10. Climbing Passport

1. Climbing category: rock
2. Climbing area: Gvandra region of the Caucasus
3. Climbing route: v. Zamok via the South wall, 3930 m
4. Climbing characteristics: height difference — 900 m, average steepness — 85°, length of complex section — 600 m
5. Pitons driven:

• rock — 228
• bolt — 7
• chocks — 9

2.3.60 58 Traversing the peaks: KANNY-KAYA — CHUNUR-BASHI — CHUNUR-DZHAR from "Instruktorkiy" pass — Cat. 3A in both directions. From "Uzbekol" alpine camp along the trail of Kichkinekol gorge to the stream flowing from the Sredniy Kichkinekol glacier and along the trail along the stream to a green terrace. "Green campsite". From here, up the trail to the sheep's foreheads and along the ridge of the gray moraine to the Sredniy Kichkinekol glacier plateau. From the campsite — 3 hours. Through the plateau to the slopes of Kichkinekol pass. Ascend the snowy slope to the bergschrund — closer to the rocks of the Filtr peak. Crossing via a bridge — belay! And further along the snowy slope for 150 m up to 45° — belay! — exit to the pass. From the plateau to the pass — 2 hours. Descent from the pass straight down to the Zamok glacier plateau. Immediately to the left under the slopes of Kichkinekol peak along the snowy slopes and terraces approach the Chungur pass. Exit to the pass along the snowy and scree slopes, guided by the "Parus" rock. From Kichkinekol pass to Chungur — 1–1.5 hours.

Kirpich Peak — 3800 m

1. Ascent along the ridge from Dalar Pass — Category 1B difficulty
2. Ascent along the ridge from Mordy Pass — Category 3B difficulty
3. Ascent via the southeast wall — Category 5B difficulty

Route Description to the Summit

From the "Uzunkol" camp, along the right bank of the Mordy River to the old koshi. Then cross the bridge to the left bank and follow the path to the large gray moraine of the Dalar Glacier. Along the moraine crest to its middle part, via grassy slopes and scree (sharp descent), then along the path left-down to the terraces, and again onto the moraine (large boulders). At the end of the moraine, exit onto the glacier and, crossing it to the right, ascend the slopes (in teams!) to Dalar Pass. Cross the bergschrund under the pass via the bridge (belay!) and then ascend the snow to the pass. Beyond the pass (from the south) lies a rocky island — a bivouac site. From the camp, it takes 6–7 hours. From the bivouac, return to the pass and move left onto the snowy, partially steep ridge. Continue along the boundary between snow and rock to a large rocky ascent, and climb to the right onto the left part of the ridge and along it to the ice-snow col (belay!). From the col, ascend the steep snowy slope to the snowy ridge and along it to the summit. From the bivouac to the summit takes 4.5–5 hours. Descent from the summit to the bivouac via the ascent route takes 2.5 hours. When descending, pay attention to belaying when crossing the col — to the left are cornices, to the right is a snowy funnel!

Recommendations for Climbers

Kirpich Peak — 3800 m

Ascent route from the west via the snowy "necktie" 3A cat. diff. From the "Uzunkol" camp, follow the right bank of the Mordy River to the beginning of the Mordy glacier moraine - from here, follow the trail along the grassy slopes to a large green terrace. The bivouac site - "Mordy overnight stay" - is 3-3.5 hours from the camp. From the overnight stay, head right-up along the trail to the Mordy glacier plateau. Cross the plateau and approach the snowy slopes of the "necktie". It takes 45-50 minutes from the bivouac. From here, ascend the snowy slope to the 1st rocky island (in rope teams!). Bypass the island from either side, then ascend to the next black rocky island. Bypass it on the right via a snowy bridge over the bergschrund (Belay!). Ascend the snowy slope to a long rocky island. Climb the rocks to its upper part and again transition to a steep snow slope (45° Belay!). Follow the snow slope to a rocky wall located above - to the right of a small spur of a rocky ridge. Crossing the snowy slope to the wall takes 2.5-3 hours. Along the rocky wall (60°) traverse left to a small ledge - 50-55 m (Belay! Pitons!). From here, 40 m right-up (pitons!) and 40 m left slightly up to the base of a rocky chute. Follow the chute (Piton! 30 m) to its exit and then along easy rocks to the end of the wall - 3 ropes. Above the wall is a platform - here is a control point. From the platform, follow simple rocks and small snowfields to reach the snowy ridge. It takes 3-3.5 hours from the start of the rocky wall to reach the ridge. Follow the snowy ridge to the summit - 40-50 minutes. The descent from the summit via route 1B to the Dalar pass and return to "Mordy overnight stay" takes 3-4 hours. Departure time from the bivouac should be no later than 4:00 am.

M29. Brick via the Western Wall along the gullies

(rock route, category 4B, first ascent by G. Sedov's team, 1969) The ascent to the plateau of the Myrdy Glacier is described in route M16. Move along the glacier to beneath the snowy slopes at the center of the western wall. The right-hand end of the wall "diamond" with black streaks on completely smooth walls, topped with an oblique series of cornices, is the landmark for the route's entrance. To the right of the cornices on the wall is a huge gully (do not enter — loose rocks!). In the next, narrower gully, on its right side, stands a separate rock resembling an enormous bottle with a neck tilted to the left — this is the landmark for the route's entrance. Below, to the right of the "bottle," are two rock formations forming the bases of counterforts-ribs ("gates"). Between them is a narrow snowy "tie." The left counterfort is the lower part of the large wall with black streaks, and the right one is the wall of the gully through which the lower part of the route passes. Under the right part of the gully's wall is a large rantkluft that narrows at the narrowest part of the "gates." Ascend from the rantkluft up the steep snowy slope to the start of the rocks. On the right side of the grey rocks (this is the lower part of the gully), reach the R1 ledge. From here, ascend via a cleft to a small ledge beneath a short rib — the edge of the R3 gully (monolithic climbing with small holds). Landmarks for further movement are:

• to the right above — an enormous, sharply protruding vertical rib-corner;
• to the left — the edge of the large gully.

Myrdy Western — Eastern, combined, 2A

Route Description

The ascent to the Lожный Мырды (False Myrdy) pass is described in the “Гвандра Восточная с перемычки от Центральной вершины” (Gvandra Eastern from the saddle of Tsentralnaya peak)” route (16). From the pass, descend to the southern side of the ridge onto the first ledges, and traverse left along them with a slight gain in altitude to a long ledge running along the southern side of the ridge beneath the cliffs of the Western summit R2. Approximately from the middle of the ledge:

• ascend left and upwards 30 m via an inner corner,
• followed by a series of ledges leading to the western ridge (protection!). A prominent overhanging rock R7 on the right serves as a landmark. Follow the straightforward 200-meter ridge to reach the Western summit. From the pass, it takes 4 hours. From the Western summit, staying close to the right side of the ridge, approach a narrow couloir R8. In the first half of summer:
• there are numerous cornices on the left side of the ridge,
• inner corners are filled with snow.

I. North Caucasus Championship in the name of S. M. Kirov

Category of technically complex ascents

Report on the ascent to the summit of Bolshoy Nakhara via the north-eastern edge, 5B cat. diff. (first ascent)

Team composition:

1. Team leader — Pomazuev V. V., born 1941, Candidate Master of Sports, "Burevestnik", Kiev
2. Deputy leader — Savchuk V. A., born 1940, Candidate Master of Sports, Kiev
3. Participant — Yakovlev V. A., born 1938, Candidate Master of Sports, Kiev
4. Participant — Kuzmuk V. V., born 1952, Candidate Master of Sports, Kiev
5. Participant — Bodnik V. N., born 1949, Candidate Master of Sports, Kiev

Ascent Log

I. Ascent category — rock climbing 2. Region — Western Caucasus 3. Route Bolshoi Nakhar (3780 m) via route 6B cat. diff. 4. Ascent characteristics: height difference 1050 m average steepness 80° length of complex section 740 m 5. Pitons used: rock 290, ice —, bolt 11 6. Total climbing hours 61 h

PYRAMID PEAK – 3760 m Ascent via the Eastern ridge – cat. 4B (Description of the ascent route to the summit) From the "Uzunkol" camp, follow the right bank of the Mordy River to the 4th stream at a large stone blockage in the Mordy gorge. From here, head left up the right grassy slope (trail) to the destroyed "sheep's foreheads". Continue along the green terraces under the long moraine, which goes up into the Pyramid glacier cirque. Follow the moraine to reach the glacier. On the talus islands, there's a bivouac site. From the camp, it takes 4–4.5 hours. From the overnight stay, follow the snowfield, crossing several avalanche cones (!), to the start of R1 on the eastern ridge shelf of Pyramid. (Rappel! Belay!) The slope is up to 45° in the upper part. Traverse along the first shelf, on the edge of snow and rocks, to R1 of a short wet black couloir. Climb up the couloir (Belay! Pitons!) to inclined ledges and along them (Belay! Pitons!) to R2, a large shelf – under the R3 shelf overhang. Follow the snowfield on the shelf to a 20-meter rock wall (Belay! Pitons!). Go left along the boundary of snow and rocks under the wall to an internal corner 3–4 m. Wall: exit into the corner and climb up (20 m) to the R3 shelf (Belay! Piton!). Traverse left-up along the boundary of rocks and snow for 100 m (Pitons!) to reach the ridge crest. Exit onto the crest above the "finger". From here, climb up the sharp crest to the shoulder. There's a control cairn here. From the bivouac to the shoulder, it takes 5.5–6 hours. (There are many loose rocks on the shelves. To ensure better passage, preliminary processing of the shelves is necessary the day before!). Bivouac site. No water.

Pyramid Peak — 3760 m

Ascent via the northern counterfort — Cat. 3B difficulty

Description of the ascent route to the summit

The path from the camp to the bivouac — see the description of the Cat. 4A route.