Alma-Ata
Tragedy on the Pobeda settlement in 1955. Tien Shan
Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under
Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR
Republican club of climbers and
tourists. REPORT on the work of the high-altitude sports research
expeditions to the Central Tien Shan to Pobeda Peak
7.439.3 meters.
/ July - September 1955 / Alma-Ata
1956
1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA The mountainous country of the Tien Shan comes with its ranges into the southeastern part of the Kazakh SSR, and its main, central part is located on the border with China, occupying the eastern part of the territory of Kyrgyzstan. Huge glaciation, high peaks and among them the highest point of the Tien Shan - Pobeda Peak - 7.439.3 meters, harsh climate, turbulent mountain rivers, unknown and unexplored riches of the bowels have long attracted the inquisitive minds of travelers, scientists, climbers and climbers to the Central Tien Shan . Despite the available information about the central part of the Tien Shan, compiled by many expeditions, the Tien Shan remains far unexplored, the most difficult mountainous region of the USSR. There are especially many troubles when studying this mountainous country from the changeable weather of the highlands, there are not even systematic meteorological observations in the central glaciated part of the Tien Shan. The particular difficulty of working in the mountains is due to the instability of the weather with a minimum air humidity of 90 percent, sharp fluctuations in temperature from + 25C. up to -40Сgr. and the most unexpected intrusion of cold fronts bringing bad weather with gale force winds. This explains the low attendance of the Tien Shan by sports expeditions. Starting from 1921 to 1955, not much more than a dozen sports expeditions visited the region of the Central Tien Shan, having mastered only 9 peaks. Until now, it remains unconquered highest point Peak Pobeda - 7.439.3 m. A feature of this area is also the inaccessibility to it. Mountain rivers, high passes, indented and long glaciers, take travelers a lot of time and effort. The traveler, in order to achieve the goal in the Central Tien Shan, must prepare himself for the most diverse form of transportation from an airplane to a car, on horses or mules, and in all cases ending on foot with a large shoulder load in a backpack. A special place in this remote area is occupied by the Khan-Tengri peaks - 6.995 m., Pobeda - 7.439.3 m. and others. Geographical discoveries and a description of the location of mountain ranges, major glaciers date back to 1929-38. and 1943. Started back in 1902-1903. German scientist G. Merzbacher. A particularly valuable contribution was made by Ukrainian expeditions led by the now Honored Master of Sports M.G. Pogrebetsky. For the first time, diagrams and maps were drawn up about this "blank spot" on geographical maps. Separate small sports expeditions, which set primarily sports goals, sometimes supplemented and refined information about this area. The final topographic refinement of the Eastern part of the Central Tien Shan was made by the military topographers of the Turk.VO under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Rapasov in 1943. This topographic detachment belongs to the determination of the height of the peak, later called Pobeda and turned out to be the highest point of the Central Tien Shan. Earlier, in 1938, a group of Moscow climbers led by Honored Master of Sports A.A. Letavet tried to climb it. It was the first attempt to subdue an unknown giant. The first attempt to climb the highest peak Pobeda Peak ended in failure. Difficult meteorological conditions, a miscalculation in height, led the group to frostbite on its slopes, the climbers managed to reach a height of 6.950 meters. A visit to the Central Tien Shan by climbers of Kazakhstan began in 1935 with reconnaissance of the approaches and ascent routes to Khan Tengri Peak - 6995m. With the ascent to Khan-Tengri peak in 1936 and Chapaev peak - 6320m. in 1937, climbers of Kazakhstan opened the first pages of high-altitude ascents in the area. AT post-war years, in 1949, climbers of Kazakhstan organized an expedition to climb Pobeda Peak. 1949 was especially different from previous years with unstable weather, heavy snowfalls and powerful avalanches. All this made the work of climbers so difficult and dangerous, who twice fell into avalanches and from a height of 5640 meters were forced to return to the base camp on the Zvezdochka glacier - 4300m, and then descended from the mountains with minor injuries and minor frostbite among the participants. This was the second unsuccessful attempt to climb Pobeda Peak. Persistently conducted reconnaissance of the way to the highest peak of the Central Tien Shan, climbers of Uzbekistan and Turk.VO. Two seasons 1952-1953 they spent in the area of Pobeda Peak, looking for ways to climb to the top, for which they climbed Chapaev Peak and Druzhba Peak, and, as always, invariably climbers had to deal with the unfavorable features of the Tien Shan climate. In 1954, after successful ascents to the Marble Wall peak - 6400m., Bayankol peak - 5790m. and a number of peaks in the north-eastern part of the Central Tien Shan with a height of up to 5000 m, climbers of Kazakhstan went to the Pobeda peak area with the task of climbing the Khan Tengri peak. The weather was unusually favorable, and the climbers successfully completed the ascent from 4 to 9 September. It was crowded in the area of Pobeda Peak in 1955. Expedition of the Kazakh club of climbers and tourists consisting of 28 people under the leadership of the Honored Master of Sports Kolokolnikov E.M. set itself the task of climbing Pobeda Peak along the eastern ridge. During the same period July-September 1955. The expedition of the Uzbek Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, together with a group of military climbers Turk.VO in the amount of 50 people, planned to climb Pobeda Peak along its northern ridge, and reached a height of 6500 m. Unfortunate weather and the death of the assault group of Kazakh climbers forced them to return without reaching the goal . Takova a brief description of region of the Central Tien Shan and the history of attempts to climb the highest peak of this region - Pobeda Peak - 7439m.
 Sketch - page - 1 From the archive of the expedition |
 Sketch - page - 2 From the archive of the expedition |
WORK OF THE EXPEDITION IN THE MOUNTAINS
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ORDER
on the high-altitude expedition of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR.
Star Camp. No. 1. August 14, 1955
Expedition leader
Honored Master of Sports: /signature/ /E.Kolokolnikov/
Deputy expedition leader
political part: /signature/ /O.Batyrbekov/
/ Follow the signatures of the participants in the assault, who read the order /. After the announcement of the order, the issues of backup communication were clarified with the help of magnesium candles and electric lights, after which the group of V. Shipilov went in the direction of camp 4700m. accompanied by the commissioner of the expedition O. Batyrbekov and 3 members of the Turk.VO expedition. August 15 The group of V. Shipilov reached the camp 5100m. I made a trail to the Chon-Toren pass. August 16 The group of V. Shipilov went to the pass. The condition of the members of the assault group is good. The connection works great. By 17:00 the assault group reached 5850m. In the evening, the commissioner of the expedition O. Batyrbekov returned from under the pass. August 17 Communication with the group ended unexpectedly. The radio station Klein-FU-2 burned down. In the Zvyozdochka-1 camp, O. Batyrbekov and S. Zabozlaev were immediately sent to the Chon-Toren pass to fetch a radio station located in the 5100m camp. At the same time, they were given the task of establishing contact with Shipilov's group. It turned out that the Turk.VO group, violating the order of the Vsekomfizkult to climb in the second place, after the return of the Kazakh climbers, began the assault on August 15th. What was reported by radiogram to the authorized Master of Sports A. Gvalia. The Honored Master of Sports L. Yurasov arrived at the camp to observe Naryshkin's group. August 18 O. Batyrbekov, S. Zabozlaev returned to the Zvyozdochka-1 camp, brought a spare radio station. It was not possible to establish contacts with V. Shipilov's group. We get in touch every hour in its first 10 minutes by agreement in case of loss of connection. Horses arrived from the Green camp, but they could not get to the camp. The rapid melting and exposure of the glacier surface created a serious obstacle in overcoming the cracks. At 22:00 signaled with light. There was no answer from V. Shipilov's group. August 19 Members of V. Shipilov's group descended under the command of M.S. A. Semchenko as part of P. Menyailov, N. Shevchenko, R. Torodin. The group descended due to the illness of P. Menyailov and poor health of N. Shevchenko. A. Semchenko received an order on the morning of August 20 to go to the lane. Chon-Toren and stay there according to order No. 1 of the head of the expedition. A. Semchenko reported that everything was in order in V. Shipilov's group and that A. Semchenko had set up a tent at an altitude of 6300m. with food and fuel. On this day, communications with the assault group could not be established. During the night, heavy snow began to fall suddenly. August 20 The group of A. Semchenko cannot reach the pass. Severe bad weather, traffic on the glacier, due to poor visibility, is practically closed. The radio station of the V. Shipilov group does not answer the call. There is no connection. The snowfall doesn't stop. By 18:00 snow fell up to 65 cm. August 21 There is no connection. The snowfall continues. An attempt to break through the path between the camps did not lead to a result. The temperature drops noticeably. At 16-00 the snow stopped, the depth was 85 cm. August 22 Snow settled overnight. With difficulty, for the whole day, by the efforts of two expeditions, they made a path between the Zvyozdochka-1 camp and the 4700m camp. It snowed in the afternoon. August 23 Master of Sports A. Semchenko with a group went to the camp 4700m. Frost in the camp -10С gr. There is no connection with V. Shipilov's group. 24 August The group of A. Semchenko, advancing to the Chon-Toren pass, found U. Usenov, a participant from the group of V. Shipilov, in the crack. Ural Usenov fell into a crack at 10:00 am on August 23, where he stayed until 12:00 am on August 24, i.e. 26 hours. U.Usenov's condition is satisfactory. Frostbitten hands and feet. Usenov reported on plight V. Shipilov's group. Rescue measures have been taken. The plane was called. Medical assistance was provided to Usenov by the doctor S. Zabozlaev, who arrived with O. Batyrbekov at the camp at 4700m. 25-th of August The group of A. Semchenko delivered U. Usenov to the camp 4700m. and went to the camp 5100m. U.Usenov was taken to the camp by members of the Turk.VO expedition. U.Usenov's condition made it possible to interrogate him about everything that happened at an altitude of 6700m. with the group of V. Shipilov, after which he was transported, accompanied by doctor S. Zabozlaev, down to the landing site of the aircraft. All rescue operations were based on the information provided by U. Usenov. Here is what U. Usenov said: “A group of 16 people, in which I was, acting in accordance with the order of the head of the expedition, on August 14 at 16:00 from the Zvyozdochka-1 camp - 4200m., went on the ascent route. After 2 hours of travel, we reached the previously established camp, approximately at an altitude of 4700 m. An overnight stay was organized here. On the morning of August 15, in good weather, we went along the previously explored route to the camp under the Chon-Toren pass - 5100 m. During the day we went under the pass, where we spent the second night. On August 16, we reached the Chon-Toren pass and continued to move along the ridge and reached a height of 5800 m in a day. Here, in the evening, setting up tents, we stopped for the night. The weather was favorable. The mood of all participants was cheerful. On August 17, the whole composition continued to move along the ridge. In the evening, having stopped for the night, the head of the assault group, the master of sports V.P. Shipilov, due to the poor health of the participants Menyailov, Shevchenko and Torodina, decided to return them down in the morning, led by the master of sports Semchenko. On the morning of August 18 Comrade. Semchenko with a group of the above 3 people went down. And we - 12 people continued to climb the ridge. On August 18 and 19 they continued to move to the top. At eight o'clock in the evening on August 19, we stopped for the fifth night on the ridge, the height was approximately 6700 - 6800 m.
 List of participants in the assault From the archive of the expedition |
 Task number 1 From the archive of the expedition |
RESCUE
Traces of Usenov Ural at 19-00. On August 23, they were noticed by a member of the expedition of the Uzbek Republican Committee of Physical Culture and Sports Comrade Naryshkin. About what they were informed, the group of Semchenko A.A. Arrived at the camp at 4700 m. by order of the head of the Kazakh expedition Comrade Kolokolnikov. With the task of going up to establish communication with the group of Shipilov V.P. The mountaineers Shevchenko N.G., who set off on skis on the morning of August 24, and Menyailov P.M. Usenov U. was taken out of the crack, who reported the above events with Comrade Shipilov's assault group. Further rescue and search work was carried out by the combined forces of the two expeditions until August 28 under the joint leadership of the heads of the two expeditions, and later, due to the illness of Comrade Kolokolnikov, under the leadership of the Honored Master of Sports, Comrade V.I. department of mountaineering and tourism of the All-Union Committee Comrade Upenek B.A. On August 25, after the transportation of Comrade Usenov, with satisfactory weather, the group of Semchenko A.A., reinforced by the expedition members of the Uzbek Republican Committee, again headed to the upper reaches of the Zvezdochka glacier. On August 26, in the morning, the climber Menyailov, who was advancing on skis, found a trace in the area of the upper icefall of the Zvyozdochka glacier, and soon the corpse of a member of the assault group of the Kazakh expedition Comrade Goncharuk A.F., who died, as was later established by a medical examination, from exhaustion and hypothermia. Leaving a corpse on the glacier, on August 26, a group of Semchenko A.A. reached the camp at 5100 m under the pass. The next day, a group of master of sports Naryshkin V.N., 4 people, with a radio station joined her. In deteriorating weather conditions, intermittent snowfalls on August 27, 28, 29 and 30, the joint group did not attempt to climb the Chon-Toren pass and the eastern ridge, fearing avalanches. On August 31, the group of Semchenko A.A. - Naryshkina V.N., by order of Comrade Ratsek, they were recalled downstairs for rest. The assault group of the Uzbek expedition was recalled down from the northern ridge of Pobeda peak on August 25 and descended to the base camp of the expedition on August 26. On August 27, a rescue squad was organized from its composition. The leader of the detachment of 8 people was the master of sports Nagel E.I. . They were given the task of following the route of the ascent of V.P. Shipilov's group. The detachment arrived at the camp at 4700 m on the same day. Its further advance up to the camp at 5100 m was exceptionally slow and ended on September 1. Despite the fact that the auxiliary groups of climbers under the leadership of Comrade. Snegireva N.A. proved in the same days the possibility of passing this path in a much shorter time. Detachment Nagel E.I. On September 1, he came lightly to the foot of the Chon-Toren pass and, stating the impossibility of further advancement due to the danger of avalanches, returned to the tents, and on September 2 of this year. base camp was withdrawn. On August 31, a combined rescue team arrived at the base camp of the expedition, 4200 m, formed in climbing camps near the city of Alma-Ata. On September 1, a group of climbers of this detachment, consisting of 8 people, led by the master of sports Shumikhin, took part in the transportation of the corpse of Goncharuk. On September 2, it reached the camp at 5100 m, and the next day, as part of 4 people, it went to the Chon-Toren pass and on the same day, without finding any traces of the members of the Shipilov assault detachment, returned to the camp at 5100 m. On September 5, arrived at the camp at 5100 m. rescue team of members of the Pamir expedition of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. The next day, accompanied by an auxiliary group, the rescue team climbed the Chon-Toren pass and spent the night there. On September 7, the climbers of the Pamir expedition of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, led by the Honored Master of Sports Kuzmin K.K., began climbing the Eastern ridge of Pobeda Peak. As a result, it was clarified September 4 - at 17-35h. the detachment left the camp at 4200m. on the Zvyozdochka glacier as part of groups of t.t. Snegirev, Ugarov, and Kuzmin. September 5th. All groups left the camp 4500m. at 9:45 a.m. consisting of 24 people. At 13:00 on the glacier met a group of comrade. SHUMIKHINA descending down, motivating the descent by fatigue and ill health of the participants. He ordered the three most ill-feeling comrades to go downstairs together with T.T. NOZDRYUKHIN and FREIFELD, the rest 5 people. come back with us under the pass. To the camp at a height of 5100m. in the circus of the glacier Zvezdochka came at 17-15h. Comrade group. SNEGEREVA, leaving food, at 17-45 h. went down. The snowfall began at 15:00, intensified at 18:00, and stopped at 22:23. 6 September. From the camp 5100 m. at 11-30 h. an assault search group consisting of 7 people, accompanied by 3 people gr. UGAROVA and 3 people from SHUMIKHIN's group. All the way to the pass deep, to the waist, fresh snow. There are no signs of an avalanche danger. For 50 m before the exit to the pass and on the pass itself, there was a weathered crust. The temperature at 15:00 is -7C, the temperature at the pass at 19:00 is -15C. On the way to the pass, and especially on the pass itself, a constant strong western wind sweeps the snow. The height of the Chon-Toren pass is 5550 m. We climbed the pass at 17-45. The accompanying groups of 6 people, leaving food and taking the boots of the assault group, at 18-00 began to descend from the pass. September 7th. Came out from the lane. Chon-Toren at 11-15h. There is a strong wind on the ridge, frost -13C. The eastern ridge is very steep, up to 55 degrees in places. The snow condition is uneven - from dense icy crust to deep coarse-grained. Went on cats. All along the way there are traces of SHIPILOV's group, tin cans, pieces of paper, etc. At an altitude of 5800 m, traces of a bivouac were found - sites for 2 tents, and a little higher two more sites for one tent each. At an altitude of 6000 m, a broken ice ax bayonet was found on a steep drop in the ridge. Attempts to find the corpse of comrade. Suslov near the camp 5800m. did not give a result, also did not give a result searches on the rocks above the camp 5800m. At an altitude of 6000 m, the weather deteriorated sharply, a blizzard began. We stopped for the night at the black stones at an altitude of 6150 m. All the time there was a very strong wind and a snowstorm. Temperature - 18Сgr. At an altitude of 5950 m, traces of descent were found, leading to a cliff, a snow dump, to the V. Chon-Toren glacier. 8 September. We left bivouac 6150 m at 11-30. Blizzard, temperature -13Сgr. Climbing up to 30 m, we found the 2nd bivouac of the SHIPILOV group - 3 sites, on one of which there was a completely collapsed tent full of various things and products, including: binoculars, down mittens, socks, cats, and a wide variety of products up to chocolate . Probing the snow around the sites did not give anything. Climbing the flat part of the ridge, at an altitude of 6250 m, they found the corpse of a frozen person, who could not be identified. The man lay with his face buried in the snow. On the face were traces of abrasions and previous frostbite of the hands. He was dressed in a storm suit, down jacket and shackletons. Downy pants lay 50 meters above. Another 100 meters higher, along the way, there were broken bottles of medicines and a pencil. Climbing further, to a height of 6600 m, they found a second corpse, which they also could not identify. The man lay in the area of the 3rd bivouac gr. SHIPILOVA in a pose indicating that he either went to bed or wanted to hide from the bad weather in this way. An ice ax was stuck beside him. He was wearing down and storm suits, shekeltons, glasses. Traces of abrasions and frostbites were found on the face, and the hands, dressed in fur mittens, were also frostbitten. In the area of the bivouac, a bowl and food remains were found. Having risen to a height of 6700 m, approximately 50 m below the exit to the summit ridge, we found the last 4th camp of the SHIPILOV group. The camp consists of 2 sites, on which there are two tents torn to shreds. Various things are scattered on the grounds, including down suits, ice axes, shekeltons, cats, a large number of different products. A large niche was dug near the upper tent, in which many things and products were found. Attempts to find a cave in the rocks or near the rocks, about which USENOV seemed to testify, did not give any result, and in general it would be difficult to dig a cave in these rocks. 20 meters below the lower tent, on an ice ax, a double-length rope is fixed, which descends along the rocks and ends in an icy couloir leading to the faults of the north - the western wall of the ridge. At the end of the rope is a backpack. Traces of descent to the snowy plateau were also found. To the east of the ridge, the Chinese wall, they began at an altitude of 6600 m. Immediately after moving away from the ridge, these traces are lost. No other traces of the presence of the SHIPILOV group here, as well as the corpses of the other participants, could be found. In view of the complexity of the ridge and the extremely difficult weather conditions in which the search party had to work, the descent of the two discovered corpses down, of course, can lead to accidents with the rescue party and, in any case, to inevitable frostbite. Given the above, I decided to bury the found climbers on the ridge, which was done at an altitude of 6250 and 6600 m. Having finished the search work in the bivouac area at an altitude of 6700 m. at 19-30. group at 22:30 descended to a height of 6250m., where she spent the night. 9th of September. Descent from a height of 6250 m. started at 11-30. On the way to a height of 6100 m, the ridge and slopes leading to the east, China, were additionally carefully examined in order to find the corpses of comrade. Suslov, however, the examination of the slopes did not give any results. At 17:00, the group descended to the Chon-Toren pass and at 20:00 to the camp at 5100 m. During the descent, there was a blizzard and a hurricane-force wind blew on the entire ridge. 10 September. Together with the auxiliary groups, the camp at 5100 m was removed and along the way the camp at 4500 m and all the search parties were removed by 17-30. descended to the camp at 4200 m on the Zvezdochka glacier.- 1st day - 700 m.
- 2nd day - 480 m.
- 3rd day - 400 m.
- 4th day - 100 m.
This is evidenced by traces found in this place and ending in a fault. in/ the corpse of SUSLOV, according to USENOV, who died after an erroneous descent to the east from the ridge and a return ascent to a height of 6200m, may be on the eastern slopes of the ridge. 5. Despite the presence of a large number of qualified climbers in the area of the Zvezdochka glacier, the Turk.VO expedition, it should be noted that there was a significant delay in the deployment of active search work in the area of the accident. The work began in essence only with the arrival of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions detachment on the Zvezdochka glacier, that is, after 11 days after receiving the first information about the misfortune. The timely exit of the search groups to the ridge could save the lives of some of the dead participants of gr. SHIPILOV. The references in this case to bad weather and avalanche danger cannot be considered satisfactory. Moving along the ridge on September 7-8. Search group comrade KUZMINA K.K. discovered the location of all the camps of the assault group Shipilov V.P. The group found - tents with food and things in the auxiliary camp at an altitude of 6130 m and tents of the 4th camp at an altitude of 6700 m, the corpses of climbers Ankudimov V.G - an altitude of 6250 m and Cherepanova P.F. - height 6600 m., who died while trying to descend. Traces indicating attempts by other participants in the assault to descend towards the northern wall of the eastern ridge of Pobeda Peak and onto the upper snowfields of the Chon-Toren glacier. Having buried the corpses of Ankudimov V.G. and Cherepanova P.F. on the ridge. Having made a survey, photo and filming of the places of the camps. Group of Kuzmin K.K. On September 9, it descended to the camp at 5100 m. And on September 10, all rescue and search teams concentrated in the base camp of the expedition at an altitude of 4200 m. and further search work was abandoned. Based on the testimony of climber Usenov U., materials submitted by rescue and search teams, the death of climbers, members of the assault group of the expedition of the Kazakh Republican Committee, was established, including: Shipilov V.P., Aleksandrov K.Ya., Solodovnikov I.G. , Goncharuk A.F., Ankudimov V.G., Akishev Kh.A., Sigitov B.I., Cherepanov P.F., Suslov A.D., Ryspaev E.M. and Selidzhanov R.M. Of them: The body of Goncharuk A.F. found in the upper reaches of the Zvyozdochka glacier on August 26. Transported and buried in Alma-Ata.
The body of Ankudimov V.G. found on the Eastern ridge of Pobeda peak at an altitude of 6250 m and buried on the spot.
The body of Cherepanov P.F. found on the Eastern ridge of the Pobeda peak at an altitude of 6600 m and buried on the spot.
The body of Suslov A.D., according to Usenov U., is located on the southern slope of the Eastern ridge near the camp at 6180 m. The location of the bodies of the remaining seven dead members of the expedition could not be established. Commission for the investigation of the accident, composed of honored masters chaired by Beletsky E.A. recognized the course of rescue work as insufficiently organized, writing down the following in her conclusions: Racek V.I., Yurasov L.B., heads of rescue teams and groups Semchenko A.A. and Nagel E.I. from the moment Usenov U. was discovered and information was received from him about the emergency situation of V.P. Shipilov’s group. until September 3, they were working at an unacceptably slow pace. At the same time, sufficient perseverance in achieving the goals set was not shown. The danger of avalanches from the slopes of the Ak-Tau peak and the Chon-Toren pass, which allegedly precludes the possibility of movement of rescue teams, was overestimated. At the same time, the climbers who were part of the detachments had sufficient technical and tactical training and material support to move along the relatively uncomplicated profiles of the upper reaches of the Zvyozdochka glacier and reach the Chon-Toren pass in rescue operations. Tov. Racek V.I. did not show sufficient perseverance during the first period of search work from August 25 to September 3 - 1955, when the organization of the search groups to go to the Chon-Toren pass and above would possibly have saved the lives of a number of comrades. Tov. Yurasov L.V. as the head of the rescue squad of the expedition of the Uzbek Committee and a member of the Presidium of the All-Union Section, knowing about the Committee's instructions on the order of climbing Pobeda Peak, did not take measures to prevent this violation by the climbers of Uzbekistan, did not show activity in search and rescue operations. Tov. Semchenko A.A. violated the order of the head of the expedition, leaving the camp "Zvezdochka-2" - 5100 m., which was planned as an observation post. Tov. Nagel E.I., who had at his disposal a detachment of the most qualified climbers, unacceptably slowly conducted rescue operations, overestimating the avalanche danger, incorrectly informed the rescue operations management about the impossibility of reaching the Chon-Toren pass. With the cessation of search and rescue operations, the remaining members of the expedition of the Republican Club of Alpinists and Tourists began to evacuate the expedition from the area of the Zvezdochka glacier in Alma-Ata, where it arrived. 4. CONCLUSIONS ON THE ORGANIZATION AND WORK OF THE EXPEDITION. Organization of the expedition to Pobeda Peak. Employees of the Republican club of climbers and tourists of the Kazakh SSR, headed by its head, A.F. Tufan. Despite the many difficulties that confronted them and beyond their control. Exceeding their strength and capabilities. They did a great job and in a short time created the material base of the expedition such that it allowed the inspection and control commissions to make fair conclusions that the expedition was organized as one of the best in the entire practice of the USSR sports expedition. However, despite all the efforts of A.F. Tufan, it was not possible to bring to life some issues outlined by the plans and calculations of the expedition. The high-altitude equipment ordered in Moscow through Fizkultsportsnab, like down sleeping bags, down suits, despite their high cost, were made on second-rate eider down. These things did not look solid, in conditions of low temperatures they turned out to be permeable to cold. Tents and storm suits were not impregnated to protect against water. Fizkultsportsnab's lack of conscientiousness in fulfilling the special order seriously increased the transfer of difficulties in conditions of sharp climatic fluctuations. Planned aerial reconnaissance of the route of assaulting Pobeda peak from the air. Due to the absence of aircraft with a ceiling above 8000 m in the Kazakh SSR, it was also not carried out. Which significantly weakened the possibility of correctly determining the route of the assault and especially its details. An extremely serious flaw in the organization of the expedition was the issue of communications. The absence of small-sized radio stations made in the USSR forced the organizers of the expedition to use Klein-Fu-2 stations, as is now known, stations of this type do not justify themselves from the conclusions of the commission. The absence of redundant means of communication increased the difficulty of the expedition's work in the mountains. A particularly unfinished issue in the organization of the expedition should be noted the transfer of the expedition by car. Sending the expedition in 3 echelons, due to the lack of a sufficient number of vehicles, did not justify itself, and moreover, it led to a delay and disruption of the expedition's work schedule. Pointing out the above shortcomings in the organization of the expedition, one cannot fail to note the good experience in organizing several expeditions conducted by the club, a relatively small team of employees of the Republican Club of climbers and tourists managed to accumulate experience and it can be fully argued that in the future this experience, of course, will find its practical application. In connection with the catastrophic death of the group of the master of sports V. Shipilov, the planned work of the expedition in the mountains was incomplete and not fully completed. The work of the expedition continued to proceed in the direction of further study of the Central Tien Shan and the training of new personnel of high-altitude climbers. It took place in 1955 under difficult conditions. A cargo weighing 8 tons, in the presence of 28 people and 30 horses, was successfully transferred to the strongholds with great efforts of the entire staff. In the course of the preparatory journey, research work was also carried out, thus, with the exception of the completion of the ascent to Pobeda Peak, the expedition team coped with the assigned work. All the conclusions characterizing the work of the expedition are built around the accident. An analysis of the accident with the group of master of sports V. Shipilov, by studying all the facts of the work of the expedition in the mountains, made it possible to approximately explain the cause of death. This is reflected in the conclusion of the commission for the investigation of the catastrophe with the assault group of the Kazakh expedition, where the reason lies in the group itself in the first place. The conclusion states: 1. The physical condition of the members of V. Shipilov's group and its provision with equipment, food by the time the weather deteriorated was such that with the correct actions of the group of its leader, there were all opportunities to prevent a catastrophe and save the lives of the ascent participants. The group could, hiding in tents or snow caves, wait out the storm and descend on their own or with the help of rescue teams. Proof of this possibility is the example of the assault group of the Turk.VO expedition, which successfully waited out the same bad weather. 2. The presence of two expeditions that had the task of completing the ascent to Pobeda Peak created unacceptable competition, the development of sports excitement in the group. 3. The head of the assault group, master of sports V. Shipilov, did not cope with his duties in a difficult situation and made a number of serious mistakes, which led to a disunited action of the group. 4. Violation of the tactical plan of the assault by the leadership of the expedition also led to the physical weakening of the group, which reduced the resistance of the group during the period of bad weather. However, the absence of facts of the actual action of the group at an altitude of 6.700 after the departure of U. Usenov makes it impossible to finally and affirmatively find correct conclusions about the death of V. Shipilov's group. Nevertheless, all the previous points related to the disaster of the assault group should be carefully studied when organizing expeditions to the Central Tien Shan. Despite the fact that the expedition of the Kazakh Committee for Physical Culture and Sports ended the sports part of its work with a disaster, its experience, its work provides enormous material for revising the issues of high-altitude ascents in the USSR and makes a huge contribution to the most difficult sports events such as high-altitude mountaineering. Expedition leader
Honored Master of Sports: / signature / /E. Kolokolnikov /
1956
On the political and educational work among the participants of the high-altitude sports and research expedition to Pobeda Peak /July-September 1955/
The expedition began its work on July 1, 1955. 28 people took part in its work. Of these, there were 6 members of the CPSU, 8 members of the Komsomol. Even before leaving the mountains. Alma-Ata, party and Komsomol groups were organized. Comrade ALEXANDROV was elected Party organizer and Comrade Akishev was elected Komsomol organizer. The members of the expedition took 2-4 books with them to the area of operations of the expedition, among which were both political and fiction . The Central Committee of the Komsomol provided the expedition with sets of magazines Ogonyok and Krokodil for the second half of 1954 and the first half of 1955. The expedition took a volleyball with a net, chess and the necessary materials for the production of wall newspapers. Us before leaving the mountains. Alma-Ata, a plan of mass-political work was drawn up, which was approved at a meeting of the party group. This plan has been largely implemented. The main difficulty for its full implementation was that the expedition members were and moved all together for only 9 days. The expedition from the city of Alma-Ata left the city of Alma-Ata in three echelons on July 5, 6 and 15, and only on July 29 concentrated all together at the "Green" camp. We were in the "Green" camp on July 30 and 31, and from August 1 to 4 we all moved along the Inylchek glacier to the foot of Pobeda peak. During the work of the expedition, 4 party meetings were held, at which the following were discussed: "Plan of mass political work", "Results of the first stage of the expedition", "On the organization of the assault on Pobeda Peak", etc. Similar issues were discussed at general meetings after the party meetings . A number of conversations were held. For example: “Results of the July plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU”, “On the conquest of the summit of Everest”, “How the assault on the Khan Tengri peak was organized in 1954” and others. In 2-3 days political information was carried out once. We took material for political information by radio through walkie-talkies. In the camp "Green" on July 31, the first issue of the combat leaflet was issued. Chess and volleyball games and chess competitions were held. If possible, especially in the evening, collective singing of songs was organized. The singing of songs was organized by comrades Usenov, Ryspaev, Akishev and Shipilov. Before the start of the assault, all members of the expedition read the books that they took with them. After that, an exchange of books was made, some books passed from hand to hand. The members of the expedition eagerly read and looked through the magazines Ogonyok and Krokodil. Separate facts of indiscipline were considered by the head of the expedition, where deputy. watered, party organizer, and sometimes the Komsomol organizer. For example, on July 31, in the Zeleny camp, they had a fight and almost fought, etc. Suslov and Ryspaev. This case was analyzed by us in their presence. On the eve of departure from the mountains. Alma-Ata had a bad attitude towards his wife from Sigitov. Having learned this, on June 30 we had a serious conversation with Comrade Sigitov and he promised that after his arrival from the expedition he would settle this issue, and draw up a policy in her name, she receives his salary. Repeatedly we talked with Comrade Solodovnikov about the fact that he often speaks foul language. On individual facts of indiscipline, we made comments immediately. Before any group left somewhere, we talked with the leader and with the whole group. After returning, they arranged an analysis of how they completed the task. We suggested to individual comrades that they send radiograms home. Such radiograms were given by t.t. Semchenko, Sigitov, Zabozlaev. Before the assault, we collected from everyone the text of the radiograms that they would like to transmit, and the radiograms were transmitted to the city of Alma-Ata. Before the assault, the moral and political state of the assault group was excellent. All participants had a great desire to storm and climb Pobeda Peak. The relationship between the participants was good. The discipline was positive, all tasks and assignments were carried out well, with pleasure. In general, the group was mentally prepared for the assault. The group is disciplined, efficient, ideologically sustained. There were no disagreements between the participants, except for the ascent tactics. On this issue, all participants, except for T.T. Grudzinsky and Suslov, supported the opinion of comrades. Kolokolnikov and Shipilov. All participants were against the association with the Turk.VO expedition and the Uzbek Committee. They believed and were sure that the group is better, safer to make the ascent with their own composition. Based on the observations I made before the start of the assault, I can characterize the individual members of the assault group as follows: 1.
Shipilov V.I. - a good climber, persistent, organizer, as the head of the assault enjoyed authority. His shortcomings were: the presence of elements of careerism in him, arrogance. Sometimes he commanded when persuading was needed. Comrade Suslov did not like him personally. 2.
Aleksandrov K.Ya. - hardworking, hardy, incorruptible, modest was cautious in making decisions. 3.
Cherepanov P.F. - Disciplined, reasonable person, but among his comrades he was closed. 4.
Solodovnikov I.G. - physically strong, hardy, cheerful, sociable person, he expressed his opinions directly and immediately. He liked to swear. 5.
Sigitov B.N. - hardy, disciplined, had organizational skills. In dealing with people, he is sharp, quick-tempered. He had elements of alarmism, sometimes exaggerating difficulties. 6.
Goncharuk A.F. - a modest, honest, very conscientious comrade. At work he was a great optimist. 7.
Ankudimov V.G. is a modest, sympathetic and efficient comrade. 8.
Akishev H.A. - Disciplined, responsive comrade. He loved public works and performed them with great willingness. He was modest, considered himself the most inexperienced and physically weak of all the participants. He was physically really weak. 9.
Suslov A.D. - politically literate, well acquainted with the history of many ascents. He allowed elements of arrogance, treated his comrades with disdain, believed that he himself knew better than anyone. In disputes, on almost all issues, he believed that only his own opinions were the only correct ones. 10.
Selijanov R.M. is a modest, very cultured comrade. Was closed. He did not express an opinion on the work of the expedition. 11.
Ryspaev E.M. - a very funny friend. Joked a lot. He liked to hurt someone, to tuck in. Sometimes lazy. 12.
Menyailov N.P. - a modest, very executive, hardworking comrade. 13.
Semchenko A.A. - hardy, careful comrade. Likes to command, in dealing with people as a senior is rude. 14.
Torodin R.M. - physically strong, sociable comrade, but sometimes cowardly, lazy, where possible "juice". 15.
Shevchenko N.G. - physically weak, hardworking, disciplined, but cowardly comrade. 16.
Usenov U. - hardy, physically strong, sympathetic comrade. Very hot, does not understand a friendly joke. Deputy Chief
political expeditions: /signature/ /O.Batyrbekov/ 1956.
on medical support of the high-altitude expedition of the club of climbers and tourists of the Kazakh SSR on the ascent to Pobeda peak in 1955
Monitoring of the state of the majority of the members of the expedition began with the period of autumn-winter training in 1954-1955. This observation was carried out by the medical-sports center and by me personally, as the expedition doctor. FROM physical condition and the health of many members of the expedition, I was familiar for a number of years. During the period of the final formation of the composition of the assault group and the final training, I, fulfilling the task of the Ministry of Health of the Kazakh SSR, was on a business trip, from which I returned on July 13, 1955, i.e. the day before the departure of the third echelon of the expedition from Alma-Ata. Insufficient attention to the formation and preparation of the expedition on the part of the leading organizations affected this front as well. I, as the expedition doctor, could not take part in a detailed study of the state of health of each member of the expedition and participate in the selection of members of the assault group, which was necessary, because. it was me, in the end, who decided the issue of allowing each member of the assault group to climb Pobeda Peak. Each high-altitude expedition must be accompanied by a large research work. The issues of human acclimatization in the conditions of high mountains have not yet found their final solution. In view of this, the original plan provided for the inclusion of a group of medical researchers in the expedition to conduct a series of physiological studies and observations of the state of the human body in high mountains. Changes in the estimate made it impossible for us to conduct a full-fledged research work also because the expedition was not equipped with the minimum equipment for scientific work. This, in our opinion, is also a consequence of the general attitude towards the expedition of the leading organizations of the republic. Both of these shortcomings significantly worsened the conditions for conducting medical control over the state of health, fitness, etc. and reduced medical control to elementary and standard rules and practices. Medical control over the state of health and fitness of members of the assault group. For the first time, we were able to get acquainted with the medical indicators of the state of health and fitness of all members of the expedition after the entire expedition concentrated in the Zelenaya Polyana camp. This primary medical examination of all members of the assault group took 2 days: 30 and 31 July. During this medical examination, no pathological abnormalities were found in the body of the members of the assault group. Blood pressure before exercise and in the dynamics of functional tests, the Kotov-Demin test, Clicquot and Orthostatic tests, remained within the normal range in all subjects. The indicators of all members of the assault group were good. The blood flow velocity fluctuated in the subjects within the average, normal figures. The second medical examination was carried out on August 13 before the group left for the assault. In the interval between the first and second medical examinations, the members of the expedition performed certain work at various altitudes from 3500 m to 5000 m above sea level and already had sufficient, so-called, work for these heights. active acclimatization. This repeated medical examination revealed the following: all members of the assault group, with the exception of Semchenko, Shevchenko, Torodin and Menyailov, had good indicators of functional tests, blood pressure, blood pressure dynamics during exercise, etc. Blood pressure in MS Semchenko was in the range of 150-170 mm Hg - correspondence before and after exercise. Insufficiently good indicators of functional tests and the state of dynamic changes in blood pressure were noted in Torodin, Shevchenko, Menyailov. The second group of subjects was divided into individuals with relatively good and excellent performance in all studies. The latter was obtained from the following climbers: Shipilov, Aleksandrov, Cherepanov, Sigitov, Ryspaev, Usenov, Selijanov, Goncharuk, Suslov. In connection with the change in the tactics of the assault and the division of the group into auxiliary and assault, it became possible to use the entire group of climbers in preparation for the ascent. Head of the expedition Kolokolnikov and the head of the assault group, M.S. Shipilov was informed of the results of the medical examination, indicating that the first group - Semchenko, Menyailov, Torodin, Shevchenko, should be used only up to a height of 6500-6600 m and be guided by the results of the medical examination and personal observation of the behavior of individual climbers in the formation of the assault group. Shipilov's first instruction was carried out, Semchenko and others returned from a height of 6500 m. Therapeutic and preventive work. The expedition was provided with medicines and trauma equipment perfectly. Almost any disease, including massive traumatic injuries, could be successfully treated before the patients were admitted to the hospital. During the period of the expedition before the assault, no serious illnesses were experienced by its members. Minor injuries did not require hospitalization or long-term treatment. During the period of reconnaissance work, the head of the expedition, senior officer Kolokolnikov, was diagnosed with mild cardiovascular insufficiency, although it was easily resolved under the influence of ordinary treatment measures. After the disaster with the assault group, Usenov, who had frostbite of the feet and hands of the II degree and general chilliness, needed persistent treatment. Rapid evacuation down to the district hospital, and then to the city, with continuous and persistent treatment during the evacuation period, made it possible to preserve his health and limit the levels of subsequent amputation to the phalanges of the right hand. Under the influence of psychic traumas, the state of the cardiovascular system in the z.m.s. Kolokolnikov. This required his immediate evacuation down to the district hospital in the village of Moydaadyr, and then to the city of Przhevalsk. Before going on the assault, the group received the necessary medicines and instructions for their use. Medicines were handed over to the head of the assault, the commanders of the tents and individually to each climber. All were consulted about the rules of conduct in case of possible diseases. expedition doctor,
candidate of medical sciences: /signature/ / S. Zabozlaev /
1956 Copy.
Kaz.SSR Club of climbers and tourists.
comrade Tufan A.F.
Committee for Physical Culture and Sports
under the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR.
chairmen
SUMMARY from the order of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR.
№ 480.
dated July 6, 1955
about the expedition to Pobeda Peak
In accordance with the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR No. 103 of February 18 this year, Republican calendar plan mass sports events for 1955, by the decision of the All-Union Mountaineering Section and the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the act of checking the readiness of the expedition,
P R I C A Z Y V A YU:
Paragraph I In the period from July 5 to September 25, 1955, conduct a high-altitude sports and research expedition to the Central Tien Shan from the ascent to Pobeda Peak-7439 m. Paragraph 2
The composition of the expedition to Pobeda peak is to approve the following:
1
. Kolokolnikov Evgeny Mikhailovich - head of the expedition /ZMS/ 2
. Batyrbekov Orazai Batyrbekovich - Deputy. early exp. p / hour / II category / 3
. Shipilov Vladimir Petrovich - assault commander. group. ./M.S./ 4
. Alexandrov Kuzma Yakovlevich - Deputy. early storm. group. /M.S./ 5
. Cherepanov Pavel Filippovich - participant /M.S./ 6
. Semchenko Alexander Arkhipovich -“- -“- 7
. Solodovnikov Ivan Gerasimovich - participant / I category / 8
. Sigitov Boris Ivanovich -“- -“- 9
. Torodin Rassvet Mikhailovich -“- -“- 10
.Usenov Uralkhan -“- -“- 11
. Ankudimov Vitaly Georgievich -“- -“- 12
. Goncharuk Andrey Fedorovich -“- -“- 13
. Akishev Khusain Akishevich -“- -“- 14
. Shevchenko Nikolai Grigorievich -“- -“- 15
. Suslov Alexey Dmitrievich -“- -“- 16
. Ryspaev Ergaliy Mustafanovich -“- -“- 17
. Selijanov Rostislav Mambetovich -“- -“- 18
. Menyailov Pavel Panteleevich -“- -“- 19
. Zabozlaev Sergey Sergeevich expedition doctor Ph.D. Sciences 20
.Grudzinsky Mikhail Eduardovich research worker. parts 21
. Opilko Grigory Fedorovich host expeditions 22
. Tkachev Ivan Fedorovich groom 23
. Gorokhov Gennady Mikhailovich groom 24
. Oblov Alexey Stepanovich cook 25
. Mulyendson Rudolf Markovich Art. cameraman 26
. Goncharenko Gennady Vasilievich cameraman 27
. Elagin Alexey Alexandrovich radio operator 28
. Sobolev Fedor Alekseevich radio operator Paragraph 3 To the head of the expedition of the ZMS, Comrade Kolokolnikov E.M. when conducting an expedition, strictly follow the guidance materials on mountaineering of the All-Union Committee for Physical Culture and Sports and the instructions of the Commissioner of the All-Comphyscult for the Kazakh high-mountain region. In connection with the conduct of 2 parallel expeditions to Pobeda Peak, the climbing procedure should be established in accordance with the telegraphic instructions of the All-Union Committee. Paragraph 4 To the head of the Republican club of climbers and tourists Comrade Tufan A.F. a/ provide the expedition with everything necessary for its successful work in the mountains. b/ maintain regular radio contact during the expedition. Paragraph 5 In order to provide additional security measures, when conducting an expedition to Pobeda Peak, ask the Authorized All-Union Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, comrade Gvalia A., for the period of the expedition, to create a joint rescue group of climbers from camps located in the Zaili Ala-Tau. Paragraph 6 To review the materials of sports groups climbing in the area of the expedition during the preparatory period, approve the route commission consisting of: 1.
Kolokolnikov E.M. - prev. commissions /c.m.s./ 2.
Grudzinsky M.E. - Deputy prev. /I category/ 3.
Shipilov V.P. - Member of the Commission /M.S./ 4.
Aleksandrov K.Ya. - -“- /m.s./ 5.
Cherepanov P.F. - -“- /m.s./ 6.
Semchenko A.A. - -“- /m.s./ 7.
Batyrbekov O.B. - -“- / II category / Grant the specified commission the right to consider materials on 5 “B” category of difficulty. Paragraph 7 I remind the leadership of the expedition to Pobeda Peak and all the participants of their great responsibility for conducting the expedition at a high sports and technical level and unconditional fulfillment of the tasks assigned to the expedition. Paragraph 8 This order to announce to all personnel expeditions.
Chairman of the Committee
in physical culture and sports
under the Council of Ministers of Kaz. SSR: /signature/ /A.Artykov/
M.P. participants of a high-altitude sports and research expedition to Pobeda Peak. № Surname, name Year of birth. Home address Place of work and position Party. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
. Shipilov Vladimir Petrovich 1929 Alma-Ata, 5th line No. 72. Respubl.klub alpine.commander of the assault rus. Komsomol 2
. Alexandrov Kuzma Yakovlevich 1925 Alma-Ata-1, Papanin St. No. 179 Republican. clubalpin. Chuvash VLKSM instructor 3
. Ankudimov Vitaly Georgievich 1929 Alma-Ata-1, st. Gabdullina №84 VKM turner rus. Komsomol 4
. Goncharuk Andrey Fedorovich 1928 Alma-Ata-1, Suvorov St. No. 76 VCh-4 boilermaker Rus. Member of the CPSU 5
. Akishev Khusain Akishevich 1933 Alma-Ata-2, st. Vinogradov No. 80 student of KazGU Kazakh VLKSM 6
. Semchenko Alexander Arkhipovich 1922 Alma-Ata, st. Ilyich No. 49 teacher of the department of physical education. KazMI rus. b/n 7
. Solodovnikov Ivan Gerasimovich 1921 Alma-Ata Republican club of the Alps. Russian instructor. b/n 8
. Sigitov Boris Ivanovich 1927 Alma-Ata st. Pushkin №7 Republican club of the Alps. Russian instructor. b/n 9
. Torodin Rassvet Mikhailovich 1925 Alma-Ata, 9th line No. 12, apt. 8 Z-d Kirov, shop No. 5, Russian turner. b/n 10
. Usenov Ural 1929 Alma-Ata, st. Krasin №57 Respubl. Alp Club. Kazakh b/n 11
. Cherepanov Pavel Filippovich 1917 Alma-Ata, Mechnikov St. No. 120, apt. 14 CommitteeFK and joint venture under the Council of Min. KazSSR, state coach, Russian. b/n 12
. Shevchenko Nikolai Grigorievich 1926 Alma-Ata, Chekhov St. No. 7, apt. 3 Alma-Ata-1, VCh-4, electric welder Rus. b/n 13
. Suslov Alexey Dmitrievich 1923 VOKS, factory con. insp. gr. Russian Cand. CPSU 14
. Ryspaev Ergaliy Mustafanovich 1931 Moscow, Lefortovo Val, No. 7-a, building 8 MEPhI student Kazakh VLKSM 15
. Selidzhanov Rostislav Mambetovich 1930 Moscow, Lefoto-vsky shaft No. 7, building 1-133 Moscow, MTZ engineer Rus. Komsomol 16
. Menyailov Pavel Panteleevich 1927 Stalinsk, Kemerovo region Ovrazhnaya 26 Instructor of the Metallurg Alpine Camp in Talgar. Russian b/n Note:****VKM - Wagon and wheel workshops of the railway. stations of Alma-Ata-1
****VCh-4 - apparently a military unit
****VOKS - (possibly) the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (why zad?).
ORDER
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE FOR PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORT
UNDER THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE USSR.
December 14, 1955. No. 459.
ABOUT THE EXPEDITION OF CLIMBERS TO POBEDA PEAK
In August 1955, while climbing Pobeda Peak, an accident occurred with a group of climbers' expedition organized by the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR. As a result of organized search and rescue operations and verification by a special commission appointed by the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Chairman of the Commission - Honored Master of Sports Comrade Beletsky E.A. The death of 11 climbers - members of the assault group of the expedition - was established. Shipilov V.P., Ankudimov V.G., Akishev Kh.A., Sigitov B.I., Cherepanov P.F., Suslov A.D., Ryspaev E.M. and Selidzhanov R.M. One of the main reasons for the death of the assault group is the fact that, having met with difficult conditions, worsening weather, blizzard and heavy snowfall, the members of the assault group were confused, acted in isolation, did not show themselves as a single, cohesive team. The attempted descent was unorganized. The head of the assault, Comrade Shipilov V.P. failed to organize a group to fight the elements. The gross mistake of the head of the group, Comrade Shipilov V.P. was that, having lost contact with the base camp, he continued to move up. With the correct actions of the group and its leader at the time of the deterioration of the weather, there were opportunities to prevent a catastrophe by sheltering from bad weather in tents or snow caves. The approved tactical plan for climbing Pobeda peak was rejected by the expedition leader, Honored Master of Sports Comrade Kolokolnikov E.M. the ability to resist bad weather and the ability to withstand the complicated conditions of ascent. In connection with the presence of two expeditions, the Kazakh Committee and the Uzbek Committee and the Turkestan Military District, the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR set the priority for the summit assault by the Kazakh expedition. However, the expedition of the Uzbek Republican Committee and the Turkestan Military District grossly violated this instruction by storming Pobeda Peak the day after the departure of the Kazakh expedition, which created an atmosphere of unhealthy sports competition. Presidium of the All-Union Section, Chairman Honored Master of Sports Comrade Kuzmin K.K., Department of Alpinism of the Committee Comrade Shafeev R.G. did not take a firm position on the issue of joining the forces of various expeditions to Pobeda Peak and did not check their decision to strengthen the expedition by experienced high-altitude climbers. Inclusion in the expedition, etc. Suslova A.D., Ryspaeva E.M. and Selidzhanova R.M. did not strengthen the composition of the expedition to the extent required. The Kazakh Republican Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, the Organizing Committee of the Expedition and the Republican Mountaineering Section took the wrong position, rejecting proposals to combine the forces of several organizations for a joint assault on Pobeda Peak. As a result, the climbing staff of the expedition was not strong enough to complete the task of climbing this peak. Lead the auxiliary group of master of sports comrade. Semchenko A.A., having received the task to lower the slightly ill Menyailov P.P. from the ridge, had to remain under the Chon-Toren pass to organize an observation and communication point. Instead, he arbitrarily left for the base camp with the whole group. Head of rescue and search operations, Honored Master of Sports comrade Ratsek V.I., heads of rescue teams and groups, etc. Semchenko A.A. and Nagel E.I. from the moment of receiving information about the emergency situation of the Shipilov V.P. group, work was carried out at a slow pace. The danger of avalanches from the slopes of the Ak-Tau peak and the Chon-Toren pass, which supposedly excluded the possibility of the movement of rescue teams, was overestimated by them. A member of the Presidium of the All-Union Section and a member of the expedition of the Uzbek Committee and the Turkestan Military District, comrade Yurasov L.V., knowing about the decision of the Presidium and the Committee's instructions on the order of ascents to Pobeda Peak, did not take measures to prevent the climbers of Uzbekistan from entering the assault prematurely. P R I C A Z Y V A YU:
1
. Conclusions of the commission of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which conducted an investigation into the causes and circumstances of the accident with the expedition group of the Kazakh Republican Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, to approve /Appendix No. 1/. 2
. To announce a severe reprimand to the Chairman of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR tov. Artykov A.E., Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the expedition, Deputy. Chairman of the same Committee Comrade Gerzhon S.S. for failure to provide leadership and lack of control over the actions of the expedition. 3
. To announce a severe reprimand to the head of the expedition, Honored Master of Sports Comrade Kolokolnikov E.M. and forbid him to lead mountaineering expeditions in the future for unsatisfactory leadership of the expedition and unauthorized change in the tactical plan for climbing Pobeda Peak. 4
. Announce a severe reprimand, withdraw from the Presidium of the All-Union Mountaineering Section Honored Master of Sports Ratsek V.I. - head of the expedition of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR and the Turkestan Military District. Forbidding him to lead mountaineering expeditions for 3 years for violating the instructions of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidium of the All-Union Mountaineering Section on the order of priority for climbing Pobeda Peak. 5
. Withdraw from the Presidium of the All-Union Mountaineering Section Honored Master of Sports Comrade Yurasov L.V. for failure to take proper measures to prevent violation of the climbing order of the expedition of the Uzbek climbers and the Turkestan Military District. 6
. Deprive the title of master of sports and instructor qualifications from Comrade Semchenko A.A. for violating the order of the head of the expedition, expressed in unauthorized descent to the lower camp, which led to the absence of an auxiliary detachment in the camp closest to the assault group. 7
. Oblige the Administration of Mass Sports and the Presidium of the All-Union Mountaineering Section: to hold in January 1956 a scientific and methodological conference on high-altitude ascents, at which to determine the main provisions of the organization and tactics of high-altitude ascents of Soviet climbers. Involve organizations and individuals interested in the development of high-altitude mountaineering to participate in the conference. To approve the conference program /Appendix No. 2/. Submit the materials and proposals of the conference for consideration and approval by the Committee by February 1, 1956. 8
. To oblige the management of Fizkultpromsnab, comrade Mass K.I., to develop new models of mountaineering equipment for high-altitude ascents, taking into account foreign experience, during the first quarter of 1956 by the TsLSI. 9
. Oblige the Department of Educational Institutions and the Scientific and Methodological Council of the Committee to include the following topics in the research plan: a/ “Medical indications and contraindications for mountaineering” b/ “Influence of high-altitude conditions, above 6400 m, on the human body, water-salt regime, diet and oxygen use”. 10
. To allow the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports under the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR in 1956 to conduct a 60-day training camp for the training of junior mountaineering instructors with a contingent of 30 people at the ski station. 11
. As an exception, allow the Taldy-Kurgan, East Kazakhstan, South Kazakhstan, Dzhambul and Karaganda regional committees to include climbing equipment in the list of personal property, in accordance with Appendix No. 3. 12
. To oblige the Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Georgian republican committees on physical culture and sports and the Central Council of the DSO to discuss this order together with the climbing asset and develop measures to strengthen educational work among climbers, improve preparatory work for climbing and increase demands on climbing groups. Note: **** TsLSI - Central Laboratory of Sports Equipment N. Romanov.
Application number 1.
By order of the Chairman of the Committee on Physical
culture and sports under the Council of Ministers of the USSR
dated December 14, 1955 No. 459.
CONCLUSION ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DEATH OF A GROUP OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE EXPEDITION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORTS UNDER THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE KAZAKH SSR AT THE PEAK OF VICTORY
The traces of Usenov U. at 19-00 on August 23 were noticed by the members of the expedition of the Uzbek Republican Committee Comrade NARYSHKIN. What they were informed about by the group of SEMCHENKO A.A., who arrived at the camp at 4700 m. with the task of going up to establish communication with V.P. SHIPILOV's group. Alpinists N.G. SHEVCHENKO, who set off on skis on the morning of August 24, and Menyaylov P.M. removed USENOV U. from the crack, who reported the above events with the assault group of Comrade SHIPILOV V.P. Kolokolnikova E.M., under the leadership of the Honored Master of Sports Comrade V.I. On August 25, after the transportation of Comrade USENOV, in satisfactory weather, the group of Semchenko A.A., reinforced by the members of the Uzbek expedition, again headed to the upper reaches of the Zvezdochka glacier. On August 26, in the morning, the climber Menyailov P.M., who was advancing on skis, discovered a trace in the area of the upper icefall of the Zvezdochka glacier, and soon the corpse of a member of the assault group of the Kazakh expedition, Comrade GONCHARUK A.F., who died, as was later established by a medical examination, from exhaustion and hypothermia. Leaving a corpse on the glacier, on August 26, the Semchenko group Note:****CS VSO - Central Council of the Voluntary Sports Society
Sports societies:
- "Spartak" - scientists and employees,
- "Dynamo" - employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD)
- Burevestnik - students, teachers
- "Trud", "Enbek" - workers and employees of industrial enterprises
- "Locomotive" - railway employees
- "Harvest" - agricultural workers, etc.
P.S.
In memory of those who died on this expedition, eleven climbers were given the names of a glacier, a pass and a peak in the Sarydzhaz ridge, Central Tien Shan. Administratively, this part of the Tien Shan belongs to the Kazakh SSR. Names were given to Peak Eleven 5437 m., Pass Eleven 5300 m., Glacier Eleven. When creating this album, I used archival materials taken from personal archives:
- Photographs from the archives of Ural Usenov, Viktor Zimin, Mikhail Grudzinsky and Valery Khrishchaty.
- Documents from the archive of Alexander Kolokolnikov (son of Evgeny Kolokolnikov, the head of the expedition) and the archive of Ural Usenov. The album contains two reports, a 1955 report and a more complete 1956 report with analysis, analysis and solutions. From the "fragments" lying and stored in different places, I managed to assemble this "mosaic". In memory of the participants of this tragic expedition. On the analysis and analysis of this tragedy, more than one generation of Soviet climbers was brought up. In 1990, when we passed this place of tragedy, making a traverse of the Pobeda-Khan-Tengri peaks. Valery Khrishchaty told and showed where the 1955 tents were. The USSR national mountaineering team, traversing the Pobeda-Military Topographers peaks in 1988, cleaned up the site of the tragedy. Valery Khrishchaty himself kept diaries of sporting events in which he personally took part. And he was very serious about written documents of this kind. From the stories of Ural Usenov, he knew that Yergali Ryspaev kept a diary of the expedition. And being at the scene of the tragedy, 33 years later, I wanted to find this diary. He warned all team members of his intentions. And after he found the diary in one of the tents, he gave the go-ahead for cleaning. The USSR national mountaineering team collected, having cut out of the ice, all the equipment, clothes, utensils at the site of the tragedy and dropped it on the northern wall of the Eastern Pobeda peak, on the territory of the USSR. Work was also done to improve burials. Burials of Cherepanov P.F. - 6600 m. and Ankudimova V.G. – 6250 m were additionally lined with stones. The body of Suslov A.D. could not be found.
Event film:
A sharply continental climate prevails on the territory of the mountain system. Rare precipitation, dry air, light winds and significant temperature changes - these are the features of the area. The winter period is unusually fierce for local latitudes. In the summer months, it is hot in the foothills and valleys, and fresh and cool in the mountains.
The Tien Shan lazily basks in the sun - there is enough light here. On average, the mountain system receives from 2500 to 2700 hours of sunlight per year. For comparison, Moscow accounts for only 1600 hours. In March and April, the picturesque picture is complemented by cloudiness. In August and September, the sky, on the contrary, is clear - not a single cloud. The Tien Shan mountains welcome guests most cordially from May to October: intoxicating aromas of plants, flowering carpet and a generous scattering of berries.
On the way to the Torugart pass. Tien Shan mountainsExploring the mysterious mountain system
Mentions of the Tien Shan Range are found in ancient writings and notes. Descriptions of expeditions to these places have been preserved, but they are more reminiscent of fiction than reliable facts. The Russian explorer Pyotr Semenov discovered the mountainous "country" and spoke in detail about it.
Up to this point, European information about the Tien Shan remained scarce. For example, the German encyclopedist and geographer Alexander Humboldt believed that the main part of the mountain system was fire-breathing volcanoes. The Chinese sources did not fill in the knowledge gaps. In one of them, which belongs to 7th century, it was mentioned: in the famous local lake Issyk-Kul "dragons and fish live together."
Semyonov began to think about the Tien Shan when he undertook serious work - translating into Russian the book of the work of the German scientist Karl Ritter "Earth Science of Asia". The task for the young researcher was assigned by the Russian Geographical Society. Semenov approached the task creatively: he not only translated the text, but also provided additional materials from scientific sources. There was little information about the vast Asian expanses, but I really wanted to see the mountains with my own eyes.
For three years the explorer had been preparing the expedition. Humboldt himself blessed the scientist for this risky venture, asking him to bring the wreckage as a present. rocks Tien Shan. In the spring of 1855, the explorer set off. The artist Kosharov went with him, whose images complement the memoirs of the Russian geographer. The expedition climbed from Alma-Ata to the Issyk-Kul lake. The book "Journey to the Tien Shan" is filled with impressions from the trip.
After returning home in 1857, Semyonov proposed to the Geographical Society to conduct another expedition, but no funds were found for it. In the future, his ideas prompted other researchers to study Central Asia. For Semenov's contribution, half a century later, he was officially given an additional surname - Tyan-Shansky.
"Glum Giant"
The dream of many climbers is to conquer Pobeda Peak, which is located on the border of Kyrgyzstan and China. This beautiful pinnacle has serious requirements for the moral and physical preparation of daredevils. Despite the huge growth of 7439 meters, the peak remained unnoticed for a long time.
In 1936, a group of climbers enthusiastically set off to conquer Khan Tengri. It was believed that this is the highest peak of the Tien Shan. During the expedition, the group noticed a nearby mountain, which competed in height with Khan Tengri. A few years later, climbers headed by Leonid Gutman went to her. The famous Tien Shan explorer August Letavet joined the group. In 11 days, with an almost absolute lack of visibility, we managed to reach the summit. The exact height was determined only in 1943.
From the side, Pobeda Peak resembles a huge, gloomy giant who decided to rest. But the pampered appearance is deceptive: climbers face inclement weather. Only occasionally the northern seven-thousander changes anger to mercy. Severe frosts and snow storms, avalanches and a chilling wind - the mountain tests all the endurance of the daredevils who dared to climb it. The best type of temporary shelter remains a snow cave. No wonder the Pobeda Peak is called the most impregnable and formidable seven-thousander.
But it is difficult to accurately determine the top of the peak - it is smoothed and stretched, so the summit tour was located in different places. In the early 90s, a group of Minskers did not even count the ascent: there was severe bad weather and they could not find the mark of the previous team.
"Lord of Heaven"
Pobeda Peak's neighbor is the formidable Khan-Tengri (6995 meters). It is called one of the most beautiful peaks in the world. The correct pyramidal shape and the mysterious name "Lord of Heaven" fascinate climbers. The Kazakhs and Kyrgyz have their own name for the peak - Kan-Too. During sunset, the surrounding mountains are plunged into darkness, and only this peak takes on a reddish tint. The shadows of the surrounding clouds create the effect of flowing scarlet jets. This effect is created by pink marble, which is part of the mountain. The ancient Turkic peoples believed that the supreme deity lives on a hill.
Khan Tengri was conquered for the first time in 1936. The classic climbing route on the mountain peak runs along the West Ridge. It is not so simple: if there are only a few simple routes in the track record, you should not even try to defeat the “Lord of Heaven”. The northern part of the mountain is steeper than the southern one. But there is less likelihood of ice collapses and avalanches. Prepares Khan Tengri and other "surprises": bad weather, low temperatures, hurricane winds.
Khan Tengri and Pobeda peak belong to the Central Tien Shan. From the center to the west there are three mountain ranges, which are separated by intermountain basins. They are united by the Ferghana Range. Two parallel mountain ranges stretched to the east.
“Slimming” Tien Shan glaciers
The high part of the mountain system is covered with glaciers. Some of them are hanging, which pose a danger to climbers. Glaciers are beneficial for local peoples - they fill the rivers of four countries and are a source of fresh water for the population. But the ice reserves are beginning to dry up. Over the past fifty years, they have decreased by almost a quarter. The area of glaciers has decreased by 3 thousand square meters. km - a little more than Moscow. Since the 1970s, the ice part began to disappear more actively. According to scientists, by the middle of the 21st century, the Celestial Mountains will have lost 50% of their reserves. The changes could leave four countries without a water resource.
Melting glaciers in the Tien ShanFlowers at the foot of the mountains
In spring, the slopes of the mountains are filled with life. The glaciers are melting, and the water goes to the foot of the mountains. The semi-deserts are adorned with ephemeral grasses, the steppes - with wild onions, shrubs and tulips. There are coniferous forests and meadows on the territory of the Tien Shan. Junipers are widespread. There is a lot of golden root and blackberry here. There are dangerous "inhabitants" - Sosnovsky's cow parsnip. If you touch it, you can get burned. Greig's tulip also grows here, in which the petals reach 75 mm.
In the vicinity of the mountains there are many species of plants and animals that live only here. This is the saker falcon, and the red wolf, and Menzbir's marmot. Another difference of the Tien Shan is the neighborhood of animals and plants of different latitudes. South Indian porcupine and northern roe deer, walnut and fir live together. There are representatives of steppes, deserts, forests, mountains... Thanks to this, several reserves have been created within the mountain system.
Non-freezing lake and its "neighbors"
They feel comfortable on the territory of the mountain system and the lake. The largest is Issyk-Kul. It is located in a deep depression between two ridges in the territory of Kyrgyzstan. Its water is slightly brackish. From the local language, the name is translated as "warm". The lake lives up to its name - its surface never freezes.
The reservoir occupies more than 6 thousand square meters. km. A tourist zone is located along it: hotels, boarding houses, guest houses. The southern shore is less built up, but more picturesque - silence, mountain air, snow-capped peaks, hot springs nearby ... The lake is so transparent that you can see the bottom. The coast resembles a seaside resort - there is something for everyone. You can bask on the beach, go fishing or go on an excursion to the mountains.
Lake Tianchi is located in the Tien Shan Mountains, a hundred kilometers from Urumqi (China). The locals called it the "Pearl of the Heavenly Mountain". The lake is fed by melt water, because it is crystal clear. The most spectacular mountain in the vicinity is Bogdafeng Peak, whose height exceeds 6 thousand meters. The best time to visit is from May to September.
Hiking and bike tours
Hiking in the Tien Shan mountains often includes a tour of Issyk-Kul. Several days of passes surrounded by peaks of five thousand meters, emerald mountain reservoirs, acquaintance with the most famous local attractions - all this includes a hiking route. Travelers admire the local blue spruce and juniper thickets, an abundance of flowers and waterfalls, bathe in hot springs and relax on the coast of a healing lake. Sometimes the routes involve acquaintance with the simple life of nomadic shepherds.
Tourists are especially interested in the Northern Tien Shan and the Kyrgyz Range. Both areas have easy access. They are not crowded, untouched by civilization. You can make simple hikes or pick up difficult routes. The best time to travel is July-August. Experienced tourists are advised to be careful about trusting information that is 20 years old or more. Due to the melting of glaciers, some routes have become easier, others have become more difficult and dangerous to overcome.
Residents of Russia do not need foreign passports to travel to Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. Upon arrival, you must register. The attitude towards tourists is hospitable, and there are no language problems. The transport accessibility of the mountains is different. The easiest way to get to those that are near Alma-Ata: Western Dzhungaria and Zailiysky Alatau. There is also excellent access to the mountains located near Tashkent and Bishkek. You can also get to the picturesque places that are located near Lake Issyk-Kul. The remaining regions of the Kyrgyz and Chinese Tien Shan are inaccessible.
Cycling tours are also carried out in the Tien Shan mountains. There are opportunities for cycling, cross-country, and road pedaling. The sultry Asian summer, sands and impassability will test the strength of the traveler. Landscapes change: semi-deserts, deserts, mountain ranges. After the bike tour, you can stop at Issyk-Kul Lake and visit the cities of the famous Silk Road along the way.
mountain dwellers
Tien Shan attracts not only adventure seekers. For some people, the slopes of the mountains are their home. At the end of spring, local nomadic shepherds set up the first yurts. Everything is thought out in such mini-houses: kitchen, bedroom, dining room, living room. Yurts are made of felt. Inside is comfortable even during frosts. Instead of beds, there are thick mattresses laid on the floor. Semyonov also observed the economy and life of the Kazakhs and Kirghiz in the vicinity of the Tien Shan. In personal reports, the scientist described visits to Kyrgyz villages, individual meetings with local residents during the expedition.
Before the revolution, the yurt was considered by the Kirghiz to be the main type of dwelling. Today, the design has not lost its significance, since much attention is still paid to animal husbandry. It is placed near ordinary houses. In the heat, the family rests there, meets guests.
Geographical position. The Tien Shan is one of the largest mountain systems in Asia. Tien Shan means "heavenly mountains" in Chinese. The territory of Kazakhstan includes almost completely the Northern Tien Shan, parts of the Central and Western Tien Shan.
The Central Tien Shan within Kazakhstan begins from the powerful mountain junction Khan-Tengri (6995 m), at the junction of the borders of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Further it extends to the west with a whole series of ridges. The largest of them is the Tersky Alatau. The border with Kyrgyzstan runs along its eastern branch.
The Northern Tien Shan includes the ridges: Ketmen, Kungei Alatau, Zailiysky Alatau, Chu-Ili mountains and Kyrgyz Alatau.
The Western Tien Shan includes the Talas ridge and the ridges extending from it in the southeast direction - Ugamsky and Korzhintau.
Completely within the boundaries of Kazakhstan is Karatau - the most extreme, heavily destroyed region of the Tien Shan.
Relief, geological structure and minerals. The Tien Shan is located in the ancient geo-synclinal zone. It is composed of metamorphosed shales, sandstones, gneisses, limestones and volcanic rocks of Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic deposits. Later continental and lacustrine deposits are concentrated on mountain plains. They consist of clayey, sandy and moraine deposits. Main mountain systems:
The Trans-Ili Alatau is the northernmost high mountain range of the Tien Shan, has a length of 350 km, a width of 30-40 km, and an average height of 4000 m.
The Trans-Ili Alatau rises towards the Talgar, Chiliko-Kemin mountains (Talgar peak - 4973 m), and in the east, to the Dalashyk and Tore tracts, it noticeably decreases (3300-3400 m). The northern slopes of the mountains are especially clearly cut by numerous rivers, which indicates the influence of the glaciation era on them.
The Zailiysky Alatau is composed of ancient sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Lower Paleozoic - sandstones, porphyries, granites and gneisses. As a result of the formation of the Caledonian and Hercynian foldings in the Paleozoic, and then repeated uplift during the Alpine orogeny process, the mountain structure became blocky-folded.
On the peaks, an alpine type of relief has developed. Pointed peaks alternate with intermountain plains. Separate mountainous areas have a stepped relief.
Ketmen - one of the mid-mountain ranges - is located in the eastern part of the Tien Shan. Its length within Kazakhstan is 300 km, width - 50 km, height - 3500 m. It is formed from effusive sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic. In some places, granite protrudes to the surface of the relief. The slopes of Ketmen are dissected by the rivers of the Ili basin.
Kungei Alatau is included in Kazakhstan only by the northern slopes of its eastern part. The average height of this mountain range is 3800-4200 m. The eastern part of Kungei Alatau and Zailiysky Alatau is separated by the valleys of the Charyn and Chilik rivers and the Zhalanash intermountain plain. The slopes of the Kungei Northern Alatau are relatively gentle and strongly dissected, the peaks are leveled.
The Chu-Ili mountains are located in the northwest of the Trans-Ili Alatau. They consist of individual hills that have undergone destruction, strong erosion (Dolankara, Kulzhabas, Kindiktas, Khantau, Alaaygyr, etc.). The average height is 1000-1200 m. The highest point is Aitau, its height is 1800 m. The Chu-Ili mountains were formed from Precambrian metamorphic rocks and thick layers of gneiss. Their surfaces are composed of sedimentary-effusive rocks of the Lower Paleozoic - shales, sandstones. The slopes of the mountains are dry, dissected by deep gorges, the peaks are leveled, and the Betpakdala plateau is located to the north-west of these mountains.
The Kyrgyz Alatau is a large mountain system; its northern slope of the western part is located on the territory of Kazakhstan. Its highest peak is Western Alamedin peak - 4875 m. In the Kazakhstani part, the height of the mountains does not exceed 4500 m. To the west they decrease. The northern slopes are subsided and destroyed mountains. The surface of the ridge is composed of sandstones, limestones and granites of the Carboniferous period. The ridge has an uneven, strongly dissected surface. On the border with Kyrgyzstan, this range has the type of alpine relief.
The Western Tien Shan within Kazakhstan begins south of the Kyrgyz Range, beyond the Talas Valley. Here rises the chain of the Talas Alatau (in the vicinity of the city of Taraz).
Kazakhstan part of Talas Alatau - Zhabagly mountains and Sairam range. The Zhabagly mountains are divided into two mountain ranges: they form the basin of the Aksu-Zhabagly rivers (the height of the northern ridge is 2600-2800 m, the southern ridge is 3500 m). They are also composed of sedimentary and igneous rocks of the Paleozoic. The slopes of the mountains are dissected, bear traces of ancient glaciation, and are distinguished by the alpine type of relief.
The Tashkent mountains consist of several mountain ranges extending southwest from the Talas Alatau. These include the Sairam Mountains (the highest point is Sairam peak 4220 m), Koksu (the highest point is 3468 m), Ugam (the highest point is 3560 m), Karzhantau (2839 m), Kazykurt (1700 m). Their geological histories are similar. All of them are composed of Paleozoic limestones. The slopes of the mountains are steep, the relief is dissected. Karst phenomena are widespread.
The Karatau Ridge is located on the western outskirts of the Western Tien Shan. It extends in a northwestern direction for 400 km, its average height is 1800 m. The highest point is Mynzhylky (2176 m). To the northwest it goes down and already at the confluence of the dry channels of the Sarysu and Chu rivers, the mountain passes to a plateau. In terms of geological structure and relief, Karatau is similar to the Chu-Ili mountains. It settles, collapses and levels out. The northeastern and southwestern mountain ranges of the Karatau ridge are separated by intermountain valleys. If its southwestern ridge was formed from metamorphic rocks of the Proterozoic, then the northeastern ridge was formed from sandstones and shales of the Paleozoic.
The valleys located between the two ridges are composed of red clays. Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits of limestone, sandstone and clay are also widespread. The local relief was formed in a dry climate. There is no permanent surface runoff. The slopes are dissected by large and small gorges and dry riverbeds.
A large supply of minerals was found on the territory of Karatau. They are used for the production of lead, zinc at the Shymkent lead-zinc plant and for providing chemical plants in Taraz with phosphorus raw materials. Ores are mined in an open way. Karatau is a source of building materials - gypsum, cement, etc., which gives the state a big profit. The folded base of the southwestern and southern parts of the range was formed in the Paleozoic era.
The main shape of the Tien Shan relief was formed during mountain building in the Neogene and Anthropogenic periods of the Cenozoic era. The proof of this is the earthquakes occurring in the Tien Shan. The general view of the relief of the mountains is not the same. In the mountains, high peaks, ridges with intermountain valleys, hilly plains, etc. alternate. The altitudinal belt of mountains is formed in direct dependence on the geographical location and the scheme of mountain ranges.
Climate, rivers and glaciers. The climate of the Kazakhstani part of the Tien Shan mountain system is dry, unstable, formed in winter under the influence of polar air masses, and in summer tropical air masses. It is influenced by arctic air masses and the Siberian anticyclone. The height of the mountain ranges, the diversity of the relief affects the flow of heat and moisture. Therefore, frosts often occur in the foothills of the Tien Shan in autumn and spring. In the summer months, sultry winds often blow - dry winds. The dry continental climate of the plain in the mountains is replaced by a moderately humid continental climate. Winter is long, from October to April-May, summer is much shorter.
In Kungei and Terskey Alatau, snow sometimes falls already in August and it becomes quite cold. There are often frosts even in May-June. Real summer comes only in July.
The time of the highest rainfall is May. If during this period it rains at the foot of the mountain, then snow falls on its peaks.
On the northern slopes of the Zailiysky Alatau, even in the winter months, there are often warm days. During the day the snow melts, at night the puddles are covered with ice. Such a sharp change in weather has a destructive effect on the rock.
The climate of the Western Tien Shan is influenced by warm climatic conditions south of Kazakhstan. Therefore, in the mountains of the Western Tien Shan, the snow line is higher than in the east. Here the average annual rainfall is higher - 600-800 mm. On the slopes of the mountains, the average July temperature is +20°+25°С, at the foot of the glaciers -5°С.
Many rivers flow along the spurs of the Tien Shan mountains, along the intermountain plains. The Bolshaya and Malaya Almatinka, Talgar, Issyk, Chilik, Kaskelen rivers originate from the northern slopes of the Trans-Ili Alatau, and the Charyn River originates from the eastern slopes of the Tien Shan. Many of them flow into the Ili River, the flow of which replenishes the water supply of Lake Balkhash.
The Chu River originates in the Kyrgyz Alatau and, after crossing the border of Kyrgyzstan, flows through the territory of Kazakhstan.
The Arys, Boraldai, and Bogen rivers flow from the southwestern slopes of Karatau. From the northwestern slopes there are some rivers that are fed by melted snow waters in spring and dry up in summer.
In the spurs of the Tien Shan, there are lakes located in depressions between the peaks of the mountains. These lakes originate from glaciers. Below, in the intermountain basins, small lakes are formed.
The peaks of the Tien Shan mountains are covered with glaciers, their especially powerful reserves are concentrated in the Chiliko-Kemin mountain junction. There are more than 380 glaciers in the Zailiysky Alatau, which occupy mountain valleys with a total area of 478 km2. They are located in the upper part of the basins, from where the rivers Chilik, Issyk, Talgar, Bolshaya and Malaya Almatinki, Aksai originate. The largest glacier is Korzhenevsky (length 12 km).
In total, there are 1009 glaciers in the Kazakh part of the Tien Shan with a total area of 857 km2. Prolonged melting of glaciers and heavy rainfall on hot summer days increase the inflow melt water to lakes and rivers. This leads to the fact that the water overflows the banks and floods begin. They cause great harm to the economy and pose a danger to human life.
natural areas. Flora and fauna. The natural zones of the Tien Shan mountainous country change along the vertical zonality. These belts have developed in direct proportion to the orographic scheme of mountain ranges and geographical location. Due to the diversity of the natural environment and the characteristic features of each Tien Shan mountain range, the same belts are not located vertically at the same height everywhere: in one ridge they are higher, and in the other - lower.
There are four levels of altitudinal belts in the Northern Tien Shan. If you count them from the very top, then they start from glaciers, from the alpine relief, covered with eternal snows. And in other ridges, the belts begin from a height of 2600-2800 m, in the third - above 3300 m. Here there are hilly hills surrounding bare rocks. Natural areas consist of subalpine and alpine meadows, alpine landscapes. Snow leopards, mountain goats, snowcocks, mountain eagles live in the mountains.
The next altitudinal belt is distributed in the mountains of medium height from 1500-1600 m to 3200-3300 m. Small-leaved and coniferous forests mainly grow on the northern slopes of the mountains. The plains are covered with meadows, on the southern slopes there are signs of steppe and meadow-steppe zones.
Spruce-forest belt.
1. Schrenk spruce.
2. Aspen.
3. Rowan Tien Shan.
4. Honeysuckle.
5. Geranium straight.
6. Siberian larch.
7. Siberian fir
Forests are found only in the gorges. From animals live bears, roe deer.
The belt of low mountains is clearly seen in the Zailiyskiy Alatau. Their height is 900-1100 m above sea level. They resemble the hilly mountains of the central part of Kazakhstan. Various types of plants grow on the dark and dark chestnut soils of this territory: herbaceous, woody (pines), shrubs (meadowsweet).
The lowest altitudinal zone covers intermountain plains and foothills (they are located at an altitude of approximately 600-800 m). In these territories, there are signs of desert, semi-desert, steppe zones. Cereals, melons and horticultural crops are grown here. The meadows are used as pastures for cattle grazing.
The altitudinal belts of the Western Tien Shan are located 100-200 m higher than the Northern Tien Shan. They are affected by the arid climate of Central Asia, less moisture. Types of soil and vegetation cover vary depending on altitudinal zonality. Asian and Indian plant species grow in the Aksu-Zhabagly reserve. And the animals living in the western spurs of the Tien Shan differ markedly from the inhabitants of the Northern Tien Shan. There are more Siberian, European species of animals, and in the West - animals similar to the Mediterranean, African, Himalayan species.
Reserves. In order to protect the nature of the Tien Shan, its flora and fauna, reserves and national parks were organized. Among them, a large place is occupied by Aksu-Zhabagly and Almaty reserves, Ile-Alatau national park.
Reserve Aksu-Zhabagly (1927) - a repository of pristine nature of the Western Tien Shan - designed to protect 1404 species of plants (among them 269 rare), 238 species of birds, 42 species of mammals, 9 species of reptiles. Rare species of animals and birds live in the reserve: ground squirrels, bustards, little bustards.
In the Almaty Reserve (1961), 965 species of plants, 39 species of animals, 200 species of birds grow. The snow leopard, brown bear, deer are taken under protection.
In 1996, the surroundings of Almaty were declared the Ile-Alatau National Park. It is located on the territory of over 181.6 thousand hectares, on the northern slope of the Zailiyskiy Alatau. Important activities for the protection of nature are carried out here.
1. According to the tectonic map of Kazakhstan, determine when the processes of mountain formation took place in the Northern and Western Tien Shan. Why does the Tien Shan belong to the seismic zone?
2. Using the climate map, explain the unevenness of precipitation in the Tien Shan.
3. What is the reason for the aridity of the climate? Is it possible to form a climate characteristic of the Tien Shan in its separate parts? Why, if possible?
4. On the map, show the glaciers of the Kazakh part of the Tien Shan. Explain the patterns of their location.
5. What explains the diversity of types of altitudinal belts of the Northern and Western Tien Shan?
Draw on a contour map a diagram of the location of the mountain ranges of the Kazakh part of the Tien Shan.
GENERAL INFORMATIONTien Shan - "Celestial Mountains" - spread over a vast area. More than 2,500 km of its ridges stretched through the central part of Asia, more than 1,200 km are within the former USSR.
The central part of the mountain system is the highest, where the almost parallel latitudinal ranges of the eastern Tien Shan, which lies within China, merge. The entire central and western parts of the Tien Shan are located on the territories of the former Soviet republics. Here, in a complex interweaving of ridges, the greatest peaks of the Tien Shan rise: Pobeda Peak (7439m) and Khan Tengri (7010m).
From here, the ridges diverge again in a westerly direction.
The northern ridges of the former Soviet part of the Tien Shan - Zailiysky and Kungei Alatau go around the large high-altitude lake Issyk-Kul from the north. Further to the west stretch the ranges of the Kyrgyz Alatau, Talas, Ugam, Pskem and Chatkal, not counting the less significant ones. This series of almost parallel ranges borders the Ferghana Valley from the north.
From the east, the Central Tien Shan is fenced by a relatively short chain of mountains directed from north to south - the Meridional ridge. To the west, latitudinal ranges depart from it: Sarydzhassky and Terskey-Alatau, Stalin, Kaindy and the huge Kokshaal-tau, covering the central part of the Tien Shan from the south. In the west, this part of the mountain system ends with the Ferghana Range, which stretches from the southeast to the northwest.
Within these boundaries are many mountains. They are crowned either by snow cones or by pointed peaks. But not the entire Central Tien Shan is an area of high snowy mountains. They are concentrated mainly between the Meridional ridge and another Akshiryak ridge, almost parallel to it. Further, a significant part of the space is occupied by rounded, mostly snowless mountains, interspersed with vast hilly plateaus - syrts.
From the southwestern corner of the Central Tien Shan, another series of ridges extends to the west, which have the common name Pamir-Altai. Many scientists consider them also to belong to the Tien Shan system. This is, first of all, the rocky Alai Range, bordering the Ferghana Valley from the south. At its western end, the Alai Range forms a powerful knot and branches into the Zeravshan and Gissar Ranges. From the first of them, the Turkestan Range further branches off.
Central and inner Tien Shan
According to the orographic structure, the Tien Shan is usually divided into Northern, Western, Central, Inner and Eastern (the latter in China). Tourists and climbers usually, in their classification of the Central and Inner Tien Shan, consider the region of the Kaindy, Inylchek-Too, Sary-Jaz, Tengri-Tag ridges to be the eastern part of the central Tien Shan, and the Kuilshu, Akshiirak, Dzhetymbel, Naryn-Too, Borkoldoy ridges , At-Byshi and the rest of the Terskey Ala-Tau ridge just to the Central Tien Shan.
HISTORY OF RESEARCH OF THE CENTRAL TIEN SHAN
The foothills of the Tien Shan, as well as other regions of Central Asia, have been inhabited since prehistoric times. Traces of stay ancient man found in many valleys of the Tien Shan, including its mountainous part; some finds date back more than a millennium BC. Even at the bottom of the high mountain lake Issyk-Kul there are remains of ancient buildings. However, information about the mountains of the Tien Shan, especially about its high central part, seeped into geographical science very slowly. Knowledge about the Tien Shan was accumulated in the same ways as about other mountainous regions of Asia. From this point of view, the high-mountainous Tien Shan was, perhaps, in even more unfavorable conditions than the Pamirs. The Mongolian peoples from the eastern part of Asia moved west to the north of the main chains of the Central Tien Shan, through the Dzungarian gates. Trade routes linking East and West also bypassed these ranges, but from the north or south.
South, in the river basin. Tarim, there was the legendary land of the Issedons "Serika", through which Chinese silks went to the western countries. The Greek geographer and historian Herodotus mentions the journey to these countries of Aristas Proconesus (7th century BC), and, according to him, to the north of the places inhabited by the Issedons and their western neighbors the Agrippas, there is a little-known high and inaccessible mountainous country . Somewhere in these same places passed the route of the journey described by Maeom Titianus.
Earlier it was said that the first reliable information and ideas about the geography of Central Asia were obtained by Chinese travelers. In particular, Zhang Zang, during his "journey to the Ferghana Valley (126 BC), apparently crossed part of the Tien Shan and visited Lake Issyk-Kul. Chinese geography of the Han Dynasty (114 BC). BC) already definitely mentions the Muzart mountains (now the Muzart pass is known in the western part of the Khalyktau ridge, in the eastern Tien Shan - Richthofen believes that Zhang Tsang passed through it) and Lake Issyk-Kul. the northern route through the Tsun-lin (Onion Mountains, which included the Pamirs and the western part of the Tien Shan), leading west to Kokand and northwest to the Aral Sea region.
The first Chinese Buddhist travelers undoubtedly made their way to India along the southern foothills of the Tien Shan. The famous Xuan Jiang (7th century) began his journey from China along the northern road to Hami, then turned west, passing along the southern foot of the Tien Shan to the city of Aksu. From here he again moved north and crossed the ridges of the Central Tien Shan, and subsequently the first to describe these snowy mountains. It is difficult to establish exactly which pass he used. Since it is believed that he went to the eastern shore of the lake. Issyk-Kul, it is believed that the traveler used the Muzart pass. This conclusion is also supported by the name Shin-Shan given in the description, which means an ice (or snow) mountain.
As you know, in the Turkic language, this corresponds to Muz-tau, and, accordingly, the ice pass - Muzart. But from Aksu, he could just as well move to the Bedel pass. This very difficult transition left a lasting impression on Xuan Jiang. The pass was especially dangerous. Many of Xuan Jiang's companions died in the mountains. The traveler describes the peaks of the Tien Shan in this way: “From the beginning of the world, the snow accumulated here turned into ice blocks that do not melt either in spring or summer. Smooth fields of solid and shiny ice stretch into infinity and merge with clouds. The path often passes between overhanging on both sides by icy peaks and through high ice masses."
Xuan Jiang warns that in these places you can’t wear red clothes, you can’t talk loudly, otherwise the traveler will face incalculable troubles, snow and stone landslides, etc.
Over the next millennium, almost no new information about the high Tien Shan comes to science. Starting from the 8th century, when the dominion of the Arab conquerors was established in Central Asia, and until the invasion of Genghis Khan in the 12th-13th centuries. Tien Shan lies away from trade routes and is not visited by scientists and travelers. The meager information about this country in the Arabic geography of that time is essentially no higher than the level of knowledge given in Chinese sources of the 7th-8th centuries.
Only in the XVIII century. ideas about the Tien Shan were somewhat replenished. In 1708, Jesuit missionaries began, on behalf of Ikhun Lung, the emperor of China, to draw up a map of his possessions and neighboring countries. For ten years, Gallerstein, Felix Aroga and Espinius, with the help of very knowledgeable Chinese surveyors, studied the country. The map compiled as a result of this work was published in 1821. However, the western part of China was mapped somewhat later, in the middle of the 18th century. To collect material on this area, the researchers got to the lake. Issyk-Kul and visited the valley of the river. Or. The map had a remarkable feature: its compilers relatively accurately determined geographical position many places they visited by the stars - this method has long been known in China. Therefore, their work served as the basis for many other later maps for many years.
Some information about the Tien Shan was also known to the Russians. So, for example, in the well-known "Book of the Big Drawing" (end of the 16th century), the compilation of which was begun at the behest of Ivan the Terrible, the upper part of the river. The Syr Darya is depicted more faithfully than even by the English traveler Wood (1838). This is not surprising: it is known that trade relations between the Muscovite state and the countries of Asia have existed since very ancient times. Not only merchants, but also embassies, who had a special order to describe the visited countries, penetrated from Moscow to the East. So, for example, O. I. Baikov, the ambassador of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, passed through Dzungaria on his way to Beijing.
With the beginning of the XVIII century. Russians are becoming more and more familiar with Central Asia, in particular with its eastern part, to which the Tien Shan belongs.
Peter the Great seeks to establish relations with India along the river. Amu Darya. Two expeditions went to Asia: Colonel Buchholz to Siberia and Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky to the Transcaspian region. Both expeditions are known to have been unsuccessful. Among the many participants in the defeated Buchholz detachment who were captured by the Kalmyks was the Swede I. Renat. After being in captivity for 17 years (1716-1733), he became well acquainted with Dzungaria. Renat returned to Europe with a map he had compiled of Dzungaria and adjacent parts of Siberia and Central Asia. This map was unknown for a long time, its copy was found only in the late 70s of the XIX century. in one of the Swedish libraries and then published in 1881 by the Russian Geographical Society. Even at the time of publication, the map was in many ways superior to later ones.
The well-known journey of F. Efremov gave a lot for the knowledge of Central Asia. In 1774 he was taken prisoner to Bukhara. There, Efremov became an officer in the Khan's troops and made a number of trips to neighboring countries. Homesickness made him flee. The way to the west was closed, and Efremov moved to the east: through Kokand and Kashgar he made his way to , from there to Kashmir and India, and from India to England. He returned to Russia only in 1782. Efremov was the first European to pass through the Terekdavan Pass.
Since the beginning of the 1930s, the influence of the Russian state among the feudal lords of the nomadic tribes of the so-called "Kirghiz steppe" (Northern Kazakhstan) has increased so much that travel to the eastern part of Central Asia has become more accessible, and therefore relatively frequent. If Captain Unkovsky in 1823 compiled a map of Dzungaria according to interrogated data, then already in 1832 Lieutenant Colonel Ugryumov was able to map this region of Asia based on personal observations.
Both for other regions of Asia and for the Tien Shan, the period of collecting fragmentary information ends with the appearance of major generalizing works by A. Humboldt, K. Ritter, and, somewhat later, Richthofen. A. Humboldt was the first to make an attempt not only to generalize all the information about the geography of Asia, but also to build a then still hypothetical system of orography of the mainland.
An important role in this construction was assigned to the Tien Shan, which Humboldt ranked among the main latitudinal chains of the mountains of Asia. The scientist had a very peculiar idea of these still almost unknown mountains. In his description, this is a chain of real volcanic mountains. The Tien Shan intersects with the legendary Bolor ridge, and further to the west continues with the Asferk ridge, which ends at the meridian of Samarkand. Not far from here in the ridge is the volcanic group Bothm. This volcano was also reported by the Arab geographer Idisi. To the east of Bolor, Humboldt names Terek-tag, Kok-Shal, Temurtu-tag, volcanoes Bai-Shan, Turpan, etc. in the Tien Shan. The chain ends at the Khami meridian and disappears in the sands of the Gobi desert. The author is inclined to consider the Tien Shan as a more extensive mountainous country, believing that the Caucasus is the western continuation of this chain of mountains, and to the east, beyond the Gobi, it should include the In-shal mountains, stretching almost to the Pacific coast. The geology of that time had a very pronounced "volcanic direction". Perhaps that is why, and also because of the inaccurate information of ancient authors, but, in any case, Humboldt considered the Tien Shan to be a major center of active volcanic activity. The scientist was not stopped by the fact that this violated the basic pattern according to which volcanoes on the Earth's surface are found mainly on islands and near the shores of large sea basins.
Humboldt distinguished several centers of volcanic activity in the Tien Shan. Especially intense, in his opinion, it should be in the east, near Urumqi, near Kulja, Turfan, near Lake. Issyk-Kul. The scientist considered Bogdo-olo and the huge volcano Bai-Shan to be the centers of the volcanic region.
It is curious and characteristic of the geography of that time that Bai Shan, a mountain known from Chinese sources, was considered a volcano on the grounds that some authors called it Ho Shan (Fiery Mountain). Another traveler, Meyer, mistook Mount Urten-tau for a volcano only because of its name, which in translation means Burnt Hill.
Already in 1840, A. Schrenk, during his trip to the Dzungarian Alatau, proved that the Aral-Tube island in the lake. Alakol is not a volcano at all, contrary to the opinion of Humboldt, based on the incorrect testimony of other travelers. Twelve years later, the mining engineer Vlangali, visiting the same places, also found no traces of volcanism and volcanic rocks. There remained a high-altitude and still inaccessible part of the Tien Shan. If there are no volcanoes on the outskirts of a mountainous country, then perhaps they are in its center? But science answered this question relatively quickly.
In the early 50s of the century before last, Russian troops occupied the so-called Trans-Ili region. In 1845, in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau, the Verny fortification was founded (now the city of Almaty (Alma-Ata). Russian scientists gained access to the Tien Shan.
Only the first house in Verny was completed, clashes between the warring clans of the Kirghiz continued in the mountain valleys, but the young scientist botanist P.P. ).
P.P. Semenov belongs to a galaxy of remarkable Russian travelers of the 19th century, researchers with a broad and versatile background and interests. Being a botanist by profession, he nevertheless collected and summarized interesting and important materials on the orography and geological structure, the fauna of the visited country, and described its population. “My main attention,” P.P. Semenov wrote to the Geographical Society after the end of the expedition, “was turned to the study of mountain passes, since their height determines the average height of the ridges, and the cut determines the geographical profile and structure of mountain ranges, not to mention their importance as means of communication between neighboring countries. Finally, I paid no less attention to the study of the common features of the orographic and geognostic structure of the country and to the vertical and horizontal distribution of vegetation. "
Having left St. Petersburg in the spring of 1856, P.P. Semenov reached the Verny fortification only on September 1. In the evening of the next day, accompanied by a small detachment, he went east along the foothills of the Northern Tien Shan. How wild these places were at that time can be judged at least by the fact that while Semenov made an excursion up the valley of the river. Issyk, his companions hunted a tiger.
Having crossed the Zailiysky and Kungei Alatau ridges, a small detachment reached the eastern shore of the lake. Issyk-Kul and, having stayed here for only a few hours, turned back. Somewhat later, Semenov managed to visit the western shores of the lake. This allowed him to find out important questions of the hydrography of the Tien Shan.
In 1856, the explorer failed to penetrate the Central Tien Shan. He only watched from a distance its snowy ridges rising behind the lake: “From the south, this entire blue basin of Issyk-Kul was closed by a continuous chain of snow giants. The Tien Shan seemed like a steep wall. and since their snow-white bases, beyond the distance in the south-west, were hidden behind the horizon, the snowy peaks seemed to come straight out of the dark blue waters of the lake.
After spending the winter in Barnaul, Semyonov returned to Verny in the early spring of 1857; this time he explored a much larger part of the Tien Shan, mainly to the east and southeast of the lake. Issyk-Kul. Having reached the southern coast of the lake, he crossed the Terskey-Alatau through the most accessible Zaukinsky pass (Dzhuuka pass) and ended up in the syrt region of the upper reaches of the Naryn. From here the traveler turned back to Issyk-Kul. Then the detachment moved up the river valley. Kokzhar to the pass of the same name.
From the pass before Semenov's eyes, a panorama of extraordinary grandeur opened up: “When we got to the top of the mountain pass at about one in the afternoon, we were blinded by an unexpected sight. Directly to the south of us rose the most majestic mountain range I have ever seen. all, from top to bottom, consisted of giant snow giants, of which I could count to my right and left no less than thirty. That entire ridge, together with the gaps between the mountain peaks, was covered with a nowhere, interrupted veil of eternal snow. Just in the middle of these giants rose one snow-white pointed pyramid sharply separating between them in its colossal height, which seemed from the height of the pass to be twice as high as the other peaks...
The sky was completely cloudless on all sides, and only on Khan Tengri was a small cloud visible, a light crown surrounding the dazzling whiteness of the mountain pyramid a little below its top.
The scientist spent three hours at the pass. Descending into the valley Sarydzhaz, Semenov explored its upper reaches and climbed, as he writes, on the northern slopes of Tengri-tag, apparently, the northern slope of the Sarydzhas ridge).
The researcher spent several days in the Saryjaz valley. At the source of the river, he passed part of a huge glacier, which he called the "Ice Sea", which, as it seemed to him, descended from the slopes of Khan Tengri. Subsequently, Ignatiev named this glacier after Semenov.
P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky was the first scientist to penetrate the Central Tien Shan, discover and describe the Khan-Tengri group. He did not have to explore Tengri-tag and other mountainous regions in more detail. It fell to the lot of other scientists. Semenov never managed to visit the Tien Shan again. But what he managed to do went down in the history of geography as a scientific feat.
Semenov, of course, never found volcanoes in the Tien Shan: "The result of all my intensive searches was that I definitely did not find any volcanoes, or even volcanic rocks in the Heavenly Range." On the other hand, the traveler discovered large modern glaciers, especially in the Tengri-tag group, and established the height of the snow line in this mountainous country, which differs significantly from its known values for the Alps, Pyrenees and the Caucasus.
Semenov compiled the first, based on factual material, scheme of the orography of the Tien Shan. Before him, there was an idea of a single mountain range in the eastern part of the mountainous country, which, behind the Muzart Pass, branched to the west into two divergent ridges. Lake Issyk-Kul was drawn to the north of this branching of the mountain ranges. Semenov, on the other hand, had a fairly accurate idea of the ranges of the northern part of the Tien Shan: the Zailiysky Alatau and Kungei Alatau (he called the latter the Southern Range of the Zailiysky Alatau). He pointed out that these ranges are interconnected by the Kemino-Chilik bridge. As for the Central Tien Shan, the researcher imagined it as a mountain range stretched in the general direction from the NE to the SW with numerous spurs. To the south and almost parallel to the first, in his opinion, another chain was stretched - Mustag. In the Tengri-tag region, this chain branched into two to the west, between which lie the sources of the river. Naryn. The Sary-jazz valley is located between the Tien Shan ridge and the Tengri-tag group. Semenov depicted the ridges as almost straight; the researchers established their arched character only later.
Within ten years after the expedition of Semyonov, the studies of the Tien Shan were much more modest. None of the travelers could penetrate deep into the Central Tien Shan and Dzungaria. The maps of that time did not yet take into account the materials collected by Semenov. For example, the famous geographer M.I. Veshokov, after visiting the valley of the river. Chu and lake Issyk-Kul in the same years published a work on the Asian borders of the Russian Empire. But his orographic ideas about the Tien Shan are a step backward even in comparison with Semenov's data.
Among the travels to the Tien Shan during this period, the most remarkable is the route of Shokan Valikhanov (1857-1858). Disguised as a merchant, he crossed the Central Tien Shan with a caravan from Verny, past Issyk-Kul, through the Zaukinsky (Dzhuuka) pass to the lake. Chatyrkul and further to Kashgaria. Going on a journey at the request of P.P. Semenov, Valikhanov sought to obtain information about the fate of the German explorer Schlagintveit, who penetrated into Kashgaria from the south and, according to rumors, was killed by one of the local khans. Unfortunately, Valikhanov died shortly after his return, unable to process the valuable geographical materials he had collected. In 1859, the captain of the General Staff, A.F. Golubev, identified 16 astropoints near the lake. Issyk-Kul and in the valley of the river. Tekes. According to his calculations, Lake Issyk-Kul is located at an altitude of 1616.5 m. Thus, the basis was laid for compiling the first accurate maps of the Tien Shan. Three years later (1862-1863), the captain of the General Staff A.P. Protsenko went to Issyk-Kul to survey the passes in the Terskey-Ala-tau ridge. Based on personal observations, he described the passes of Dzhu-uka, Barskoon and Ulakhol and the valleys of Kochkara, Dzhumgal, Lake. Sonkul and Naryn; according to inquiries - the Top and Konur-Ulen passes.
During these years, the conquest of the eastern part of Central Asia by Russia was completed; in 1865 Tashkent was taken. The military authorities decided to link the line of the Syrdarya fortifications with those of Semirechye. All this greatly facilitated the travel of scientists to the Tien Shan. Moreover, the tsarist administration even provided assistance to researchers: to consolidate the gains in Central Asia, peasants were evicted from Ukraine and central regions Russia. It was necessary to identify places suitable for settlement.
Taking advantage of the changed situation, N. A. Severtsov, already a well-known explorer of Central Asia, made a number of trips around the Tien Shan. The first trip in 1864 was dedicated to the Zailiysky Alatau, Lake. Issyk-Kul, the northern foothills of the Kyrgyz Alatau and partly Chatkal. In 1865-1866. he makes a number of routes in the vicinity of Tashkent, in the region of the Kara-tash mountains and the Ugam ridge. However, the most interesting and fruitful was his last journey through the Tien Shan in 1867.
In mid-September, the detachment set out from Verny, almost in the same way as Semenov, he rounded the lake from the east. Issyk-Kul and went to its southern coast. Here, Russian troops had already built several fortified posts (Karakol, Aksu at the mouth of the Turgen-Aksu River, etc.), which could serve as a base for traveling deep into the Central Tien Shan.
Then Severtsov went west along the southern coast of the lake, turned into the valley of the river. Barskoun and through the pass of the same name entered the region of the Central Tien Shan syrts. Having penetrated in this way to the sources of the Naryn, the traveler saw to the east the meridional group of Akshiryak mountains. Going down the river Targay is slightly below the place of its confluence with the river. Kurmesty, he then crossed the river. Naryn, moved to the south-west and through the Ulan pass got into the valley of the same name. Severtsov also managed to inspect the valleys of the Atbashi and Aksay rivers, that is, he almost reached the southern border of the Central Tien Shan. The harsh cold of the winter that was setting in the mountains forced Severtsov and his companions to turn back. The traveler returned to the west, along a different path. He surveyed the middle course of the river. Naryn, moving to the north, passed west of the lake. Issyk-Kul and arrived in Tokmok on October 29.
The map of the Northern and Central Tien Shan, which N.A. Severtsov published after his travels, was compiled taking into account not only the information he collected, but also the data of all travelers up to 1869 inclusive. The map already shows in some detail a large number of ridges and mountain ranges. Here, with the exception of the easternmost part of the Central Tien Shan, where no one has been since Semyonov, we can find almost all the features of the modern map.
The collected materials allowed Severtsov to draw some general conclusions about the structure of this mountain system and all of Asia as a whole. The scientist came to the conclusion that the famous Chinese traveler Xuan Jiang most correctly described the Tien Shan. Severtsov himself orographically divided the Tien Shan into two main parts: eastern and western, delimited by the Khan Tengri mountain group. The eastern part is one main range, a watershed between the Ili river basins in the north and the Tarim river basin in the south. In the western part there is an intricate system of plateaus-syrts and individual more or less short ridges. Severtsov considered this feature generally characteristic of the orography of Asia. The researcher completely rejected Humboldt's ideas about the volcanic nature of the Tien Shan and put forward the theory
the slow rise of its ridges, which was revolutionary for the geological science of that time.
In 1867, a little earlier than Severtsov left on his last trip to the Tien Shan, the reconnaissance parties of Kraevsky, who had passed the middle part of the river valley, went there. Naryn, and Poltoratsky, which almost completely crossed (for the first time after Valikhanov) the Tien Shan from north to south. Together with Poltoratsky, who explored the Muzart mountain pass, the botanist F.R. Osten-Saken traveled, who collected a rich collection of the flora of the Southern Tien Shan.
The following year, Buyanovsky determined barometrically the heights of a number of points in the Tien Shan, and in 1869 Kaulbars made a long journey through the southern part of this country, investigating possible routes crossing the Tien Shan. This expedition included topographers Petrov and Reingarten. Travelers moved past the eastern edge of the lake. Issyk-Kul to the Naryn valley. They explored it up to the source of the river in the Akshiryak ridge, then moved west along the Kokshaal-tau ridge past the lake. Chatyrkul. From here the expedition turned north and completed its route in the Talas valley. In the Akshiyryak ridge, a number of glaciers were discovered and described: Muz-tour, Petrova, Akshiyryak, Iirtashsky, and others.
Beginning in 1869, the center of gravity of research shifted to the more western regions of Central Asia, mainly to the Pamirs and the territory of the current Turkmen SSR. Travels in the Tien Shan until the very end of the 19th century. are mostly episodic in nature and are sent to certain areas of this mountainous country.
In the period 1870 -1872. Kaulbars, then A. Shepelev and L. Kostenko survey the area of the Muzart pass, east of the Khan Tengri group. In 1884, professor of botany V. V. Sorokin made a short (18 days) trip to Issyk-Kul, to the gorges of the northern slopes of Terskey-Alatau and further south-west to Lake. Sonkul and, finally, through Dzhumgel and Susamyr to the lower reaches of the Naryn - to the city of Namangan.
The most interesting was the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society undertaken in 1886 on the initiative of P.P. Semenov and I.V. Mushketov, headed by the mining engineer I.V. Tengri-tag, the Terskey-Alatau ridge and the eastern continuation of the Tien Shan - Muzart. In addition, the researchers had to find out a number of geological features of the area, as well as to study the modern and ancient glaciation of this part of the Tien Shan. On July 16, the expedition caravan left Przhevalskaya and moved through the Turgen-Aksu valley to the river. Sary Jazz. Having penetrated to the sources of the river, the expedition climbed the glacier, which P.P. Semenov figuratively called the "Ice Sea". Ignatiev proposed to rename it in honor of Semenov. The mighty contours of Khan-Tengri rise above the upper reaches of the glacier. The members of the expedition decided, just as Semenov did earlier, that the glacier flows down from the slopes of this peak. Moving further south, in the upper reaches of the river. Adyrtor, a tributary of the Sarydzhaz, Ignatiev found a large glacier parallel to the Semenov glacier. The expedition named this glacier after Mushketov, a well-known explorer of Russian Turkestan.
Bad weather prevented Ignatiev and his companions from climbing to the upper reaches of the Mushketov Glacier, and they set off further. A few days later, having crossed the Sarydzhaz ridge, the travelers ended up in the valley of the river. Inylchek - the next tributary of the same Sarydzhaz. The Inylchek River flowed out from under the mighty glacier discovered by Ignatiev. Its entire surface is covered for many kilometers by a chaos of heaps of stone fragments. And this glacier, it seemed to Ignatiev, flows down from the same mountains as the Semenov and Mushketov glaciers. Ignatiev's expedition failed to reach Khan-Tengri Peak. The riddle of the mountain knot remained unsolved.
Ignatiev's failure is natural. To successfully move up the vast glaciers, it is not enough to be an energetic explorer. It is necessary to have a good command of the methods of movement on ice, which are usually used by climbers; you also need to have special equipment. From Ignatiev’s report it is clear what difficulties even a small excursion to the Semenov glacier presented for him and his companions: After resting, we had to go down a steep icy slope, which presented new difficulties: with a steep slope, up to 30 degrees, it is very difficult to hold on to the poles, the iron ends of which glided over hard ice, as well as horseshoes with spikes on our boots; I had to cut down steps, We moved forward generally safely, although we could not do without falling and rolling down steep slopes.
From the Sarydzhaz valley, through the previously unknown pass Narynkol, the travelers got to the valley of the river. Tekes. On August 16, they arrived in the village of Okhotnichiy, from where they made an excursion to the lake. Beardboswig. From here, Khan-Tengri Peak was photographed for the first time. On August 22, Ignatiev moved to Muzart, and the topographers of the expedition, who were in the Bayankol valley, determined the height of the peak - it turned out to be 24,000 feet. (7320 m).
Significant success was achieved by the botanist A. N. Krasnov, a member of the same expedition. In the river valley He discovered an unknown glacier in Kuil (he discovered seven other glaciers in the Mirtash mountain group), Krasnov completed his route by crossing the Bedel to Kashgaria.
As a result of the work of Semenov and Ignatiev, it was believed that Khan-Tengri is a node from which the Tien Shan ranges diverge like rays in all directions. Therefore, it is natural that most of the subsequent expeditions to the Central Tien Shan sought to penetrate precisely to this peak.
In 1889 Pevtsov's expedition crossed the Tien Shan through the Barskoun and Bedel passes. Ten years later, the French explorer Saint Yves passed through the mountainous country to the west, along the valley of the river. Naryn, and through the Yaasy pass reached Fergana. In the same year, the caravan of the Hungarian expedition of Almasi and Dr. Stummer-Trauenfels approached the Tengri-tag massif. The expedition spent two months in the Saryjaz valley and its environs, hunting and collecting ethnographic and zoological collections. Almasy made no attempts to penetrate up the glaciers.
In the summer of 1900 climbers first arrived in the Saryjaz valley. Prince Borghese and Dr. Broquerel with the famous Swiss guide Zurbriggen decided to gain fame as the winners of the Khan Tengri peak. With difficulty they led their caravan through the Tyuz pass. The expedition reached the Inylchek valley, but the approaches to the glacier and the way along it turned out to be so difficult that the travelers retreated. They made sure that with horses they could not go over the glacier; there were not enough porters. Then Borghese decided to look for approaches to the peak from the south, from Xinjiang. But the climbers were not destined to get there either. First, the caravan was stopped by the turbulent waters of the Kuyukap River. Soon the news of the war that had begun in China forced the travelers to turn back.
Borghese, Broquerel and Zurbriggen made several ascents. Trying to see the Khan-Tengri peak from other peaks, they made mistakes more than once, mistaking one or the other peak for it. Finally, they were happy. They climbed to the saddle between the peaks of Kaindy-tau and Kartysh in the Kaindy ridge separating the Kaindy glacier from the Inylchek glacier. From the saddle - they called it the Akmoynak pass (4560 m) - the climbers saw that the Inylchek glacier had two branches, and decided that the path along it was the only approach to Khan Tengri. Borghese and his companions pursued only sporting goals and did not draw any conclusions about the orography of the area.
In 1902, two expeditions moved almost simultaneously to the heart of the Heavenly Mountains. One of them left the city of Tomsk, headed by professor of botany VV Sapozhnikov; another expedition of the famous German geographer and mountaineer Professor Merzbacher.
Sapozhnikov began his first journey through the Central Tien Shan from Verny on May 23. The explorer crossed Terskey-Alatau. Having visited several valleys on the southern slopes of the ridge, he again returned to Issyk-Kul in the city of Przhevalsk, and from here along the valley of the river. Turgen-Aksu moved deep into the Central Tien Shan. Having passed the Karagyr pass, part of the valley of the river. Ottuk and Terpu pass, Sapozhnikov reached the river. Kuil. Climbing up its valley to the Kuilyu pass, he examined the Arpatektor plateau and the valley of the river. Kurusai, the right tributary of the Kuilyu. Several glaciers met here, and in the upper reaches of the Kuilu and in the ridge of the same name, rising above the valley from the south, a number of snowy peaks over 5000 m high, including. The highest peak at the eastern end of the ridge is Eduard Peak (about 6000 m) (The name was given to Almasi, who saw the peak from the Sary-Jazz valley). Sapozhnikov descended through the Kuilyu pass into the valley of the river. Iirtash and went through its entire upper part to the mouth of the river. Ortotash. Here, the researchers turned north and crossed the Terekty ridge by the pass of the same name, from which they managed to examine the southern slopes of the Kuilu ridge. Thus, for the first time, a large mountainous region was surveyed between the valleys of the Kuilyu and Iirtash rivers, to the west of the Sarydzhaz valley. Analyzing the direction of the ridges of this part of the mountainous country, Sapozhnikov also decided that "all five folds in the east converge in the Khan-Tengri group ...". This conclusion coincided with the opinion of Semenov and Ignatiev. Sapozhnikov is not limited to this; further he points out: "... in the west they gather into two mountain knots, and the Western Akshiyryak covers the smaller one in the upper reaches of the river Kuilyu and Terekty...". It "accepts, counting from north to south... Terskey-tau, the Ishigart and Kokshaal ridges; the Terekty knot connects... the Kuilu and Terekty ridges". Both nodes are connected by one of the folds of the Terskey-Alatau ridge. The researcher also analyzes the orography of the area adjacent to the Akshiryak group from the west.
At the last stage of the work, the expedition visited the Saryjaz valley, passing it from the Kuilyu valley to the upper reaches, from where the travelers penetrated the Bayankol valley through the Ashuter pass (near Sapozhnikov - Naryn-Kol). Along the way, Sapozhnikov climbed the Semyonov glacier to a height of 3783 m, where the open ice was replaced by a solid snow cover. Khan Tengri could not be seen from here, it was covered by clouds. To determine the height of the peaks, on July 7 Sapozhnikov climbed the right slopes of the Ashutor valley. A panorama of mighty snowy peaks opened before the researcher: "I have never seen such an abundance of snow anywhere before or since"3. The height of Khan-Tengri, determined by Sapozhnikov, turned out to be 6950 m.
During the expedition, Sapozhnikov and his companions, especially M. Friedrichsen, surveyed the area, which served as the basis for compiling a map of the Central Tien Shan. Naturally, the image of the ridges in the area immediately adjacent to the Khan-Tengri peak is very indistinct on it, although on the whole the map has introduced a lot of new things.
Sapozhnikov did not try to penetrate to the peak of Khan-Tengri. Merzbacher, one of the greatest climbers of his time, set himself this goal. His companions also had outstanding mountaineering training.
At first, Merzbacher tried to penetrate to Khan-Tengri from the Bayankol gorge, but soon became convinced that the valley would not lead him to the goal: another large peak closed the gorge, rising up with a two-kilometer wall. Merzbacher called it the "Marble Wall" - layers of excellent marble were visible in the steep slopes of the peak.
The first failure did not disappoint the researchers. To clarify the position of Khan Tengri, travelers made a series of ascents to peaks up to 5500 m high. But this did not work either: the peaks, as it turned out, were chosen unsuccessfully, the approaches to Khan Tengri could not be unraveled. It was necessary to look for other points for review. Then the expedition went to the Saryjaz valley. Having climbed almost any of the surrounding peaks here, you can see the Khan-Tengri pyramid and the gorges extending from the peak to the east. But which of them to get to the foot of the peak? Merzbacher did not know this.
It seemed to Merzbacher's predecessors that the Semyonov Glacier was flowing down the slopes of Khan Tengri Peak. Merzbacher read about it. To test this conjecture, he climbed to the peak rising above the northern shore of the glacier. the same marble wall.
The next to the south was the Mushketov glacier. But even in its upper reaches there was no mysterious peak. The fight against the harsh nature of the high-mountainous Tien Shan is not an easy task. During one of the ascents, which almost ended tragically, the climbers - members of the expedition had to experience the insidious properties of dry powdery snow, which is so characteristic of the Tien Shan. They were already close to the summit when, under their weight, the dry snow, which was loosely lying on the slope, began to slide down. There was an avalanche. A powerful stream of snow carried away four climbers and rushed down with ever-increasing speed. People escaped by chance: having flown about two hundred meters with an avalanche, they fell into a crack on the slope. Having got out of the snow, the climbers did not dare to continue the ascent. If they had been more persistent and still reached the summit, they would have seen the Northern Inylchek glacier and the Khan-Tengri peak in its upper reaches. But... they retreated.
After examining the basin of the Mushketov glacier, Merzbacher went to the Inylchek valley, but did not ascend to its upper reaches. The expedition went through the Muzart Pass to China. The search for the elusive peak was abandoned until next year.
Expedition with a large number porters climbed the Inylchek glacier. The caravan traveled about 18 km, making its way through the piles of stone fragments that hid the ice. The travelers stopped: the valley forked ahead. Another mighty ice stream crept out of the side valley, leaving to the northeast. Above him, leaving in the sky with snowy peaks, a chain of high mountains rose.
It turned out that Almasy was right: Inylchek consists of two branches separated by a high ridge.
Which gorge to move on? Observations said that it was necessary to look for Khan Tengri in the upper reaches of the northern branch. Travelers walked along the left, southern edge of the glacier. To approach the confluence of the northern branch, it was necessary to cross the entire glacier, which spreads over a wide gorge for more than 3 km.
It seemed that the goal was close. But ... the mouth of the Northern Inylchek was blocked in its entire width by a large glacial lake. Beautiful icebergs floated on the greenish water; steep rocky shores broke off to the lake ... The path was securely closed: it was impossible to cross or bypass the lake. The solution already found slipped away. It was possible to climb further along the southern branch, but did that path lead to the peak?
A tried and tested technique helped: one more ascent, and from one of the peaks on the southern shore of the Merzbacher glacier, he managed to discern the contours of the already familiar peak pyramid of Khan Tengri. We had to move forward, and move quickly: food supplies were running out, and it was far from the base camp.
Exhausted, hungry porters of the expedition climbed another fifteen kilometers up the glacier. They didn't go any further. Only Merzbacher moved forward with two Tyroleans (Alpine guides, from the expedition). Soon they came to the firn fields, which lay here already in a continuous cover. It was much easier to walk on dense snow.
Five hours of continuous brisk walking in the snow. Spurs descending from the ridge limit visibility. What is behind them? Perhaps again the travelers will be disappointed and the riddle of the peak will remain unresolved?
Almost suddenly, from behind a ledge of rocks, a peak sparkled with snow appeared. A few more quick steps, and the marble pyramid of the "Lord of the Spirits" rises unhidden in front of the travelers. It is now visible all, from the foot to the top.
It immediately became obvious that Khan Tengri is not only not a knot of the largest Tien Shan ranges, but does not even belong to any of them and is located in an independent short range that separates both Inylchek glaciers. Merzbacher determined the height of the peak at 7200 m.
Trying to figure out the location of the Tien Shan ranges, he decided that the knot was the Marble Wall he saw in the Bayankol Gorge. And although Merzbacher was wrong, his opinion was shared by all geographers for many years. Merzbacher again visited the Tien Shan in 1907, but was no longer near Khan Tengri.
After 1903, expeditions to the Central Tien Shan are rather rare, in any case, there is not one equal in importance to those undertaken by Merzbacher and Sapozhnikov. In 1906, the Hungarian geologist G.Prinz, having set off from the city of Andijan, passed along the Central Tien Shan: through the valleys of Naryn, Sarydzhaz, Bayankol and Tekes. On the way back he visited the lake. Issyk-Kul. Turning from here to the south, he crossed the valleys of the upper reaches of the Naryn and went to the Kokshaal-tau ridge. Three years later, the Prince again arrived in the Tien Shan, this time he immediately headed to the northern slopes of the western part of Kokshaal-tau. Here the traveler visited the little-explored Aksai plateau, crossed the ridge and went south to Kashgaria. The prince explored the unexplored valleys of the Uryuk-Sai and Kontavtau rivers and reached the river. Kokshaal. In the same 1909, Greber also visited the southern slopes of Kokshaal-tau, and the mining engineer K.I. Argentov made a number of routes in the area of Lake. Chatyrkul and in the Atbash and Aksai valleys, i.e., on the northern slopes of the same ridge. In 1910, expeditions of the Resettlement Administration began to work, but they first went to the western part of the mountainous country, and only in 1912 did one of them, led by V.V. Sapozhnikov, penetrate the Central Tien Shan. This time the researcher began with a survey of the area of the Ketmen Range (to the northeast of Alma-Ata). He visited the valleys of the Tekes and Bayankol rivers. Having finished work in this area, the expedition moved to the valley of the river. Saryjaz. Unable to climb the Mushketov glacier (it was hidden by clouds), Sapozhnikov moved further south, crossed the Sarydzhassky ridge (Tuz pass) to the Inylchek valley, then through the At-dzhailau pass to the valley of the river. Kaindy. Here the members of the expedition climbed the glacier and walked along it for more than four hours, but until the end of the surface moraine, until " pure ice", never got there. From the Kaindy valley, the travelers moved further south, through the Uchchat and Kara-archa passes and reached the Karaarcha river. An attempt to penetrate further along the Chichar river gorge failed: the narrow canyon turned out to be impassable. Thus, Sapozhnikov penetrated to the southern part of the ranges of the Khan-Tengri group as far as Merzbacher and Borghese.The expedition's return path lay somewhat to the west and led it to the lower reaches of the river Inylchek.After passing the Tyuz pass, it again ended up in the Sarydzhaz valley.Sapozhnikov visited the lower reaches of the Kuilyu valley and explored its northern tributaries.On this route in the Central Tien Shan ended: through the Terpu pass, the Ottuk valley and the Karagyr pass, the travelers arrived in the Turgen-Aksu valley and the city of Przhevalsk.
In the same 1912, the Turkestan military district conducted a topographic survey of most of the Tien Shan. The topographers approached the tongues of the glaciers of the Khan-Tengri group, but their detachment was very small and poorly equipped. "With the presence of 5 workers and 2 Cossacks, it was impossible to make attempts to at least briefly explore these ice spaces, and shooting, even only route, is possible if a special expedition is organized, properly arranged." There were no climbers among the topographers.
According to the survey data of 1912, the height of Khan-Tengri was equal to 22940 feet. (6992 m). For a long time this figure was on the maps. However, the topographers were wrong by only a few meters.
Years passed. The mountains stood in stern silence. Avalanches crashed down the steep slopes. Stormy rivers carried their foamy waters. But no one tried to penetrate again to the mysterious heights of Tengri-tag. Under the conditions of tsarist Russia, it was not possible to organize a real study of this interesting area.
In 1914, in the area of \u200b\u200bLake. Geologist N. G. Kassin worked in Issyk-Kul, and the following year V. V. Reznichenko visited Kapkak, Tekes and Karkara with a hydrological party. He collected significant material on the geology and glaciation of the northern part of Tengri-tag.
By the time Soviet travelers and scientists began to explore the Central Tien Shan, there were still many unclear questions in its orography. Most of the gorges and glaciers in the highest, eastern part of the mountainous country, near the Khan-Tengri group, have not yet been passed by travelers. There were only very general ideas about the Kulyut and Akshiryak groups. Most of the glaciers and especially the mountain peaks in these areas and in the central part of the Kokshaal-tau ridge have not yet been set foot by a researcher. No one tried to go through the canyons cut in Kokshaal-tau by the rivers Sarydzhaz and Uzengigush. Naturally, just as for deciphering the "white spot" of the Pamirs, the participation of climbers was required here. That is why, obviously, research was resumed primarily in the Khan-Tengri region. In parallel, an in-depth comprehensive study of the nature of the Central Tien Shan was going on. An important role in this matter was played by the Tien Shan Geographical Observatory, built by the Academy of Sciences in the valley of the river. Kumter, 6 km from the Petrov Glacier.
The first groups of Soviet travelers went to the Inylchek glacier in 1929. At first, these were only reconnaissance of climbers and tourists, but since 1931. A number of scientists of various specialties are already working in the Ukrainian expedition. Gradually, the structure of the ridges of the region, the features and details of its exceptionally powerful and peculiar glaciation were revealed.
In 1929, N. N. Palgov made a very interesting journey to the northern slopes of the central part of the Kokshaal-tau ridge. Here, in the upper reaches of the Aksu and Uzengi-gush rivers, he discovered a number of large, undescribed glaciers; before him, in this area, only topographers who surveyed in 1912 noted significant glaciation.
In 1932-1933. in connection with the 2nd International Polar Year (IPY), the number of expeditions to the Central Tien Shan has increased. For two years, expeditions led by S.V. Kalesnik worked in the region between the Terskey-Alatau and Barkolda ridges. Based in the area of the observatory, they studied the glaciation of these places, discovered and described in detail a number of glaciers of the Akshiryak ridge, revealed the structure of the relief and the geology of the area. They also visited the Semyonov glacier in the Sarydzhaz valley. In 1933, it was planned to explore the northern slopes of Kokshaal-tau, but due to the late start of work, the expedition was forced to limit itself to a small section of the Kokshaal-tau ridge between the Pikertyk and Bedel passes. In 1934, the nature of the syrt of the Central Tien Shan in the region of the Arabelsu plateau was examined by a small group of Leningrad University headed by Professor D. N. Kashkarov.
A more detailed survey of the glaciers of the Barkoldoy Ridge, and then the northern slopes of the Kokshaal-Tau Ridge, fell to the lot of tourists from the Moscow House of Scientists, headed by Professor A. A. Letavet. Having penetrated in 1933, through the Kubergenty pass to the Kagalachay tract, the group visited the Komarov glacier discovered by Palgov and the neighboring, not yet explored Palgov glacier, and then moved east, downstream the river. Uzengigush. Turning south, into the gorge of the river. Jurek, the tourists were exploring another unknown glacier. They named him after S. G. Grigoriev. The following year, A. A. Letavet again came to these places and moved further east. He sought to explore the breakthrough of Kokshaal-tau by the river Uzengi-gush. Visiting the gorge Chonturas, tourists discovered a large glacier there, surrounded by a number of beautiful peaks. The glacier was named after Korzhenevsky. The group soon turned back, having failed to break through to the canyon of the river. Uzengigush, Alpinists visited these places again only in 1938 - it was a sports group of the Wings of the Soviets society, headed by B. Simagin. Climbing the Grigoriev glacier, the climbers went to the top of the peak, which they called "Wings of the Soviets". Bad weather prevented them from reaching the highest point of the mountain.
Research in the area of Khan-Tengri peak continued all these years. Having completed the main survey of the Northern Inylchek glaciers, the climbers headed to the valley of the river. Kuil. Here the faces of the Soviet Constitution and Karpinsky were conquered. The first peak is the highest in the range, apparently the same one that was previously called Edward's Peak. The climbers found that its height was determined incorrectly, it reaches only 5250 m, and not 6000 m, as previously assumed.
During the ascent to the peak of Karpinsky, A. A. Letavet drew attention to a previously unknown peak. "It could be seen far to the east, somewhat south of the Khan-Tengri peak and, it seemed, was not inferior to it in height." The following year, in 1938, an expedition was organized to climb this peak, which was called the peak of the twentieth anniversary of the Komsomol. In 1943, with an accurate topographic survey, it was found that it was the highest in the Tien Shan and the second highest in the country. Then it was renamed Pobeda Peak (7439 m).
Climbers and subsequently visited the Kuilu valley. In 1951, a group of E. A. Kazakova and V. V. Nemytsky visited it, and two years later the climbers of Uzbekistan repeated the ascent to the peak of the Soviet Constitution.
The glaciers of the northern part of Tengri-Tag, flowing into the Bayankol valley, were examined for the first time after Reznichenko by members of the expedition of 1935. Then the group of V.V. Nemytsky opened a pass through the Terskey-Alatau ridge, passing them to the Semenov glacier and into the Sarydzhaz valley. The survey of this area in 1943 and the research work of the sports expedition of A. A. Letavet in 19.46 played a big role in solving one of the last unclear questions of the orography of the Central Tien Shan. It was found that the Marble Wall Peak is not a node from which the Tien Shan ridges diverge radially. And in 1953 and 1954. the expedition of Kazakh climbers, and then the group of V. F. Gusev, accurately established the junction of the Terskey-Alatau and Sarydzhaz ridges.
Since the mid-1930s, researchers of the Central Tien Shan have been increasingly moving from traveling with the tasks of a general geographical description and clarification of the orography of the country to a systematic and in-depth study of its structure and nature. As before, the Tien Shan Station of the Academy of Sciences plays a leading role in this matter.
RELIEF
The Tien Shan is one of the largest and highest mountain systems in Asia and around the world. Most of the Tien Shan ridges have a typical mountain-glacial "Alpine" relief, however, along with sharp ridges and sharp peaks in the central and inner Tien Shan, there are syrts - leveling surfaces, flat, gently dipping wide valleys preserved in the upper belt of mountains, and intermontane spacious depressions located in the middle and lower mountain belts. The syrts and bottoms of the high mountain valleys in the Inner and Central Tien Shan are covered with herbaceous vegetation and are pastures. On the slopes of the ridges, erosion processes are intensively developing, screes, rockfalls, landslides are formed, and mudflows are formed in the gorges.
CLIMATE
Remoteness from the oceans, significant elevation and complex, highly rugged relief determined the continental climate of the region. Characterized by significant temperature fluctuations both by seasons of the year and during the day, reduced or moderate rainfall and relative dryness of the air.
High mountain ranges make it difficult for moisture-bearing air currents to access, and in most of the Central Tien Shan, on average, falls from 200 to 300 mm per year. Precipitation. However, in the middle and especially in the highlands, there is more precipitation. So, at an altitude of 3000m, about 420 mm of precipitation falls, at 3500m - up to 570 mm, at 4000m - more than 750 mm. The bulk of precipitation (about 85%) in the region falls on the warm season - in May-July, the minimum - in December-January.
According to long-term data from the Naryn meteorological station, located in the valley at an altitude of 2049m, the annual air temperature is 2.5°C, the January temperature is 17.4°C, the absolute minimum is -32°C. The sum of active temperatures is 2082°, the duration of the frost-free period is 144 days, the period with temperatures above 10° is 142 days. Relative humidity in the warm season ranges from 40 to 55%, and in winter it reaches 80%.
The snow cover falls in mid-November, its average height by the end of February - the beginning of March reaches 25 cm. Snow melting begins in the first decade of March, and it finally disappears at the end of April. The last spring frosts occur at the end of April, and the first autumn frosts at the end of September. Eastern and western winds prevail, their highest speed (up to 20-25 m/s) is observed during the day in the second half of summer. In winter, as a rule, there is calm calm weather.
In the mountains, the climate is harsher. Humidity increases, the duration of the frost-free period decreases. At altitudes of 3400-4000 m, frosts can be repeated throughout the warm season, and precipitation, as a rule, falls only in the form of snow. In the middle mountains, the air temperature in July is 10-15?. Winter in the mountains is longer and colder. In January, the air temperature in the middle mountains is -15-20° below zero, the absolute minimum here is -45°. On the steppe slopes of the southern exposure, in ordinary winters, there is practically no stable snow cover. On the slopes of the northern exposures, it is quite deep and lasts throughout the winter. Avalanches often come down in early spring, foreshadowing the imminent awakening of nature.
VEGETABLE WORLD
The vegetation cover of mountain-steppe landscapes, common at altitudes from 2200 to 3000 m, is represented mainly by turf and feather-grass mountain steppes. Rocky outcrops and screes are often found here. Mountain steppes, occupying the warmest slopes, remain without permanent snow cover almost all winter, which attracts herbivores here.
In summer, the mountain steppes are characterized by the highest air and soil temperatures in the region. At this time, the growth of wormwood, thyme, ephedra, etc. begins. At the end of July, when the vegetation of the mountain steppes begins to dry out, the slopes acquire a uniform yellowish-gray hue, only shrubs and semi-shrubs turn green.
Mountain-meadow complexes are a fairly common occurrence in the Central Tien Shan, they are very diverse. The composition of mid-mountain meadows on chernozem soils is very rich; there are up to 30 species of grasses on an area of 1 m2.
On the borders of the five countries of Central Asia, there are beautiful and majestic mountains - the Tien Shan. On the mainland of Eurasia, they are second only to the Himalayas and the Pamirs, and are also one of the largest and most extensive Asian mountain systems. The heavenly mountains are rich not only in minerals, but also in interesting geographical facts. The description of any object is built from many points and important nuances, but only a complete coverage of all directions will help to create a full-fledged geographical image. But let's not rush, but dwell on each section in detail.
Figures and Facts: Everything you need to know about the Celestial Mountains
The name Tien Shan has Turkic roots, because the peoples of this particular language group have inhabited this territory since time immemorial and still live in this region. If translated literally, then the toponym will sound like Heavenly Mountains or Divine Mountains. The explanation for this is very simple, the Turks from time immemorial worshiped the sky, and if you look at the mountains, you get the impression that with their peaks they reach the very clouds, most likely that is why the geographical object got its name. And now, some more facts about the Tien Shan.
- What usually begins the description of any object? Of course, with numbers. The length of the Tien Shan mountains is more than two and a half thousand kilometers. Believe me, this is a pretty impressive number. By comparison, the territory of Kazakhstan extends for 3,000 kilometers, while Russia stretches for 4,000 kilometers from north to south. Imagine these objects and appreciate the scale of these mountains.
- The height of the Tien Shan mountains reaches 7000 meters. There are 30 peaks in the system with a height of more than 6 kilometers, while Africa and Europe cannot boast of any such mountain.
- Separately, I would like to highlight the highest point of the Heavenly Mountains. Geographically, it is located on the border of Kyrgyzstan and the Republic of China. There is a very long debate around this issue, and neither side wants to concede. The highest peak of the Tien Shan Mountains is a ridge with a triumphant name - Pobeda Peak. The height of the object is 7439 meters.
Location of one of the largest mountain systems in Central Asia
If you transfer the mountain system to the political map, then the object will fall on the territory of five states. More than 70% of the mountains are located on the territory of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The rest falls on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. But the highest points and massive ridges are located in the northern part. If we consider the geographical position of the Tien Shan mountains from the regional side, then this will be the central part of the Asian continent.
Geographical zoning and relief
The territory of the mountains can be conditionally divided into five orographic regions. Each is distinguished by a peculiar relief and structure of the ridges. Pay attention to the photo of the Tien Shan mountains, which is located above. Agree, the grandeur and stateliness of these mountains are admirable. And now, let's take a closer look at the zoning of the system:
- Northern Tien Shan. This part is almost completely located on the territory of Kazakhstan. The main ranges are Zailiysky and Kungei Alatau. These mountains are characterized by an average height (no more than 4000 m) and a strong indentation of the relief. There are many small rivers in the region, which originate from glacial peaks. The region also includes the Ketmen Ridge, Kazakhstan shares it with Kyrgyzstan. On the territory of the latter, there is another ridge of the northern part - the Kyrgyz Alatau.
- Eastern Tien Shan. Of the largest parts of the mountain system, one can distinguish: Borohoro, Bogdo-Ula, as well as medium and small ranges: Iren-Khabyrga and Sarmin-Ula. The entire eastern part of the Heavenly Mountains is located on the territory of China, mainly where the places of permanent settlement of the Uighurs are located, it is from this local dialect that the ridges got their names.
- Western Tien Shan. This orographic unit occupies the territories of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The largest is the Karatau ridge, and then comes the Talas Alatau, which got its name from the river of the same name. These parts of the Tien Shan mountains are rather low, the relief drops to 2000 meters. This is because this is a more ancient region, the territory of which was not subjected to repeated mountain building. Thus, the destructive power of exogenous factors has done its job.
- Southwestern Tien Shan. This region is located in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In fact, this is the lowest part of the mountains, which consists of the Fregan Range, framing the valley of the same name.
- Central Tien Shan. This is the highest part of the mountain system. Its ranges occupy the territory of China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. It is in this part that almost all six-thousanders are located.
"Gloomy Giant" - the highest point of the Heavenly Mountains
As mentioned earlier, the highest point of the Tien Shan mountains is called Victory Peak. It is easy to guess that the toponym got its name in honor of a significant event - the victory of the USSR in the most difficult and bloody war of the 20th century. Officially, the mountain is located in Kyrgyzstan, near the border with China, not far from the autonomy of the Uighurs. However, for a long time, the Chinese side did not want to recognize that the object belonged to the Kyrgyz, and even after documenting the fact, it continues to look for ways to take possession of the desired peak.
This object is very popular with climbers, it is included in the list of five seven-thousanders that must be conquered to receive the title of "Snow Leopard". Near the mountain, only 16 kilometers to the southwest, is the second highest peak of the Divine Mountains. We are talking about Khan Tengri - the highest point of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Its height is only slightly short of seven kilometers and is 6995 meters.
Age-old history of rocks: geology and structure
In the place where the Tien Shan mountains are located, there is an ancient belt of increased endogenous activity, these zones are also called geosynclines. Since the system has a fairly decent height, this suggests that it was subjected to secondary uplift, although it has a rather ancient origin. Studies show that the base of the Heavenly Mountains is composed of Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic rocks. The strata of the mountains were subjected to long-term deformations and the impact of endogenous forces, which is why the minerals are represented by metamorphosed gneisses, sandstones and typical limestone and shale.
Since most of this region was flooded in the Mesozoic, the mountain valleys are covered with lake-type deposits (sandstone and clay). The activity of glaciers also did not pass without a trace, moraine deposits stretch from the highest peaks of the Tien Shan mountains and reach the very border of the snow line.
The repeated uplift of the mountains in the Neogene had a very significant effect on their geological structure; relatively "young" rocks of the volcanic type are found in the parent basement. It is these inclusions that are mineral and metal minerals, which are very rich in the Divine Mountains.
The lowest part of the Tien Shan, which is located in the south, has been exposed to exogenous agents for thousands of years: the sun, winds, glaciers, temperature fluctuations, water during flooding. All this could not but affect the structure of the rocks, nature had severely battered their slopes and "exposed" the mountains to the very parent rock. The complex geological history has influenced the heterogeneity of the Tien Shan relief, which is why high snowy peaks alternate with valleys and dilapidated plateaus.
Gifts of the Heavenly Mountains: Minerals
The description of the Tien Shan mountains cannot do without mentioning minerals, because this system brings a very good income to the states in whose territories it is located. First of all, these are complex conglomerates of polymetallic ores. Large deposits are found on the territory of all five countries. Most of all in the bowels of the mountains of lead and zinc, but you can find something more rare. For example, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have established the extraction of antimony, and there are also separate deposits of molybdenum and tungsten. In the southern part of the mountains, near the Fregan Valley, coal is mined, as well as other fossil fuels: oil and gas. Of the rare elements found: strontium, mercury and uranium. But most of all, the territory is rich in building materials and semi-precious stones. The slopes and foot of the mountains are strewn with small deposits of cement, sand and various types of granite.
However, many minerals are not available for development, because infrastructure is very poorly developed in mountainous regions. Mining in hard-to-reach places requires very modern technical means and large financial investments. The states are in no hurry to develop the resources of the Tien Shan and often transfer the initiative to the private hands of foreign investors.
Ancient and modern glaciation of the mountain system
The height of the Tien Shan mountains is several times greater than the snow line, which means that it is no secret that the system is covered by a huge number of glaciers. However, the situation with glaciers is not very stable, because only in the last 50 years, their number has decreased by almost 25% (3 thousand square kilometers). For comparison, this is even more than the area of the city of Moscow. The depletion of the snow and ice cover of the Tien Shan threatens the region with a serious environmental disaster. Firstly, it is a natural source of food for rivers and alpine lakes. Secondly, this is the only source of fresh water for all living things that inhabit the slopes of the mountains, including local peoples and settlements. If changes continue at the same pace, then by the end of the 21st century, the Tien Shan will lose more than half of its glaciers and leave four countries without a valuable water resource.
Ice-free lake and other water bodies
The most high mountain The Tien Shan is located near the highest mountain lake in Asia - Issyk-Kul. This object belongs to the state of Kyrgyzstan, and is popularly called the Non-Freezing Lake. It's all about the low pressure at high altitude and the temperature of the water, thanks to which the surface of this lake never freezes. This place is the main tourist area of the region, on an area of more than 6 thousand square kilometers, there is a huge number of high-mountain resorts and various recreational areas.
Another picturesque water body of the Tien Shan is located in China, literally a hundred kilometers from the main trading city of Urumqi. We are talking about Lake Tianshi - this is a kind of "Pearl of the Heavenly Mountains". The water there is so clean and transparent that it is difficult to realize the depth due to the fact that it seems that you can literally reach the bottom with your hand.
In addition to lakes, the mountains are cut by a huge number of river valleys. Small rivers originate from the very peaks and are fed by melted glacial waters. Many of them are still lost on the slopes of the mountains, others combine into larger water bodies and carry their waters to the foot.
From picturesque meadows to icy peaks: climate and natural conditions
Where the Tien Shan mountains are located, natural zones replace each other with height. Due to the fact that the orographic units of the system have a heterogeneous relief, different natural zones can be located at the same level in different parts of the Celestial Mountains:
- Alpine meadows. They can be located both at an altitude of more than 2500 meters, and at 3300 meters. A feature of this landscape is juicy hilly valleys that surround bare rocks.
- Forest zone. It is quite rare in this region, mainly in hard-to-reach high mountain gorges.
- Forest-steppe. The trees of this zone are low, mostly small-leaved or coniferous. To the south, a meadow and steppe landscape is more clearly seen.
- Steppe. This natural zone covers foothills and valleys. There is a huge variety of meadow grasses and steppe plants. The further south the region is, the more clearly the semi-desert and sometimes even desert landscape can be traced.
The climate of the Heavenly Mountains is very harsh and unstable. It is influenced by opposing air masses. In summer, the Tien Shan mountains are dominated by the tropics, and in winter, polar streams dominate here. In general, the region can be called rather arid and sharply continental. In the summer, dry winds and unbearable heat are very common. In winter, temperatures can drop to record highs, and frosts often occur during the off-season. Precipitation is very unstable, most of it occurs in April and May. It is the unstable climate that affects the reduction in the area of ice sheets. Also, a sharp change in temperature and constant winds have a very negative effect on the relief of the region. The mountains are slowly but surely being destroyed.
Untouched corner of nature: animals and plants
The Tien Shan mountains have become home to a huge number of living beings. Animal world extremely diverse and varies considerably by region. For example, the northern part of the mountains is represented by European and Siberian types, while the Western Tien Shan is inhabited by typical representatives of the Mediterranean, Africa and the Himalayan region. You can also easily meet typical representatives of the mountain fauna: snow leopards, snowcocks and mountain goats. Ordinary foxes, wolves and bears live in the forests.
The flora is also very diverse; fir and Mediterranean walnut can easily coexist in the region. In addition, there is a huge number of medicinal plants and valuable herbs. This is a real phyto pantry of Central Asia.
It is very important to protect the Tien Shan from human influence; for this, two reserves and one national park have been created in the region. There are so few places left on the planet with untouched nature, so it is important to direct all efforts to preserve this wealth for posterity.
