Elbrus divides the surrounding mountains into two very different areas. The Baksan area with its peaks around 4000 m and above is much harsher in terms of climbing conditions compared to the Western Caucasus regions. This is evidenced by:

• large altitude differences,
• heavily broken glaciers,
• mandatory snow at high altitudes. In contrast, the area west of Elbrus — Uzun-kol — is mostly purely rocky. All peaks in this area (except Gvandra) are below 4000 m. Climbing usually doesn't involve overcoming significant glaciers, and all steep slopes are free of snow and ice. The Zamok peak is located in the Main Caucasus Range. Together with Dalar and Dvoinyashka, it forms the base of a horseshoe that encompasses the upper reaches of the Kichkinekol River, which, merging with Mordy, forms Uzun-kol. In terms of height, Zamok (3930 m) is second only to:
• Gvandra
• Dalar The two peaks of Zamok — Eastern and Western — are situated on a ridge, the northwestern part of which leads to Dvoinyashka, while the southeastern part stretches in an arc, curving around the Zamok glacier from the south. This southeastern part of the ridge had not been traversed before the ascent described below. To the northeast from the Western peak of Zamok, a ridge leads, steeply descending to the Burvestnik pass, and then slowly rising to the Filter peak. To the south-southwest from the same Western peak, the South Counterforce extends. Significantly west of both Zamok peaks and all its gendarmes, the North Counterforce leads to the Bolshoy Kichkinekol glacier. The main difficulty in climbing in the Uzun-kol area lies in overcoming complex rock walls of heavily broken rock ridges; however, climbs usually don't take much time. Examples of relatively short but extremely complex routes include the well-known wall routes:

Ascent Passport

I. Ascent category: rock 2. Ascent area: Uzunkol — West Caucasus 3. Ascent route with indication of peaks, their heights, route complexity (and other approximate details): Zamok peak South wall 3930 m 4. Ascent characteristics: route length to the summit: 1200 m wall height difference: 670 m average wall steepness: 84–85° length of complex wall sections: 510 m

Ascent Passport

1. Climbing type — rock climbing
2. Climbing area — Uzunkol tourist center, Western Caucasus
3. Ascent route — Kirpich peak 3744 m, right part of the Western wall
4. Proposed category of difficulty — 3B
5. Route characteristics — height difference — 850 m
6. Pitons hammered for belaying:
   • rock pitons — 32 pcs.
   • bolt pitons — 0
   • ice pitons — 0

Report

ON ASCENDING KIRPICH PEAK VIA THE NORTH-WEST FACE, CATEGORY 5A ROUTE BY THE KAIS MPEI ALPCLUB TEAM FROM AUGUST 13 TO AUGUST 15, 2022

I. Climbing Report

	1. General Information
1.1	Full Name, Sports Rank of the Leader	Proskurin S.G., 1st sports rank
1.2	Full Name, Sports Rank of the Participants	Troitskiy N.V., 2nd sports rank
1.3	Full Name of the Coach	Kutkin S.A.
1.4	Organization	KAIS MPEI
	2. Characteristics of the Climbing Object

Kirpich, Manoylov's Route, 6A

Ascent Passport

1. Technical class
2. Caucasus, Uzunkol gorge
3. Kirpich peak (3800 m), via the "diamond" of the West wall, Manoylov's route.
4. 6A cat. difficulty.
5. Height difference 700 m, length 1060 m, length of climbing sections V (4c–5a) (1) cat. difficulty – 160 m, length of climbing sections VI (5b–6a) cat. difficulty – 95 m, length of climbing sections VII+ (6c) cat. difficulty – 32 m, A0 – 3 m. Average slope of the route – 50°, slope of the wall section – 80°.
6. Pitons driven: rock: wired/stoppers: bolted: 0/15* 30/0 0/25* * — previously driven
7. Team's working hours 17 h, 2 days, ascent, descent on the day of reaching the summit.

Ascent Passport

1. Western Caucasus, Uzunkol area, Myrdy gorge, section number according to the classification table 2.3
2. Kirpich peak, via the "diamond" on the Western wall (Yu. Manoylov's route)
3. 6A category of complexity
4. Route type: rock
5. Route height difference: 800 m Route length: 1010 m Length of sections: 5th category of complexity — 155 m, 6th category of complexity — 125 m Average steepness: main part of the route — 80° entire route — 62°

I. Rock Class

1. Rock Class
2. Caucasus, Uzunkol gorge
3. Peak "Kirpich", 3800 m, via the "diamond" of the western wall
4. Category 5B difficulty
5. Elevation gain — 710 m, length — 960 m, length of sections with R5–R6 difficulty — 330 m, average steepness of the main part of the route — 85°
6. Pitons hammered:
   • rock: 39 (new), 4 (previously hammered)
   • bolt: 15 (new), 8 (previously hammered)
   • chocks: 69 (new), 8 (previously hammered)

3. Ascent to the peak of Kichkinekol from Chugur Pass 2A cat. diff. 3610 The path to Kichkinekol Pass see the description of the ascent to Kichkinekol from Kichkinekol Pass. From Kichkinekol Pass:

• Descend down and under the slopes of the peak Kich-Kinekol by traversing snowy slopes in the direction of Chugur Pass.
• In case of difficult snow cover on these slopes from Kichkinekol Pass, descend directly to the Zamok glacier plateau and approach the slopes of Chugur Pass along the plateau. Ascent to the ridge slightly to the left of the pass point — between the right big gendarme and two rocky “sails”. Without going to the ridge between them, move left along a wide grassy shelf bypassing the next gendarme. From it, descend 10 m and bypass the second gendarme along the shelf, after which exit to the ridge. The entire bypass is about 150 m. Belay! From the ridge, directly through the rocky ascent of the ridge and along the ridge with small gendarmes to a smooth gendarme 10–12 m high with shelves. Pass either directly head-on (belay! pitons!), or bypass from the left (if there is no snow and flow ice on the shelves!). After the gendarme, approach the summit tower along the ridge, which is passed along a rocky groove — 30 m. Belay! And exit to the summit.

M5. Djalpakol via the Eastern Ridge

(climbing route, category 2B, first ascent by A. Fridman, 1959) The path to the eastern ridge of Djalpakol is visible from the bivouac - it's a large talus couloir that leads to the first left, lowest, notch in the ridge immediately after its rocky section. Ascent via the couloir:

• yellow-colored talus (loose rocks!) Upon reaching the ridge:
• turn right;
• move along weathered rocks with individual rock walls After about 300 m, ascend to the beginning of the narrow part of the ridge. From here, reach the gendarme and bypass it on the left — R1. Sections R3 and R5 require piton protection! The key sections are:
• the light-colored rise of the ridge,

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