Names of the peaks of the Sofia glacier of the South Chuya ridge. Mountain Altai: South Chuysky ridge. Chui steppe. Hiking along the South Chuysky ridge

: / (G) (O) (I) 49.816667 , 87.65 49°49′00″ n. w. 87°39′00″ E. d. / 49.816667° s. w. 87.65° E. d.(G) (O) (I)(T)

Country Russia Location Altai Mountain system Altai Mountains highest peak Iiktu Highest point 3936 m

South Chuysky ridge - mountain range in Central Altai. It is located south of the North Chuisky ridge in the interfluve of the Karagem and Chagan-Uzun rivers in the north and Dzhazator in the south. South of the ridge The Ukok plateau is located.

Physiographic characteristics

Geographical location

The South Chuysky ridge is lower than the North Chuysky, the average heights here are 3000-3500 m, highest point- Mount Irbistu (3967 m). On the slopes of the South Chuysky ridge, in contrast to the North Chuysky, there is practically no forest - only meadows and thickets of dwarf birch. Thanks to this, many peaks offer a beautiful view of 30-50 kilometers around, picturesque panoramas of the harsh Chuya steppe, Katunsky and North Chuya ridges.

Climate

The South Chuisky range is located in close proximity to the arid semi-deserts of Mongolia, which affects climatic features in this area. There is much less precipitation on its slopes than on the North Chuysky or Katunsky ridges, but very large glaciers also flow down from the slopes of the South Chuysky ridge.

Glaciers

The South Chuya ridge is the second largest glaciation in Altai. The 243 glaciers located on it have total area 222.8 km². Central location It occupies the Bolshoi Taldurinsky glacier, whose length exceeds 8 km and the area is 34.9 km², and the Sofiysky glacier, which is 10 km long and has an area of 24 km².

Rivers

Large tributaries of the Chuya - the Chagan, Taldura, Tarkhata, and Irbistu rivers - originate from the ridge. On the other side of the ridge, numerous tributaries of the Dzhazator (Zhasater) River originate.

Lakes

There are many lakes on the South Chuysky ridge, and they are not inferior in beauty to the lakes of the North Chuysky and Katunsky ridges. The most picturesque lakes are Akkol and Karakol in the valley of the Akkol River. Akkol translated from Altai means “white lake”. And indeed, the water in it is light, milky in color. Karakol is, on the contrary, a “black lake”, and this is also true - the water in Karakol seems dark. It is noteworthy that these opposite lakes are located only two kilometers from each other. On the shore of Lake Akkol, tourists often place base camp, from where they take walks to the Sofia Glacier or make mountaineering trips to the surrounding peaks.

Tourism

Tourists began visiting this area much later than the North Chuysky or Katunsky ridges. This is due to the transport remoteness of the area and the fact that Soviet era these places were considered border territory, passage through which was carried out strictly with passes.

The South Chuysky ridge is included in mountain system Chui squirrels in Central Altai. It is located south of the North Chuysky ridge and below it: the average height is 3000-3500 meters, the maximum is 3967 meters (Irbistu peak). At the same time, the glaciation area on the South Chuysky ridge is larger: it includes 243 glaciers, occupying 222.8 square meters. km. But the main centers of glaciation do not belong to the Russian part (on our territory there are only the northern slopes of glaciers), but to the territory of China and Mongolia.

The mountainous region differs sharply from its neighbor in terms of landscapes: even lower level There are no extensive coniferous forests; thickets of dwarf birch and meadows predominate. The reason for this is local climate(geographical proximity to the Mongolian semi-deserts), characterized by low precipitation. From the peaks you can see harsh and breathtaking views for almost 50 km around: you can see the slopes, the Chui steppe and the surrounding ridges.

Numerous tributaries of the Dzhazator River and cold mountain rivers flowing towards Chuya (Chagan, Taldura, Tarkhata, Irbistu) originate on the ridge.

Sights of the South Chuya Range

The main attraction of the area is wildlife: mountain lakes, cascades of waterfalls, inaccessible cliffs and picturesque gorges.

Lakes Akkol and Karakul. Akkol is located at an altitude of 2279 m. It is almost 3 kilometers long and 400 meters wide. The water in the lake is milky in color, for this property it received the name “White”. The cloudy white color is a consequence of glacial feeding and low water circulation in the lake. Karakul is located 1.5 km from Akkol. The length of Karakul is 2 times smaller than Akkol - 1.2 km, the width of the lake is 300 meters. The lake is snow-fed, so the water here is crystal clear. Another interesting fact— the lake lies at an absolute altitude of 2300 meters.
Sofia Glacier. This is one of the most massive Altai glaciers. The coverage area is 17.6 km² and the length is 7.9 km. The top of the glacier is 2620 meters. IN summer time Hiking tours are organized to its foot.
Taldurinsky glacier. The largest glacier on the South Chuya Ridge. It covers an area of 28.2 sq. km, with a length of 7.5 km. The glacier has witnessed many historical events - during the time of the Great Migration of Peoples, one of the routes passed along it, and later caravans from India and China crossed it.

Flora and fauna

The fauna is very diverse, the habitat of animals is clearly divided by altitudinal zone: snow leopards (but they are extremely rare), yaks and Siberian mountain goats live in alpine meadows and rocky spurs. Below on the slopes live deer, wolves and brown bears. The steppe part is dominated by steppe eagles, gophers and marmots.

The flora of the South Chuya Range is represented mainly by medicinal herbs: valerian, motherwort, adonis.

Hiking along the South Chuysky ridge

The routes along the South Chuysky ridge are not very diverse. This is due to the fact that most of the pedestrian routes in Russian mountains was laid in Soviet times. And during this period, the territory of the South Chuya Range was a border zone; tour groups could not visit it.

How to get to the South Chuysky ridge in Altai

The main route from Gorno-Altaisk runs along R-256 (Chuysky tract) to the village of Kurai, then you need to leave the federal highway and cover a few more kilometers along Chuya. The further path depends on your route - you can take the dirt road to Beltir or further along the Chuysky tract to Chagan-Uzuna (this is more convenient for visiting the Taldurinsky glacier).

On a dirt road and off-road, you can get closer to the spurs of the South Chuysky Range only by off-road vehicle, but even in this case you will have almost a day of hiking at an active pace (on foot from 10 to 36 km, depending on the starting point). If your car is not ready to drive on a dirt road, it is better not to risk it - calling an emergency service will be problematic. Residents of the surrounding villages willingly offer their transfer services on SUVs. The cost depends on the casting distance and traffic conditions.

Scheme map car route from Gorno-Altaisk to the village of Kurai on Google. Maps

There is no public transport to the village. For tourists without a car, we recommend booking tours to the South Chuysky Range leaving from Barnaul/Gorno-Altaisk. You can also hitchhike - this is a fairly popular method of transportation in Altai. But, since the road is not close, keep in mind that you will have to catch more than one car, and the journey can last more than a day due to rare hitches in the southern part of Altai.

Video about climbing the South Chuysky ridge

The South Chuysky ridge is located (just don’t be surprised!) to the south. The ridges are separated from each other by the valley of the Karagem River. The length of the South Chuya Range from east to west is about 70 km. The peaks of the mountains have a height of almost 4 km, in particular the height of Iiktu is 3936 m, Dzhaniiktu is 3922 m. Some of the largest glaciers of the Altai Mountains lie on this ridge - the Sofia glacier in the Akkola valley and the Taldurinsky glacier in the Taldura valley. The South Chuysky ridge is less visited than the SCHH due to its greater distance from the Chuysky tract. From the Chuysky tract the peaks of the YuChKh are barely noticeable; they begin to be visible from the tract only from the village of Ortolyk. In addition to the valleys of Taldura and Akkola, tourists also visit the valleys of the Karaoyuk and Elangash rivers. In the valley of the Elangash River there is a road for good cross-country vehicles, such as the GAZ-66, but the Karaoyuk valley is almost unvisited, there is not even a visible path, and the places are mostly swampy. The most visited valley in the South China Sea is the Akkola Valley.

To get to the Taldura valley (Taldurinsky glacier, Iiktu peak) or the Akkola valley (Sofia glacier), you need to turn in Ortolyk towards Beltir. The village of Beltir was founded in 1922. Previously called Kyzyl-Many (red flag). It was a collective farm. They were engaged in raising livestock. In the river valleys that are nearby: Taldura, Akkol, Chagan, Karaoyuk, Elangash, many winter huts were built that have remained here since former times.

From the same times, roadways for UAZs and GAZ-66s have also been preserved. At the beginning of this century, a series of earthquakes swept through the area, the strongest measuring 9.5. The village of Beltir suffered more than others during the earthquake. All stone buildings collapsed. Later it was built new village Beltir, near Kosh-Agach. Part of the population moved to a new place, and part remained to live in the same place. Almost all wooden houses have been restored. The village is quite large. Many village residents have passable transport, and this can be used for further transportation to the glaciers.

On the maps the road to Beltir is marked from Chagan-Uzun, but no one travels along it now. Eat good road from Ortolyk - 29 km. The first 5 km are asphalt, then up to 17 km there is gravel, and then all the way to Beltir there is asphalt. Any car can pass.

Near the village, the Chagan River flows into the Taldura River, and further on the river is called Chagan-Uzun. Beltir means “confluence” (of two rivers). The altitude here is 1936 m. At the end of the village there is a bridge over the Chagan River, after the bridge the road goes to the right to the Taldurinsky glacier, and to the left to the Sofia glacier.

Good along the Taldura Valley the road goes to the Dzhelo River, a UAZ will reach it without any problems, at this place (to the right along the slope) the ascent to the Karagem Pass and further to the Karagem Glade begins. It doesn’t even make sense to try to drive to the Dzhelo River in ordinary passenger cars. 7 km from Beltir, on the left slope of the valley (in the direction of travel), you can see the consequences of the earthquake in 2003 - a section of the slope (approximately 1 × 0.9 km) along with the forest slid down, this place is now called Arka-Uzuk (“ forest torn down").

Further along the Dzhelo River along Taldura, it is better to drive a GAZ-66 or URAL. It’s even better to walk through the valley, it’s worth it. Moreover, the road is good everywhere. You are guaranteed to see edelweiss - small Altai miracle flowers. Local mountain landscapes, unlike SCHH, will greatly impress you with its diversity. A few kilometers before the last winter hut you will have to ford the Taldura River to the right bank, the maximum depth is slightly above the knee.

A couple of kilometers from the Taldurinsky glacier is the last winter hut in this valley; there are five of them in total. By car you can get to the last winter hut. Then you can walk to the Taldurinsky glacier, climb onto the glacier itself, or simply approach it. From here the Olga peaks and the highest point of the YuChKh - Iiktu 3936 m will be clearly visible. From Beltir to the Taldurinsky glacier is about 40 km.

The easiest route between the Taldura and Akkola valleys is through the Leningrad Pass 3300 m (1B) and further along the lake and the Tura-Okzh river to the Akkola valley.

If you go from Beltir to the left, towards the Sofia Glacier along the Chagan Valley, then the road will be even better than to Taldura. For the first 10 km it is generally perfectly flat and runs through the steppe, which here is more like a desert. Here you will meet mounds.

If you look at the slopes of the mountains, you can understand that they are smoothed by glaciers. This once again proves that the glacier once reached Beltir. Next will begin small mountains, and the road will pass by two lakes, Karakul (“clean”, “black”) and Akkul (“white”).

There are also winter huts here. You can get there by car (with a cross-country ability no less than a UAZ) only as far as the Tura-Oyuk River. And then in almost 2 hours you can walk to the Sofia Glacier. Those. Almost all the way to the glacier can be reached by car.

From Beltir to the Sofia Glacier is about 35 km. In front of the glacier, the moraine spilled big lake with muddy glacial water, and next to it there are many more small lakes, each in its own moraine bowl, and in each of them the water is of a different color, from black to light green.

But to see them, you will need to move to the right bank of the Akkol River, and the road always goes along the left bank. This can be done either by wading, or by walking to the glacier and using it to cross to the other side.

The easiest route between the Akkola and Karaoyuk valleys is through the Udachny pass 3000 m (1A) along the glacier of the same name.

There is a bridge at the confluence of the Akkola and Karaoyuka rivers on the Akkol River, but the river here spills into two branches, and one of them will have to be forded.

The South Chuysky ridge is located in the south of Altai, it is limited from the north by the Karagem, Ioldo-Ayry, Taldur rivers, and from the south by the Dzhazator river. In the east, its border conventionally runs along the Tarkhaty River, to which the Sailyugem Range adjoins, and in the west it is limited by the Argut River and the Katunsky Range. The South Chuya ridge stretches in an almost meridional direction for 90 km. Its western part is slightly north of the eastern one.

The South Chuya ridge is one of the three proteins of Altai, the other two proteins are the North Chuya ridge and the Katunsky ridge. Belki is an old name for white mountain ranges (that is, ridges with glaciers and eternal snow). They largely shape the microclimate in the area of the South Chuya Range. Humid air masses enter Altai from the west; the higher Katunsky and Severo-Chuisky ridges delay them, and therefore less precipitation falls on Yuzhno-Chuysky. However, there are enough of them to form large glaciers. All major glaciation covers the northern slopes of the South Chuya Range. The largest glaciers are Taldurinsky and Sofia. He was the first to discover and describe them in late XIX century Vasily Sapozhnikov - Russian scientist botanist and geographer. The Taldurinsky glacier, for a long time, was generally considered the largest glacier in the Russian Altai, but due to global warming, it divided and, as a result, lost its primacy.

The nature of the relief of the South Chuya ridge is alpine, with many outstandingly beautiful pointed alpine peaks. The main peaks of the South Chuya Range from east to west:
Irbistu (3967 m) is the highest point, Tymoin (3707 m) and Testoy (3868 m) in the same mountain unit; separate - Dzhaniiktu (3922 m), next to which there are the peaks Dzhaniktu (3716 m) and Ilyas (3746 m) in the main ridge; further Chuisky Peak (3777 m); in the upper reaches of the Sofia Glacier: Brother (3885 m), Ksenia (about 3500 m) and Sister (3750 m); in the upper reaches of the Taldurinsky glacier: Olga Vostochnaya (3735) and Olga Zapadnaya (3723), Iiktu (3941 m) - perhaps the most beautiful peak throughout the entire ridge; to the north of Iiktu is the peak Metallurg (3933m).
You can read about the history of the first ascents to the peaks of the South Chuya Range in the article.

Glaciers give rise to many rivers flowing from the South Chuya Range. The main ones are: Elangash, Karaoyuk, Akkol, Taldura, Oshtuairy, Meshtuairy, Bara, Tyun, Uzurgu, Tangyt, Tara. Also in the area of the South Chuysky ridge there is large lakes: Dzhankul (Dzhankol), Atkul (Atköl), Karakul (Karaköl), Akkul (Akköl), and many smaller ones.
Throughout the entire length of the South Chuysky ridge there is only one pass along which you can get from the southern part of the ridge to the northern part on horseback - this is the Azhu pass (2911 m). It has long been used by the local population, as evidenced by both the name (Azhu - a pass with a road) and the impressive oval mark on the pass itself.

The fauna of the South Chuya Range is diverse and determined various types landscape. The southern slopes are drier, with less water and forests than the northern ones. At high altitudes, in alpine meadows, the Siberian mountain goat is common, and in some places the snow leopard remains - the snow leopard. On northern slopes along the ridge, especially in the Karagema valley, deer are often found, and wolves and bears are everywhere. The order of rodents is also widely represented, the main representatives of which are the ground squirrel, the marmot and the haymaker. Among the birds of prey, the golden eagle, raven, and steppe eagle are widespread.

The tourist development of the South Chuysky ridge is lower than that of the North Chuysky and Katunsky ridges due to longer and less convenient access roads, as well as due to the fact that in Soviet times (and even now) the entire southern slope was part of the border zone , and to get there you need to get a pass. The most popular were two compact areas: the surroundings of the Iiktu peak with the Taldurinsky glacier and the Taldura River, and the surroundings of the Brat peak with the Sofia Glacier, the Akkol River, and Lake Akkul. These two areas are separated by a meridional ridge - the Taldurinskaya fence, through which there are several passes connecting them. Typically, these areas were visited by sports groups, which combined the South Chuysky ridge with the North Chuysky, or Katunsky in their route. The surrounding areas of the Dzhaniiktu and Irbistu peaks were visited less frequently, with the exception of the Azhu pass, popular with ordinary walking groups. The most western part the ridge in the vicinity of the Bara River, and the eastern one in the area of the Sebystei River, saw practically no tourists.
There is practically no commercial tourism on the South Chuya Ridge. In our opinion, it is undeserved, since this is one of the most beautiful and unlike anything else in Altai. We are trying to fill this gap and offer our own routes:

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