The description of the route on Agrada mountain of 6A category (Barguzinsky ridge, Siberia) / Climb / Mountain.RU

The information is given by O.P.Kolesov, Chairman of Federation
of Mountaineering and Rock Climbing of Republic Buryatiya

The description of the route on Agrada mountain of 6A category (Barguzinsky ridge, Siberia)

The route of 2003 is marked as red. The route of 2002, 5B, is marked as black.

The passport of ascent

Barguzinsky ridge, Ulzykha river Canyon.
East Argada, 2340m, the route is named “Mirror for the hero” via the center of East Face over the mirror site.
The route is declared of 6A category, first ascent.
The character of the route- rock
The difference of altitude- 525m measured by altimeter. The distance of the route: 566m. The site of 5 category is 32m, the site of 6 one- 425m. The average steepness of the basic part of the route is 81° , of the all route- 79° .
The total quantity of the bolts we left on the route-10. The total quantity of the bolts we used on the route: stationary bolts- 9, removable ones- 3. The aid climbing with: bolts, pitons, chocks 227 / 217, fi-fi hooks 64/64, sky hooks 10/10
The total time of climbing- 45 hours, 5 days.
The leader O.P. Kolesov.
The members of the team:
Sherstnev Igor, cms,
Lyalin Sergey, 1^st class.
The coach Sherstnev Igor
16.08.03, 12.00- we started the route.
20.08.03, 17.00- we summit the top.
20.08.03, 19.40- return to the Base Camp

The description of the route

¹ ó÷.	The description
1.	A Corner with a wide crack that complicates its passage very much.
2.	A couloir with a fuse and lively stones
3.	To make a station in the couloir is convenient. The couloir ends by a cornice. To pass the cornice complicates by a huge lively stone block you should climb over.
4.	A steep grassy ledge.
5	Very complicated wide couloir that we should climb on the right side on vertical blocks without any safe belay. We made a station on a stationary bolt.
6.	A series of steep grassy ledges. To pass them is not difficult if it is not raining.
7.	Complicated climbing on the monolithic slab with blind cracks. Ice hooks are very useful to climb that site.
8.	The corner with a poor relief. Passing it complicates by grassy hummocks living in vertical cracks and corners.
9.	A smooth plate with a very poor relief. We used fi-fi hooks and sky hooks climbing between cracks.
10	Inclined rocky ledge.
11.	From that ledge we began to fix the main almost vertical ropes. A deaf crack.
12.	A Corner slightly overhanging to the left side. It is extremely difficult to find and organize an individual point of fulcrum
13.	A corner with a poor relief, but we could to bolt without any problem.
14.	A damp short corner with a small cornice upper. It was inconvenient to make the station, we made the individual point of fulcrum only for passing not for belay.
15.	The corner further has fewer gradients. And the relief there is useful for climbing with individual point of fulcrum not for free climbing.
16.	A corner, but the relief is poor again, there are blind cracks and grassy hummocks. The fi-fi hooks came to the help again.
17.	A nice ledge for a camp. Further we climbed free style on a wide crack. The only problem is the wet and chilly weather.
18.	A very complicated couloir ended by a cornice. And any way you should climb over it or if you aren’t tall and fat climber climb through a small hole in it.
19.	A complicated overhanging corner.
20	A long internal corner big lively edges. We made the station on an anchor hook. Settled a Camp.
21.	We fixed the main rope over the mirror. There were two slanting cracks. We used sky hooks and fi-fi hooks to overcome them. The Cracks were inherently deaf, but we could to find right places to bolt and to insert chocks. We pitched a very much, very interesting and tickling nerve rope.
22.	A half rope climbing on unpleasant lively slabs.
23	A steep grassy ledge.
24.	A long lying corner leading to the ridge straight under the top.
25.	An easy ridge and the summit.

Recommendations to climbers

The speciality of that region is its wet weather especially in August because of its closeness to Baikal. In the technical aspect the routes abound in deaf cracks and corners. Going to climb a similar route you have to been armed corresponding gear. I can recommend a several pairs of fi-fi hooks, specially for rocks. There is a lot of grass on the route. It grows on absolutely vertical sites of a rock. A struggle against it slows down the speed of ascent.

The stratum of the rocks is very tough so I recommend you to take necessarily spare complete set of punches. Sometimes even HILTI do not maintain

Why the route is named “ the Mirror for the hero ”?

There are two reasons for it. The first is only technical, in fact the route passes through a mirror (a smooth monolithic plate) and it is a key of a route. Secondly, if you looked a feature film with such name without effort recollect two heroes who have got in the past where the same day repeated. And at us one day by day repeated in the same way, everyday it was raining at night and till a dinner. Only after a dinner we climbed on the route.