During two day visit to climbing routes of Tujuksu Gates and cliffs on Butakovka river, Alexander Klenov gave some helpful advice on climbing development of these sites for climbing gurus and ambitious newcomers.

Day one

The winter road to alpine camp Tujuksu was graveled and our car got up without any problems. We stopped for a minute at the Memorial to all who lost their lives in the mountains and then went to look at the walls. They are from 15 to 40 meters high here and give place for 10-15 new routes for sport climbing. The place is well positioned and easy to reach, it could be a really good natural stadium for an on-sight climbing marathon. Also a more gently sloping massif nearby seems interesting, this year Yuri Gorbunov fitted a few routes with anchors.

“The Three Bastions” massif looks very impressive.
The left bastion is a huge wall about 200 meters high with some ledges and overhangs. It is possible to make up to ten new very difficult routes, fitted with bolt anchors or for free-climb with chocks.

Trad climbing is a technique when only temporary protection equipment is used – for instance, chocks of different types. Such trad routes here could be fitted with stationery anchors every 20-25 meters for safety. From the left adjacent to the left bastion there are cliffs up to 100 meters high, they could be used for climbing of different level.
The central bastion – is a tall tower of rock up to 240 meters high, its buttress was anchored this year and is being intensively climbed. The left side of the buttress is up to 235 meters high, it stays cool here even in summer. In the upper part there is a good overhang and on the whole it is no easier, then the central part. The right side is also logic, it is up to 230 meters high and has some ledges. From both buttresses there is a logic way to peak Oktjabrenok and further, up to peak Abaja.
Generally speaking, there is need to finish at the peak itself, climbers could take on the wall part and then go down, without having to jump around the gendarmes for half of the day.

The right buttress is of less interest for climbing, but it slides to the road and ends up as a 12-meter high and 50-meter long wall. Overhanging and not very blasted, this face is ideal for a dozen or more routes of 6-8 belayers long, with category from 6a+ to 8b.

After commercial competitions a few years ago, there are some white restriction lines left on the wall. The dissolvent wouldn’t help, alas, only a sand blaster would do the job to clean them away. This would be an ideal place to practice prior to serious competitions, the height of 3000 meters above sea level would help the body to acclimatize and get fit.

On the road to Manzikli, after the valley spreads out, on the left there are walls up to 200 meters high which rise to peak Abaja. This could be a good alternative to Uchitel-Pioner massif for those, who are too lazy to go to Alpengrad and further.

Joshkar-Ola massif
A picturesque and well climbable wall up to 250 meters high, that stand out like a rostrum of a ship. Some faces are overhanging. Climbers say there are a lot of cracks for chocks. No worse then the Tree Bastions, but the approach would definitely take more time.

The foot of the wall is at 3300 m. The exit to the ridge is between peak Abaja and peak Amangeldi at approximately 3950 m.

Till end December snowfalls are rare here, mainly the snowlayer builds up to April. In summer, when the citizens of Almati are sweating of heat, this region possesses a cool climate. The place is just 30 minutes drive from a city of Almati with population of over a million.

So, what comes first – the presence of good infrastructure or clean walls and anchored routes? Of course, it is not equal to Sierra Torre with kilometer-high walls and there are no lifts that would not rush you to the top of peak Talgar. But this may well change in future… This region has to be accustomed for different activities using global planning and in different ways: starting from guides to climbing routes and finishing with building mountain huts and camping sites for all sorts of people. Each year the demand for this sort of leisure grows and this would make people interested in it hurry up, if they don’t want to loose their income, of course.

To be continued…