"THE CAMPAIGN HAS A BEGINNING, AND THERE IS NO END TO THE CAMPAIGN!.."
Every year I go to the Crimea, go on mountain hikes. I always went with friends, but this year, when I had a vacation, there was no one to go with, and I can’t imagine summer without the Crimean mountains, and I began to look on the Internet for an opportunity to go with someone and learn how to work from the Alps equipment. I found a description of the routes I liked very much (if you are wondering where it is, you can write in a personal message) - hiking, extreme hiking and sports hiking, and my daughter and I chose an "extreme hike".
You can go hiking even if you have never been on a hike. The complexity of the transitions is low, it allows you to take children with you. During the trip, the participants, who did not know each other before, unite in one team, you can find friends for many years.
Extreme hiking - hiking with elements of hiking, mountain and caving. You will be able to visit the hard-to-reach beautiful places of the Crimea, learn how to work with alpine equipment, an experienced instructor will help you. A person who has never gone hiking can go on an extreme hike, but it is better to have experience of weekend hikes, go on a simple hiking trip first.
If you like simple hiking trips, it's great to go on longer expeditions as well. You can choose a sports trip (trekking category 1 - more than 130 km in 6-9 days). When passing a sports trip of the 1st category, if desired, participants receive a sports category book, in which children receive 1 youth sports category, and adults - 3 sports category for tourism. Then you can go on a sports trip of the 2nd category. So, step by step, you can find yourself with true friends, anywhere in the world, on expeditions lasting several months.
Now about our trip-
"THE CAMPAIGN HAS A BEGINNING, AND THERE IS NO END TO THE CAMPAIGN! . . "
We arrived in Simferopol at night, went to bed on the benches next to the fountain at the station, there were wonderful roses, station cats and dogs around... We woke up in the morning, hearing the battle cry of Simferopol cats from the bushes, and went to the meeting place with our group.
For the first time I went on a hike with strangers and was delighted to see our group. I thought that those who go hiking are already close to each other with their love for the mountains. We met. Andrei took out a guitar and delighted us with songs. Our wonderful instructor - Sergey Zaporozhchenko, and with him - a constant participant in the campaigns shepherd Taya!
We left Simferopol. We got to the place where our first camp will be located.
And here it is - the Karabi plateau!
We were greeted by the variety of colors of herbs and their unusual smells.
Karabi is "an amazing place with more than 250 caves, wells and mines, two of which are among the three deepest mines in Ukraine (the depth of the Nakhimov mine is almost 400 m, the Soldatskaya mine is 515 m)". The plateau is very popular among cavers. Many caves are accessible without special equipment.
Today we are going to descend on ropes into the 30-meter gap of the Big Buzluk cave ("Big Ice")! Instructor Sergey tells how to handle alpine equipment. I have been hiking since childhood, but like almost all the members of our group, I have never worked with ropes before. I always looked at the equipment with delight, and now you can put all this beauty on yourself and try it in action! We go down, first along the ropes, and then without them, deep into the cave, with flashlights!
The depth of this cave is 81 m, the entrance to it is a karst funnel with a diameter of about 20 m, a beech grows inside the funnel. At a depth of 35 - 40 m there is an extensive grotto. In the lower part of the cave there is a deep, 19 m, well with a diameter of 0.5 m, along the bottom of which an ice-free stream flows. Melt water flows through a funnel from the surface and freezes again on the walls and floor of the mine. Garlands of ice stalactites and stalagmites merge into an ice column, the degree of glaciation of the cave varies from year to year, but snow and ice never completely disappear. Here is the "oldest" snow and ice in the Crimea, the age of snow reaches two years, ice - 50 years. Wild pigeons live in the cave.
They climbed up without ropes. They climbed and went up, one after another, shining headlamps. It was getting dark, stars appeared in the sky, which seemed, in comparison with the stars of the Moscow sky, huge... The light of our lanterns and stars merged...
Returning to the camp, we lit a fire, had dinner, and the guitar sang...
And when the sun rises in the mountains, I want to get up with it! The second day of the hike was also speleological - almost 40-meter descent into the mine. Krubera and cave walks.
The mine is located near Bolshoy Buzluk, it is named after the physicist-geographer A. A. Kruber, the founder of Russian and Soviet karstology. Its depth is 62 m, length is 342 m. The entrance funnel, located on the top of the hill, passes into a 36-meter well.
The second descent... At the top, the walls of the well are covered with thick beautiful moss...
Having gone downstairs, we go with Sergey to fantastically beautiful galleries, fabulous halls, we see natural sculptures of stunning forms, baths with water, lakes. . .
This cave has long been considered the most beautiful mine in Karabi.
The cave is striking in its beauty: drops, multi-colored stalactites and stalagmites, deep cracks and narrow manholes leading into halls with fantastic decoration of the vaults.
We came to an underground lake with clean water, hands cannot be said to be very clean - after all, we climb in a cave, and there is no mug - well, whoever wanted to, lapped their tongues.
Climbing up - on the ropes, Sergey tells how crawl and jumar work, and we master the lifting technique.
The next day we go to the Kara-Tau ridge and see the "stone waves" of Karabi from a height!
In the morning we set up camp, and at the beginning of the journey we examined another wonderful small cave - them. Mom. It is named after its discoverer, geologist, karst explorer. This cave can be entered without equipment, taking only lanterns. The entrance to it is in a deep funnel, under a sheer wall. You need to go down a rather narrow five-meter manhole in order to find yourself later in the halls that adorn the incrustations, openwork partitions from the rows of merged stalactites.
Bats live in this cave, as in many others.
The cave is also extremely beautiful.
Having made the transition, we reach the top of the Kara-Tau mountain. At the top there is an obelisk in honor of the soldiers who died here in 1941. Sergei shows us another cave, located 150 meters from the top - Terpi-Koba ("tepe" - "top", and "koba" - "cave"), you can also go down into it without ropes. The cave consists of several halls located at different levels and connected by narrow passages. It stretched underground for almost 100 meters.
Water, which has been dissolving rocks for thousands of years, created this fairy tale. Growing continuously, over the centuries, towards each other, stalactites and stalagmites, striving towards each other, merge with each other, either forming pillars or columns of a bizarre shape, or blocking the caves into separate chambers.
Each of the caves gave the feeling of a fairy tale, a miracle that could be nearby. Walks through the underground palaces of Nature, galleries and halls, illuminated by our lanterns, were fantastically beautiful.
Then we go through the forest, then through open places - and ahead we can see the sheer cliffs that we are striving for - and we get to the place of our next overnight stay and the next descent.
And, probably, everyone felt that the descents had become something familiar. The rappel from a steep cliff towards the beech trees is a lot of fun. Then we climb the rope - and we are upstairs again, make a fire and cook dinner, and the guitar sings.
And here we are again gathering the camp and saying goodbye to this wonderful place to find out how beautiful the crossing over the abyss is.
We go out to the Tyrke plateau and admire the rocky cliffs of the Khap-Khal gorge, overgrown with pines. Sergei and the guys are carefully preparing the crossing. Sergey says that two ropes can support not only one person here, but even a load of 4 tons!
Rope crossing over the abyss - what a beauty! - between heaven and earth, we wave our hands to the guys and see beautiful panoramas from above!
After such an exciting stage - one more transition - to the tourist camp Dzhurla.
"Dzhurla" in translation from Tatar - "running". This is the name of several very beautiful low cascades in the upper reaches of the Sotera River. Starting from a small spring at the top of the valley, the river flows down to the sea, overcoming the rapids of the Demerdzhi-yayly rocks…
And here is the last night together. Last night by the fire. . .
In the morning, along the paths of the slopes of Demerdzhi, we descend to the village of Radiant, and ahead is the sea!
“The campaign has a beginning, but there is no end to the campaign! ”
Thanks for these wonderful days - our wonderful instructor Sergey Zaporozhchenko, the wonderful shepherd Taya, the creators of the sites who helped us get together in a group and be together! The sun and the mountains of Crimea, you will remain in memory, in photographs, and most importantly - in your heart!
Arriving home, we look at the photos, where -
"We are back in Karabi - and it's a holiday!
Where thyme blooms again in July,
Where the wind blew our memory from the hills,
Where the truth is simple and flawless
When you sit by the fire with friends -
“Where the stone waves of Karabi run into the sea! ”
