After the couloir, traversing left upwards the scree slopes, we come to a destroyed counterfort of yellowish color. On the left (in the direction of travel) side of this counterfort, on the border of rocks and snow, we move straight up to the exit to the main ridge, leading to the summit.
The ridge is snow-rocky, heavily destroyed, in some places under the snow, there is ice. The path along the ridge is unambiguous and leads straight to the summit "feathers". On the ridge, there are several small gendarmes, overcome head-on, and two are bypassed on the left.
When bypassing gendarmes, the insurance is hook-type. Under the snow, ice is possible.
There are several large cornices on the ridge, hanging over the right (in the direction of travel) slopes of the ridge.
The ridge leads to the white summit "feathers".
The "feathers" are easily destroyed steep pillars made of fragile white limestone. They rise about 15–20 meters above the ridge.
At their base, there is a lot of sand that has fallen from the slopes.
Here on the wall, where the ridge "rests":
- a memorial plaque to Elvira Shataeva
- a control tour
From the bivouac here it takes 7–8 hours.
The descent is via the ascent route. The descent takes about 3 hours.
Equipment used by the group during the ascent:
- Main rope — 3 × 40
- Hammer — 1 pc
- Ice axes — 5 pcs
- Ice screws — 2 pcs
- Rock hooks — 6 pcs
Conclusion on the route
The route to the peak of Elvira Shataeva is a combined path of considerable length.
The route is interesting for the variety of mountain relief encountered on the way.
From the summit, there is a good view of the huge peaks of the Akademii Nauk Ridge.
According to the main technical difficulty, the route can be classified as a 3B category complexity route (classification 25, 4000 ÷ 426 а 23/6В — 76:J)
GROUP LEADER, MASTER OF SPORTS OF THE USSR KOVTUN V.G.