village Bezengi |
village Bezengi |
village Bezengi |
way to camp Bezengi |
way to camp Bezengi |
river Bezengi |
BEZENGI REGION
The Caucasus is a vast mountain area consisting of many ranges. It stretches for 1,500
kilometers from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea.
Among the mountain ranges practically parallel to one another, the principal one,
the axis of the whole Caucasus is the Main Range whose highest peaks reach over 5000 meters.
These are: Dykh-Tau, Koshtan-Tau, Shkara and other giants. 8 summits in the Caucasus are five
thousand meters high. All of them accept two, Elbrus and Kazbek, are situated in the Bezengi area.
There is a
bus route along the Besengi Cherek (river). The local bus leisurely
ascends the mountain road, lunching over potholes and at turns,
taking its passengers through woods down to the damp cold of
the noisy river or ups above it in a cloud of dust, bringing
the passengers to their destination, the village of Besengi.
From there goes a dirt road which ends at the mountaineering
camp "Besengi". Many more things had ended even earlier: the
heat and dust of civilization, shops and cinemas.
There are
no woods there. Instead there are huge mountains, ice and the
roaring water. There is also the famous Besengi Wall - the 13
kilometers of ice, snow and cliffs rising to a height of four
thousand meters. Even the very names of its peaks sound mysterious,
far removed from the fuss of everyday life, and seem to carry
one into a stern pure warld: Lyalver - 4,350; Gestola - 4,860;
Katyn-Tau - 4,986; Jangi-Tau - 5,040 and 5,051; the Peak of
Shota Rustaveli - 4,960; Shkhara - 5,201.
It is here that the Besengi Cherek (river), also known as the Khulam Cherek, rises from the 12-kilometre Besengi glacier,
the longest in the Caucasus, and the entire gorge is known as the Khulamo-Besengi Gorge. From the camp the climbers go
on specially graded training routes and ascents, and the beginners train closer to the camp. In this forbidding region back
in 1935 the first ever school of mountaineering in the Soviet Union was organized.
The summits of the Besengi Range are
within the reach of experienced climbers able to track long, difficult routs. In addition to Russian climbers, Besengi attracts
many from other countries, who come to attack the peaks or for contests in rock-climbing and in rescue operations.
way to camp Bezengi |
way to camp Bezengi |
camp Bezengi |
camp Bezengi |
