Administrative center of Ayano-Maisky region and rural settlement "Ayan Village". This term has other meanings, Ayan is a polysemantic term: Ayan Male name Ayan river in Russia, a tributary of the Kheta river. Ayan bay in the Sea of Okhotsk. Ayan is a settlement in Russia, Bauntovsky Evenk region of Buryatia.
Ayan is a lake beyond the Arctic Circle, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the center of the Putorana Plateau, in the northwestern part of the Central Siberian Plateau, in the basin of the river. Khatangi.
The catchment area, according to the State Water Register, is 1869 km2. In the north, the river flows out of the lake. Ayan, the left component of the river. Khety, a tributary of the river. Khatangi.
The lake is of glacial-tectonic origin, located in a narrow tectonic depression.
The water's edge is located at an altitude of about 470 m above sea level. The area of the water surface, according to the State Water Register, is 89.6 km2, the length of the lake is about 60 km, the maximum width is 3.2 km, the depth is up to 250 m. area of the water mirror.
The lake stretches in a long narrow strip among the mountains from the north - northwest to south - southeast, forming two long bays in the southern part - the so-called "pants" as the locals call them. The banks are mostly steep, precipitous, in some places they rise above the water surface to a height of more than 1 km. In the northern part of the lake, at the source of the river. Ayan a wide valley is formed. The region has a trap relief - a complex of high flat-topped massifs, separated by deep and wide stepped canyons. The catchment is located on the border of the northern sparse taiga and forest-tundra.
The lake is flowing, with clean, transparent water of low mineralization, with a favorable oxygen regime; the content of nutrients is low. It is characterized as oligotrophic. The lake is poorly studied.
The lake is fed by snow and rain. The spring rise in levels begins even with freeze-up, the maximum values are at the end of July - beginning of August. Usually the lake is covered with ice for about ten months, it is freed from ice very late - sometimes ice floes float on its surface even in August.
The valley of the lake and the Ayan river is one of the highways of the reindeer 'daily northward movement.
In the interfluve of the Ayan and Kholokhit rivers, including the lake. Ayan, in 1988 the Putorana nature reserve of federal significance was formed with an area of 1,887 thousand hectares, the main objects of research and protection of which were the Putorana subspecies of the bighorn sheep, Arctic white-tailed eagle and gyrfalcon, listed in the Red Book of Russia. In 2010, the Putorana plateau was included in the list of UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites.
There are no permanent settlements on the shore of the lake. In the Gulf of Kapchug, at the southern end of the lake, there is a cordon of the Putoransky Nature Reserve.
The seasonal part of the work at the "Northern Ayan" cordon has been completed. About three months, our employee Ivan Kobilyakov took part in the expedition, and now, having returned, he shared with us his impressions and some of the results of the work. The main work of the cordon continues, and in the meantime we learn about it from the direct participant.
Working at the cordon of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Reserves of Taimyr" looks very romantic from afar. Beautiful landscapes, rare animals and birds, harmony with nature ... This is how it really is. But at the same time, in order to achieve the set goals and objectives, one cannot relax even for a minute.
Together with the inspector of our organization, Vasily Sarana, we flew to the Northern Ayan cordon (the central part of the Putorana plateau) on April 24. I returned back on July 12, having stayed on Ayana for a total of 80 days. Vasily remained at the cordon at least until autumn. Now his partner will be an employee of the environmental education department Timofey Volkov.
Thanks to the measured rhythm and regularity of our studies, we managed to do quite a lot during the spring-summer stage of the expedition. First of all, we studied the spring migration of wild reindeer. From the first day, our small detachment conducted regular routes in the vicinity of the cordon, set up camera traps, recorded footprints that appeared in the snow. Further processing of the information will make it possible to give a more accurate estimate of the number of reindeer, but it is already clear now: in comparison with previous years, there are much fewer of them in the Ayana Valley.
Deer is the basis of the nature of the Putorana plateau. The beasts of prey that live in the valley of Lake Ayan waited for the migration of deer no less than ours. What is a source of statistics for scientists, for wolves, bears and wolverines is a long-awaited food after severe winter frosts and polar night. We were lucky to capture a very interesting shot with a camera trap. A bear that has recently woken up from hibernation, shaking its shaggy sides, is trying to catch up with the herd. Deer rush about. The bear makes a dash to catch up with at least one. But - bad luck! Deer easily hide from pursuit. The bear walks back and forth in puzzlement, as if thinking about when there will still be an opportunity to sneak up so close to the prey and will he be lucky next time? "Eh, chew the roots again!" - the omnivorous bear probably thinks, at the exit from the camera trap's field of view ...
Due to the decrease in the number of deer, wolves and wolverines are even tighter - they are poorly adapted for roots. The wolverine caught in the frame looks completely thin. But its Latin name Gulo gulo means "glutton" in translation.
Only birds really pleased us with their abundance. We watched with pleasure how our permanent neighbors, white-tailed eagles, fished at the source of the Ayan River in the second half of May, and then, after loud mating games, flew down the valley and sat on the nest. In the 20th of May, geese and began to appear. Bean goose were the first to fly over the cordon. Immediately behind them are the mergansers, pintails, wiggles and other representatives of the noisy waterfowl brethren. They landed on the opened water in large flocks and arranged demonstration maneuvers right in front of the cordon. Sandpipers and snow buntings complemented the picture of spring. Along the river bank, they tirelessly collected mayflies straight from the ice, not paying any attention to us.
Although there were several timid thaws in early May, the spring of 2017 was stormy and rapid. Vasily Sarana, who spent the last five springs on Ayana, says that he has never seen such high floods as this year in these parts. The maximum water level fell on May 16-17. These days, the river overflowed its banks and flooded not only the floodplain, but also the depressions of the first terrace above the floodplain. After several sunny days, heavy, lingering rains began, which quickly melted the remnants of the snow.
The summer season really began when the larch needles were dismissed and the first flowers began to appear. The forest was filled with birdsong and somehow immediately became empty. The reindeer migration has come to an end. Predators have also become less likely to be caught in camera traps.
My part of the expedition to Lake Ayan is over. Ahead is the processing of the collected materials and writing a report. Vasily Sarana is still at the cordon. Now his partner is an employee of the environmental education department Timofey Volkov. We wish good luck to the workers of the "Northern Ayan" cordon and the inviolability of the beauty of its surroundings!
One of the most interesting components of the local landscape. There are more than 22 thousand lakes here, and they occupy about 10% of the plateau's area. Nowhere in the world in a limited area is there such a number of long (50–150 km) and deep (50–420 m) lakes as on the Putorana plateau.
The largest Putorana lakes arose in large basalt fissures, which are very similar to the fjords of northern Norway, only not on the coast, but in the middle of the land. The total volume of water in the Putorana lakes is the second largest surface fresh water reservoir in Russia after Lake Baikal. The largest lakes (Lama, Omuk-Kyuel, Yt-Kyuel, Keta, Khantayskoe, Kutaramakan) cut into the plateau from the west.
The second place in terms of depth is occupied by lakes preserved in the old channels of large rivers that left their valleys during the restructuring of the hydraulic network. A huge number of small and medium-sized lakes by local standards are occupied by oxbow, thermokarst baths and basalt depressions.
Local lakes have almost the same composition of the main crystalline rocks, which makes it easier to identify the climatic and chemical-biological components of the landscape. All lakes on the plateau are flowing, that is, with a relatively fast water exchange. This is one of the reasons for the low salinity of waters - from 13 to 42 mg / l - which is very close to ordinary rainwater, both in purity and in taste. For comparison, the water of Lake Baikal has a mineralization of 93 to 150 mg / l. When in July-August 2015 I was on the Putorana plateau, even the hardened participants in our hike often froze because of the very "soft" water. The fact is that soap in such water is washed off the body longer, so it took a lot of effort. And the water was also cold, especially in the summit lakes - about 5 ° C!
It would seem that in constantly cold water, as in Lake Baikal, oxygen saturates the entire water column (the oxygen content does not drop below 8 mg / l even in winter), but due to the scarce aquatic vegetation and the slow soil-forming process, the content of nutrients in lake waters is extremely insignificantly, which hinders the development of life in the lakes.
The aesthetic significance of the plateau territory for sophisticated travelers is given by the numerous waterfalls, differing both in shape and in the power of the stream. Their scale and number are impressive (the Putorana plateau has the greatest concentration of waterfalls in Russia and, possibly, in the world). Here, on the Kanda River, there is one of the highest waterfalls in Russia - 108 meters high.
Perhaps, in no other region of Russia there is such a contradictory hydrographic network as in the Putorana mountains. It combines typical mountain streams with numerous rapids and waterfalls and deep basins occupied by flowing lakes and thick sediments. In some parts of the plateau, the rivers are typically flat with a silt-covered bottom - where the water did not have time to cut through the rapidly rising surface. The channels of many rivers are dotted with canyons.
Combinations of features of both a mountain and a lowland river are clearly visible on the example of the bizarrely curving Kureika. Its history is closely related to the ancient river that existed on the Putorana before the rise of the territory and crossed almost the entire middle, currently the highest part of the plateau. The source of the river was located north of Lake Ayan, and its channel ran southeast through the modern middle part of the Kureiki valley into the Lower Tunguska basin. Tectonic movements that redistributed the flow of the ancient river about 10 thousand years ago caused the emergence of two most beautiful fissure lakes: Ayan (55 km long, maximum depth 256 m) and Anama (54 km long, maximum depth 120 m). In the former channel of the Kureika, there are residual lakes: Monomakli, Omutachi, Yadun. Along the southwestern part of the plateau, another ancient and subsequently also rebuilt river valley, Vivi-Agatskaya, was revealed.
Due to active tectonic movements, all the fissure lakes of the plateau deepened. Almost perpendicular to their previous directions, new deep cracks have appeared, so the lakes on Putorana have angular outlines - with the exception of large lakes in the western part, which have bends only in their eastern extremities, which are located directly in the mountains. At the bottom of Lake Agata, larch trees were found standing on the vine - witnesses of the modern deepening of the lake.
Photo © Dmitry Zamorin from westsib.ru.
See also about the geography and geology of the Putorana plateau:
Stepped plateau Putorana, "Elements", 09/27/2016.
Fedor Shabalin
Lake Ayan is located in the Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets District, in the very center of the Putorana Plateau, built of ancient basalts. The length of the reservoir is 58 kilometers, its northern and central parts have a north-north-west - south-south-east direction. Then the reservoir changes direction several times, following the contours of the fault; its southern part is oriented strictly from north to south. The width of the lake is variable, in the northern part it is narrower (about one kilometer), in the southern part the width of the reservoir reaches two and a half kilometers. Here the lake is divided into two deep bays. The length of each bay is about 10 kilometers, the average width is about 800 meters. One of the bays stretches from north to south, the other from east to west. The bays are located almost perpendicular to each other. A river of the same name flows out of the lake - Ayan.
The water in the lake is clean, very weakly mineralized; from a boat, the reservoir is visible to a depth of almost twenty meters. The shores are gently sloping in places, steep in places, sheer cliffs go straight to the water.
Lake Ayan is surrounded by high mountains with steep slopes and flat, flat peaks. The tops of the mountains are either completely devoid of vegetation, or covered with rare bushes, lichens grow on the stones, and northern mosses in the depressions between the rocks. There is no vegetation on the steepest mountain slopes (60-90 degrees), where the steepness is less than 60 degrees, there are shrubs, dwarf birch, low larch, which descends to streams, rivers and the lake.
The mountains, in combination with the smooth surface of the lake and rough rivers, create unique, inimitable landscapes, but the visit to this region is limited by the fact that most of the Putorana plateau is the territory of the Putorana State Reserve. For hunting and fishing in these places, you need to obtain permission from the management of the reserve and apply in advance.
The water of Lake Ayan is inhabited by a dozen species of fish, the most common are whitefish species (roll, pyzhian), several types of char, peled, perch, grayling, vendace, burbot, pike. Visiting tourists are caught on a spinning rod; artificial flies and insects are considered the best bait. It is allowed to use rowboats on the lake, and motor boats are allowed only for the reserve staff. On the shore of the lake, in the Kapchug Bay, there is a cordon in which huntsmen are constantly working (who can take fishermen to the right place).
A tourist from Norilsk, Vladimir Kuzmin, published a report on a hike on the Putoran plateau. He started the hike together with, on Lake Ayan they parted (this was planned from the very beginning): Vladimir went back to Lake Lama, Andrei continued his route, intending to cross the Putorana plateau alone. September 1, 10 km from the mouth of the Kotui to Lake Dupkun. Dobrynin did not reach Odnolko base about 40 km.
Putorana Chronicles 2013. Four Mountains or Lucky One Way Ticket
Traveled route: Lake Lama (drop-off), base of ufologists - Bucharama river - Geologicheskaya river - pass 950m - river. Big Honna-Makit - r. Ayan - Lake Ayan (climbed together with Andrey Dobrynin) - pass 1200m - peak 1547 m (rad. Ascending) - Lake Negu - r. Negu Iken - pass 1250 m - r. Chopko 1st - pass 1450m - r. Gulami Iken - peak 1621 m (rad. Ascend.) - Mountain 1,500 (1446 m, rad. Ascend.) - r. Gulemi Iken - pass 1200m - r. Hikikal - Mount Elden (1222 m, radial) - descent along the left tributary of the river. Bunisyak - Bunisyak canyon - Lama lake, base of Oleg Krashevsky
Sports experience:
Vladimir Kuzmin, adjustment engineer (1988) - 3rd ski, 2p foot (in Putorany).
Andrey Dobrynin, scientist-hydrobiologist (1977) - absent (Note: quite a rich expedition experience).
I had a dream - to get to the central part of the mysterious Putorana plateau. Once I was lucky enough to be there in 2007. It was a walking "two" from the Norilsk tourist club "Taimyr", then our goal was the top of the Bogatyr mountain ridge 1591 m, lakes Bogatyr and Neralakh. We took the summit, but bad weather and constant rains greatly corrected the way back. We did not see the Taloy and Bunisyak canyons. Since then, thoughts constantly hovered in my head to visit there again. And certainly in the summer, for which I took a vacation in advance. The lines of various options gradually emerged on the map, but there was no definite clarity of where to go.
Another question is who to go with. All my friends, for various reasons, could not keep me company for the summer. Alone to go, besides being unsafe, is simply boring.
Trekking route, red - there (together), blue - back (alone)
In March, I was on a business trip to work in Moscow, on the occasion, I went to a fairly well-known shopping center "Extreme" to buy various equipment. I unobtrusively talked with one seller, it turned out to be R. Yangalychev, who casually mentioned their 2011 campaign to the eastern Putorana. Then they went from the village of Chirinda to Lake Kharpicha. This information interested me, first of all, because of its uniqueness. Indeed, in these places it is "not accepted" to go hiking. I was sitting with such thoughts in a Moscow cafe. I got into the "free" Internet, wrote to Andrey Dobrynin. Dyukha (Andrey introduced himself as Dyukha - for friends and acquaintances) replied that he was going on his route, and in the absence of partners he was walking alone. Let me remind you that Dobrynin planned to independently cross the Putorana plateau from Lake Lama to the village of Chirinda. I thought it would be a great option to join and combine our plans for the summer, at least at the beginning. And as an interest, and as a mutual aid. I later greatly regretted this decision, but more on that later.
I had a vacation from July 15 to August 5 (I agreed that I would be at work on the 15th). Thus, I could not join Dobrynin for the entire route. Yes, and there was no desire - the entire route of Dyukhi (as he made it up) represents huge monotonous runs along the valleys of rivers and lakes, and he did not even consider other options. And much more interesting is a hike with canyons, passes and snow-capped peaks - for which everyone goes to Putorany.
By the way, about the peaks. It is not so easy to get to the eastern mountains like Kamen ', Kotuiskaya, Holokit and 1701 on foot in the summer - it's far. If you start and end at Lake Lama, a more realistic option is the peaks of the western part of the Plateau, and they are there in abundance. In general, we agreed that we would go together to Lake Ayan, along the traditional path of water workers: Lake Lama - r. Bucharama - r. Geological - pass 950 m - r. Big Khona-Makit - r. Ayan - Lake Ayan. This is about 100 km. I took care of obtaining permission to visit the reserve and transfer to Lama. Upon permission, it turned out that this year there was an administrative merger of the reserves, the entire leadership was changed, and the old one was removed from the state. In short, due to the confusion, we were not given permission. Then I found out that permission was not given to any of the tourists. Andrei could send an official letter to the reserve from the Institute of Hydrobiology, in which he worked, but did not have time, since the decision to refuse was received only in June. It's a shame that now you can get to Putorany only as an illegal immigrant. The transfer to Lama turned out to be easier, our acquaintance Ruslan Bychkov decided to help us, asked for 10 tr. for two. This is a fairly modest amount - it covers only the fuel consumption (powerful boat-water cannon). Ruslan is not specifically engaged in the transfer, just his plans (to rest, fish on the Lama) coincided with ours. The start was scheduled for July 15, according to average statistics, the second half of July is a fairly convenient time to start. Meanwhile ... the weather was alarming. Starting from April, unusual sunny weather with a complete lack of precipitation was established. In the spring, the snow (of which there was very little) literally burned out in the sun. Dry May, hot June, in general, navigation began in the second half of June (this is half a month earlier than usual) with a record low water level for the Norilsk rivers.
Before this trip, in order to improve physical fitness from April to July, I took part in 5 multi-day hikes of a sports plan, including a ski trip I grade. in April, participation in the alpiniad in May (1B, 2A ascents in the Lama Mountains) and others. Every weekend - hiking "walks" in the local mountains. The high-speed "races" with a backpack of 20 kg at a time brought tangible benefits.
Andrey flew to Norilsk on July 13 and settled in a rented apartment. On weekends, we stock up on groceries together; on Sunday evening, Andrei calls in to me, discussing the details of the route over tea. The real version of the "transputoran" transition, as I see it, is movement at a fast sporting pace, relying on intermediate points where you can relax and theoretically pick up food. These are the hut-cordon on Ayana, the hut on Lake Kharpicha, Oleg Odnolko's base on Dupkun. Andrey noted that he does not really count on intermediate points, since his plan is to make a completely autonomous transition. And he added that for his loved ones we go all his route together. Nobody warned me about such things. It smelled of pure adventurism, this was the first call, which I did not attach any importance to at the time.
The starting weight of my backpack was 32 kg. The layout is based on 600g / day, 5 liters of gasoline (petrol stove), a two-seater tent, etc. I am not particularly attentive to the selection of equipment, so if you wanted, you could save on weight. Dobrynin has about 42 kg (of which 1.5 kg of cigarettes), moreover, he treated the selection very thoroughly, down to the smallest detail. All equipment is branded / custom-made. Against his background, I looked somewhat ridiculous with my "killed" old equipment.
I hoped that with the expectedly good pace of walking from Lama to Lake Ayan, we would easily get there in 5-6 days. As it turned out later, they spent eight days.
We start at 10:00 from the pier of the Norilskaya River. The water level is very low for the month of July - like in late autumn. We skip the difficult section at the entrance to the Talaya River, the skill of the captain is evident. On the Talaya rifts we arrange a wonderful fishing trip. About 15 grayling for 5 people. Guess, of course, rest. On Lama Lake, a long fishing trip for char, caught only one, from which Duha took samples for the Irish laboratory. We spend the night at the base of the "ufologists" (they are "gervinists") on the river. Bucharam.
We sleep for a long time, start at 11 o'clock. We walk quickly, quickly reach the mouth of Bucharama. To my great surprise, I discover that there is almost no water in the river. You can safely walk along a dry stone bed. I remember how we made our way here along the coast through the willow thickets in 2007. We go 50-minute crossings, 15 minutes - rest. By 14 o'clock we reach the mouth of the Geological. The same story - there is no water in the rivers. We have lunch. On the river bed we meet a lone tourist from Nizhny Novgorod, who introduced himself as Nikolai. He is heading towards the river. Ayan is going to Volochanka with a 20 kg backpack (yes, the guys do not go modestly, I do not know how his event ended). Nikolay is overtaking us. Further, the pace of walking decreases, Andrei walks hard. We make a discount on the first day, the weight of the backpack and the heat (very humid and stuffy). We get up early for the night. Cooking dinner on a primus stove in one pot for two. I took a lot of gasoline, it's easier for me to carry gasoline than to cook with wood. We spend the night in my tent, Nova Tour Smart 2. It is double, Dyukha and I could comfortably fit there (Andrey had a single super-light one). Gone 15 km.
In the morning, a little rain begins, which quickly ends. I can't find my tea. It turned out - I left him on the boat. We drink Andrey's tea. We go straight along the very channel. Walking is generally comfortable. At the halt, Andrei turns inside out. I am interested in what is vomiting and what to do. He said that from overload, and nonsense, it happens in his first days. By 13 o'clock we reach the confluence of two tributaries of the Geological, lunch. Then we smoothly climb onto the (orographically) right terrace. The pace is dropping, Andrey is lagging behind, he says, hoping that it will be easier to walk. Reducing the transition time to 40 minutes.
There is practically no snow left in the gorges. In the evening we climb to the beginning of the ascent to the plateau. The height is about 500m. We agree to climb the plateau the next morning. We set up camp. To pass the time, I lightly take a bag with 5 kg of Andrey's things and alone I climb 400 m up to the plateau. I photograph local landscapes, go to the cascade of Geological waterfalls. Many skulls of mountain Putorana rams. I leave my things on the plateau at the source of the Geological. We hope that the living creatures will not spoil it overnight.
We leave at 5 am. It's cool, so we get up quickly. By 9 o'clock we go to the mountain lake at the source of the Geological. My backpack is torn again. In total, by the end of the hike, not a single whole place remained on it. Plastic belt clips burst, zippers burst, etc. Dobrynin comes with a custom-made KVN - the backpack is durable and comfortable. The height of the pass is 950 meters. We reach the beginning of the boggy valley of B. Khona-Makita. We have lunch and sleep. I sleep in the open air. Vile hid all from the scorching sun, you can rest without any problems. Alone light I walk 3 km towards the lake. Swivel. In one of the rocks, in 2007, we made a warehouse there - gasoline and some products remained there. The warehouse turned out to be ruined, probably a bear visited it.
Reduced the duration of the transitions to 30 minutes, 15-minute rest. By 22 o'clock we get to the river. Andrey caught one grayling (about 500 g) for spinning.
In the morning we cook delicious fish soup. We go along the side of the river, through a dry swamp, small stones. It is very easy to walk, but the heat is pressing, I can't even believe that this is possible in the Far North. The sky is absolutely clear, complete calm, as in the Rostov steppes. Dyuha has stomach problems again. Repackages the backpack several times. We are wasting more than an hour of time. I think to myself that at such a pace I will not have time to make the run to Lake Negu-Iken (later I did not go there). I asked Andrey about the pace of walking, replied that he planned to walk the first third of the hike 10 km a day, then 15 km and at the end of his route 20 km a day. I say that this is unrealistic, usually everything happens the other way around, you need to raise the pace at least up to 15 km per day... 6 crossings 30 minutes before lunch, 5 crossings after. Duha agrees and says that we are walking twice as fast as they were in 2011. We drink tea with lemon against the background of the Sculptural Mountain, the impressions are fabulous. In the sun my hands burned to blisters, I grease them with vegetable oil, since I did not take any sun protection creams. By 22 o'clock I go out to the river. I set up camp and wait for Andrey for a long time. Gone order 15 km.
Heat for thirty in the morning. There is no wind at all, the heat is terrible. I can't remember a similar heat in the past years. This is the Far North. We leave at 10 o'clock. Drenched in sweat, by lunchtime we come to the Padei River, there is little water in the river, we can easily cross it in light shoes. We get up for midday. We eat soup with wild sorrel. To avoid the heat of the day, we switch to the night schedule (at first, we really didn’t want to go at night). We leave at 21 o'clock, it gets a little cooler.
We walk along the channel of the Khona-Makit, the first trees begin to appear around the bend of the channel. The border of the forest rose 2 kilometers higher along the channel than indicated on the map. Height is about 750 meters. Larch cones of unusual red-violet color. In general, the vegetation differs from the Lama forest. Taking pictures, this is already a protected area. By 2 am we go to Gulami-Iken, easily cross the river, the water is no more than half a meter. We will have lunch in a tent. We start at 5 am, along the shore there are many old polar fox traps ("graze"). By 10 am we set up camp on the bank of the river. Passed about 17 km... Fishing fails: the only grayling fell off. I sleep all day in the open air in the shade of the tent.
The relief changes dramatically. The river passes into numerous clamps with steep banks. Crossing Chopko 1st. Oddly enough, there is a lot of water in it. We spend some time looking for a ford. It becomes more difficult to walk, the forest "shelves" are short and steep.
I propose to go along the river, along an open dry channel. Andrey informs me that he has flat feet and he'd better go through the woods. What a news. We go through the forest, then we pass all the same to the stone channel. We walk slowly over the stones, constantly waiting for Dyukha. Somewhere in the distance you can see the end of the Khona-Makita canyon - this is the Ayan river. This fact is encouraging. We traverse several steep forest hills. We set up camp in a convenient place on the shore. Further, the river bank turns into a 30-meter steep rock, about a kilometer long. It only goes over the top. In the evening we are going to go to the Big Honna-Makita waterfall, 3 kilometers to it.
The waterfall is impressive, a huge volume of water is thrown into a stone bowl, and then falls into a steep canyon. We find the traditional parking place for water workers. A convenient place for tents, as well as a sign-tree with signs of tourists who have been here. It turned out that two water tourists from Moscow had passed here a few days before us. Sergey Kryukov and Sasha Kryukov (father and son). We were heading for the solid route Lama-Ayan-Kotui-Hakoma-Kochechum-Tura. There is no water in the river for rafting, we walked for 7 days. I liked the end of the note: "Probably we will pass, but they will be kicked out of work." Whether they got it or not, I don't know. We leave our note.
There is a well-stocked deer trail from Chopko 2, we walk along it easily. Soon we turn off, we go through the woods. The intersection is dense, I would never have thought that at an altitude of about 500 meters there is such a dense forest. By 4 am we go to the Ayan river. The mood rises. We have lunch. Along the bank we see traces of a recently passed man, he walked alone (perhaps this is the same Nikolai). On the other side we see a hut - the northern cordon of the reserve. According to my estimates, the Ayan River could easily be forded in many places. Summers are very dry. There are many transparent stones of various shapes at the bottom of the river. By 7 am we go to Lake Ayan. Here it is, the heart of the plateau. A lot of not frightened partridges, people are not afraid. We set up a camp in the "corner" of the lake. I draw your attention to a flat circle made of stones, 4 meters in diameter - this is probably a place for a chum. We set up camp, arrange a half-day. This is the extreme point of the joint route. So far, everything is going according to plan. We are resting all evening, eating pasta and stew, the mood is excellent. Sewing up my backpack again.
We are discussing Dyukha's route, I say that the secret of his success is to walk at a good sports pace, in no case to delay. Andrey agrees.
Andrei expects to walk along the shore of Lake Ayan, and closer to the mouth of the Gulemi, to cross on his one-kilogram boat to the other side, to the cordon of the reserve. Later I found out that he succeeded. In the area of the Kapchuk River, he met a group of water tourists, they shared their food. Then it turned out that they saw him alive last.
The heart of the Putorana plateau - Lake Ayan
Wake up at 4 am. We agree that Andrey will call me by satellite phone (Iridium) upon my return to Norilsk. I tell you to call whenever you want, we will discuss the route and just like that. Goodbye, I wish him good luck and, most importantly, do not break your neck. Andrei said nothing, only smiled strangely. At 5 am we split up.
Full text of the report: driverotor.ru/putorana2013.html
As practice has shown, sunscreen and a light windbreaker are not superfluous in summer Putorany. It is important to work out the issue of shoes, it is inconvenient to walk in rubber boots for a long time, you can easily pull the tendons.
Especially for the trip I took an expensive suit of Siver Veles. As it turned out, the jacket is completely unsuitable for a hike in Putorany (perhaps, in any hikes at all). She does not breathe at all, it is stuffy in her, and in cold weather it is cold. It gets wet in the water. This miracle is clearly not worth the money (Veles is like the god of cattle). As a result, the whole trip was spent in a T-shirt and a sweater.
Preliminary physical training is important, long training sessions are required before the hike. Moreover, physical fitness can be even more important than the selection of equipment (this is my opinion). Good preparation allows you to quickly solve the tasks set on the route, and most importantly, to enjoy it.
One can go on such a trip, but it is painfully unsafe. On my next trip to the Central Plateau, I will not go alone. And probably with a gun.
Further chronicle of events
Andrey Dobrynin is calling. He says that he is on the Kotui River, 30 km from the pass. He said that he had been lying down for a couple of days, so he was not going as fast as he expected. I ask how it is going, he says, it is easy, you can walk 15 km a day. He thinks that in 3-4 days (8-9 days) he will be at Lake Kharpich. I tell you that I myself got there only yesterday and you have to be careful, as there are bears. The connection was interrupted. Neither the next Monday (Dyuha's Monday was communication day), nor later did he call me. The peculiarity of his tariff (or the possibility of a handset) is that I cannot call him, only he can call me.
I remembered about Andrey, and for some reason began to worry a little. According to my estimates, he should have been at Odnolko on Dupkun or heading further to Chirinda. I called to inquire about his contact, Nikolai Komarov (I had not contacted him before). Is not answering the phone. But he calls me back in the evening. He says that the last communication session was on Monday, and everything seemed to be normal, but Andrei did not reach Dupkun yet, according to his words, he was about to reach it. I am surprised at such a slow movement.
In the evening Komarov calls and asks if Dobrynin called me, I answer no. He says something bad has happened and added, we will look. A couple of hours later he calls me again with the phrase: "Dobrynin is dead, the body is on Tour."
Nobody expected such a bleak outcome. Yes, probably, Dobrynin himself did not expect. I still hoped that he would get to Odnolko and stay at his base until winter. Then they will fly away together to Tura for the winter.
And the events were as follows. August 31 having decided to curtail his route, on Saturday morning he began to call the insurance company with a request to evacuate. The insurance company probably ignored his request, then he began to call the Turin Emergencies Ministry. Sunrace departed Tours on September 1 at 6 am.
The place where Dobrynin was located was on the Kotuy River, 12 km from Lake Dupkun. In total, Andrey had covered about 400 km by that time.
They took him already dead. Andrey did not wait for help. The cause of death is probably stomach bleeding. Andrei did not reach 40 kilometers to the Odnolko base, to housing and food on Dupkun. So a chain of erroneous decisions and an old sore were brought to the grave.
Maybe the reader will have such a question, but was it possible to avoid the tragedy? Is it even possible to go this route? I think yes. In the late eighties, a group of tourists led by Valery Kiselyov (later a master of sports) went skiing 6 grade. on the route Talnakh - Chirinda, then with difficulty and not without incident they crossed the Plateau on skis and won the Union Championship.
I admit that in life there is always a place for chance and no one is immune from death on the route, from various accidents. But there are basic rules of sports tourism that must be followed.
I think that among the moments contributing to the tragedies were as follows:
1. Andrew continued on his way alone. It is safer, more comfortable and more correct to make such a route by a prepared group (not one). I asked Andrey about this. He replied that he did not have the time and desire to prepare a team for himself. And he did not want to join me.
2. It is necessary to make such a route in a sports style (not in an expeditionary style !!) with a strictly scheduled daily schedule. In case of serious delays from the schedule - turn off the route. Let me remind you that the average rate of sports tourists is 18 kilometers a day - discipline in sports trips is necessary.
3. Andrey did not have a good enough sports form for the conceived idea. Long training is required, first of all, physical fitness. Walking on stones, climbing on a rough intersection, climbing passes with a load. Putorana - after all, this is not a forest near Moscow, this is the harsh Taimyr, this is the North. The weather can be very unstable, you must always be on the alert and always have a "safety margin". Fuel, food, clothing, physical strength, mental strength, enthusiasm. There should always be backup options ... For, people who live in the tundra, in the North it is a matter of course ...
And from my humble experience, I will say that with proper preparation, you can go without obvious risk and, most importantly, with pleasure.
4. Andrey had some illnesses, which he did not report (with the stomach and with the soles of his feet). Perhaps he did not attach the proper importance to them, but it is very dangerous to be silent and go with them on the route. And for the route, and, as we can see, for life.
5. Andrey was a very persistent, strong-willed person. But in some cases it is impossible to pull to the end, sometimes it is more correct to spit and get off the route. And then go back there again, taking into account the previous experience.
I didn't manage to convince Dyukha to reconsider my views on the route.
And about the summer hike itself, I still agree with Dobrynin and think that it is more than real. You just need to work out the route. Do not go to the bad Kotuya river valley between Kharpicha and Dupkun. There is nothing good for a pedestrian there. Probably it would be possible to immediately roll over in front of Kharpich to Lyuksina, perhaps this would save time and effort ...
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Passage of the Putorana plateau from west to east is completely on foot, throughout July 2017. The thread of the route Lake Lama - r. Bucharama - r. Geological - Lake Swivel - p. Minkchangda - lake. Bogatyr - lake. Neralakh - lake. Negu - Iken - b. Ayan - b. Porozhistaya - r. Holokit, along the river along the plateau to the source - r. Nirakachi - r. Oran (upstream, downstream) - r. Khibarba - a waterfall on the river. Kanda - r. Nurakachi-Sen - b. Nirukachi - r. Higdekit - p. Amudkachi-Dyl - r. Hoikta - r. Lupaga - r. Ivan-Yuryakh - lake Sebyaki - r. Arbakun - r. Yangisa - lake. Yangisa - b. Maymecha - b. Antykit - r. Chigids - verch. 742 - vert. 820 - p. Sumna - pos. Essei. |
Through the Putorana plateau to Essey
The idea of the campaign was charged in the head of Alexander Beloglazov back in 2013, in a cloudberry field on the Main Ural ridge, in the north of the Sverdlovsk region, when they were picking berries for the future compote. Boldly declaring to conquer the Putorana plateau. I then heard little about this place, and especially with the logistics of moving around this place. It seemed to me something impossible in my head - the places are extremely wild and harsh, but I thought that nothing is impossible if there is a positive combination of such factors as a specific goal, precise planning, physical fitness, the presence of some technical means (like parkcraft, previously unfamiliar) and of course, some financial component.
With a new idea in my head, literally out of the blue, on a wonderful field of cloudberries, I enthusiastically continued the conquest of the Main Ural ridge, using every opportunity for physical and psychological development in real conditions.
We finished that trip as the initial stage of conquering the plateau, the purpose of which, at least for me, in addition to walking from Severouralsk to Ivdel, through the mountains, is also a test of physical fitness. The ability to keep many kilometers of crossings throughout the day in difficult conditions of absolute off-road.
The Putorana plateau is considered one of the most inaccessible places in Russia and the world, despite the fact that it is the geographical center of Russia, in these places not far from the Putorana plateau, on Lake Vivi, on its southeastern coast, its center is located. Those places with a harsh climate, with absolutely uncertain weather, where there can be snow in summer, torrential rains, strong winds, in conjunction with multiple nests. Uncertain natural conditions, lack of information on routes, high cost of logistics of these places keep many people keen on tourism far from Putoran, which is why many kilometers will be considered a first ascent, in many parts of the route in particular.
The main uncertain factor of the event is the weather at Lama Lake. Since the starting point had to be reached by a motor boat. In the most unfavorable cases, the ice on Lake Lama can persist until July. In our case, literally by the beginning of the hike, it was not clear if we could start on time.
Five hours to Tyumen by train, I tried to sleep, I managed to sleep for a couple of hours, the conductor woke up in advance. The weather was fine in Tyumen, the sun was rising over the horizon. 40 minutes waiting for the airport bus and almost 40 minutes on a deserted Friday road.
At the check-in counter, they offered to pay in excess of the luggage (and this is hand luggage, which I wanted to take with me on the plane), I didn’t think for a long time, I, of course, said that I would throw out the excess. I ate the rest of the pies that I took with me, put on some clothes and hid a couple of kilograms under the anorak in a small backpack, which I put on, it turned out to be hunchback, it's good that the humpbacks are still being put on the plane.
An old Boeing was put in Novy Urengoy after three hours of flight, where they suddenly checked the baggage I had received before leaving, and whether it belonged to me. However, they checked everyone so that they did not leave without their luggage. As usual, I was afraid for my luggage, since I have encountered situations with problem delivery, my backpack was one of the last to leave in a black ribbon, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The flight was not a transit one, I had to check in again and weigh the luggage, this time they did not find fault with the hand luggage. That day there were two flights to Norilsk, one went literally 30 minutes later from the other. Just in case the plane from Tyumen is delayed, I took the second plane to Norilsk. But in the end it turned out that the first plane was delayed, so it went after the second, if at all. I flew to Norilsk according to the schedule, tried to get some more sleep, I felt a lack of sleep after landing in Norilsk. From the window of the plane there was a gloomy picture, the sky was stretched for hundreds of kilometers in all directions. For some reason, at the airport, they checked the documents, like everyone else, I had never come across this before. The guys were already waiting on the Norilka River by the boat, which was going to deliver us to the starting point at Lake Lama. And while I was waiting for the bus to Norilsk, I promptly checked the information about where to get off and where to take the bus to this river. Light rain dripped, cool, 9 degrees Celsius. On the bus I got ready for the hike, tied foot wraps and put on rubber boots. Snow sometimes lay along the roads, the woman was surprised and shared her surprises with me, it was beautiful in her own way, endless pipes along the endless tundra, steam comes from artificial reservoirs, as if hot springs are located near the city. The weather is gloomy, as is the city itself. Norilsk airport is located far from the city, 42 km away, it took more than an hour to get to the city, then another 20 minutes waiting for a change at the Central Market, and another forty minutes drove to a stop at the bridge where the pier is located. Unfortunately, we couldn't really see the city, quickly rushed through the whole city, immediately ran to the boat, where he met our "captain" Ilya, who gave him a special dense, orange, rubber clothing, since it should have been cold and wet. I took the missing elements of the layout, which the guys who had arrived earlier on a motor ship from Krasnoyarsk, kindly brought them across “the whole country” so that I could not overpay in excess of my luggage on the plane.
Each carried about 30 kg at the start of the route, including food supplies for 27 days.
Before that, there were some fears that there might be a lot of ice on the lake and we might not swim, but, apparently, Ilya somehow found out information about the state of the water through his canals - we sailed on schedule. About seven o'clock our time, local time plus two. The entire trip was agreed to take place according to our time, and the full daylight hours did not interfere with the plans. By midnight they were supposed to sail to the mouth of the Bucharam River.
We sailed over Lake Melkoe. As Ilya said, it is “shallow” because the water is usually knee-deep in it, but at that time there was clearly more water, the bottom was not visible, the trees closest to the shore were flooded with water, apparently the season had just begun and the water was even greater. We made a stop on an island, felt that it was very cold, put on extra warm clothes - especially when the splashes of the crashing waves of a motor boat, driven by a side wind, flooded our hands, and sometimes even our face. The water was cold, and the deeper we went into the Putorana "fjords", the more they froze. Sometimes the waves reached one and a half meters, it was quite fun to sail, especially when the boat was able to jump over the waves from acceleration. In some places the wind died down, so that it was possible to sail on the water surface at a higher speed. Sometimes they made stops to add gasoline to empty tanks. On the sides, the first Putorana flat peaks began to appear, on which snowfields lay somewhere else, sometimes waterfalls could be seen. Approximately in the middle of the lake we made a stop for a snack, the stop was near some kind of hut, there were axes and firewood. The accumulators were not interesting, and with the help of wood and an ax one could warm up a little. Low clouds advanced forward, licking flat peaks, rolling slowly over them. There was no rain, in the evening the sun sometimes peeped out from behind the clouds, so it became noticeably warmer. There was almost no ice on the lake, only a couple of small ice mounds adjoined the right bank
Local residents, and not only in Norilsk, but throughout the north, call the rest of Russia "the mainland", and this is due to the fact whether this place is connected by rail or road. From where you can only get out by air or by water. Indeed, it seems that the places are so inaccessible that you live like across the sea.
There is a lot of water in all rivers and in the lake itself, the coast has gone 150 meters towards the mountains. According to the plan, they wanted to land on the left bank of the Bucherama River, but they did not find a place where they could get off, the water flooded with dense bushes and nailed debris. As a result, we stopped on the shore, where the houses of the ufologists stood. Two or three houses where you could sleep, as such there is no roof, the whole house made of small larches was wrapped in dense polyethylene. There was a swing in the water, it was flooded with the flood of the Lama, one of the houses was heated in the corner. We decided to settle in the largest house, inside it is clean, there is a stove, but since it was not very cold, we decided to just put up a tent inside, just in case to escape from mosquitoes, although for some reason they were not there, despite the Ministry of Emergency Situations warning that they many. By the way, they also warned that they would not be rescued by a helicopter under our insurance in case of anything, since the operation of a private helicopter costs 190 thousand per hour.
I didn't want to have supper, I wanted to sleep, since it was already past midnight, and I got up at seven in the morning.
