First day of winter
The Urenga mountain range is the longest in the Chelyabinsk region - its length is 65 km. The ridge starts from the city of Zlatoust, named after St. John Chrysostom.
Climbing the highest of its 14 peaks - Gola Sopka on the first day of winter was supposed to be a simple walk, it would have been so if a snowstorm had not overtaken us after a serene ascent to the pass between the First and Second (Gola) hills and further ascent among the frosty and plastered snow-covered trees and snowdrifts forests on a mountain slope. In some places the snowdrifts were more than a meter high.
It was lucky that before us the path through the snowdrifts was laid by another group, which had arrived earlier from Chelyabinsk in two cars. They descended to meet us and warned of a snowstorm that began on the way to the rock at the top, open to all winds. We prepared as best as we could before heading out into the open wind kurumnik - a pile of rock fragments, but I really regretted that I had not stocked up on fur gloves - gloves did not save me from the piercing wind. The wind was blowing down, it was scary to step over, remaining at that moment on one leg. Four people climbed a rock at the top of a hill 1198 m high.
Most, like me, stopped on a plateau at the foot of the cliff - there were still a dozen meters up. - Hands already lost sensitivity.
Our traces of ten minutes ago were covered in places, but there were landmarks set earlier, apparently in the summer, by caring predecessors. The wind, although not so strong, accompanied us even after descending from the pass.
