtsy­vash­ki, the ridge of the massif:
• turns north,
• descends to the ice saddle,

Fig. 8 29. Dop­pakh Wes­tern from the south via the couloir and the Eas­tern ridge (A. Uva­rov’s com­bined rou­te, dif­fi­cul­ty ca­te­go­ry 3B, fig. 8). From the “Na­khash­bi­ta” meadow (group of 4–8 peo­ple) up­wards to the left (to the north-west) along the gra­ssy slopes and mo­re­nes to the tongue of the South Dop­pakh gla­cier. From the mo­re­na (se­cu­ri­ty) up a steep icy slope to the South Dop­pakh gla­cier and along it up­wards. A small gla­cier fall in the mid­dle part of the gla­cier — pass through the cen­ter. Be­hind the gla­cier fall, as­cend along the gen­tly slo­ping gla­cier (co­vered cre­vas­ses), then, over­co­ming two berg­schrunds, along a steep icy-snow slope (pit­on se­cu­ri­ty) move to the right side of the low­est rock tri­an­gu­lar is­land on the left side of the cou­loir lea­ding to the mas­sif’s sad­dle. Cir­cum­vent the rock is­land to the right and along a steep nar­ro­wing icy-snow cou­loir (rock­fall pos­si­ble, pit­on se­cu­ri­ty) as­cend to the sharp snow (big cor­nice) sad­dle of the mas­sif be­tween the Wes­tern and Cen­tral Dop­pakh sum­mits. On the sad­dle, turn left and reach a snow plat­form be­low the Eas­tern ridge of the Wes­tern Dop­pakh. On the plat­form, set up a bi­vouac. From the “Na­khash­bi­ta” meadow, 6–8 hours. From the plat­form:

• a steep as­cent along a 60–80-me­ter icy-snow slope on the right side of the Eas­tern ridge (pit­on se­cu­ri­ty);
• then, along the right side of a 180–200-me­ter sim­ple snow ridge, as­cend to a small snow plat­eau;
• from it, over­co­ming a snow cre­vas­se along a gen­tly slo­ping 120–150-me­ter snow ridge — to the sum­mit of Wes­tern Dop­pakh.

209. Latsga via East Ridge (combined route, A. Bespalova, category III difficulty, fig. 24, 30). From the starting bivouac of the Garvash Pass (route 205) turn left and approach the first rocky ascent of the East Ridge of Latsga peak via scree. Ascend 200–250 m up the easy, then moderately difficult (belay required) rocks of the East Ridge to the “Finger” rock pinnacle. Bypass the “Finger” on the left and continue on the moderately difficult rocks of the East Ridge to the second ascent. From below the second ascent:

• 20 m along the ledge leftward
• then 35–40 m up moderately difficult rocks (pitons) to the ascent
• 150 m along the narrow snow-ice ridge (cornices) of the East Ridge to the third ascent, which is overcome directly via 20 m of moderately difficult rocks (pitons). Then along:
• 400–500 m long snow-ice East Ridge (cornices) ascend to the summit of Latsga. From the Garvash Pass – 5-6 hours.

210. Latsga from the south via the East Ridge couloir (combined route, category II difficulty, fig. 24, 30). From the initial bivouac on the snow plateau below the Garvash Pass (route 205) ascend 250–300 m up the first steep snow-ice, then easy but destroyed rocky, wide south couloir from the Garvash Pass (avalanche risk, belay required) to the East Ridge (cornices) of Latsga peak.

61. Yunomkara via the South-Eastern Ridge (combined route, category IIb, fig. 5, 7). Yunomkara via the South-Eastern Ridge, category IIb (M. Misher et al., August 12, 1914; S. Golubev, P. Panyutin, N. Steingoglu, August 25, 1914). From the Bashil tourist center, follow the trail on the right bank of the Bashil River to the Maly Chegem River, which is a left (orographic) tributary of Bashil. Here, turn right and ascend via steep easy rocks, then 'ram's brows' on the right bank of Maly Chegem to the right-bank moraine of the Chegem glacier. Continue along the moraine, and, bypassing the icefall on the right, reach the upper plateau of the Chegem glacier and move to its left side. On the left side of the glacier (closed crevasses), approach the saddle of the Freshfield Pass, located between the peaks of Orubashi on the left and Yunomkara on the right. Here, turn left and, crossing the snow bridge over the bergschrund, ascend the steep ice-and-snow slope, then easy and simple, destroyed and snow-covered rocks to the Freshfield Pass. The path from the "Jailyk" alpine camp (group of 4-12 people) to the initial bivouac at "Sredne-Kichkidarske overnight stays" is described in route 73. From "Sredne-Kichkidarske overnight stays":

• On the left side of the Yunom glacier (closed crevasses), approach the saddle of the Freshfield Pass, located between the peaks of Yunomkara on the left and Orubashi on the right.
• Here, turn left and ascend the ice-and-snow slope (avalanches), then snow-covered, heavily destroyed easy and simple rocks of the wide slope to the Freshfield Pass.

From the Shkhelda a/b, up the right slope of the Shkhelda valley trapezoid, first through the forest, then through the grassy slopes to the Shkhelda glacier. 300 m above the glacier tongue, exit to its surface moraine. Along the moraine, sticking to the right bank of the glacier, go about 500 m upstream along the gorge, then exit to the right onto the trail. Along the trail on the grassy slope, the ascent along the glacier to the clearing at the rocks with black stripes — Aristov bivouac. On the clearing there is a bivouac. From the Shkhelda alp camp — 3.5–4 hours. From Aristov bivouac, go to the Aksu glacier — the right tributary of Shkhelda — and up it. Having passed the right branch of the Aksu glacier falling into it with an icefall, exit after the turn to the icefall of the main (left) branch of the Aksu glacier, lying in a narrow rocky gorge. Pass the icefall in the center or bypass it to the right along the moraine (a longer and more dangerous path due to falling stones!). Beyond the icefall:

• ascent along the center of the glacier,
• ascent along the ice-snow ascent (crevasses!) to the snow plateau of the upper circus of the left branch of the Aksu glacier. Move up the plateau — to the right to the snowy slope rising to the North-Eastern ridge of the Aksu peak. Along the slope — ascent to the ridge (bivouac site). From the sites on the ridge — exit to the upper circus of the right branch of the Aksu glacier. Along the snow plateau of the upper circus of the right branch, go to the left and, without losing height, shift to the Aksu pass. From Aristov bivouac — 7–8 hours. On the pass, turn left to the Western ridge of the Aksu peak. Along simple, heavily destroyed rocks of the Western ridge with small scree and rocky ascents of gendarmes, passable head-on, ascent to the Aksu peak. From the Aksu pass — 2.5–3 hours.

Ascent Logbook

1. Ascent class — technical
2. Ascent area — Central Caucasus, Prielbrusye
3. Peak, its height, and ascent route — Bashkara (4241 m) via the North wall (Yu. Grigorenko-Prigoda route)
4. Difficulty category — 5B
5. Route characteristics: elevation gain: from Bashkara glacier — 920 m, from bergschrund — 670 m. average steepness: wall section — 62°, entire route — 50°. length of sections: 1st difficulty category — 0 m, 2nd difficulty category — 530 m, 3rd difficulty category — 175 m, 4th difficulty category — 300 m, 5th difficulty category — 290 m, 6th difficulty category — 110 m.

117. Bzhedukh via the left ice slope of the Northwest Wall (Yu. Naumov's route, category 3B). The path from the Shhelda alpine camp (group of 4-5 people) to the Northwest Wall of Bzhedukh Peak with a bivouac on the right-bank moraine of the Bzhedukh Glacier or a rocky outcrop under the Northwest Wall of Bzhedukh is described in route 116. From the bivouac site, bypass the rocky drop of the Northwest Wall of Bzhedukh Peak on the left along the glacier and exit onto a steep ice-and-snow slope descending from the massif to the Bzhedukh Glacier. Ascend a steep ice-and-snow slope, overcoming a bergschrund in the lower part, a 600-800-meter ascent (avalanches, piton protection!) along the left side of the Northwest Wall to a snowy rocky ridge located above the rocky drop of the Northwest Wall of the peak. From here, ascend traversing upwards - to the right (avalanches!), crossing numerous couloirs and ridges, to rocky outcrops of a relatively large, clearly pronounced ridge. Then, along a steep snowy ridge - slope, ascend to the North Ridge of Bzhedukh Peak. Here, turn right and ascend along a snowy slope and simple rocks to the summit of Bzhedukh. From the initial bivouac, 9-11 hours. Descent from the summit along the southeast ridge with a bivouac on the col (see route 120). The duration of the route is 3 days. Special equipment for 4 people:

• main rope — 2 × 40 m
• accessory cord — 2 m
• rock pitons — 4–5
• ice screws — 6–8