NATURE OF RPIELBRUSYE
Prielbrusye is a centre of mountaineering, skiing, of summer and winter tourism.
Prielbrusye (Elbrus region) is the tourist name of the part of the Great Caucasus from the
western approaches to Mt. Elbrus up to the basin of the river Chegem in the east. Its southern
border passes along the Main Caucasian Range. It is a surprising place with majestic summits
coated with the ice caps, the picturesque gorges, numerous waterfalls and a mild mountain
climate has the status of the National Park. Here in the small territory presented all the
landscape and climatic zones typical of Russia and accordingly there are submitted
miscellaneous forms of flora and fauna, some species of which -endemics - meet nowhere else on the planet.
Prielbrusye has become one gigantic centre of tourism, mountaineering, skiing and
simply holidaymaking. Prielbrusye is a conventional name.
The borders of the area have been suggested by nature.
At a point beyond the
village Elbrus the highway enters a forest where tourist centers,
mountaineers' camps and sports schools stands amid the trees - this is where Prielbrusye starts,
and it ends, as conventionally with the
Azau glade.
The region is rich and varied. Here the tourist paths lead one through gorges, across mountain
passes to mountain lakes and unscalable cliffs; they start in the forest, in the damp, cold shade,
run crazily along the noisy streams to disappear amidst flowers, now lush in the alpine meadows,
now low-growing but immensely bright amidst the snows and screes. Alpine vegetation is very
beautiful and varied. Pine and birch woods grow to the 2,700-2,800 meters line, and individual
pines are found at a height of 3,000 meters. Higher are alpine meadows.
Prielbrusye becomes better equipped with every year. The sports complex on the slopes
of
Mount Cheget, a rocky spur between Elbrus and Donguz-Orun, is growing, with cableways,
hotels, cafes and shops. The
Terskol Tourist Centre is being extended - it along
accommodates over 11,000 holidaymakers annually. Terskol was one of the first
tourist centers built right in the mountains. Altogether, over 23,000 guests
stay every year in the tourist centers of Prielbrusye, while the cableways can
carry almost a million people annually.
Cableways functions the whole year round.
Prielbrusye means not only mountain skiing and holidaymaking, it is also rock-climbing
and mountaineering. That is why the number of alpine camps is crowing, with the older
ones being altered and extended. The development of the region brought with it a
number of new tasks, first of all the question of preserving the place unspoiled. Prielbrusye
must be preserved with its natural beauty untouched.
Avalanches
are a constant threat in the mountains. A special avalanche service was
set up to investigate and forecast avalanches. In designing mountain sport
complexes prime consideration is given to the danger of avalanches. The
suitability of the region for building and the accessibility of skiing tracks.
In some valleys of Prielbrusye there are more
300 solar days in a year. A large transparency
of an air and significant amount of the hours of solar radiance create fine weather conditions
in summer and winter. An average humidity makes 67-70 % and in a day time is reduced up to 47 %.
An average amount of precipitation is 620 mm per year and in some years it can grow up to 945 mm.
The snow cover is fixed in November, in the valley it lie approximately up to the middle of April, in
the alpine zone - till May - June. In a whole the Elbrus region is excreted with rather high daytime
temperature of an air though the average daily fluctuations can make 19 - 22 degree. The windy
mode varies very much from an altitude and the location of the place - from a usual calm at the
bottom of a valley up to the frequent hurricanes above than 4000 m. The tourists making an
ascent on Mt. Elbrus even in summer should be ready for an arctic chill and a high wind.
