Northern Ural is not only the area , where strange and mistic things like well-known Dyatlov Pass incident were going on. It is also a perfect destination for Green vacations , adventure travels , biodiversity and geohistory exploring...
How to get to the heart of the Northern Ural mountains , to reach the highest mountain Telpos Iz and then to visit the coldest inhabited place in Europe will be told below.
How to get to the highest
mount in the Northern Ural and make it adventurous
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double-headed top of the Telpos-iz ridge
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Telpos - iz
mountain ridge is situated near banks of the Shchuger river in the area of its
headwaters.
According to territorial subdivisions, pre- Polar Ural meets Northern Ural here. Shchuger river area presently is a part of
the Yugyd Va National Park, founded in
1994.
Telpos - iz mount is known from the times
immemorial, as the great trade route run
past this locality, connecting Europe and Siberia.
The name of the mountain means '' wind
nest" in the Komi language. P.
Sorokin (1910) reproduced the following
legend : " The Komi people believed that nobody could climb to its top.
One Samoyed ventured, and was lost there, because the God Shua lives there, who
loathes noise and does not allow people to break into his home."
The best way to get to this cult place is rafting
down the Shchuger river from its headwaters. This raft trip is one of water
routs available in the Yugyd Va National Park.
We experienced this trip in Summer 2011 and were greatly impressed. Due to time limitations and spoilt weather we
couldn't climb the legendary mountain.
So, we will try it again in the forthcoming Summer 2013 season.
( photo
above showing main top of Telpos- Iz
taken from the site of confluence Shchuger river and its tributary Torgovaya)
Headwaters of Shchuger river
Shchuger headwaters are between the mountain
ridges in a deep valley and the course of the river is relatively wide and
calm.
On the extent of about 100 km, the river is
flowing in the northern direction, right along the Natural Europe/Asia border.
Picturesque mountain landscape is everywhere around.
There are
lower terraces on the banks of the river, where it is quite comfortable to make
a stop and pitch a camp.
Having reached its right-side tributary Torgovaya ( Khatamaljya) the river abruptly
turns to the west. Then, having bent the Shakhtarov mount from the north ,
Shchuger approaches tightly to the Telpos Iz range
So, it is possible to go climbing Telpos- Iz mount in the area of Durnoy- Yol creek.
Nothern
Ural mountains look different depending on the time of day. Compare the similar
landscape view shot at sunset and in the morning.
Soon, after
the confluence with Telpos river , the course of Shchuger goes away from the
Telpos Iz ridge.
Then, Paleozoic rocks exposures begin to
occur on the river banks
On the
photo above Limestone Boulder of Lower
Carboniferous Age.
Cliffs of Carboniferous rocks form so called Upper, Middle and Lower Gates
- Natural creatures of the unique beauty.
Cliffs of Carboniferous
Limestone in the Upper Gates
Middle Gates composed of the
rocks of Upper Carboniferous Age.
Lower Gates
Russian
writer Arsenyev ,1885 gave the following description of the Lower Gates beautiful scenery:
"...starting from the narrowest place, each next limestone stratum of the
gates is more sideward than the preceding one and as a result the gates seem to
be made of natural coulisses. The strata are bare, smooth and dazzling white,
but where adjacent to each other, in the limited space of crevices and cracks,
running down are the green strips of sward and shrubs, decorating the white
walls with natural garlands... The sombre sheer rocks are studded with murky cracks
and brooks running out of them.
Through the narrow aperture of the gates,
like a stone frame, the smooth broad plain of the river can be seen on the other side. Over the
stretch in front of the gates, the river widens into a magnificent wide mirror-like
basin, fringed with enormous coniferous forest."
The mouth of Shchuger river is 14 miles
down the river from the Lower Gates.
Anyone wishing to join our boat trip down the Shchuger river in the forthcoming Summer Season 2013 feel free to contact.
As an option , a few days vacations can be provided in the ancient village Ust- Shchuger with staying in the village houses.
Ust- Shchuger village known as the coldest inhabited place in Europe is situated near the mouth of the Shchuger river and is the terminus of floating rout down the Shchuger river.
