The lowest mountain in the Caucasus. The Caucasus Mountains are some of the most beautiful mountains in the world

1. What is the Caucasus. Geography, structure, structure.

Many people are familiar with the Caucasus.

Gigantic mountain ranges crowned with snowy peaks raised above the clouds. Deep gorges and abysses. Endless steppe expanses. Subtropical vegetation of the warm shores of the Black Sea, dry semi-deserts of the Caspian region, flowering alpine meadows of mountain slopes. Stormy mountain streams with waterfalls, the serene surface of mountain lakes, and drying up steppe rivers of the foothills. Failed volcanoes of Pyatigorye and volcanic lava highlands of Armenia. These are just some of the contrasts of this huge region.

What is the Caucasus geographically?

In a direction roughly from north to south, the Caucasus consists of the following parts.

The Cis-Caucasian Plain, which is a natural continuation of the Russian or East European Plain, begins south of the Kuma-Manych depression. The western part of the Ciscaucasia is crossed by the flat part of the Kuban River, which flows into the Sea of ​​Azov. The eastern part of the Ciscaucasia is irrigated by the flat section of the Terek River, which flows into the Caspian Sea. In the central part of the Ciscaucasia lies the Stavropol Upland with average heights from 340 to 600 meters and individual elevations up to 832 m (Mount Strizhament).

The next part is the Greater Caucasus. It extends over a distance of about 1,500 kilometers, from the Taman to the Absheron peninsulas.

The Greater Caucasus is formed by four mostly parallel ridges, rising step by step from north to south. The smallest Pasture Range, it is also called the Black Mountains. Behind it rises the Rocky Ridge. These two ridges are cuesta ridges, with a gentle northern slope and a steep southern slope. After Skalisty rises the Side, or Front Range, where Elbrus, Dykh-Tau, Koshtan-Tau, Kazbek and others are located.

The narrow Arkhyz-Zagedan, Bezhetinskaya and other depressions separate the Side Range from the Main, or Watershed Range.

The narrow southern slope of the Greater Caucasus gives way to the Transcaucasian depression, which consists of the Rioni or Colchis depression and the Kura depression. Between the depressions there is a narrow Suramsky or Likhsky ridge.

Even further south lies the Transcaucasian Highlands, which is part of the vast Western Asian Highlands. In the north and northeast of the highlands are the Lesser Caucasus ranges. And to the southwest of the Lesser Caucasus stretch the lava massifs of the Armenian-Javakheti Highlands.

But the Caucasus has not always been like this, and will not always be like this. This, in general, quite obvious consideration serves as a convenient transition to the question of how exactly the Caucasus was formed. Behind the rather dry phrase “geological history of the Caucasus” there are stages in the life of the living planet, the Earth, full of drama and impressive disasters. Millions of years of consistent and sometimes leisurely changes end in impulses of huge volcanic eruptions and, conversely, outbreaks of catastrophic events respond over a subsequent time interval of millions of years. And the calm muddy bottom of the warm sea becomes an icy mountain peak, from the edge of which rock falls collapse with a roar.

It is very difficult to identify a point in time from which to begin describing the history of the Caucasus. Simply because to fully understand the processes at a certain point in time, one must also know the previous episodes. When you talk about the collapse of strata, the formation of mountains at a certain point in time, the question always arises of how and when these strata themselves were formed. And those may be the products of the destruction of some more ancient mountains or structures. And so behind each ancient geological episode one can see a clear or not so clear picture of previous events...

2. Evolution of the Caucasus. From seas to mountains.

The starting, albeit very conditional, period in time, from which we can say that events are already related to the processes that led to the formation of the modern Caucasus, is the second half and end of the Paleozoic era (that is, the period of time from 400 to 250 million years ago). l.n.). At that time there were not only people on Earth, but also dinosaurs. Let's take a mental look at the entire region at that time.

There has been a strong and relatively calm Russian platform for a long time. It came together about 2 billion years ago from three blocks of crystalline foundation. These blocks were formed even earlier - from the merger of basalt plates and the further melting of their heap into granites of the continental crust.

In the second half of the Paleozoic, the Russian Platform became part of the Laurasia continent. It is gradually moving closer to another continent, Gondwana.

Let us recall the main provisions of the concept of moving lithospheric plates. Blocks of relatively hard rocks - lithospheric plates - move along the surface of the mantle under the influence of mantle convective flows - very slow on the time scale familiar to us, but quite noticeable on the geological time scale. Plates are either oceanic or continental. The continental plate along its periphery includes areas with oceanic crust. Lithospheric plates float on the surface of the asthenosphere (the asthenosphere is the upper weakened layer of the mantle with reduced viscosity) and move along it. This movement is caused by the convective movement of the mantle as a whole. The earth's crust is of two types - continental (granite) and oceanic (basalt).

New oceanic crust is formed in spreading zones - mid-ocean ridges, where the asthenosphere material builds up the plate, and is absorbed in subduction zones, where the plate material returns to the asthenosphere.

So, in the second half of the Paleozoic there is a convergence of Laurasia (North America plus Europe) and Gondwana (Africa plus South America).

In the process of convergence in the south of the Russian Platform, where the Ciscaucasia lies today, an area of ​​folding is formed, a mobile belt associated with the existence of a subduction zone, when the oceanic crust is absorbed under the continent, weakening its edge and providing volcanic activity and mobility of the crust of the entire region.

The global convergence at that time, at the end of the Paleozoic, ended with the collision of Laurasia and Gondwana and the formation of the supercontinent or supercontinent Pangea. Between the continents connected in the area of ​​the modern Mediterranean Sea and diverging to the east, a wedge-shaped space was formed - the Tethys Ocean.

Locally, in the process of convergence, the mentioned moving belt experienced its evolution and lived its history. Its history is a local episode of the global picture of the convergence of lithospheric plates.

Compressional deformations in the mobile belt, which created the folded structure, began in the middle of the Visean century of the early Carboniferous period, the Carboniferous (about 335 million years ago). The cause of the deformations was the pressure of the oceanic crust on the belt in the process of convergence of continental blocks. They turned the mobile belt, the future Scythian platform, into an orogen, a mountain structure.

In the Permian period (its time interval from 299 to 250 million years ago), the orogen began to experience collapse, the rapid disappearance of mountains. The reasons for the collapse are the following. Since this orogen was not sandwiched between continental masses, but arose as a result of the movement of the oceanic plate under the continent, then with the weakening of the pressure and subsidence of the oceanic plate, the forces uplifting the mountains also weakened. The blocks that made up the mountains began to slide down. Then the crumpled, compressed, crushed folds were penetrated by granite intrusions (intrusions). These intrusions seemed to reinforce and fix the folds. Pressure and temperature turned sedimentary and volcanic rocks into chlorite and sericite schists, which mainly comprise the Scythian plate.

Thus, along the northern edge of the Tethys Ocean, on the site of today’s plains of Ciscaucasia, a young (compared to the ancient East European or Russian platform) Scythian platform was formed from a mobile belt. Its latitudinal folds and slightly still moving heterogeneous blocks preserve memories of compression processes and the life of a mountain structure. Despite the fact that we practically cannot see them.

So, the main result of the events of that time, the end of the Paleozoic, was the formation of the Scythian platform, attached to the Russian platform along its current southern edge.

As geologists know, supercontinents are unstable formations. Immediately after formation, the supercontinent tends to break up. The reason for this is the same mantle flows that clustered the continents and pushed them together. Following the formation of a supercontinent, the lithosphere, which goes under it from all sides in subduction zones, accumulates under it and then floats up, splitting the supercontinent.

The Triassic period (250 - 200 million years ago, this is the first period of the Mesozoic era) was precisely the time when the split of Pangea began. The blocks of lithospheric plates that made up Pangea began to move away from each other. Africa and Eurasia began to move away from each other. The fragmentation of the continental bridge between Europe, Africa and America began.

When continental blocks move apart from each other, the oceanic crust located between these blocks grows (in fact, this is what spreading consists of). Augmentation occurs when new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges.

In our case, the axis of expansion of the Tethys Ocean fell on the northern edge of Gondwana. It was due to this, due to the formation of rifts, that continental blocks broke away from Gondwana, beginning their journey towards Eurasia. Let us recall that a rift is the initial stage of the development of the ocean as a structure; a rift may later become (but will not necessarily become!) a mid-ocean ridge. A rift is a gap that forms when the crust is pushed sideways by rising magma. Thus, in the Late Triassic, Iran and, apparently, central Turkey broke away from Arabia. At the end of the Triassic - the beginning of the Jurassic (the Jurassic period lasts from 199 to 145 million years ago), heterogeneous blocks broke away from Gondwana, which subsequently formed into the Transcaucasian massif (in our time it separates the Greater and Lesser Caucasus).

On the opposite side of the Tethys Ocean, on the southern edge of Eurasia, oceanic crust was absorbed in subduction zones along the edge of the plate. Apparently, the formation of the crust exceeded the rate of movement of the lithospheric plates of Eurasia and Africa.

Subduction of oceanic crust caused the emergence of a volcanic belt along the northern coast of the Tethys Ocean. Apparently, in the Triassic it was an Andean-type belt, like the modern western coast of South America.

During the Jurassic period, the second period of the Mesozoic era, the collapse of the supercontinent Pangea and its parts continued. And at the time described, the turn of the collapse of Gondwana came. In the Early Middle Jurassic, Gondwana began to split into South America, Africa with Arabia, Antarctica and India. The split of South America and Africa (with Arabia) naturally led to the growth of oceanic lithosphere between them and, which is very important for the region we are describing, to a reduction in the distance between Africa and Eurasia. The Tethys Ocean began to shrink in size.

Where the oceanic crust of the Tethys Ocean was intensely moving under the edge of the Scythian plate, a weakening of this edge occurred. This is a consequence of the fact that the oceanic plate, going down, melts, and the excess of the molten substance tries to break through upward.

Rifting began to occur on the weakened edge of the plate - the formation of rifts with the moving apart of the broken fragments of the previous foundation. The new crust expanded towards the ocean. The crust was generally continental, granitic, but intruded by basaltic outpourings. Thus (at the end of the Lower and beginning of the Middle Jurassic, about 175 million years ago) the so-called Greater Caucasus basin was formed. It was a regional sea. It was separated from the main Tethys ocean by an island volcanic arc, the existence of which is also explained by the weakening of the lithosphere in the subduction zone, underthrust, and the breakthrough of magma to the surface with the formation of volcanoes. The Greater Caucasus basin was 1700-1800 km long and 300 km wide.

Late Jurassic, 145 million years ago. The Greater Caucasus basin and island arc already exist. Note that the pictures depict structures, not seas and land. Although often the structures and pools coincide.

Almost immediately after its formation, the crust of the Greater Caucasus Basin began to sink under the continent, under the margin of Eurasia. The movement of the crust of the Tethys Ocean being absorbed to the south, causing weakening and stretching of the margin, simultaneously tries to close the newly formed basins.

And the system of volcanic arcs was awaiting a new transformation. This time at the beginning of the next, Cretaceous, period (it occupies the range of 145-65 million years ago). Stretching of the cortex in the rear of the arcs occurred again, for the same reasons as before. And already the stretching and spreading was so significant that as a result, a deep-sea depression of the Southern Caspian with oceanic crust was formed. To the west, the crust simply thinned, forming the base of the vast Proto-Black Sea basin.

At the beginning of the Late Cretaceous, about 90 million years ago, the first collision of Gondwanan continental blocks with the Lesser Caucasus island arc occurred. These blocks are central Turkey, or Kirsehir (split from Gondwana, as mentioned earlier, in the Triassic) and the Daralagez, or South Armenian block (split from Afro-Arabia at the end of the Early Cretaceous, 110 million years ago). The northern branch of the Tethys Ocean closed and disappeared. The remains of the bottom of this ocean, rocks called ophiolites, now lie in a strip along Lake Sevan and in a number of other places. Immediately after the collision, the subduction zone jumped further south, to the edge of the newly pushed continental blocks. This clicking relieved the compressive stress in the zone of volcanic arcs and tension again occurred in the rear of the arc. At the end of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 80 million years ago, as a result of this back-arc spreading, the Western Black Sea and Eastern Black Sea deep-sea ocean basins were formed. They are the basis of the structure of the modern Black Sea, and it can be considered that the Black Sea was created precisely then. By now, these depressions are completely filled with sediments.

Sometimes, when talking about the origin of the Black and Caspian Seas, they are called the remnants of the Tethys Ocean. This is not entirely true; these seas, as we see, are the remains of back-arc basins that were separated from the ocean by island arcs.

By the way, in the same Late Cretaceous, on the other coast of the Tethys Ocean, the southern one, an interesting phenomenon occurred. Due to the compression of the oceanic crust (as we remember, the lithospheric plates of Africa and Eurasia continued to move closer together) and the reduction of the space between the blocks of plates, this oceanic crust literally crawled onto the edge of the Arabian coast from above, and did not sink under the continent, as happens in most cases. This phenomenon is called obduction. The oceanic crust continues to lie there, occupying large areas. These are the ophiolites of Oman and others known to scientists.

Thus, the main trend in the Mesozoic period of time, in relation to the region under consideration, was the formation and evolution of island volcanic arcs and back-arc basins. This evolution is associated with the subduction zone.

Time continued to flow. The Mesozoic era gave way to the Cenozoic.

The region, like the entire planet, has entered a new period of development. Both the planet and individual places were characterized by new specific events. For the planet as a whole, the boundary of the Cretaceous (this is still the Mesozoic) and the Paleogene (this is the Cenozoic) is marked by the gradual extinction of dinosaurs and the arrival of mammals to replace them. In the plant world, flowering plants enter the scene with full power, crowding out gymnosperms.

At the beginning of the Paleogene period (Paleogene occupies the range 65 - 23 million years ago and is divided into Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene), the situation in the region we are talking about continued to be, in principle, similar to the Mesozoic. The Tethys Ocean gradually shrank, Africa moved closer to Eurasia. Oceanic crust subducted under the margin of Eurasia framed by island arcs.

Scientists managed to reconstruct the appearance of the region of the future Caucasus at that time. Of course, it was different from today. But its modern elements and parts became more and more clearly visible in the structures, and sometimes they looked completely different from what we see today.

Above modern Ciscaucasia, above the Scythian plate (and extending much further north) lay a vast sea basin. It was the shelf of the Eurasian continent with not too great depths. Carbonate (limestones and marls) and clay sediments accumulated at its bottom, covering the structures of the Scythian plate.

In the future, this part will become the lowland Ciscaucasia and the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus.

To the south lay a volcanic arc that separated the Greater Caucasus Basin from the rest of the Tethys Ocean. Its northern strip will in the future be the underwater rises of the Shatsky shaft and the Kurdamir shaft, as well as the Dzirul ledge. The basis of this strip is the Transcaucasian massif. The southern part of the arc will in the future become the Lesser Caucasus.

Even further south lay the vast but shrinking Tethys Ocean, and beyond it jutted out the Arabian Plate, still integral with Africa. This entire mass of blocks gradually approached the island arc.

35 million years ago, towards the end of the Eocene epoch (the second Paleogene epoch after the Paleocene), the Arabian salient almost came close and came into contact with the island arc. The bed of the Tethys Ocean, its bottom, was swallowed up under the arc.

Starting from the Oligocene (occupies the interval 34-23 million years ago), the collision of the Arabian protrusion with the island arc began. The consequence of this was the pushing of fragments of the island arc to the north and the gradual reduction of the back-arc basin. The reduction in distance was especially large directly opposite the Arabian salient, where movements reached 300-400 kilometers. The island volcanic arc curved to the north.

Oligocene, 34-23 million years ago. The beginning of block collision and crowding. The beginning of the rise of the Caucasus.

In the Oligocene, the Greater Caucasus was not yet a mountain structure. Both the Greater and Lesser Caucasus were islands and underwater hills. Their number and the area they occupied increased.

Finally, the entire space of the former Greater Caucasus basin, capable of shrinking, has ended. There was no bark left to be absorbed. Squeezed between the continental blocks between the edge of Eurasia and Afro-Arabia, the Caucasus zone has become the scene of a new stage of development (or another catastrophe, as often happens). Monstrous forces and energies again transformed the collision zone. From the late Miocene (the Miocene is a period of time from 23 to 5.4 million years ago), the uplift increased sharply. The Greater Caucasus began to rise. The sediments layered over many millions of years, lining and forming the seabed, began to turn into mountains. Apparently, at the end of the late Sarmatian century, 12 million years ago. Mountainous terrain formed in the Caucasus. It is believed that the relief then was a combination of low plains in internal depressions, denudation and abrasive-erosive plains and ridges and remnant massifs up to 700 meters high above them, rising several hundred meters above them.

Fig.7 End of the Miocene, 12 million years ago. Formation of the Caucasus Mountains.

The continuing pressure of Afro-Arabia led to a weakening of the earth's crust in the area in the direction of the "edge" up to present-day Pyatigorsk, and 7-9 million years ago magmatic diapirs of the mineral water group formed there (diapiric structures are folds curved upward due to the pressure of magma from below ). Molten magma tried to make its way to the surface, swelling the sediments of the seas. But its viscosity was too high, the magma did not penetrate into the open sky, and failed volcanoes - laccoliths - now adorn the Ciscaucasia.

In the late Miocene, 7-6 million years ago. The volcanism of the Lesser Caucasus sharply increased. Extensive volcanic covers were formed from lavas and products of explosive eruptions.

In the late Pliocene, by the time of 2 million years ago. The Elbrus volcano and the Verkhnechegemskaya caldera were formed, and volcanoes arose in the Kazbek region.

Finally, in the Quaternary period (began 1.8 million years ago), the relief of the Caucasus sharply rejuvenated due to ongoing uplifts under conditions of compression between lithospheric plates. In the Greater Caucasus, the uplift of the outer elements of the mountain structure, the former shelf with a crystalline base, and the tucking of the southern slope continued. In the Lesser Caucasus, blocks simply rose along fault lines.

In the Quaternary period, volcanism in the Lesser Caucasus existed only in certain parts of it. But nearby, in the Armenian-Javakheti Plateau, the eruptions were very intense, forming the volcanoes Aragats and Ararat.

The main result of the Cenozoic events, therefore, was the collision of lithospheric plates, the closure of the Tethys Ocean and the uplift of mountain structures in place of sea basins.

3. Traces of events. What do we see today?

Now, knowing and understanding the history of the formation of the Caucasus, let us again pass from north to south over it and get acquainted with the traces of past processes. This will be a very superficial acquaintance.

The plains of Ciscaucasia are composed of Neogene and Quaternary sediments on the surface. Beneath them, and further down under the Mesozoic and Paleogene strata, lies the uneven surface of the Scythian plate.

Thanks to pressure from Arabia, the structures of the Scythian plate are partly raised, forming the Stavropol and Mineralovodsk arches.

To the right and left of this zone are the forward deflections of the plate foundation - Terek-Caspian and Western and Eastern Kuban. Thanks to their subsidence, for example, the flood plains of the Kuban and the salt lakes of the Kuma delta were formed (due to the filling of river beds with sediments).

Even further south, the Northern slope of the Greater Caucasus begins.

The rocky ridge is composed (ridge and summit plateau) of Middle Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous limestones.

In the Labino-Malkin zone, in the central part of the northern slope, the foundation of the plate simply reaches the surface in the river valleys, bent back by the monstrous pressure of the converging continents. The southern end of the Labino-Malkin zone is the Front Range, its central part.

The rising Vodorazdelny and Bokovoy ridges in the Central Caucasus are composed of hard crystalline rocks. The depression between them is composed of Early Jurassic shales.

In the Western Caucasus, the Vodorazdelny Range is composed of crystalline rocks. The lateral one is sedimentary Paleozoic.

In the Eastern Caucasus, the ridges are composed mainly of Jurassic shales

The southern slope of the Greater Caucasus is composed of Lower-Middle Jurassic shale strata. These are the same deep-sea sediments of the Greater Caucasus Basin that were mentioned earlier.

To the south is the Transcaucasian massif. In its highest place, in the center, in the Dzirula ledge, ancient pre-Paleozoic rocks are close to the surface. This is the foundation of the northern part of the former volcanic arc.

Well, then there are the Lesser Caucasus mountains, composed of volcanogenic-sedimentary strata of the Cretaceous and Paleogene. The thicknesses were crumpled into folds, then broken into blocks and pushed upward. This is a former volcanic arc, its southern part. The territory of the west and south of the Lesser Caucasus (Armenia, Adjara, Trialeti) is composed of Paleogene and Cretaceous marine sediments with products of underwater and above-water volcanic eruptions. The north and east of the Lesser Caucasus are composed of Jurassic marine rocks also with eruption products.

In conclusion, it is interesting to look at the region from above. It is clearly visible how the Arabian Plate is pressed into a jumble of microblocks, putting pressure on the Lesser Caucasus and further through Transcaucasia to the North Caucasus. How the chain of the Pontic Mountains (northern coast of Turkey) - Lesser Caucasus - Elburz (ridge along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea) stretches, marking the line of closure of the northern branch of the Tethys Ocean. Just to the south, the Taurus Mountains (southern Turkey) – Zagros (ridge in southwest Iran) range marks the southern branch of the Tethys Ocean. And between them, these chains, are Central Turkey and Iran, pushed to the sides by the protrusion of the Arabian Plate.

Global view of the region.

This is what the geological history of the Caucasus looks like. As in other places on the planet, every stone means something, every slope testifies to processes millions and billions of years ago. Both small stones and structures the size of half a continent can tell their own stories, intertwining and complementing each other. So that the end result is a holistic history of the region in all its impressive dynamics. It is not easy to describe the life of the lithosphere. She doesn't know human emotions. And the witnesses to the events are not people either. And the time scales do not fit into the usual size range. Only by gathering together in the knowledge of scientists, events receive literary life. But the stones don't need us. It seems that we need them and are drawn to explore and describe them.

Steppe Ranger

References:

History of the Tethys Ocean. ed. A.S. Monin, L.P. Zonenshain. 1987 156 p.

Paleogeography. A.A. Svitoch, O.G. Sorokhtin, S.A. Ushakov. 2004 448 p.

Geology of Russia and adjacent territories. N.V. Koronovsky. 2011 240 p.

Physical geography of the USSR. F.N. Milkov, N.A. Gvozdetsky. 1975 448 p.

Poetry of the Caucasus Mountains. M.G. Leonov. Nature. 2003 No. 6.

Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences I. SHCHERBA

Following in the footsteps of the past

The phrase “Greater Caucasus” is usually associated with the idea of ​​sparkling snowy peaks and alpine meadows. And it seems that it has always been this way, but this is not true.

Walking through the upper Kislovodsk park and admiring the view of the vast pre-Elbrus plateau, an attentive person cannot help but notice the cliffs along the paths. The rocks that make up these cliffs are abundantly saturated with shells of marine mollusks, and therefore, the sea once splashed on the site of the Caucasus Mountains. But this was more than 10 million years ago.

It is not even archaeologists, but paleontologists who operate with such time categories: they determine the age of a rock depending on whose fossilized remains (dinosaurs, mammoths or, for example, trilobites) are found in it. Time is divided into geological eras - Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, as well as periods - Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary, each of which has its own epochs and centuries. It is this relative chronology that geologists use, although the absolute age of the rock is also known - it is determined by the decay of the radioactive elements it contains.

By analyzing the distribution of rocks that make up the mountains, foothills and intermountain valleys, it is possible to reconstruct the entire paleography of this area over millions of years. Such an excursion into the depths of centuries allows us to trace both temporal and territorial changes in both sedimentary rocks and tectonic structures, and fauna, different groups of which are characterized by different ecological niches.

It turns out that only 12 million years ago (Chokrak time, the middle of the second from bottom Cenozoic era), on the site of the present southern slope of the Greater Caucasus, there was a deep-sea trough, left over from an even more ancient marginal sea. The Greater Caucasus Sea was part of the Tethys paleoocean - this name was given to it by geologists after the ancient Greek goddess of the water elements. This ocean once stretched from the modern shores of the Atlantic Ocean to Indochina - through the Mediterranean, Asia Minor and Central Asia and the Himalayas - and separated two large continents - Eurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south.

Over the past 250 million years, the continents have gradually moved closer to each other, thereby reducing the amount of water between them. And as a result, by the middle of the Jurassic period (about 165 million years ago), the marginal sea of ​​the Greater Caucasus was cut off from the Tethys Ocean with the help of one of these fragments - the Transcaucasian. It was an island arc consisting of fragments of pre-existing mountains (partially with volcanoes) and located within the current Transcaucasia and the eastern part of the Black Sea. The sea itself, paradoxically, was absent there, but, on the contrary, there was some rise of land, periodically washed away by water. And this was just then (Paleozoic and the beginning of the Mesozoic), when in place of the Greater Caucasus there was a deep sea.

The axial deep-sea trough of this sea stretched along the southern slope of the modern mountains and went in the east through the Caspian Sea to the western Kopetdag, and in the west to the southern coast of Crimea. The northern shore of the Tethys Ocean was located somewhere near Ankara and Lake Sevan. But at the end of the Cretaceous period (65-70 million years ago), the island arc that separated them split and moved to the Lesser Caucasus region. A deep-sea East Black Sea depression emerged, stretching east into Adjara and southern Georgia - all the way to Tbilisi.

The axial and highest zone of the modern Greater Caucasus belonged to the steep continental (Eurasian) slope of the marginal sea. Its slope was apparently approximately the same as that of modern continental slopes (3-6 o), which is why sediments brought from the continent in the form of sand and clay did not linger on it and were carried away to the foot. However, they occasionally survived in narrow underwater canyons, and in the southeastern Caucasus - abeam the Absheron Peninsula - they can still be observed here and there.

In flatter areas, on the contrary: along with calmly settling silts (so-called “banal” sediments), other rocks brought by turbidity and mud-stone flows were periodically deposited. The results of the rhythmic alternation of both can be seen, for example, over the beach at the southern end of Anapa Bay. Located above a narrow strip of this beach, the cliff consists of thin (less than half a meter) layers of dark clays, interspersed with thicker (up to two meters) layers of sandstones with irregular - tangled and twisted, sometimes torn - bedding, caused by their deposition from a moving mud mass.

In the era of active tectonic movements, accompanied by earthquakes, ancient landslides were also frequent, the consequences of which - in their most beautiful form - can still be observed when descending from the Cross Pass along the Zhinvali Reservoir.

At the beginning of the Paleogene (about 60 million years ago), single-celled animal foraminifera with a sandy shell settled at the foot of the continental slope of the marginal sea of ​​the Greater Caucasus. It is precisely these representatives of a large group of foraminifera that usually inhabit areas of hydrogen sulfide contamination - mainly at a depth of at least two kilometers. The discovery of their remains in the corresponding layers allows, firstly, to determine the depth of this part of the basin, and secondly, to assert that at the beginning of the Paleogene the basin was contaminated with hydrogen sulfide (similar to the modern Black Sea). However, episodes of hydrogen sulfide contamination were repeated in the Greater Caucasus basin more than once; it reached its greatest extent 20-30 million years ago, when it captured not only the basin, but also the shelves.

During the Paleogene, the intensive rapprochement of Eurasia and Afro-Arabia continued, the entire space between them was subject to gradual compression, and the sediments of the former seas were crushed into folds.

Land barriers were formed along the borders of the continents, and the outlines of the ocean became very close to the modern contours of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. And yet, small shelf seas (including former marginal ones) remained covering significant areas of the present land. Even 12 million years ago, the Greater Caucasus Marginal Sea was partially preserved, and its width was four times greater than the modern width of the southern slope of the mountains. The depth of this sea in the axial part reached 500 m, and its shallowest part (a shelf with a depth not exceeding 200 m) was located in the area of ​​the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus. The northern border of the sea extended almost to the strip of lakes that now stretches between the Azov and Caspian seas, forming the so-called Kuma-Manych depression.

From the Russian Plain, the Don and the Paleo-Northern Donets flowed into the sea, bringing huge amounts of sand and clay into it. Carried by underwater currents along the bottom, they settled along its steep ledges in the form of cones, and it was these cones that eventually became oil reservoirs in the North Caucasus. And, in particular, the huge Grozny field.

In the south, the Greater Caucasus basin was limited at that time by the Lesser Caucasus and Talysh mountains, which gave it the appearance of being inside a continental sea. Between these mountains, which began to grow 30 million years ago, there was a narrow strait, and through it the basin was connected to the shelf seas of the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.

The most significant uplift, and even with a dissected relief, was located at that time on the North Caucasus shelf - south of modern Stavropol. Merging with the small islands of the Sub-Caucasian archipelago, this uplift formed something like a transverse bridge inside the basin. Apparently, the aardvark pigs that came from Africa then took advantage of it: their remains were recently discovered south of Stavropol.

And about 5 million years ago, mountain growth began in the Greater Caucasus, and it was initially most intense within the former shelf. It was the central part of the Greater Caucasus (the region of Elbrus, Kazbek), which was included in mountain formation earlier than others, and became the highest in this region. But even then, the Greater Caucasus rose like an island among the seas and lakes that washed it - some of them were still discovered by primitive man.

The Caucasus Mountains are located on the isthmus between the Caspian and Black Seas. The Caucasus is separated from the East European Plain by the Kuma-Manych depression. The territory of the Caucasus can be divided into several parts: Ciscaucasia, Greater Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Only the Ciscaucasia and the northern part of the Greater Caucasus are located on the territory of the Russian Federation. The last two parts together are called the North Caucasus. However, for Russia this part of the territory is the southernmost. Here, along the crest of the Main Ridge, lies the state border of the Russian Federation, beyond which lie Georgia and Azerbaijan. The entire system of the Caucasus ridge occupies an area of ​​approximately 2600 m2, with its northern slope occupying about 1450 m2, while the southern slope is only about 1150 m2.

The North Caucasus Mountains are relatively young. Their relief was created by different tectonic structures. In the southern part there are folded block mountains and foothills of the Greater Caucasus. They were formed when deep trough zones were filled with sedimentary and volcanic rocks, which later underwent folding. Tectonic processes here were accompanied by significant bends, stretches, ruptures and fractures of the earth's layers. As a result, large amounts of magma poured onto the surface (this led to the formation of significant ore deposits). The uplifts that occurred here in the Neogene and Quaternary periods led to the elevation of the surface and the type of relief that exists today. The rise of the central part of the Greater Caucasus was accompanied by the subsidence of strata along the edges of the resulting ridge. Thus, the Terek-Caspian trough was formed in the east, and the Indal-Kuban trough in the west.

The Greater Caucasus is often presented as a single ridge. In fact, this is a whole system of various ridges, which can be divided into several parts. The Western Caucasus is located from the Black Sea coast to Mount Elbrus, then (from Elbrus to Kazbek) the Central Caucasus follows, and to the east from Kazbek to the Caspian Sea - the Eastern Caucasus. In addition, in the longitudinal direction two ridges can be distinguished: Vodorazdelny (sometimes called the main one) and Bokovaya. On the northern slope of the Caucasus there are the Skalisty and Pastbishchny ridges, as well as the Black Mountains. They were formed as a result of interlayering of layers composed of sedimentary rocks of different hardness. One slope of the ridge here is gentle, while the other ends quite abruptly. As you move away from the axial zone, the height of the mountain ranges decreases.

The chain of the Western Caucasus begins at the Taman Peninsula. At the very beginning, it’s more likely not even mountains, but hills. They begin to rise to the east. The highest parts of the North Caucasus are covered with snow caps and glaciers. The highest peaks of the Western Caucasus are Mount Fisht (2870 meters) and Oshten (2810 meters). The highest part of the Greater Caucasus mountain system is the Central Caucasus. Even some passes at this point reach a height of 3 thousand meters, and the lowest of them (Krestovy) lies at an altitude of 2380 meters. The highest peaks of the Caucasus are also located here. For example, the height of Mount Kazbek is 5033 meters, and the double-headed extinct volcano Elbrus is the highest peak in Russia.

The relief here is highly dissected: sharp ridges, steep slopes and rocky peaks predominate. The eastern part of the Greater Caucasus consists mainly of the numerous ridges of Dagestan (translated, the name of this region means “mountainous country”). There are complex branching ridges with steep slopes and deep canyon-like river valleys. However, the height of the peaks here is less than in the central part of the mountain system, but they still exceed a height of 4 thousand meters. The rise of the Caucasus Mountains continues in our time. Quite frequent earthquakes in this region of Russia are associated with this. To the north of the Central Caucasus, where the magma rising through cracks did not spill out to the surface, low, so-called island mountains formed. The largest of them are Beshtau (1400 meters) and Mashuk (993 meters). At their base there are numerous springs of mineral waters.

The so-called Ciscaucasia is occupied by the Kuban and Terek-Kuma lowlands. They are separated from each other by the Stavropol Upland, whose height is 700-800 meters. The Stavropol Upland is dissected by wide and deeply incised valleys, gullies and ravines. At the base of this area lies a young slab. Its structure consists of Neogene formations, covered with limestone deposits - loess and loess-like loams, and in the eastern part also marine sediments of the Quaternary period. The climate in this area is quite favorable. Quite high mountains serve as a good barrier to cold air penetrating here. The proximity of the long cooling sea also has an effect. The Greater Caucasus is the border between two climatic zones - subtropical and temperate. On Russian territory the climate is still moderate, but the above factors contribute to rather high temperatures.

Caucasus Mountains As a result, winters in the Ciscaucasia are quite warm (the average temperature in January is about -5°C). This is facilitated by warm air masses coming from the Atlantic Ocean. On the Black Sea coast, temperatures rarely drop below zero (the average January temperature is 3°C). In mountainous areas the temperature is naturally lower. Thus, the average temperature on the plain in summer is about 25°C, and in the upper reaches of the mountains - 0°C. Precipitation falls into this area mainly due to cyclones arriving from the west, as a result of which its amount gradually decreases to the east.

Most precipitation falls on the southwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus. Their number on the Kuban Plain is approximately 7 times lower. Glaciation has developed in the mountains of the North Caucasus, the area of ​​which ranks first among all regions of Russia. The rivers flowing here are fed by water formed by the melting of glaciers. The largest Caucasian rivers are the Kuban and Terek, as well as their numerous tributaries. Mountain rivers, as usual, are fast-flowing, and in their lower reaches there are wetlands overgrown with reeds and reeds.

The Caucasus Mountains, born in the collision of the Eurasian and Arabian plates, are like a symbol of the mentality of the peoples living next to them. Proud and tall, they stand as a miraculous wall between the Asian and European parts of our continent on land. Humanity has not yet decided whether to classify them as Europe or Asia.

Height of the Caucasus Mountains: 5642 m (Greater Caucasus) and 3724 m (Lesser Caucasus).

Length of the Greater Caucasus: 1100 km. small - 600 km.

See the geographical location of the Caucasus Mountains or where they are located and how they are located on the map. To enlarge the map of the Caucasus mountains, just click on it.

The Caucasian ranges, not crossed by rivers, are called watersheds. The Caucasus mountain system, the same age as the Alps, with a thirty-million-year history, is firmly inscribed in the memory of mankind through biblical lines and Greek myths. It was on one of the mountains of the system that the dove released from Noah’s Ark found a twig, on the top of Ararat. The legendary Prometheus, who gave fire to people, was chained to one of the Caucasian rocks.

The Caucasus is divided into two parts, which are called the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. The first extends from Taman almost to Baku and consists of the Western, Central and Eastern Caucasus. One and a half thousand square kilometers of ice, the highest point of Eurasia - Elbrus (the top of the Caucasus Mountains), Iron Mountain, and six mountain peaks five thousand kilometers high - this is what the Greater Caucasus is.

The Lesser Caucasus is a mountain range near the Black Sea, with peaks up to four kilometers high.

The Caucasus Mountains are located between the Caspian and Black Sea coasts and at the same time on the territory of several countries. These are Russia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The climate of the Caucasus is varied: from typically maritime in Abkhazia, it changes to sharply continental in Armenia.

The Caucasus is inhabited by unique animals - chamois, mountain goats, wild boars; in particularly remote and inaccessible places you can find a leopard or bear.

Alpine meadow grasses, coniferous forests climbing up from the foothills, wild rivers, lakes, waterfalls, mineral water springs, clean air.

It is thanks to this successful combination of values ​​for human health that there are a huge number of sanatorium and resort establishments in the region.

Rock climbing lovers are attracted by the royal Elbrus and its neighbors - Shkhara, Kazbek, Dzhangitau, Dykhtau and Koshnantau. Among the snows of the Caucasus there is a place for skiers and snowboarders, lovers of hiking and thrills, rafting enthusiasts, as well as all those who value their health. The Caucasus offers health paths, Norwegian walking, rock climbing, river rafting, skiing and many other types of active recreation.

Once you have visited the mountains sung by the “genius of Lermontov”, you will remember them for the rest of your life.

Video: Wildlife of Russia 4 of 6 Caucasus Mountains.

Video: Hiking in the Caucasus Mountains.

In clear weather the top of the mountain Kezgen(4011 m) provides a unique opportunity to observe from the outside the rich and cheerful picture of the Central Caucasus. Almost all major and minor mountain ranges of the Main Caucasus Range, regions are visible Tyutus, Adyrsu, Chegema, Bezengi, Adilsu, Yusengi and upper reaches Baksan Gorge, and over the passes and less high peaks of the GKH distant mountain vistas open up Svaneti. On the opposite side of the horizon, the Caucasian monarch Elbrus shows a strictly end-to-end symmetrical view of its Eastern peak.

The source material for this publication is photographs taken from the top of the mountain. Kezgen in July 2007 and July 2009. They formed the basis two basic panoramas.

PANORAMA-1:– evening panorama (July 2007). Covers the GKH sector from the Bezengi wall to Chatyn, as well as the areas of the spurs of the Main Ridge descending towards the Russian side - Chegem, Adyrsu and Adylsu.

PANORAMA-2:– morning panorama (July 2009). Partially covering Panorama-1, it represents the GKH sector from the wall of Bezengi to Azau, the Russian spurs of the GKH - Adyrsu, Adylsu, Yusengi, Kogutai and Cheget, the Azau-Elbrus jumper, as well as the South-Eastern (with the Terskolak peak) and Eastern (with the Irikchat peak ) spurs of Elbrus.

The two main panoramas are accompanied by additional PANORAMA-3(July 2007). It gives a view of the spurs of Eastern Elbrus in the Subashi-Kyrtyk-Mukal sector from the Russian Officers Pass (which is near the Kezgen peak 150 m below it).

Together these three panoramas cover the entire viewing circle.

Camera- Nikon 8800.

Read more about Kezgen peak.
Kezgen is located in the highest of the eastern spurs of Elbrus - the one that stretches from the peak hanging over its ice fields Chatkara(3898 m) to the villages of Elbrus and Neutrino in the Baksan Valley. The spur has a number of left branches towards the Subashi, Kyrtyk and Syltransu rivers, while it itself borders on the left side the valley of the Irikchat River and - after its confluence with Irik - the Irik Valley. The main peak in this spur is Irikchat(4054 m), slightly inferior to it Subashi(3968 m) in the northwest and the equally high Kezgen duo - Soviet warrior(4011 m) in the southeast.

The climb to Kezgen is beautiful, pleasant and easy. The beginning of the movement towards Kezgen, the Soviet Warrior and Irikchat is common - from the floodplain of the Irikchat River along a grassy slope, along a path clearly visible from afar. Then the paths diverge, the Kezgen trail takes to the right. Upon reaching the scree slopes, it gets lost on the upper traverses, but with sufficient visibility, you can’t miss the takeoff opening on the left to the Russian Officers Pass (tourist 1B). The way out from the pass saddle to the summit (along the north-eastern ridge) is also simple - 1B climbing path. (Kezgen was sometimes visited by climbers as part of the Kezgen - Soviet Warrior traverse, which was known in the Adylsu mountain camps as a kind of exile.)

Kezgen is the closest four-thousander north of Baksan; all peaks closer to the river are significantly lower. This advantageous feature of its location and the simplicity of the route make Kezgen an excellent viewing point.

PANORAMAS, DESIGNATIONS, DECODING.

PANORAMA-1 (more than 800 Kb, 8682 x 850 pixels) in its original form:

PANORAMA-1 with peaks, passes, glaciers and gorges marked on it:

PANORAMA-2 (more than 1.2 MB, 10364 x 1200 pixels) in its original form:

PANORAMA-2 with peaks, passes, glaciers and gorges marked on it:

Additional PANORAMA-3 - view to the northeast into the valley of the Mukal glacier:

Accepted notations and general principles.

Marked on the panorama:

Mountain peaks- colored circles,
passes- crosses,
glaciers- rectangles,
gorges (river valleys)– double wave.

Passes, glaciers and gorges are numbered through, from right to left.

All signs glaciers And gorges blue. Signs passes And peaks painted in different colors, depending on their belonging to a particular mountain region.

The color differentiation of the icons helps to more clearly visualize and trace the location of the various mountain regions visible in the panorama, especially where they overlap.

Colors used:

– thick green: for objects outside the State border of the Russian Federation,
- red: for the peaks and passes of the GKH,
– light purple: for the peaks of the Bezengi region outside the GKH,
- orange: for peaks and passes in the Adyrsu ridge,
– pure yellow: for peaks and passes in the Adylsu ridge,
– dirty yellow: for peaks and passes in the Yusengi ridge,
– dark purple: for peaks and passes in the Kogutai spur of Donguzorun,
– pale green: for the peaks and passes of the South-Eastern spur of Elbrus,
– pale plum: for the peaks and passes of the Elbrus-Azau jumper,
– light brown: for the peaks and passes of the ridge in the upper reaches of Irik and Irikchat,
- white: for the peaks and passes of the Eastern spur of Elbrus,
– blue: for peaks and passes in the short spurs of the GKH (summit circles in a red rim), as well as in the spurs of the Adyrsu ridges (summit circles in an orange rim) and Adylsu (summit circles in a yellow rim).

1. MOUNTAINS

Note. The heights of the peaks indicated below in some cases differ from those given in the “Classification of routes to mountain peaks” (hereinafter "Classifier"). These heights are given mainly from General Staff maps (hereinafter "General Staff"), constructed based on the results of methodically homogeneous measurements within the framework of a unified topographic program of Soviet times. The General Staff provides altitude data with an accuracy of 0.1 meters, but it should, of course, be borne in mind that such enviable accuracy could only claim to cover random measurement errors, and not systematic errors of the measurement technique itself.

1.1. PEAKS LOCATED IN GEORGIA

1 – Tetnuld, 4853 m
2 – Svetgar, 4117 m
3 – Asmashi, 4082 m
4 – Marianna (Maryanna), 3584 m
5 – Lekzyr (Dzhantugansky), 3890 m
6 – Chatyn Main, 4412 m
7 – Ushba North, 4694 m
8 – Ushba South, 4710 m
9 – Cherinda, 3579 m
10 – Dolra, 3832 m
11 – Shtavleri, 3994 m

1.2. PEAKS OF THE MAIN CAUCASIAN RIDGE (GKR)

1 - Bezengi Wall (details on an enlarged fragment of the panorama)
2 - Gestola, 4860 m
3 – Lyalver, 4366 m
4 - Tichtengen, 4618 m
5 - Bodorku, 4233 m
6 - Bashiltau, 4257 m
7 – Sarykol, 4058 m
8 - Ullutau massif, 4277 m
9 - Latsga, 3976 m
10 – Chegettau, 4049 m
11 - Aristov rocks (3619 m - Kaluga peak)
12 – Dzhantugan, 4012 m
13 – Bashkara, 4162 m
14 – Ullukara, 4302 m
15 - Free Spain, 4200 m
16 – Bzhedukh, 4280 m
17 - Eastern Caucasus, 4163 m
18 - Shchurovsky, 4277 m
19 - Chatyn West, 4347
20 – Ushba Malaya, 4254 m
21 - Shhelda Eastern, 4368 m
22 – Shhelda Central, 4238 m
23 – Aristov (Shkhelda 3rd Western), 4229
24 – Shhelda 2nd Western, 4233 m
25 – Shhelda Western, 3976 m
26 – Trade unions, 3957 m
27 – Sportsman, 3961 m
28 – Shkhelda Malaya, 4012 m
29 – Akhsu, 3916 m
30 – Yusengi Uzlovaya, 3846 m
31 – Gogutai, 3801 m
32 – Donguzorun East, 4442 m
33 – Donguzorun Main, 4454 m
34 – Donguzorun Western, 4429 m
35 – Nakratau, 4269 m
36 – Chiper, 3785 m
37 – Ciperazau, 3512 m

Peaks in the short spurs of the GKH

1 - Germogenov, 3993 m
2 - Chegetkara, 3667 m
3 - Main Caucasus, 4109 m
4 - Western Caucasus, 4034 m
5 - Donguzorun Maly, 3769 m
6 - Cheget, 3461 m

1.3. THE TOP OF THE BEZENGI DISTRICT

1 - Dykhtau, 5205 m (5204.7 according to the General Staff map, 5204 according to the Classifier and Lyapin’s scheme)
2 - Koshtantau, 5152 m (5152.4 according to the General Staff map, 5150 according to the Classifier, 5152 according to Lyapin’s scheme)
3 - Ulluauz, 4682 m (4681.6 according to the General Staff map, 4675 according to the Classifier, 4676 according to Lyapin’s map)
4 - I thought, 4677 m (4676.6 according to the General Staff map, 4557 according to the Classifier, 4681 according to Lyapin’s scheme)

1.4. TOP OF THE ADYRSU DISTRICT

1 - Adyrsubashi, 4370 m (4346)
2 - Orubashi, 4369 m (4259)
3 - Yunomkara, 4226 m
4 - Kichkidar, 4360 m (4269)
5 - Dzhailyk, 4533 m (4424)

From the Dzhailyk massif, the Adyrsu ridge is divided into two branches:
(a) northwestern branch,
(b) northeast branch.

Peaks of the northwestern branch of the Adyrsu ridge:

6a – Tyutyubashi, 4460 m (4404)
7a – Sullukol, 4259 m (4251)
8a - Steel, 3985 m

Peaks of the northeastern branch of the Adyrsu ridge:

6b – Kenchat, 4142 m
7b – Orel, 4056 m (4064)
8b – Kayarta, 4082 m (4121)
9b – Kilar, 4000 m (4087)
10b – Sakashil, 4054 m (4149)

Peaks in the spurs of the Adyrsu ridge:

from Adyrsubashi
a - Khimik, 4087 m
b - Moskovsky Komsomolets, 3925 m
c - Triangle, 3830 m

From Dzhailyk
d - Chegem, 4351 m

From Tyutyubashi
e - Kullumkol, 4055 m (4141)
f - Theremin, 3950 m (3921)

From Kilar
g - Adzhikol (Adzhikolbashi, Adzhikolchatbashi), 3848 m (4126).

1.5. THE TOP OF THE ADILSU DISTRICT

(in parentheses are heights according to Lyapin’s scheme, if there is a difference)

1 – Kurmychi, 4045 m
2 – Andyrchi Uzlovaya, 3872 m
3 – Andyrtau (Andyrchi), 3937 m
4 – MPR (peaks of the Mongolian People's Republic): Northeast 3830 m (3838), Central 3830 m (3849), Southwestern 3810 m (3870).

Peaks in the spurs of the Adylsu ridge towards the Adyrsu valley:

1.6. PEAKS OF THE YUSENGI RIDGE

1 - Yusengi, 3870 m
2 - Yusengi North, 3421 m. According to tradition, apparently dating back to the General Staff map, the names of these two peaks are confused with each other

1.7. THE TOP OF THE KOGUTAI STORGE OF DONGUZORUN

1 - Interkosmos, 3731 m
2 - Maly Kogutai, 3732 m
3 - Big Kogutai, 3819 m
4 - Baksan, 3545 m
5 - Kahiani (Donguzorungitchechatbashi), 3367 m
6 - Dining room, 3206 m.

1.8 PEAKS IN THE JUMPER BETWEEN GKKH AND ELBRUS

1 - Azaubashi, 3695 m
2 - Ullukambashi, 3762 m

1.9 PEAKS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN ELBRUSS Spur

1 - Terskol, 3721 m
2 - Terskolak, 3790 m
3 - Sarykolbashi, 3776 m
4 - Artykkaya, 3584 m
5 - Tegeneklibashi, 3502 m

1.10 TOP OF THE RIDGE IN THE UPPER REACH OF THE IRIKA AND IRIKCHATA GORVES

1 - Achkeryakolbashi (Askerkolbashi), 3928 m
2 - Red Hill, 3730 m

1.11 THE TOP OF THE EASTERN Spur of Elbrus

1 - Irikchat Western, 4046 m
2 - Irikchat Central, 4030 m
3 - Irikchat East, 4020 m
4 - Soviet warrior, 4012 m

1.12 PEAKS IN THE NORTHEAST (IN THE SIDE OF THE MUKAL GLACIER)
Shown separately on PANORAMA-3

Islamchat (3680 m)
Shukambashi (3631 m)
Jaurgen (3777 m)
Suaryk (3712 m)
Kyrtyk (3571 m)
Mukal (3899 m)

2. PASSES

1 – Khunaly Yuzh, 2B - connects the valleys of Khunalychat (tributary of the Sakashilsu) and Kayarty (Kayarta lake)
2 – Kayarta Zap, 2A - between the peaks of Kilar and Adzhikol
3 – Kayarta, 1B - between the peaks of Kayarta and Kilar
4 – Sternberg, 2A - between the peaks of Orelu and Kayarta
5 – Kilar, 1B - between the peaks of Kenchat and Orel
6 – Vodopadny, 1B - in the northern spur of Peak Steel
7 – Sullukol, 1B - in the western spur of Peak Steel
8 – Spartakiada, 2A* - between the Tyutyubashi massif and the top of the Spartakiada
9 – Kullumkol, 1B - between the Tyutyubashi massif and the Kullumkol peak
10 – Tyutyu-Dzhailyk, 3A - between the peak of Dzhailyk and the Tyutyubashi massif
11 – Chegemsky, 2B - in the shoulder of the city of Kichkidar
12 – Kichkidar, 2B - between the peaks of Yunomkara and Kichkidar
13 – Freshfield, 2B - between the peaks of Orubashi and Yunomkar
14 – Golubeva, 2A - between the peaks of Adyrsubashi and Orubashi
15 – Granatovy, 1A - in the northern spur of the VMF peak
16 – Kurmy, 1A - in the northern spur of the Navy peak
17 – Dzhalovchat, 1B - between the peaks of Fizkulturnika and VMF
18 – Mestian, 2A - between the peaks of Ullutau and Sarykol
19 – Churlenisa Vost, 3A* - between Yesenin Peak and Gestola Shoulder
20 – Svetgar, 3A - between the peaks of Svetgar and Tot
21 – Dzhantugan, 2B - between the peak of Dzhantugan and the Aristov rocks
22 – Marianna, 3A - between the peaks Marianna and Svetgar
23 – Bashkara, 2B* - between the peaks of Bashkara and Dzhantugan
24 – Pobeda, 3B - between the peaks of Ullukar and Bashkar
25 – Kashkatash, 3A* - between the peak of Free Spain and the peak of Ullukar
26 – Double, 3A - between the peak of the Caucasus Vost and the peak of Bzhedukh
27 – Saddle of the Caucasus, 3A - between the peaks of the Caucasus Gl and Vost
28 – Krenkel, 3A - between the peaks of the Caucasus Gl and Zap
29 – Chalaat, 3B - between the peaks of Chatyn Zap and M. Ushba
30 – Ushbinsky, 3A - between the Ushba and Shkheldy massifs
31 – Bivachny, 2B* - between the peaks of Fizkulturnika and Trade Unions
32 – Yusengi, 2B – between the peaks of Yusengi and Yusengi North
33 – Middle, 2B – between the peak of Malaya Shkhelda and the peak of Fizkulturnika
34 – Rodina, 2A (when moving along the buttress from the Yusengi valley) – between the peaks of Yusengi and Yusengi Uzlovaya
35 – Akhsu, 2A – between the peaks of Yusengi Uzlovaya and Akhsu
36 – Becho, 1B – in the ridge of the GKH between peaks 3506 and 3728, it is also the lowest pass on the section of the GKH between Donguzorun and the Yusengi ridge and the closest to the Yusengi peak Uzlovaya.
37 – Becho Lozhny, 1B – in the ridge of the GKH to the west of peak 3506 and to the east of the lane. Olympian
38 – Yusengi Peremetny, 1B – glacial crossing through the short eastern spur of the Gogutai peak
39 – Vysoka Dolra, 2A – at the GKH exit from the top of Vost. Donguzorun under Gogutai peak.
40 – Pastushy (Okhotsky), 1A – connects the Yusengi gorge with the upper reaches of the Kogutayka
41 – Vladimir Korshunov, 1B – between the peak of Bolshoi Kogutai and the peak of Baksan
42 – Pearl of Primorye, 1B* – between the peaks of Big and Small Kogutai
43 – Kogutai, 1B – between Interkosmos peak and Maly Kogutai peak
44 – Semerka, 3B* - between the peaks of Nakra and Donguzorun Western
45 – Donguzorun False, 1B – the pass closest to the top of Nakra (from the west) through the GKH
46 – Donguzorun, 1A – the simplest and lowest pass through the GKH to the west of the Nakra peak, located west of the Donguzorun False pass.
47 – Suakkalar, 1B* - between the peaks of Artykkaya and Sarykolbashi
48 – Sarykol (conventional name), 1B* - between the peaks of Sarykolbashi and Terskolak
49 – Chiper, 1B* - the pass closest to the top of Chiper through the GKH between the peaks of Chiper and Chiperazau
50 – Chiperazau, 1A - the pass closest to the top of Chiperazau through the GKH between the peaks of Chiper and Chiperazau
51 – Azau, 1A – between the peaks of Chiperazau and Azaubashi
52 – Hasankoysyuryulgen, 1B – between the peaks of Azaubashi and Ullukambashi
53 – Terskolak, 1B – in the ridge under the Terskolak peak to the north of it
54 – Terskol, 1B* - between the peak of Terskol and the ice slopes of Elbrus
55 – Assol, 1B – the more southern of the neighboring passes connecting the Irik glacier and the small “internal” glacial cirque between the upper reaches of the Irik and Irikchata gorges
56 – Frezi Grant, 1B – pass in the same summit circus as the lane. Assol (No. 55), north of it
57 – Irik-Irikchat, 2A – in the ridge between the Irik and Irikchat glaciers south of the peak of Achkeryakolbashi
58 – Chat Elbrussky, 1B* - in the ridge between the Irik and Irikchat glaciers on the ridge west of the peak of Achkeryakolbashi
59 – Irikchat, 1B* - between the Irikchat glacier and the peak of Chatkara

PASSES IN THE NORTHEAST, NEAR THE MUKAL GLACIER (without numbering, shown separately on PANORAMA-3):

Mukal-Mkyara, 1B
Mukal-Mkyara false, 3A
Voruta, 1A
Ritenok, 1B
Baumanets, 2A
Khibiny, 1B
Zemleprokhodtsev, 1B

3. GLACIERS

1 – Kayarta West (No. 485-b)
2 – Orel (No. 485-a)
3 – Sullukol (No. 491)
4 – Yunom Northern (No. 487-d)
5 – Yunom (No. 487-b)
6 – Nitrogen (No. 492-b)
7 – Kurmy East (No. 498)
8 – Adyrsu East (No. 493)
9 – Bashkara (No. 505)
10 – Kashkatash (No. 508)
11 – Bzhedukh (No. 509)
12 – Ushba Icefall
13 – Shkheldinsky (No. 511)
14 – Akhsu (No. 511-b)
15 – No. 511-a
16 – Yusengi (No. 514)
17 – No. 515-b
18 – Ozengi (No. 515-a)
19 – No. 517-b
20 – Kogutai East (No. 517-a)
21 – Kogutai West
22 – № 518
23 – № 519
24 – № 520
25 – № 538
26 – No. 537-b
27 – No. 537-a
28 – № 536
29 – Big Azau (No. 529)
30 – Garabashi
31 – Terskol
32 – Irik (No. 533)
33 – Irikchat
Mukal Glacier - see Additional PANORAMA-3

4. RIVER BASINS (GORGHES)

1 – Kullumkol
2 – Sullukol
3 – Vodopadnaya (these three rivers: 1, 2, 3 are the right tributaries of the Adyrsu River)
4 – Shkhelda (tributary of the Adylsu)
5 – Yusengi
6 – Kogutayka (these two rivers: 5 and 6 are the right tributaries of Baksan)
7 – Irik
8 – Irikchat (the last two rivers - 7 and 8 - left tributaries of Baksan)

ENLARGEED FRAGMENTS OF THE MAIN PANORAMAS.

a) Tyutyu-Bashi and Dzhailyk.

Array Tyutyu-Bashi(4460 m) in this fragment of the panorama is turned towards us with its western end, so that all five of its peaks are lined up in one line: Western(4350 m), Second Western(4420 m), Central(4430 m), home(4460 m) and Eastern(4400 m). The massif ends in the Tyutyu-Su gorge (to the left in the photo) with the Northern wall with routes up to category 6A.

To the right of Tyutya is located Dzhailyk(4533 m), the highest peak of the Adyrsu ridge and, note, the third highest in the Baksan Valley and the Elbrus region, after Elbrus (5642 m) and Ushba (4710 m). On the right, looking out from behind Dzhailyk Chegem(4351 m), famous for its complex rock walls up to category 6A. Near Chegem one usually enters through the Chegem Gorge, located between the Baksan and Bezengi gorges parallel to the first.

In the foreground, in the center, is the Sullukol glacier. In the picture you can also see the Tyutyu-Dzhailyk (3A) passes, it is between the peaks of Dzhailyk and Tyutyu-Bashi, and Kullumkol (1B), between the peaks of Tyutyu-Bashi and Kullumkol(4055 m), the latter is visible under Dzhailyk against its background. All of them are marked on the general panorama.

b) Koshtantau and Dykhtau.

Pictured on the left in front of us Koshtantau(5152 m), or simply Koshtan. This is the top of the “technical Caucasus” - the highest mountain in the Caucasus with a route of the sixth category of difficulty, 6A along the left side of the central buttress of the Northern Wall. The route was first traversed in 1961 by a team of Baumanians (MVTU, Moscow, leader Arnold Simonik), who dedicated it to the flight of German Titov, “cosmonaut number two.” The “sixes” are not classified on the slightly higher peak of Dykhtau. Traverse Dykhtau-Koshtan used to be a “six”, but at times he was stripped. The Koshtan-Dykh traverse with a climb to Koshtan along 6A is completely illogical, and to the roof of the Caucasus - Elbrus - there are no “sixes”, unless we talk about climbing to the top after passing the Kyukurtlyu wall - which, you see, is also an illogical option.

On the left, “British” ridge 4B (G. Wooley, 1889) leads to Koshtan along the Northern ridge; this is the easiest way to the top. (A peak in the GKH north of Shchurovsky Peak is named after Wooley. It is curious that Hermann Wooley, in some sources Woolley, came to mountaineering, being already a football player and boxer). At the bottom of the ridge, a characteristic hump is visible - the ice gendarme. The lower, most difficult part of the route - the ascent from the Mizhirgi glacier to the Northern ridge of Koshtan - is hidden behind the peak Panoramic(4176 m), which is in the spur Ullouaza(4682 m). Approaches to Koshtan from this side are extremely dreary; you have to go through all the steps of the Mizhirgi icefall, of which there are three just before the overnight stops “3900”, and there is also a zone of cracks located higher up. The first two steps go along the moraine and then along the ice, adhering to the left (along the way) side of the glacier, and the third goes around the scree on the left and goes out to the overnight camp “3900”, the highest in the area.

In the foreground of the photo is an array Adyrsubashi(4370 m). To the left, to the Golubeva Pass (2A, 3764 m), the North-Eastern ridge with many gendarmes stretches from it. The climb to Adyrsubashi along this ridge is a very long “five A”. The Golubeva Pass itself remains to the left behind the scenes; it is located in the depression between the peaks of Adyrsubashi and Orubashi and connects the upper reaches of Adyrsu and Chegem, serving faithfully as one of the popular tourist routes.

Adyrsubashi is the nodal peak of the Adyr ridge. Its western spur asserts itself with peaks Chemist(4087 m), Ozernaya(4080 m), Moscow's comsomolets(3925 m) and Triangle(3830 m), behind this peak there is a descent towards the Ullutau alpine camp. The peaks of Khimik and Ozernaya are two snowy humps with rocky outcrops; in the picture they are to the left and below Adyrsubashi. From Ozernaya (to the right of Khimik and closer to us) a small Azot glacier flows into the Kullumkola valley (to the left). He received this “chemical” name from the name of the mountain camp, which operated (since 1936) from the eponymous DSO of chemical industry workers. In 1939, eight (!) alpine camps operated in the Adyrsu Gorge. The fate of "Azot" was most successful; now it is the "Ullutau" mountain camp.

To the north-west of the Ozernaya peak, a spur extends in our direction, bordering the Azot glacier, in which the peak can be traced Panoramic, aka peak Winter(3466 m), which received this name in the everyday life of the Ullutau alpine camp as an object of low ascents during the winter camp shifts. Another ridge branch of the Ozernaya peak (to the right in the photo) leads to the Moskovsky Komsomolets peak, the peak of which falls exactly on the right cut of this fragment. In the background is an array Mizhirgi with distinguishable Eastern peak (4927 m). Western Mizhirgi(5025 m) and the Second Western Mizhirgi, better known as the peak Borovikova(4888 m), are almost indistinguishable in the ridge running from Eastern Mizhirga to Dykhtau.

On the right photo before us is an array Dykhtau(5205 m), or simply Dykh. In the foreground, near the left cut of the fragment, is the Moskovsky Komsomolets peak, from which the crest of the ridge stretches to the low Triangle peak below in the center of the frame (both peaks were mentioned above in the commentary on Koshtantau). In the distance are two peaks, most often attributed to the Chegem region: a huge Tichtengen(4618 m), standing in the GKH between the peaks of Ortokar and Kitlod, and - a little closer, against its background - the peak facing us with a snowy slope Bodorka(4233 m), also located in GKH.

c) Bezengi wall.

In this fragment, approximately in profile, the entire Bezengi wall is visible, stretching in an arc from Shkhara to Lyalver. This unconventional perspective can puzzle even experienced experts in the area; it too “successfully” merges with the Bezengi wall of Gestol.

On the left in the photo you can see the long NE ridge of the “classical” climb to Shkhara(5069 m) along 5A - route of D. Cockin (J. G. Cockin, 1888). It was first climbed by the British-Swiss trio U. Almer, J. Cockin, C. Roth as part of an expedition of the British Royal Geographical Society led by Douglas Freshfield. The photographer on this and subsequent expeditions in the 1890s was Vitorio Sella, who received the Cross of St. Anne from Nicholas II for his photographs of the Caucasus Mountains. The glacier and Sella peak (4329 m), which is on the approach to the Mizhirgi peak in the upper reaches of the eastern branch of the Bezengi glacier, are named after him. In terms of technical complexity, Kokkin’s route to Shkhara is unlikely to reach even 2B, but it is dangerous because it is relaxing, although there is practically no place to reliably insure yourself on a long snow ridge with cornices in one direction or the other, and there have been cases of entire ligaments being torn off. In some sources (for example, A.F. Naumov, “Chegem-Adyrsu”) the route is categorized as 4B. The category can be raised to the fifth, wanting to reduce the flow of climbers by cutting off those whom KSS Bezengi officially graduates to “four”, but not yet to “five”. The Kokkina route is commonly known as “Crab”: rocky outcrops resemble a crab with its claws down. This crab (it is not visible in the panorama) is clearly visible from the side of Dzhangi-kosha in the lower part of the ridge, above the “cushion”.

The ice gendarme and the Eastern peak of Shkhara are clearly visible on the ridge. There are no classified routes for it; it is covered practically on foot on the way to the Main Peak of Shkhara. From Eastern Shkhara, the GKH leaves us to the southeast, even closer to the south, and passes through the peak Ushguli(4632 m), also known as South-Eastern Shkhara. The peak is named after the ancient village of Ushguli. Located in the Svan valley at an altitude of 2200 m, it is considered the highest European village of permanent residence (that is, excluding ski resorts and weather stations). There are several “fives” to the top of Ushguli from the Georgian side, as well as an extra-long 2A, the technical simplicity of which is compensated by the length of the approaches: two days from the Bezengi mountain camp here or from the Ailama mountain camp in Svaneti.

The most beautiful and logical route to Shkhara is, perhaps, the “Austrian” 5B Tomashek-Muller (1930) - ascent from the Bezengi glacier head-on along the Northern Ridge (in the picture it is on the border of light and shadow). During the times of the Stalinist USSR, there should not have been any foreign expeditions in our mountains, but a small diaspora of Austrian communists found refuge in our country in the early 1930s and, judging by the records of its route achievements, did not waste time in vain (check out the Caucasian routes at your leisure of that period with German surnames).

An inconspicuous peak Western Shkhara(5057 m) is worthy of mention because there are only two routes to it from the north (Anatoly Blankovsky, 1980 and Yuri Razumov, 1981), and both are very strong and objectively dangerous, rarely visited “sixes”. They appeared in the early 1980s, thanks to progress in ice equipment - first of all, the appearance in the USSR of crampons-platforms for ice and ice drills (previously they were secured with ice carrot hooks, which had to be hammered into the ice for a long time).

To the right of Western Shkhara, the ridge of the Bezengi wall gradually decreases towards the small rocky peak of the Shota Rustaveli peak (4860 m), hidden behind the peak closer to us Gestola(4860 m). Rustaveli Peak was first climbed by Georgians in 1937, from the south along route 4A. Recently, it is often visited from the north, since the relatively safe “Laletin’s board” leads to the depression of the Wall at the peak site - a monotonous ice route completed in 1983 by the St. Petersburg team of A. Laletin. In the full-time class of the 1995 Russian Mountain Climbing Championship, doubles leaving at night managed to jump this route to the very top by 10 o’clock in the morning!

Even further to the left in the panorama you can see the Dzhangi-Tau massif half-turned: Dzhangi Eastern(5038 m), home(5058 m) and Western(5054 m). The route to Eastern Dzhangi along the NE ridge is the easiest on the Bezengi Wall; the only easier routes are to the extreme mountains of the Wall, Shkhara (technically easy 5A) and Gestola (4A with a climb through peak 4310). In addition, the NE ridge (buttress) of Eastern Dzhangi is objectively the least dangerous option for climbing the Wall from the north, and it is often used as a descent route after climbing the Dzhangi massif (including the Main Dzhangi), Western Shkhara or Rustaveli Peak. Eastern Dzhangi, like Shkhara, was unsealed in 1888 by Kokkin’s group.

To receive the “Star of Bezengi” badge, it is not necessary to climb the Main Dzhangi (the only route to it from the north is 5A, which is dangerous due to ice avalanches); any peak of Dzhangi is enough – first of all, the simpler and safer Eastern one. There are no classified routes from the north to Western Dzhangi yet (except perhaps within the traverse of the Wall), and they are unlikely to appear soon: a beautiful and logical line to this peak is not visible from this side, but objectively dangerous ice faults are visible. But on the Georgian side, two 5B are classified in Western Dzhangi. I wonder when they were last seen?..

Looks about the same ice “vegetable gardens” from the north and Katyn(4974 m), from which the huge and flat Katyn Plateau stretches to Gestola. Katyn was also first climbed in 1888 by members of the British expedition, but the simplest route to it from the north - 4B hp (G. Holder, 1888) - is objectively more dangerous and less beautiful than the NE edge of Dzhangi of the same category of difficulty.

The GKH line runs along the edge of the Bezengi wall through the Shkhara and Dzhangi, Katyn, Gestola and Lyalver massifs, and a long ridge running from Gestola to the southwest (to the right in the photo) and partially hiding the Katyn Plateau leads to the peak located in Georgia Tetnuld(4853 m). It is not visible in this fragment of the panorama (it is to the right), but in the general panorama it is there. In the 1990s, Georgians brought a metal cross with a characteristic shape similar to the Georgian flag to the top of Tetnulda. The easiest way to Gestola(4860 m) from the north - this is 3B through the peak Lyalver(4350 m), with an ascent to Lyalver along the technically simple 2B and a subsequent simple traverse through peak 4310 and the Gestola shoulder. This route (first climbed all the way back in 1903) is categorized as 3B, perhaps solely for its height and length. There is an option to shorten this Chinese hike - take a shortcut to peak 4310 by climbing it not through Lyalver, but head-on from the western branch of the Bezengi glacier. This version of the route to Gestola is categorized as 4A (A. Germogenov, 1932), although it will not have any technical difficulties even at 3A (be careful in the upper part - destroyed rocks).

The story with the name of the peak in the crest of the Bezengi wall west of the Gestola shoulder is very complicated. This slight increase in the ridge previously “passed” as peak 4310 or Bezymyanny Peak. The last name haunted renaming activists, and in the 1990s, two signs were erected on this peak in the neighborhood, one stating Yesenin peak, the other - peak 50th anniversary of CBD. The “anniversary” version of the name, it seems, sounded more significant than the poetic impulse of Yesenin’s admirers, for the sign “50 years of the Kabardino-Balkaria” was the result of a massive ascent along 2B through Lyalver with the support of the authorities from Nalchik. But in technical descriptions this tip, as a rule, is still referred to as “4310”. It’s clearer: no matter what you call it, the height will not change :)

Peak 4310 separates two passes in the Bezengi wall, Ciurlionis East and West. On the enlarged fragment of the panorama, Ciurlionis East is indicated, it is between peak 4310 and the Gestola shoulder. Vertex Bashil(4257 m) - in the picture against the backdrop of Lyalvera - is located to the west of the Bezengi region and already belongs to the Chegem Gorge area.

A few words about height of the peaks of the Bezengi wall and her highest point.

All sources agree that Shkhara is the highest point of the Wall. But they determine the heights of the Bezengi peaks in different ways. Thus, for Shkhara Main you can find not only the traditional value of 5068 m, but also the more “prestigious” 5203 m, and for Dzhanga Main - values ​​5085, 5074 and 5058 m (Lyapin’s map). We rely on the data of the General Staff as more homogeneous (at least within a single region) and for higher points Shkhara And Jangi we take the values ​​accordingly 5069 m(5068.8 according to the General Staff) and 5058 m. Direct visual assessments also give preference to Shkhara. When looking at the Bezengi Wall from the Northern Massif, as well as when looking at Shkhara from Dzhangi (and vice versa), Shkhara always gives the impression of the dominant peak of the Wall.

Finally, about curvature of the "arc" of the Bezegi Wall, visible in the photo. The visual impression of its great curvature in the Shkhara-Gestola section is illusory; it is the pure effect of a large magnification of the image, in which the picture of a bunch of distant objects is stretched in azimuth, but does not expand in depth. So it seems that the slender ridge visible from the end is wagging its sides. In relation to this image: if you convert the VISIBLE angular distance between Shkhara Glavnaya and Katyn (or Dzhangi Western) into kilometers, then it will turn out to be six times (!) LESS than the real distance from Shkhara Glavnaya to Gestola, but it seems that they are approximately the same.

d) Svaneti mountains and Jantugan pass.

The main characters of this fragment are the dominant Svetgar(4117 m) and, to the right, modest Marianne(3584 m), in a pair of two, completing the Svetgar ridge stretching from the east (on the left). In the soft evening light of the sun, their rocky slopes amaze with a variety of color shades. Peaks lined up behind Marianna Asmashi ridge, which are identified very uncertainly at a given end angle. This entire mountain complex would be of great interest to mountain tourists and climbers if it were open to visitors from the Russian side. Suffice it to say that most of the passes in the region - Asmashi, Marianna, Svetgar, Tot - are of category 3A.

A few words about the Dzhantugan plateau and the Dzhantugan pass (3483 m, tourist 2B), which dominate the middle plan of the fragment. The Dzhantugan plateau is one of the western branches of the huge Lekzyr (Lekziri) glacial complex, the largest on the southern side of the GKH. It is formed by a system of glaciers framing the GKH in the area from the Kashkatash Pass in the west to the area of ​​the Bashiltau peak in the upper reaches of the Chegem Gorge in the east. These glaciers are adjacent to the passes connecting the regions of Adylsu, Adyrsu and Chegem with Svaneti. The Dzhantugan plateau resembles an apple rotten from the inside: its entire interior is broken by wide bottomless cracks, and only the narrow outer rim is edible. Any reasonable movements on the line Lekzyr - Bashkara - Dzhantugan - Aristova rocks - Gumachi - Chegettau - Latsga are possible only near the slopes of these peaks.

The glacier on the take-off to the Dzhantugan pass is severely torn, but in recent years there has been a path to simply bypass the bergs and cracks, leading to the pass close to the end of the Aristov rocks (red spots in the photo). The pass itself is somewhat puzzling: you don’t see a clear bend in any direction, everything is flat, and only after walking 50-70 meters to the south and bumping into the faults, you understand that there has been a general decline towards Georgia. (At the same time, the red and white border stick sticks out only about twenty meters above the cliff in our northern direction.) Near the top of Gumachi there is another pass leading to the plateau - Eastern Dzhantugan, also known as False Gumachi (3580 m, tourist 2B) . The ascent to it from the Adyl-su gorge is no more difficult than 1B, but to descend from it to Svaneti (via a tricky icefall, which determines the category of both passes) you have to go around the plateau on the right and, therefore, follow the Dzhantugan pass. So for routes from Adyl-su to Svaneti, this one is clearly preferable. There is also the option of climbing to the Dzhantugan plateau in the middle between these two passes, through the central depression in the chain of Aristov rocks.

Aristov Rocks named in memory of Oleg Dmitrievich Aristov, who stood at the origins of Soviet mountaineering. In 1935, his group was one of the first to “climb” the peaks above the Dzhantugan plateau along the simplest routes and made several first ascents – Dzhantugan along 2A, Gadyl along 3A, the Gadyl-Bashkara traverse (4A). That summer, the 1st All-Union Alpiniad of Trade Unions worked in the Adyl-Su gorge, and 24-year-old Aristov led the School of Instructors there. Oleg died at the peak of Communism on September 13, 1937. He was appointed leader of the assault group, which had the order to bring the bust of Stalin to Communism Peak (then Stalin Peak). Oleg walked with frostbitten feet and slipped, falling off at the very top.

The ascent to the Dzhantugan plateau from Adyl-Su passes along the Dzhankuat glacier, which was chosen by glaciologists to study the processes occurring in valley glaciers. The thickness of this typical valley glacier is 40-50 meters in icefalls and 70-100 meters in flattened areas. Like other glaciers in the Caucasus, Dzhankuat has been rapidly retreating in recent decades. At its tip, in a clearing with a seductive name with the seductive name “Green Hotel”, are the houses of the Glaciological Station of Moscow State University. In early June, a backcountry camp is sometimes held here, aimed at beginners and advanced riders. In the summer there are students at the station. In winter, the houses are convenient to use for overnight stays; they protect you from the winds from the pass, which make you more playful when descending into the wide flat part of the gorge below the Dzhankuat glacier.

From the Dzhantugan plateau it is convenient to make radial ascents to the surrounding peaks. In the eastern direction they are simple - to the peaks Gumachi(3826 m) along 1B (on foot) and Chegettau(4049 m) along 2B. This deuce-B is the oldest route in the region and the entire Elbrus region (excluding Elbrus itself) - Douglas Freshfield, 1888. In the western direction from the Dzhantugan plateau, it is convenient to climb Dzhantugan along 2A and 3A, as well as to Bashkara along 3B, Gadyl along 3A and Lekzyr Dzhantugansky (1B).

Peak Jantugan(4012 m) at the right edge of the panorama fragment, a beautiful and simple route 2A leads to it from the pass. Jan is facing us here with its northern side, on which three triple-Bs are classified, one of them (along the NE edge) is clearly visible - this is the edge casting a shadow. By going around the peak from the side of the plateau, you can climb to the bridge between it and its western neighbor, the peak of Bashkar. Near this crossing, route 3A to Dzhan begins (along the SW ridge), and a beautiful ridge route 3B leads to Bashkara.

The Bashkara-Gadil massif borders the Dzhantugana plateau from the west. From the plateau it is clearly visible that the peaks Bashkara(4162 m) and Gadyl(4120 m) – ends of one massif. It is simply turned to Svaneti with the “Gadyl” side, and to Balkaria with the “Bashkar” side, which is why it received different names from the corresponding observers. The Bashkara-Gadyl traverse (4A) is one of the oldest routes in the area (K. Egger, 1914). In the panoramic photo from Kezgen, the Gadil peak is not visible, it is closed by Bashkara, which is presented in all its severity in the enlarged fragment (photo on the left). Bashkara breaks off towards the glacier of the same name with its northern wall, along which there are two routes 6A, technically the most difficult in Adyl-Su. The snow “pillow” to the right of Bashkara is the Pobeda Pass, one of the most difficult in the area (3B according to the tourist classification). The Bashkara pass, between Bashkara and Dzhantugan, is much easier. The Bashkara glacier descends from the northern slopes of Bashkara, from the melting of which Lake Bashkarinskoye was formed, threatening a breakthrough and mudflow down the Adylsu gorge.

e) from the Kashkatash pass to Ushba.

The same section with markings of peaks, passes and glaciers.

(Remember, the peaks of the GKH are marked with solid red circles, the passes of the GKH are marked with red crosses).

From left to right:

Top 14 - Ullukara(4302 m), located in the GKH, ends with a wall of difficulty 5B to the upper reaches of the Kashkatash glacier.
Peak 1 against the backdrop of Ullukara - peak Germogenova(3993 m) in the Ullukara spur. From the middle reaches of the Kashkatash glacier, a ridge stretches to the top along which route 2B runs - one of the longest “double B” in the area (along with “double B” to Eastern Donguzorun along the GKH ridge). Groups of beginners usually walk this route overnight.
Pass 25 - Kashkatash, 3A* - located in the GKH between the peaks of Ullukara and Free Spain.
Glacier 10 - Kashkatash glacier, belonging to the Adylsu basin, the tributary flows opposite the lower houses of the Jantugan mountain camp.
Peak 15 - Peak Free Spain(4200 m), located in GKH. The route to the top along the eastern ridge from the pass is category 4A. Ice route 4B along the wall to the left of the rock tower (Alexey Osipov and his comrades, 1995) is recommended as a winter option; it is dangerous for rocks in the warm season. There are several “five B” routes along the rocky tower. The rock gendarme in the eastern ridge is sometimes called Gogol Peak, and the gendarme in the western ridge is Lermontov Peak (I remember Yesenin Peak, mentioned in the description of Bezengi near the Lyalver peak). In mountaineering terms, these are still gendarmes; there are no independent routes leading to them, but topologically, “Lermontov’s gendarme” – whatever one may say, this is the junction peak of the GKH. The Dollakora ridge branches off from it, which leads south to Svaneti and separates the Lekzyr and Chalaat glaciers there.
Top 16 - Bzhedukh(4270 m), located in GKH. The snowy slopes of the bridge between the peaks of Free Spain and Bzhedukha represent the simplest, but dangerous by landslides, route of descent from Free Spain, commonly referred to as the “Trough”.
Glacier 11 - Bzhedukh, belongs to the Shkhelda basin.
Pass 26 - Double, 3A - is located in the GKH between the East Caucasus Peak and the Bzhedukh Peak.
Peak 17 - Peak Caucasus Eastern(4163 m), the nodal peak of the GKH. Here the Main Range turns away from us, towards the peaks of Vuleya and Shchurovsky, and the remaining peaks of the Caucasus are already in its spur, which descends into the Shkhelda valley.
Pass 27 - Caucasus Saddle, 3A - is located in the GKH spur between the Main and Eastern peaks of the Caucasus.
Peak 3 - Peak Caucasus Western, located in the spur of the GKH.
Pass 28 - Krenkelya, 3A - is located in the spur of the GKH between the Western and Main peaks of the Caucasus.
Peak 4 - Peak Caucasus Chief(4037 m), located in the spur of the GKH.

The ridge of GKKh peaks blocks from us the upper reaches of the Chalaat glaciers, which fall in steep icefalls into Svaneti. The peaks bordering them are Free Spain (4200 m), Bzhedukh (4280 m), Vostochny Caucasus (4163 m), the peak hidden behind it Vuleja(4055 m, we have already talked about German Vulei in connection with his routes to Bezengi), peak Shchurovsky(4277 m, V.A. Shchurovsky is a famous Moscow doctor who treated Chekhov and Tolstoy, and a “part-time” mountain traveler who presented a number of tourist routes in the Western Caucasus to the general public), Chatyn Western(4347 m), Chatyn Main(4412 m) and Malaya Ushba(4320 m).

A short but powerful spur with the peak Chatyn Glavny extends from Western Chatyn to Svaneti. It separates the two branches of the Chalaat glacier, ending on the Chatyn plateau - the southern cirque of the main, eastern branch of the glacier - with its famous Northern wall with solid “sixes”. Approach from Russia to the Chatyn Plateau under the routes to the Northern Wall of Chatyn - up the Shkheldy gorge through the Chatyn South pass, also known as Chatyn Lozhny (2B). (For more information about this pass, see Catalog passes and peaks of Oleg Fomichev, a link to him at the end of the article among other useful links.) From the Georgian side, it is difficult to enter the Chatyn Plateau without a very strong desire; for this you need to either cross the additional Dalla-Cora pass in the southern spurs of the GKH, or go up through the complex icefalls of the Chalaat glacier, which is extremely problematic even with the equipment.

Near Malaya Ushba, an even more impressive short spur departs from the GKH to Svaneti with the pearl of the Caucasus - the Ushba massif and its peaks Northern Ushba(4694 m) and South Ushba(4710 m).

The main GKH passes in this junction:
Pass 29 - Chalaat, 3B - between the peaks of Chatyn Western and Malaya Ushba, the Academician Alexandrov Pass is projected onto the same pass, 3B - between Chatyn and Shchurovsky Peak
Pass 30 - Ushbinsky, 3A - between the Ushba and Shkheldy massifs.

f) Shhelda massif.

Peak heights Shkheldinsky massif(from left to right):

Eastern- 4368 m
Central- 4238 m
peak Aristova- 4229 m
peak The science- 4159 m
2nd Western- 4231 m
Western- 3976 m

By the way, in 1974 the titanic traverse Shhelda (all peaks) - Ushba - Mazeri was completed (G. Agranovsky, A. Vezner, V. Gritsenko and Yu. Ustinov, 14.07-5.08 1974). The mandatory set of traverses for all Shkhelda peaks includes five of the six named above: Western Shkhelda, located on the distant periphery, in the isthmus already on the approaches to the peak of the Trade Unions, falls out.
The remaining peaks of the Shhelda massif are considered gendarmes. The gendarme Rooster stands out especially – a tall rocky phallus next to the Eastern Tower of Shkhelda.

g) Malaya Shkhelda area.

Not particularly noticeable, but interesting for its topology and rich in surrounding views, the mountain cluster around Malaya Shkhelda(4012 m). GKH enters the frame from the left from the side of the peak adjacent to Shkhelda Trade unions(3957 m) and, moving with a slight southern roll to the west through the depression of the Bivachny pass (3820 m, 2B*), climbs the peak Sportsman(3961 m, not to be confused with the peak Day of the Athlete, which is in the Adyl-Su ridge), turns 90 degrees from it and, going north-west, bypassing the Sredniy pass (3910 m), rises to the top of M. Shkhelda, the highest point of the region. Further, almost without changing course, the GKH passes along the double rocky ridge of Akhsu (3916 m), which is visible from the edge from Kezgen and appears to be an end snow slope with an easily recognizable berg at the base. Having gone down this slope (route 2A), the GKH turns strictly west and, passing the lane. Akhsu (2A, 3764 m), climbs to a low peak that is completely easy to approach from any side Yusengi Uzlovaya(3846 m). Here the GKH says goodbye to us and goes beyond the right edge of the frame towards the Becho Pass, and in the north-east direction (to the left and towards us) the Yusengi ridge departs from Uzlovaya. For more than a kilometer it leads along a wide and impeccably smooth snow ridge (the summit outlet of the Akhsu glacier), while imperceptibly passing the area of ​​the Rodina pass (2A, 3805 m) and reaching its highest point at the top Yusengi(3870). Then it goes down a long way into the Baksan Valley (in the photo along the ridge in our direction).

Both peaks of Yusengi and the Rodina pass provide gorgeous views towards Elbrus and Donguz; no other observation point will give you greater views of the Elbrus-Donguz expanse. The peak of Malaya Shkhelda is an excellent vantage point for the entire adjacent Georgian sector, and the Fizkulturnik peak gives an amazing close view of the Shkhelda - Ushba - Mazeri link and the Ushba glacier in the pit between them.

Ascent on foot to the peak Fizkulturnik from the lane. Average is 6-8 minutes. The climb from there to the top of Malaya Shkhelda is a nasty 2A climb along old fragile rocks. The rock traverse M. Shkhelda - Akhsu is already classified as 2B, and a more extended traverse in the other direction - M. Shkhelda - Fizkulturnik peak - Trade Unions peak - as 3A.

The peaks indicated in the picture form a chain above the cirque of the Akhsu glacier, which is open (not covered by moraine sediments) along its entire course from its sources to the place of its confluence with the Shkhelda glacier. There is no longer section of open glacier in the gorges from Adyrsu to Azau.

h) Donguzorun and Nakra massifs.

When you look at the Donguzorun massif from Cover(4269 m) from Terskol, you wonder: why was this Nakra called Nakra and called it at all, if it is nothing more than an appendage of the really serious and sign-defining mountain Donguzorun? When you stand in the upper reaches of the Yusengi gorge and look up at the monumental eastern wall of Donguz under a centuries-old glacial shell, you are even more surprised: what does Nakra have to do with it and where is she, this dependent little girl? But when you look at the Donguza massif from Kezgen, the global picture becomes clear. The western peak of Donguz is the center of a regular three-pointed star. From it to the southeast (to the left in the photo) the Donguza ridge stretches; it is this that makes up the main part of the complex - the Donguzoruna massif itself with its three adjacent peaks: Donguzorun East(4442 m), Main(4454 m) and West(4429 m). From the western peak the northeastern spur of Donguz descends directly towards us, which is at the intermediate peak Interkosmos(3731 m, in the photo from Kezgen this is a gently sloping snow-covered pyramid) is divided into two branches, a very short northern one, which gracefully curves down to the Donguzorun River above the Chegetskaya Polyana, and the longer one - the eastern one, Kogutai (we can clearly see the shallow flat snow bowl of the western circus of Kogutai). In this branch above the glacial cirque, two similar triangular tips are clearly visible - Big Kogutai(3819 m), it is to the left, and Maly Kogutai(3732 m). The Main Ridge itself from the western peak of Donguz goes west (to the right), immediately jumps onto the Nakra tower and then gracefully descends to the hospitable Donguzorun pass (1A, 2302).

And yet, it would be a great injustice - and a factual error - to consider Nakra not an independent peak, but just a side appendage of Donguz. The fact is that it is adjacent to it, and not to its dominant neighbor, from the south. Tsalgmyl ridge, which is very long in itself and to which, like a rod, numerous side spurs are attached, filling the vast space surrounded by the Inguri River (from the south) and its primary tributaries Nakra (from the west) and Dolra (from the east). Only a small internal area was subjugated by Donguzorun - the one occupied by the modest and short Dolra ridge, nestled three kilometers to the GKH and adjacent to the Main Peak of Donguz.

The topology of the Donguzorun-Nakra massif is interesting. There is a general long and monotonous, non-steep climb from the southern, Georgian side, where the multi-armed Kvish glacier stretches freely (and from where the routes of G. Merzbacher, 1891 and R. Gelbling, 1903 - both 2A) were laid to the peaks of Donguz at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries ), and then, upon reaching the border ridge line, everything abruptly ends down into Russia, with the eastern and northern walls of the massif, famous for their difficult climbing routes (categories from 4B to 5B). And immediately beyond the reset of the eastern and northern walls of Donguz there are greenery and the Cheget-Terskol delights of civilization.

In connection with such an extraordinary topology, in the winter of 1989, the following story happened on Donguz. As part of the mountaineering championship on the Northern Face of Donguzorun (strong route 5B Khergiani), a team of two from Kyiv climbed, but soon after reaching the summit they did not get in touch and disappeared. They had no food (they dropped it while still on the rise). Winter, February, frost, bad weather. They were found only on the 8th day...at the Minvod airport (!). .

i) Elbrus.

To the observer at the top of Kezgen Elbrus addressed by his Eastern peak(5621 m), and as symmetrically as possible in terms of the central center line and side ramps. The western peak of the mountain (5642 m) is completely covered by the Eastern one.
On the Eastern peak, on the right side, rocks are visible against the sky; they border the summit crater with a 20-meter wall. The highest point of the dome is on the southern (left in the photo) edge of the crater. This summit crater is open to the east, towards us, and on the slope, half a kilometer below it, a side crater yawns, and below it, the Achkeryakol Lava Flow (ALF) stretches further down - a chain of scree rocks of volcanic origin. This stream descends to the ice fields of Eastern Elbrus, giving rise to the rivers Irik and Irikchat.

On the northern (right to the viewer) slope of Elbrus, two spots of rocky outcrops can be seen against the sky - approximately at 4600 and 5100 m. The upper ones are Lenz rocks, named after the member of the expedition, General Emmanuel, who reached them: "..One of the academicians - Mr. Lenz - rose to a height of 15,200 feet. The full height of Elbrus above the level of the Atlantic Ocean is determined to be 16,800 feet"(quoted). Each of these altitude values ​​was obtained with more than a 10% error, but their ratio suffers from errors much less and, when linked to the currently accepted height of Elbrus (5642 m), allows us to estimate the height of the cliffs reached by Lenz at 5100 m. This means that we are talking about the upper rocky outcrops.

A few words about the historical route of Douglas Freshfield to the Eastern peak of Elbrus (1868). The mountain route classifier leads Freshfield through Shelter 11, but he took a different route (described in detail in his best-selling book, Exploration of the Central Caucasus). The group left the village of Urusbievs (Upper Baksan) and the first day on horseback advanced along the Baksan valley, and the second day they climbed up the Terskol gorge, from where the dome of Elbrus first appeared, and reached the bivouac site near the “Ice Base”. The group reached the summit at three o'clock in the morning. Having stepped onto the glacier, she walked in a straight line towards the cone and first reached a height from which spurs opened towards the distant steppe, and then, already at the beginning of the ascent along the cone, she met the sun. By half past eight, at an altitude of 4800 m, the group reached the rocks of the upper part of the cone and at 10h40m reached the top in the area of ​​​​the current obelisk.

“This peak was at the end of a horseshoe-shaped ridge, crowned by three elevations and framed on three sides by a snow plateau, open to the east. We walked - rather, ran - along the ridge to the very end, passing two significant depressions and visiting all three peaks. … [At the same time] we naturally looked out to see if there was a second peak somewhere, but it was nowhere to be found. It seemed to us that the western slope abruptly dropped down to Karachay and that there were no dense clouds that could hide a peak approximately the same height as ours. But we were wrong: the western, slightly higher peak was completely hidden by haze... We must remember that before this ascent we had never seen Elbrus and, therefore, had only a vague idea of ​​the structure of the mountain.”

Having built a “stone man” on the top, the group began their descent along the ascent path at the beginning of twelve, went down into the valley in the evening and the next day returned to the Urusbievs, where they were greeted with greetings and treats.
“We were caught in the crossfire of questions about how it was up there at the top, and we were sad to report that we did not see the giant rooster that lives in the heights and greets the sunrise with a cry and flapping its wings, and greets uninvited guests with its beak and claws, wanting to protect the treasure from people.”

Routes are routes, but in the case of Elbrus one cannot remain silent about his own biography. Why is the Main Caucasus Range seemingly the main one, and its iconic peaks - Elbrus and Kazbek - somewhere on the side? Because they are volcanoes. In the Greater Caucasus, volcanism is associated with the fragmentation of the earth's crust at the late stage of mountain building. The Elbrus volcano formed in the Side Range on the watershed of the Malki, Baksan and Kuban rivers, and it is confined to the intersection of the longitudinal Tyrnyauz fault zone and the transverse Elbrus fault. In the southwestern part of the mountain, the remains of an ancient crater are preserved in the form of the Khotyutau-Azau rocks. Nowadays, the two-headed volcano is planted on the upper part of the ancient crater - a highly raised pedestal (base) made of ancient rocks of granite and crystalline schist.

Elbrus as a volcano was born about 2 million years ago. All the mountains of this region then rose in low hills, and powerful eruptions of gas-rich magma formed first volcanic cone(its remains in the area of ​​the Irikchat pass). After many hundreds of thousands of years the volcano started working again– an almost kilometer-long cliff speaks about its power Kükurtlyu. A cross-section of this wall clearly shows how layers of volcanic bombs, slag, tuff and ashes alternate with frozen lava flows. Explosive eruptions and outpourings of thick and viscous lava alternated many times, and when the volcano began to calm down, hot gases and solutions continued to penetrate through the thickness of the volcanic rocks for a long time. Thanks to this, layers of sulfur were formed, now turning yellow against the dark red background of the Kükurtlu cliffs.
Now the wall routes to Kyukurtlu are considered one of the most difficult in the Caucasus.

Third phase of activity volcano, about 200 thousand years ago, was restrained. Lava outpourings descended over and over again into the Baksan valley. The slowly cooling lava contracted in volume and cracked, and remarkable columnar structures were formed in it, which we see on the walls rising above the road from the village. Terskol to the observatory, as well as forming the left side of the gloomy Azau gorge.

Fourth phase of activity volcano - 60-70 thousand years ago - was extremely stormy. The explosions knocked out a plug of frozen ancient rocks from the crater of the volcano, and the volcanic material spread over tens of kilometers (discovered near Tyrnyauz, in the Chegem Valley). At this time it was formed Western peak Elbrus. The eruptions formed a loose layer of volcanic bombs, tuffs and other products, mainly on the western and northern slopes. When the energy of the volcano decreased, lava outpourings began - now in the upper reaches of the ancient Malki valley, and not towards Baksan.

Elbrus area from space - on Google Maps:

Topology of the Western and Eastern peaks of Elbrus close-up.
The highest point of the Eastern Peak is visible, located in the southern part of the summit dome. Being on the Eastern peak, it is not always obvious where the highest point is...

The Kezgen campaign of 2007, in which photographic materials for PANORAMA-1 were obtained, is described in the 2nd part of Igor Pasha’s article.. The photographic materials themselves are also presented there, in a significantly larger volume..

We also provide a number of basic links on the topic of publication:

http://caucatalog.narod.ru- Database of passes, peaks, valleys, glaciers and other objects of the Caucasus with photographs (more than 2200 objects and 7400 photographs as of January 2010), reports on mountain hikes. The author of the caucatalog website is Mikhail Golubev (Moscow).

The authors will be grateful for constructive comments, pointing out any factual inaccuracies and providing additional information. All this will be taken into account with gratitude when updating the article!