Sacred Lake Itkul. A bizarrely shaped rock not far from Kyshtym

What's in Chelyabinsk region. Numerous legends are associated with it.

The entrance to the cave gapes in blackness on the mountainside, not far from the Ai River. To get to it, you have to climb a steep slope. The entrance to the Averkin pit is impressive! The walls of the karst funnel end vertically downwards into a deep well. The depth of the vertical well is 21 meters, the hole dimensions are 2x3 meters. Be careful not to accidentally slip and fall.

There is a log thrown over the entrance well, to which you can attach a rope to go down. You can only go down into the cave using ropes if you have the appropriate experience. Thanks to this, the cave is relatively protected from random onlookers. Therefore, the vaults of the cave are almost not smoked by torches.

The entrance to the cave looks most impressive from the inside. Everything around is dark and cold, and above there is a blue sky and tree crowns.

The length of the cave is 130 meters, depth is 28 meters. The cave has two large grotto and several narrow passages. The grottoes are connected by a 12-meter manhole.

There are beautiful sagging in the cave. There are also small lakes in the cave. The cave always has a positive temperature (+4+5°C) and high humidity. It is a wintering site for bats.

It is interesting that from the bottom of the well to the horizontal part of the cave (to the lake) there is a staircase made of stones.

The origin of the name of the cave is curious. She is associated with the Old Believer hermit Averky, who hid in a cave in the 19th century. According to another version of the legend, Averky was an escaped convict hiding from the authorities. They said that his nostrils were torn and one eye was gouged out. One way or another, according to local legends, they helped him local residents who brought food. Some even considered him a saint. Some called him the Ural Rasputin.

Subsequently, Averky disappeared, his fate is unknown.

A legend was born that Averky hid gold in the cave and blocked the passage with stones. And there are also legends about Pugachev’s gold hidden here (how could we not!) and about the counterfeiters hiding there. Many, inspired by the legends, searched for the treasure, but, of course, without success.

At the bottom of the well there are many fallen logs and branches. Interestingly, when clearing the entrance well in the 1990s, enthusiasts found ancient forged nails. They also found a log with a hollowed out core, apparently used for a drainage system.

Dolgov in the article “Journey to the “Holy Fathers”” (Zlatoust district newspaper “Proletarskaya Mysl” for July 3, 1924) wrote:

“The Aili youth decided on June 15, and on June 29 carried out an excursion to the Ai River and to the Averkin Cave... The guys created a company that stocked up on kerosene, candles, ropes, bread and everything necessary for traveling underground.

Arriving at the cave, the youth tied a block to a log above the hole and began to descend along it on a rope. At first it was creepy: they frightened us with snakes and various monsters. The entrance to the cave is a round hole an arshin and a half in diameter, then wider and wider. At the very depths of this natural well there is a lot of different debris piled up: sticks, logs, stones. Without a lantern, without a candle, it is impossible to get further. And at a depth of 10 fathoms the following picture appears: from a narrow stone entrance there is a stone staircase, then a vast stone room... There are boards from the door, a working wooden machine, and a bed lying around. The iron brackets from the door and the tin pipe still remain. There are many bones, including human ones...

Time takes its toll - everything collapsed, fell asleep underground stone, sand and clay, but old-timers say that not so long ago (50 years ago) a schismatic hermit lived in this cave. The bread was lowered into the top hole. Sometimes he himself went out, but so that no one would see. He had female acquaintances who sometimes stayed with him “in fasting and prayer” or took a “holy” walk through the forest.”

And here is what the discoverer of the Zyuratkul geoglyph, Alexander Shestakov, writes:

“In the cave there are man-made stairs carved into the rock. Legend has it that the escaped convict Averkiev lived there. This cannot be, since the entrance to the cave is a 20-meter vertical well. Averkiev could not enter the cave in those years.

My guess is that at the beginningIn the 18th century, merchants forced monks into the cave so that they would reveal the secret of the science of stone. To avoid hypothermia, the monks cut step by step. Soon the monks broke down.

The first quarry of those years was right on the mountain, above the cave. It has long been overgrown with trees. Since then, the stone cutting business of the Satka region has been put on stream...”

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The Averkin Yama Cave is a geological and geomorphological natural monument of the Chelyabinsk region (since 1987). Near the cave flows a stream with clean spring water - Vinokurny (or Vinokurenny) spring.

How to get to the Averkin Yama cave

The Averkin pit is located on the left bank of the Ai River, in the Satka district of the Chelyabinsk region, three kilometers south of the village Old Pier.

The cave can be visited while rafting on the Ai River or by car to the Old Pier.

GPS coordinates of the Averkin Pit: N 55º 12.113´; E 58º 53.523´.

There is a well-trodden path leading to the cave, which begins a little downstream from Vinokurny Klyuch. The entrance to the cave suddenly opens on a small area in the middle of the forest.

© Pavel Raspopov

Averkin pit from the inside

It was the beginning of April 1966, when I, with my volunteer assistants, tenth-graders Volodya Trapeznikov and Sasha Efremov, began to examine the Averkin pit. When we approached, the edges of the well were covered with frost crystals, and moisture was drawn from the depths. We blocked the gap with two logs, built a flooring from boards, and began lowering a homemade wicker staircase. 10 meters... 12... 15... Only at the 20th meter did our ladder let us know that it had reached something. They secured it and I began to descend.

After about five meters there was a ledge. It became gloomy, so I turned on the flashlight. A light spot of sky was already barely visible overhead. The walls shone a little from the drops of water. A few more minutes passed until my legs felt support. He turned on two flashlights at once and looked around. My assistants came down after me.

There’s a log block ahead,” said Volodya, who had been here before. - Look how many logs and poles there are! How the cave was littered.

Squeezing between slippery, half-rotten trunks, we climbed out into the first grotto.

“Stone stairs,” Volodya said.

Steps made of stone went down. We walked along the stairs to the southern wall of the grotto, turned, and walked along the stone corridor.

The first grotto was large. White icicle stalactites hung from its ceiling. Here and there bats hung upside down on ledges. They wrapped themselves in their membraned wings, like cloaks. The mice were still in their hibernation season. With the arrival of spring, they will wake up and unmistakably find their way to the surface.

Climbing back up the stairs, we examined the western side, where the second part of the grotto led, walked through a low corridor, and came out to an underground lake. The water in it turned out to be very clear and clean. But the grotto narrowed further and turned into a tight hole with two side branches that ended in dead ends and crevices.

On the way back, Volodya and Sasha found the bones of some animals in the first grotto. Upon examination, it was found that among them there were teeth of domestic goats and sheep.

On the way to Averka Pit

It has now been established that the cave was named after the schismatic Kerzhak Averky, who appeared on the shores of Ai over a hundred years ago. He lived in this cave for several years and then suddenly disappeared. This disappearance caused a lot of rumors.

In 1974, the newspaper “Satkinsky Rabochiy” published an ancient Aylin legend called “The Golden Tragedy”, in which the events also concerned the Averkin Cave. Heated debates erupted as to whether this was true or false. Everyone who knew at least something or had heard about the secrets of the cave, and those who knew nothing at all, argued.

But relatively recently we managed to discover interesting material about the cave - Dolgov’s article “Journey to the “Holy Fathers”,” published in the Zlatoust district newspaper “Proletarskaya Mysl” on July 3, 1924. It says, in particular:

“On June 15, the Aili youth decided, and on June 29, carried out an excursion to the Ai River and to the Averkin Cave... The guys created a commission that stocked up on kerosene, candles, ropes, bread and everything necessary for traveling underground.

Arriving at the cave, the youth tied a block to a log above the hole and began to descend along it on a rope. At first it was creepy: they frightened us with snakes and various monsters. The entrance to the cave is a round hole an arshin and a half in diameter, then wider and wider. At the very depths of this natural well there is a lot of different debris piled up: sticks, logs, stones. Without a lantern, without a candle, it is impossible to get further. And at a depth of 10 fathoms the following picture appears: from a narrow stone entrance there is a stone staircase, then a vast stone room... There are boards from the door, a working wooden machine, and a bed lying around. The iron brackets from the door and the tin pipe still remain. There are many bones, including human ones...

Time takes its toll - everything collapsed, was covered with underground stone, sand and clay, but old-timers say that not so long ago (about 50 years) a schismatic hermit lived in this cave. The bread was lowered into the top hole. Sometimes he himself went out, but so that no one would see. He had female acquaintances who sometimes stayed with him “in fasting and prayer” or took a “holy” walk through the forest.”

Ai River Valley

But Elena Mikhailovna Shlyapina, a resident of Ailino (maiden name Sosnina), stated something else:

“He was not a Kerzhak at all. He was a Tatar. His nostrils were torn and one eye was gouged out. He was black-faced and had a thick beard. Averky was a horse thief and he was sent to prison, but he escaped and hid here. The brothers Savva and Joseph Sosnin said that Averky left the cave secretly, wandered through the forests, and was engaged in robbery. He was caught stealing horses, tied up, and handed over to the police. Then he appeared in these places again, the Ailin men saw him near Vinokurny Stream. He was sitting on a rock, he was thin and barefoot. Since then he has disappeared forever."

What to believe? There was, after all, another opinion, according to which the Sosnins greeted the stranger for a reason, not out of kindness or common faith. According to this version, Averky brought gold from Siberia, and this is what attracted the attention of rich men. It was also alleged that the lonely old man was a “damned adulterer”; not only widows, but also nuns from the monastery allegedly visited him in his cave.

Among the surrounding residents there were also those who seriously believed that the gold was hidden by Averky in secret passage, since there was a passage, and after the disappearance of this strange man it turned out to be walled up. It seems they have been searching for the treasured treasure for a long time, but to no avail. Even the author of this essay found a bent crowbar and a rusty shovel in the cave. Isn't this evidence of searches? Nowadays, of course, no one is looking for gold anymore, but speleologists and tourists have tried to find the buried passage more than once.

So, as we see, everything is the same - rumors, assumptions. Then, in July 1924, a teacher, a doctor, even “a cell of the RCP, a sex offender” visited the cave, not to mention Komsomol members. But, as the newspaper admits, “the main goal of the excursion, the study of stalactites, was not achieved, since everyone became interested internal device underground housing."

So what emerged from this whole story? It is clear that Averky is not a fictitious person, he lived in a cave alone, worked there, probably hid from the authorities, he was supported by the Sosnins, and then for some reason he disappeared. All this happened at the end of the last century. This is the story of a hermit, whom someone even hastened to call “the Ural Rasputin.”

Already in the early 90s, students from school No. 13 began cleaning the entrance well of the Averkiev Yama cave. The entrance well, as mentioned, is littered with tree trunks. But the guys were not only pursuing an environmental goal. The bottom of the entrance well is under a flooring made of logs, branches, earth, and among the boards there are forged nails, they don’t make those anymore. And somehow they pulled out a log with a hollowed out core, which clearly served as a gutter for water drainage. And who knows what else will be discovered there?

Averkiev Yama Cave, or as it is popularly called - Averkin Cave, is one of the most mysterious and mysterious places Southern Urals. Located on the banks of the Ai River. The entrance to the cave is an almost vertical 20-meter drop. The walls of the karst funnel end vertically downwards into a deep well.

Inside there are two grotto rooms, as well as underground lake with potable water. So far, it has been possible to study about 100 meters of the underground passages of the cave, but they claim that the size of the cave is significantly larger.

The cave is named after the schismatic Kerzhak Averky, who appeared on the shores of Ai over 100 years ago. He lived in this cave for several years and then suddenly disappeared. There are other legends that Averky was an escaped convict hiding from the authorities. One way or another, according to local legends, he was helped by local residents who brought food. Some even considered him a saint. Some called him the Ural Rasputin. According to another well-established opinion, the remnants of Pugachev’s army hid here until their death. The gold stolen by Emelyan Pugachev was hidden here. They even say that ancient coins were found in Averkiev Yama.

The cave is located three kilometers from the Old Pier on the left bank of the Ai River in a wooded mountainside. A little further down the river there is Sandy Island on the so-called White Ford near a stormy riffle.

The entrance to the cave is invisible; you need to look for it from the Aya floodplain, 300 m up the Vinokurenny Spring, to which the cave owes its origin. The underground cavity is interesting in its structure. A vertical hole measuring 2 by 3 m opens right in the mountainside, into which you have to descend to a depth of 20 m. In the cave, as already mentioned, there are two quite spacious grottoes. Both have uneven floors, covered with detrital limestone mixed with clay. In the first grotto there is a small shallow lake, in the second too, but it appears only in the spring. Its depth reaches 1.5–2 m, length is about 10 m, width - 6 m. The length of the second grotto is 24 m, width - 12 m, height - 6 m and higher. This grotto ends with three dead-end passages 8–15 m long. Both grottoes are connected by a 12-meter manhole. The total length of all cave passages is about 130 m. The greatest depth of the cave cavity is 28 m. The cave is damp and the air humidity is excessive. The temperature is always positive.

The Mystery of Averkin Cave

For more than a hundred years, the secrets of the Averkin cave-pit have worried the residents of the surrounding villages - Staraya Pristan, Verkhneaiskaya, Ailino, Vanyashkino and Novaya Pristan.

It has now been established that the cave was named after the schismatic Kerzhak Averky, who appeared on the shores of Ai over a hundred years ago. He lived in this cave for several years and then suddenly disappeared. This disappearance caused a lot of rumors.

According to another well-established opinion, the remnants of Pugachev’s army hid here until their death. The gold stolen by Emelyan Pugachev was also hidden here. They even say that ancient coins were found in the Averka pit. By the way, it is possible that it is still stored in secret passages caves.

After the Pugachevites (the place was already fully equipped for life), hermits settled here. One of them was the already mentioned elder Averkia (the cave was named after him). In addition, there were rumors that an escaped convict lived in the cave. Moreover, it is curious that residents of local villages attributed to him an inhuman passion for women and constant love affairs with the inhabitants convent. In general, a kind of first Ural Macho.

In 1924, the first official expedition was sent to the cave. There they found a dilapidated stone staircase, a wooden door, a wooden machine of unknown purpose, a bed and many bones, including human ones. Later, the remains of an ancient wooden pipeline were found in the Averka Pit.

Additional facts

1) It is known for certain that the cave has several more exits, but they are covered with heavy boulders. They say in Soviet era, two young guys, interested in the history of Averkina Yama, found one of these exits and, driving a tractor, managed to move the stone. However, the happiness of the guys did not last long, one went crazy from what he saw in the cave, and the second from the stress he experienced was forever speechless.

2) According to some reports, the cave was a lair for counterfeiters of the 18th century. And the found wooden machine was precisely intended for creating counterfeit money.

How to get to Averkin Cave

From Chelyabinsk to the regional center of Satka by bus, from Satka by bus to the village of Ailino, then on foot.

Due to the fact that it is quite difficult to discover the entrance to the cave and enter it on your own, tours to the cave are organized with the participation of professional speleologists and local guides.

How to get there: from Chelyabinsk we go to Satka, and from there to the village of Telmana, then on foot.

Accommodation: you can stay in the city of Satka - in apartments in the Western microdistrict, 15 (price - 3 thousand rubles per day) or in guest house on Torgovaya street, 6 (1.6 thousand rubles). On the Ai River there is a recreation center “Dry Waterfalls”, where you can order rafting (website - dry-waterfalls.rf; attic for 6 people - 2.4 thousand rubles per day, cottage for 14 people - 4 thousand rubles). In addition, in the summer on the left bank of the Ai River there is a tent camping"Ai Valley" (phone: 8-982-307-51-58).