An idea to make a trip to this region visited me in the beginning of 90-s. G. Klin told me a lot about this place. It was paradise on earth for skiers from Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and hell for tourists in summer - horseflies and other bloodsucking insects leaved you alone neither in the daytime nor in the night. The place itself is known as “Bear's reserve”. Having respected recommendations of experienced people, we chose September.

On arriving to Komsomolsk-on-Amur we were caught by native tourists. Being thoroughly tormented on the railway station, wrapped around by transparencies on which it was written: “Come on to the White pole!”, we, at last, appeared in the den of Sergey Kopitov, skier-retiree.
But there I could never have a bite. I, like a partisan, was to tell him all the information I didn’t know. At the same time my friends ate up everything there were on the table.
We didn’t stay there for a long time the leaders of native tribes organized for us a car to a village Nignetambovskoe and crossing the river Amur. They even see us to the Amur and had time to show us on the range the Pole Shaman itself.

After such a demonstration, I thought that they had made us a fool. The Pole Shaman couldn’t be so small! At the same day we crossed the river. We paid for the crossing like Indians from the tribe “Dakota” – in “fire-water”.

South, our autonomic life began. We made a camp at the bank of the river. At that place we buried “Furs” for the way back. A thought appeared to get some redfish, but the main aim of our expedition chased this thought away. There was something more important than fishing.

In the morning we caught the beginning of “Golden autumn”. When we were planning the expedition, there were going to join it 6 participants that made the way from the Amur to the pole easy. There were only 3 of us, so when we in the morning put on our rucksacks, my legs slowly sank up to the knees in the sand.

Round-up photo of the pole “Shaman” (South-East, from Nignetambovskoe) At a distance – poles “Bear”, “Hunter”

As for me, I up to the end followed the other logic and went to the group of stones, that were shown on the map straight on the range on the mountain ridge.
At the first day we were going along wood well-trodden road. But the far we went from the Amur the worse the road became. In many places it was destroyed by water and in one place we simply lost it, further there was dense forest, and that fact confused us a lot.

We went to find a roundabout way and lost about an hour at the minimum. South we passed the night near the river.

Round-up photo of the pole “Shaman” (from the east, from pass, on moving to the “White Pole”)

South, it took us 1.5 days to reach the highest part of the range at the source of the river, where we saw a group of very impressive rocks. When we climbed up to one of them – gasped: farther there were only insignificant rocks about 20 m high. Where was “Shaman”?

It was Sergey Grozdetcky who dotted the “i's” and crossed the “t's”. He watched below and was taken aback. In the canyon, along which we had gone to the range, there was a giant. The size of it was really outstanding. North doubts – it was the “White Pole”. From the village pole “Shaman” had been seen on the range. And the rocks on our map showed us this. So we went up going along the ridge and went to another pole.

Having passed two poles (“Bear” and “Hunter”), we removed rucksacks. It seemed that there was nothing more near us. Without the rucksack I went down along the ridge and after 15 minutes came across one more considerable pole. It stood on a stone platform. One part of it went down along the ridge. It was clear, that it was that pole that we had seen from the village.

I went back to my friends. We carried all the things to the pole along nasty elfin wood. From one side the pole looked like a deckhouse of submarine, but from Nignetambovskoe it was seen as high finger with a kind of a cap on the top. If you look to the photo of the “White Pole” by Muravin, then there will appear an opportunity to argue, which pole is better to name “Shaman”.

Leader is passing the overhang.

We hadn’t much time, so we didn’t choose the route thoroughly. Everything was to the fore and was rather logical. The northern part of the wall looked seriously and it suited us well for participating in regional competitions on alpinism.

So the route started not from the terrace but much lower from the Northern-Eastern part of the pole. The morning of the first day was cool and gusty. It was not going to become hot. The first to work as a leader was Alexander Ischenko.

Work in the middle part of the pole

A hope to pass the rest part of the pole the next appeared. At first, as usual, the leader was Alexander Ischenko. He started working at the end of the overhang and than at the vertical strip. Up to the lunch-time he hammered spits. After the lunch he was changed over. The pole was about to yield.

View of the place of belay.

At the top ledge many tracks, that had been left by people. We found a coin of 5 kopeck of 1950.
On inconvenient strips of the route, in dead ends of terraces there were rusty tins. We didn’t touch them – had no time to. Sure, there were notes in them.

Made a going down station – and went back. We congratulated each other in the camp. There wasn’t only one occasion – that day was Sergey’s birthday. We celebrated it as it should be. We presented him a small but good present from our tourclub.