Moscow Regional Council of the Zeniť Voluntary Sports Society

Ascent

on Mt. Laboda via the western ridge Digoria 1971

Brief geographical, geological, and sporting characteristics of the area

Laboda Peak

Laboda Peak (4314 m) is located on the Main Caucasus Range, between Gese-Tau to the west and Tsiteli to the southeast. Along with other peaks in the area, it encloses the Tana-don gorge. The mountain is situated within the North Ossetian ASSR, in the region known as Digoria. There is no permanent alpine camp in Digoria; however, the area's beauty and the popularity of its routes attract mountaineers and tourists, despite the long and challenging hikes to the peaks and passes. The mountain slopes are covered with beautiful deciduous forests, and there are many narzan springs.

I. Technical class. 2. Digoria. Eastern part of the Central Caucasus. 3. Laboda Western peak (4300 m) via North-West ridge. 4. Category 5B difficulty (Popov's route). 5. Height difference 1050 m. Length 1440 m. Length of sections with category IV–V difficulty is 628 m. Average steepness of the route is 55°. 6. Pitons driven:

• rock: 70
• ice: 4
• chocks: 107

Report

On the ascent (second ascent) to the summit of Meshchena Western via the southern wall and southwestern ridge, presumed to be category 4A, by the MAC "Freeline" mountaineering team from November 16, 2019, to November 17, 2019.

I. Ascent Report

ASCENT OF MALAYA NAKHAZHBITA

Geographical Characteristics of the Region

The Malaya Nakhazhbita peak is located in one of the most beautiful corners of the Caucasus, in the Irafsky District of the North Ossetian ASSR. If you travel along the Urukh River valley, after gardens and stanitsas with dusty roads, after treeless, smoothed by time and greenery foothills, after dark Ossetian ancestral towers of the Akhsau, Moska, and Stur-Digora settlements, the peaks of the Suvansky Ridge suddenly emerge. The Suvansky Ridge is located parallel to the Main Caucasian Ridge, but the former is higher and more powerful than the latter. For example, the most beautiful and highest peak of the Main Caucasian Ridge, Laboda, has a height of 4314 m, while Suvan is 4490 m, Glavnaya Nakhazhbita is 4405 m, and so on. Malaya Nakhazhbita (4225 m) is located in the middle of the Suvansky crest, to the west of Glavnaya Nakhazhbita; according to the first ascenders, it is one of the most beautiful peaks of the crest, with a logical and technically interesting route. The group was advised and cleared for the ascent by the authorized master of sports Boris Ryazhsky, a first ascender of this peak, who provided valuable advice on:

• the route;
• equipment. A brief description of the route according to the consultation: the route is combined, with a semi-closed broken glacier at the bottom, a snow-ice couloir leading to the crest. The lower part of the crest is heavily destroyed and rockfall-prone, followed by a wall with a single vertical crack and then a crest of monolithic blocks with small walls (5-3 m) going all the way to the summit. The descent is via route 2A cat. sl., the main difficulty of which lies in the icy ridge (8-10 ropes) from the saddle to the glacier.

Ascent Record

No. 63

1. Ascent category - rock climbing
2. Ascent region - Kovkoz, 26
3. Peak, its elevation, and route Suganbashi 4450, northeastern wall, field part.
4. Estimated difficulty category - 5B
5. Route characteristics: elevation gain - 950 m average steepness - 65°

Ascent Log

1. Ascent type: rock
2. Ascent area: Caucasus, 26
3. Peak, its height, and route — Suganbashi, 4450 m via the right part of the NE wall
4. Proposed difficulty category — 5B
5. Route characteristics elevation gain — 1060 average steepness — 75 ° length of sections: I — 80 m, II — 290 m, III — 480 m, IV — 300 m
6. Number of anchors used for belays to create FTO:

Ascent Passport

1. Climbing category: winter.
2. Climbing area: Caucasus, Sugan Range.
3. Peak, route: Sugan-Bashi (4450 m), via the North-Eastern wall.
4. Complexity category: 6A.
5. Height difference:
   • including the actual wall part — 1060 m (excluding the ice fall)
   • sections with a steepness of 90° and above — 270 m
   • total route length — 1270 m

Russian Mountaineering Championship 1997. Technical Climbing Category. Sugan-Bashi Peak (4450 m). Route: Right part of the Eastern wall — KTSHGV point 2.6.52. Climbed by the team of North Ossetian Republican Search and Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and the "Ossetia" mountaineering club. Leader: Egorin Sergei Vladimirovich, CMS. Coach: Korablin Boris Nikolaevich, MS USSR, Honored Coach of the RSFSR. Year of ascent: 1997. Address and phone number of the North Ossetian Republican Search and Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia:

• 362035, RSO-Alania, Vladikavkaz
• Kostа Street—273; phone: 74-11-03 Coach Korablin Boris Nikolaevich's phone:
• St. Petersburg
• 246-05-19 (home)

97. Shkhelda Vostochnaya via North Face (Category 5B route) The path from the Shkhelda alpine camp (group of 4-5 people) to "Shkheldinskye nochyovki" along the Shkhelda gorge is described in route 111. From "Shkheldinskye nochyovki" (departure no later than 1:00 AM), cross the glacier and reach the wide snow-ice Central North couloir descending from the Eastern ridge — the "saw" of the Shkhelda Vostochnaya peak. Ascend 600–700 m along the right side of the couloir (avalanches!) to a large ice crevasse, 100–120 m below the huge bergschrund crossing the entire upper part of the couloir from the left to the right rocks. Through the avalanche gullies on the right side of the couloir, cross the large crevasse and ascend the ice-snow slope, then along the edge of ice and rocks, rise up to the right above

256

Report

on the ascent to the summit of Shkhelda-Tau II Western, 4310 m via the center of the southern wall, made by the team of alpinist camp "Shkhelda" of the sports society "Spartak" consisting of: