Passport

1. Section number according to KMGV — 2010 — 2.4. Central Caucasus, mountain region — Prielbrusye, Terskol gorge, SE spur of Elbrus
2. Names of peaks: Sarykolbashi-tersak (3776) — Sarykol (3700) Route: traverse from south to north
3. Category of complexity: 2B
4. Character of the route — rock.
5. Height difference of the route: 1376 m
6. Length of the route: 3320 m
7. Length of sections with the highest category of complexity:

Fig. 29

259. Sarykol — Mestia

(the route is combined, by D. Gudkov, category 2A, fig. 18, 29). The path from the Ullutau alpine camp (group of 4-8 people) to the Mestia saddle with an initial bivouac on the plateau or in the Adyrsu hut is described in route 247. At the Mestia saddle, turn left and along the snowy plateau (closed crevices) approach the right (southern) slopes of the Western ridge of Sarykol peak, bypassing the lower gendarmes. From the plateau:

• along a gently sloping wide snowy slope,
• then along the talus and easy rocks of the wide couloir on the right side of the Western ridge ("live" stones) ascent to the saddle of the Western ridge to the right and above the Big gendarme. On the saddle, turn right and along the snow-covered easy, местами simple rocks of the long gentle saddle of the Western ridge approach the summit ascent. From here:
• along a gently sloping ice-snow couloir,
• further along simple ruined rocks of the ascent ascend to the summit of Sarykol. From the plateau of the circus, 1.5-2 hours. On the summit of Sarykol, turn right, then a short descent along a simple ridge in the direction of Mestia peak. Further along a simple sharp destroyed rocky ridge approach the I gendarme. Along rocks of medium difficulty of the 40-50-meter wall, ascent (insurance with a rope) to the I gendarme. Along a heavily destroyed, местами sharp simple easy ridge with numerous gendarmes descend to the ridge. From the ridge, along simple rocks, ascent, then along a simple destroyed rocky ridge with several short ice-snow ridges (cornices) ascend to the summit of Mestia.

Sarykol-Bashi 3B cat. sl. traverse height 4,100 m.

The Sarykol-Bashi peak is located in the Main Caucasian Ridge between the Granovskogo Pass (to the north) and the Mestiyisky Pass (to the south). From the hut, we head in the direction of the Granovskogo Pass. After reaching the pass, we go right along a steep snowy couloir, with the gendarme of the first peak remaining on the left. Then we move up along a vaguely expressed rocky ridge. Along the northern ridge of the first gendarme, whose upper part we traverse to the left, and down the broken rocks to a saddle. From the saddle, we climb up along a steep snowy ridge, crossing a small section of rocks. The ascent to the second gendarme is done by traversing to the right along a vaguely expressed slab. Crossing an icy couloir, we reach an internal corner, ascending to the left along difficult rocks. 8–10 m before the peak, there is a control cairn. Descent along simple rocks to a snowy saddle, followed by a steep ascent along a snowy ridge; we traverse to the left and up, and ascend to the eastern peak along simple rocks. After descending from the eastern peak, we cross a saddle and ascend to a wall. We pass the wall on the right side along an internal corner with careful belaying. Behind the wall, we move right along a ledge to a slab-like ridge. After passing several gendarmes, we reach the main peak. Further on the descent:

• We pass two gendarmes (from the second gendarme, we organize a rope descent).
• We successively cross two ruined rocky couloirs.
• We reach a snowfield that leads to the Mestiyisky Plateau. In bad weather, one should beware of thunderstorm discharges on the ridge. Time estimate:
• From the hut to the Granovskogo Pass — 1–1.5 hours