Mount Belukha: one snowball - four corpses. Rescuing violators from the ice trap of Belukha: the story of rescuers On the reverse side of the badge is a serial number

One of the biggest stupidities in the tasks assigned to us was the work on Belukha (the highest point of Altai, 4.506 m). When we got to it, the snow lay, starting with a thousand and a half. Larisa sent a radiogram to Biysk with a request to cancel the work due to a large layer of snow, avalanche danger, etc.

We were reminded of our duty to the Motherland. Larisa did everything right: she tried to mitigate her responsibility for the accidents that she foresaw. Fate decreed that everything worked out for us. Other people have died.

At altitudes of more than three thousand, the layer of snow exceeded 1.5 meters. Below we did it in about a week, although five more men from another detachment were transferred to help us. I had to dig holes in the snow to get to the ground and take metal measurements, and it was desirable to bring the probe of the radiometer closer to the soil.

When we got to 1,500, we were allowed to thin the grid, but continued to demand that we shoot all the way to the top.

Two stationary camps were organized: one at the edge of the snow at one and a half thousand, and the second at three. A path about one meter wide was cut from one camp to another so that a horse under packs could pass along it. The trail meandered from the lower camp to the upper one, and at the height of the upper camp it went horizontally. The length of this "shelf" was 150-200 meters. There were radios in both the upper and lower camps.

Every morning, at dawn, I loaded onto Isterika everything that the guys in the upper camp needed (there were eight of the strongest and most experienced men) and went upstairs. Late in the evening I went downstairs with samples. It was necessary to go through the snow (especially the ledge) while it was frozen.

Several days passed and in the first half of the day a group of mountain tourists from Novosibirsk came to the lower camp. There were eight of them: five men and three girls. They pitched a camp away from ours. According to their route map, they had to climb to the top of Belukha. I was not present at the meeting, because I was in the upper camp, but Natasha later told me that they explained the whole danger of the route to the guys and offered to wait for me and go to the upper camp together in the morning. I repeat, I knew nothing about tourists. Somewhere around four o'clock in the afternoon we, in the upper camp, heard the sound of an avalanche, but did not attach any importance to this: avalanches came down often. At the beginning of the eighth I moved "home". I reached the "shelf" - there is no "shelf": it was blown away by an avalanche. I returned to the camp and told Brekhov: "Get in touch, you have to dig the shelf in the morning - it's blown away!" Volodya called Larisa, and she asked: "Do you have tourists?" "What tourists?" Larisa told. Both we and they rushed to the "shelf". We got there in 15 minutes, and walked from the bottom for almost an hour. They started screaming. Someone responds, but it's very quiet, and it's already dusk. Hard to see. Only those who lived then know what pocket flashlights of the 1960 edition are. Light from them, like from a candle - to light up the tent.

Why didn't anyone else die that night? Heaven saves fools ... Everyone climbed into the avalanche (or rather, into its frozen trail). Brekhov insisted that everyone tie a three-meter halyard to their belt, in case the avalanche started again and felled someone. We started from the shelf and went down. There are no probes, no light ... About an hour later, three hundred meters below the shelf, we found two. Alive and not very broken. Guy and girl. Found only because they lay practically uncovered. They let the guys down to the lower camp, and then Larisa demanded that everyone go to bed - in the morning they would look again, but there was no strength left.

By some miracle, we managed to contact Kosh-Agach, and we were promised a helicopter with rescuers and equipment in the morning.

We went out to the slope still dark. A couple of people on horseback with axes were sent to the nearest forest to chop sticks - probes. When the helicopter arrived at about eleven o'clock, we had already left the slope. The snow "released", and the avalanche could start moving again. During the morning we found three, or rather two living men and the body of one girl. Already five. Where are the other three? More than a day passed before they fell asleep. The hope of finding survivors was fading away.

Two rescuers arrived. The men brought a dozen factory probes, two stretchers, luboks and painkillers. One rescuer was also a paramedic.

They wanted to take out the two heaviest ones (I didn’t take the Mi-2 anymore), but the helicopter failed to take off. The pilot cursed: "Well, my engine should go for overhaul, but they sent it!" In short, a second helicopter flew in from Kosh-Agach, both took off with a joint effort and took out four alive ones, and we began to search for the remaining three.

We found another male body, the paramedic said that the guy did not wait for us and died of hypothermia. Two were never found. I heard that a year later one body thawed out, and one remained under the snow. On Belukha there is not one such.

The living said that their deceased leader did not wait for the temperature to drop and led them up the snowfield during the day. Everything was going well, but when they were walking along the ledge, the girl walking last threw a snowball at the leader walking first. He turned sharply and hit the snowy slope with his backpack, after which the snow "went".

Like this: the foolishness of the leader (candidate for master of sports in mountain tourism), one playful snowball - and four corpses, and four cripples!

I have been to Belukha, on the slopes and on the summit several times. Winter spring and summer. I saw Belukha different.

In spring, he ran from avalanches and fell into cracks in winter. He lived in snow caves and saved his tent from summer storms with gale-force winds. Freeze and melt. Lived for weeks on the slopes, trying to understand the voice of the Mountain.

I succeeded a lot. In fact, everything that I thought of was successful. Not always the first time, but what is, is.
I want to tell you a few interesting points, maybe they will help you look at the mountains from the other side.

Winter. January. We are on Lake Akkem, we have come, we are resting. The weather is wonderful, clear blue sky, frost around 20, at night - 35. Windless and quiet. The beluga whale is visible in the rays of the sun, it simply beckons: "guys... the weather is just right, go ahead!"
But I don't want to go. Everyone is ready to perform at night at the Tomsk sites (the house of the glesiologists at the foot of Belukha, from there the path begins in crampons and harnesses).

I'm against. Why? Everything inside me opposes. You have to leave at night, at three. To go through the frost on the ice all the rivers and lakes, and not fall through. We decided not to go out that night, to wait out the day. And just knocked 12 nights, the fairy tale ended and the uniform hell began. Howled, whirled. The wind rose so much that we thought it would blow away our barrels in which we were staying. The barrels bounced. The cables that held them together groaned. Going to the toilet was a big problem. In addition, the wind took all the sand from the mountains to the attacker. Everyone started looking at me in amazement. Nothing predicted such weather.

Except my intuition.

Since we stayed, we need firewood. Follow them to the other end of the lake, to the cedar with a saw and an axe. Both men and women went. Everything. You have to heat it up, it's cold. In the barrels of a brick stove, they eat a lot of firewood. The wind still did not let up, but it became a little quieter and the snow was no longer the same.

Went into the forest. Everyone found a lying log for himself, which must be sawn and dragged away, and then stabbed. Everything is on a slope, and in some places the slope is 35 degrees. And so we sawed off a lying log from a tree trunk, I say:
Now let's step aside, knock on it and it will roll.

The guy probably did not hear the first part of the phrase, but he learned the second very well. And with all his heroic power, as if he were on a tree ... it rolled ... right at me.

The tree has a girth of two, the branches stick out in different directions like that of an infernal machine. What I managed to do was, like a cockroach on all fours, to slide down and hide between the trees. My log hit those trees. And yet, several times, the branches hit me on the head. So my labor feat was completed, and severe medical everyday life began. Going down after the stress I experienced, I clearly realized that it was enough to play the fool here, we had to go out at night. And returning to the barrels, he loudly announced that the weather day was the last today, we leave at night. I was reasonably told in response that the wind would blow away, to which I so calmly replied: "There will be no wind."

Remembering how I predicted the wind, the people smeared my wounds on my head with brilliant green and began to gather for the night exit.

It was midnight and the wind died down, as if someone had turned it off. Everyone was in shock. Since then I have been regarded as a local mountain deity.

In summer, on the same route, the same exit, everything is planned out by day. Since the evening I am against going out. But the people insist that all trains have planes and tickets have been bought back. In the morning we go out and get into the rain. Raincoats quickly get wet backpacks and we ourselves too. All the way to Tomsk one gray rain with wind.
We arrive, but nothing dries. So we sit like fools wet and frozen.

Climbers descend from above and have not ascended to the top. On Berelskoye the snowfall is such that the tents are broken and it looks like it will be for a long time. All you can hear is the roar of the descending avalanches.

I look at vacationers, I feel sorry for them.
The next day the sky is clear, clear, no wind or rain. And here is the question: at least once in my life will I go against my intuition? The answer is unequivocal: no!

In the mountains, only flair rules. The mind is always wrong.

World legends mention mythical countries where sorcerers and gods live, where there is a source of eternal youth and untold wealth. Mankind has run off its feet in search of their traces. Scientists believe that some are worth looking for in Russia.

Shveta dvipa

“In the Sea of ​​Milk, to the north of Meru, lies the great island of Shwepa-dvipa, the White Island, or the Island of Light. There is a country where bliss is tasted. Its inhabitants are brave men, removed from all evil, indifferent to honor and dishonor, marvelous in appearance, full of vitality. A cruel, insensitive, lawless person does not live here ... ".

Where did they look for this paradise from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. Some Indianists, such as Colonel Wilford, identified Shweta Dvipa with Great Britain. Why not? An island beyond the sea, in the north (for the authors of the Mahabharata). Blavatsky Elena Petrovna, who was a well-known representative of the mystical order of theosophists, in her "Secret Doctrine" placed Shweta-dvipa in the region of the modern Gobi Desert. Some researchers, on the contrary, see Arctida under the White Island - a hypothetical northern polar continent that once existed in the Arctic, but as a result of cataclysms that allegedly occurred from 18 to 100 thousand years ago, went under water (the hypothesis of the German zoographer Eger).

Supporters of Arctida often associate the legend of Shveta-dvipa with Hyperborea, which, according to ancient authors, was also located somewhere far to the north. But north is a loose concept. Some linguists have found similarities between Uralic place names and Indian names. Thus, based on the studies of A.G. Vinogradov and S.V. Zharnikova, the legendary Shveta-dvipa ended up in the Urals, the White Sea, the basins of the Northern Dvina and Pechora rivers, the Volga-Oka interfluve.

Hara Berezaita

There are so-called nomadic toponyms in history, which different sources associated with different places. These include the Haru Berezaiti mountain range from the Zoroastrian texts of the Avesta, with Mount Hukayrya. This is the archetypal World Mountain, from behind which the solar chariot of the deity Mithra rises in the morning. Above it sparkle the seven stars of the Big Dipper and the North Star, placed in the center of the universe. From here, from the golden peaks, all the earth's rivers originate, and the greatest of them is the pure Ardvi River, which falls with noise into the white foamy sea of ​​Vourukash. Over the mountains of High Khara the Swift Sun circles eternally, and here the day lasts half a year, and the night lasts half a year. Only the brave and strong in spirit can pass these mountains and get into the happy country of the blessed, washed by the waters of the white foam ocean. Some researchers compare it with the already mentioned legendary Mount Meru, which is located next to Shveto Dvipa in the Urals. But, according to the Italian researcher Giraldo Gnoli, Pamir and the Hindu Kush were initially perceived as Khara Berezaiti, and then these beliefs were transferred to “more serious mountains”, or rather to Elbrus. The ocean in this analogy is obviously the Black Sea. By the way, this does not contradict the ideas of the mythological country in the north, among ancient authors. Many Roman authors gave the same description of the Black Sea that we can give the North Sea today - severe cold, everything is covered with ice, people are dressed in thick skins.

Altai Shambhala

Shambhala is a mythical country from Hinduism and Buddhism. The fairyland promises fabulous conditions - to give eternal youth, to discover all the knowledge of the world. “If you know the teachings of Shambhala, you know the future,” said Nicholas Roerich about the magical land. Traditionally, the entrance to Shambhala is placed in the region of mountainous Tibet, somewhere near the sacred Mount Kailash. But, according to the teachings of Roerich, there should be three gates of Shambhala. One of them is located in Altai, in the area of ​​Mount Belukha, a sacred peak among the local Altai peoples. According to their beliefs, there is a land of spirits. One of the Altai shamans, Anton Yudanov, in his interview said that even the clergy do not dare to approach the mountain closer than 10 km, and an attempt to conquer Belukha, which many people make every year, is a real sacrilege followed by punishment. No wonder, according to him, Belukha is called the "mountain of the killer", where most tourists have died recently: "The sacred mountain will throw off everyone who seeks to approach its secret."

Delphinapterus leucas Pallas, 1776

Squad: Cetaceans (Сetacea)

Suborder: Toothed whales (Odontoceti)

Family: Narwhals (Monodontidae)

Genus: Beluga whales (Delphinfpterus Laceped.1804)

Other name:

Belukha, Beluga (equivalent, the most common is the first)

Where does he live:

The beluga whale population is subdivided into 29 local herds, of which about 12 are located on the territory of Russia. Distributed circumpolar, between 50° and 80° N, inhabiting all the Arctic, as well as the Bering and Okhotsk seas; in winter, calls are known to the Baltic Sea. Until the middle of the last century, in pursuit of fish (spawning salmon), the beluga whale entered large rivers (the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur) until the middle of the last century, sometimes rising hundreds of kilometers upstream.

The size:

Beluga whales are characterized by sexual dimorphism: males are usually larger than females of the same age as them. Weight: males reach 850-1500 kg, females 650-1360 kg with a typical body length of 3.6-4.2 m. The largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons of weight.

Appearance:

The head of the beluga whale is spherical, "lobed", the lower jaws practically do not protrude forward without a beak. The vertebrae on the neck are not fused together, so the beluga whale, unlike most whales, is able to turn its head. This makes it easier for her to navigate and maneuver in the ice. The pectoral fins are small and oval in shape. The dorsal fin is absent - this allows the beluga whale to move more freely under the ice. Hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus leucas - "white dolphin without dorsal fin".

Skin with a loose layer of epidermis (up to 12 mm thick) resembles an external shock absorber and partly protects belugas from damage when swimming among ice. They are saved from hypothermia by a layer of subcutaneous fat up to 10-12 cm thick, in some places up to 18 cm, which is up to 40% of the body weight of the beluga whale. The color of the skin is uniform. It changes with age: newborns are light brown due to the thick layer of the epidermis, which, as the baby grows, falls off in pieces and the lower parts of the dermis rise to the surface with an abundance of dark pigment - melanin. The general coloration becomes dark blue, growth and molting continue and the young become gray, then bluish-gray; individuals older than 4-7 years are pure white.

Behavior and lifestyle:

Some populations of belugas make regular migrations. They are associated with seasonal movements of schools of fish. Thus, the movement of the beluga whale population from Cook Inlet in Alaska repeats the movement of its main prey - salmon.

In spring, belugas begin to move towards the coast - to desalinated shallow bays, fjords and estuaries of northern rivers. Flying near the coast is due to the presence of food here and the higher temperature of desalinated water. The latter improves the conditions for molting and shedding of the old layer of the epidermis. Often, in order to remove the dead surface layer of the skin, beluga whales rub against the bottom - sand in shallow water. Beluga whales are tied to the same flying places, visiting them year after year. Tracking individual individuals showed that beluga whales remember the place of their birth and the way to it after wintering.

Local herds in summer (reproductive aggregations) play a dual role in the biology of the species. Firstly, they ensure the reproduction of the population and isolation from neighboring local herds, and secondly, they play a crucial role in terms of all types of individual contacts (sexual, play, etc.) between members of the herd, maintaining hierarchical relationships and contributing to education and training young animals. This ensures the preservation of the social structure of the local herd and the individual and group status of its members.

Not all populations migrate. Their need is determined by specific ice conditions and the presence of accumulations of food.

In winter, beluga whales, as a rule, keep to the edges of the ice fields, but sometimes they penetrate far into the glaciation zone, where winds and currents support cracks, leads and polynyas. When icing large water areas, they make mass migrations from these areas. The polynyas, to which the beluga whales rise to breathe, can be several kilometers away from each other. Beluga whales find them using direction finding and sometimes location. But sometimes they are trapped - in ice captivity, if the distance to clean water exceeds 3-4.5 km. The dorsal part of the body and the upper part of the head consist of thick and durable skin, which allows them to be used to maintain wormwood, breaking with ice up to 4-6 centimeters thick.

Beluga whales are social animals. A herd of beluga whales consists of clans, and clans are made up of families arranged according to the principle of matriarchy. The family consists of primary family groups: mothers and 1-2 cubs. Males in the herd and clan play the role of guards and scouts for fish aggregations. On large concentrations of fish, several herds of beluga whales sometimes gather, and feeding animals huddle into herds of hundreds and even thousands of animals.

Nutrition:

Beluga whales feed mainly on schooling fish (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods. Prey, especially benthic organisms, belugas do not grab, but suck. An adult individual consumes about 15 kg of food per day. But such lucky days are rare.

Reproduction:

In the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, beluga whales mate in April - May, in the Gulf of Ob - in July, in the Barents and Kara Seas - from May to August, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - from February to August, and in the Hudson Bay, fertilization of females occurs from March to September. Thus, the mating period lasts about 6 months, but the bulk of females are fertilized in a relatively short time - late April - early - mid-July. In the rest of the year, in most cases, only individual animals mate.

The period of childbearing is extended, as is the mating period, and childbirth can be from early spring throughout the summer months. Thus, pregnancy in beluga whales lasts 11.5 months, there is an opinion that this period can reach 13-14 months. As a rule, females give birth in the mouths of rivers that bring warmer waters. The female brings one cub 140-160 cm long, very rarely - two. The lactation period lasts about 12 months. The next mating may occur one to two weeks after birth.

Lifespan:

Life expectancy in nature is 32-40 years (the known maximum age of the female is 44 years).

Number:the exact number is not known.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are about 150,000 belugas in the world. Russian populations, according to the International Commission on Whaling, number up to 27,000 individuals. At the same time, the 3 largest groups of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk number up to 20,000 belugas.

Natural Enemies:

The killer whale is the enemy of beluga whales.

Threats mind:

The main danger for these whales is toxic waste polluting their habitat, as well as industrial exclusion from their Arctic habitats, especially key breeding and feeding areas. In recent years, noise pollution has increased dramatically - due to the development of shipping and an increase in the flow of wild tourists, which prevents normal reproduction and leads to a decrease in the number of cubs - i.e. reduction in herd size.

Interesting Facts

In winter, the white whale hunts for cod, flounder, goby, pollock, making very deep dives - up to 300-1000 m, and remaining under water for up to 25 minutes. Despite the massiveness, the beluga whale is agile; She is able to swim on her back and even backwards. Usually swims at a speed of 3-9 km / h; frightened, it can make jerks up to 22 km / h.

For the variety of sounds they make, whalers in the 19th century. nicknamed the beluga whale "sea canary" ( sea ​​canary), and the Russians had the expression “beluga roar” - the characteristic roar of a male during the rut.

The researchers counted about 50 sound signals in beluga whales: whistling, screeching, chirping, screaming, grinding, shrill scream, roar, and others. In addition, beluga whales use “body language” (slapping the water with their tail fins) and even facial expressions when communicating.

In addition to screams, beluga whales make clicks in the ultrasonic range. The system of air sacs in the soft tissues of the head takes part in their production, and the radiation is focused by a special fat pad on the forehead - melon (acoustic lens). Reflected from surrounding objects, clicks return to the beluga whale; The “antenna” is the lower jaw, which transmits vibrations to the cavity of the middle ear. Echo analysis allows the animal to get an accurate picture of its surroundings. Beluga has excellent hearing and echolocation. These animals are able to hear in a wide frequency range from 40-75 Hz to 30-100 kHz.

Beluga whales also have well-developed vision, both under water and above its surface. Probably, the vision of the beluga whale is colored, because. her retina contains rods and cones - photoreceptor cells. However, research has not yet confirmed this.

Compiled by: Member of the Board of the Marine Mammal Council,

Head Laboratory of Marine Mammals of the IO RAS, Doctor of Biological Sciences V.M. Belkovich

Located in Altai, on the border with Kazakhstan, Mount Belukha (4509 m) is one of the most famous peaks in Russia. Akkem gorge, from which most climbing routes start, is popular with tourists because of the unique nature, wonderful views, and legends associated with this place.

The classic route to the summit is classified as 3A. Routes of this category require some technical skills, which, with a strong desire, can really be mastered in 1-2 days of classes. On the Russian side, the slopes of Belukha have a northern exposure - therefore, here you need to have good physical fitness and be prepared for the fact that even in summer you will have to work at temperatures down to -15. In this, Belukha is very different from the four-thousanders in the Caucasus and Asia - the climate here is much more severe.

When choosing equipment for climbing Belukha, you need to remember that the roads to it end 50 kilometers before the base camp. It turns out that the equipment should be suitable both for long transitions in the rain (in Altai, heavy rains for several days are not at all uncommon), and for hurricane winds and hard frosts in winter. And in the backpack you will have to fit food, special and bivouac equipment. To be honest, it's not an easy task.

The peculiarity of climbing Belukha is that the whole event looks more like a hiking trip than ordinary climbing camps. Here you will not return from short exits to a stationary camp. Almost every day begins with preparations, packing all the equipment in a backpack. This point should also be taken into account when choosing equipment.

They go to Belukha in winter and summer. And this is a completely different mountain. The equipment doesn't make much of a difference. The list below is for summer climbing. In winter, respectively, you need a warmer sleeping bag, a winter puff, double climbing boots, and, of course, you won’t reach in sneakers. If you are going to Belukha in the winter, the list of special equipment below needs some adjustments. We specifically noted those items of equipment that differ from the summer set.

Clothing, footwear, protective equipment

Personal special equipment

Personal equipment for bivouac and trekking

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