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Tyu-Tyu (2-nd W, 4420m), North face,
Khergiani route, 1956, 6A

All the June long we had joint trainings with army climbers and wanted to try something more difficult than 2- and 3-graded routes.

Our team was formed almost instantly. The members were: Elena Nagovitsina, David Gindija, Eugeny Korol and Elena Kuznetsova. Pavel Fedorov was persuaded to see after our ascent. All of us are the members of Moscow Demchenko mountain club.

We invited Egor Timme as a coach and decided to declare a prospective route on Moscow Championship in a technical class.

First we intended to climb Shkhelda, via 6À-graded route. It is a sign mountain, and there are two 6-graded routes there. But, having contacted Igor Cheresku, the commander of rescue squad of Adylsu gorge, we found out, that those routes on Shkhelda looked, at least, virtually for today. At any rate, they had rather vague representation about them, not speaking about absence of the routes' descriptions.

So, we absolutely did not want to climb Shkhelda.

Also the idea to move forward aside Tyu-Tyu-bashi, and try to climb it via Khergiani route 6À, North face from Tyutyusu gorge gradually came to a head. The route is classical, well-known, brought in due time gold place to Michael Khergiani's team in the Championship of the USSR. To tell the truth, its fresh description was absent too (it wasn't possible to find it), well, we was going to climb it somehow, according Naumov 's guide.

On June, 22 the man's part of our group - Eugeny Korol and David Gindija finished their work on Elbrus and descended. The guys insisted on lawful day of rest. OK, we spent all the day long packing and repacking our backpacks, buying in addition food etc.

Elena Nagovitsina became our leader rather quickly. She has wide experience of climbing 6-graded routes in Fans. And this year in May she climbed several Crimean 5-graded routes. The other members did not sound so loudly.

Coming ascent had two features: the winter was delayed this year and our climbing object was distant. We had to descend from the mountain in Adyrsu gorge, i.e. we had to drag all the things over the mountain. So we decided to take a shovel and a double stock of food and gas. As it turned out further this decision was very correct.

On June, 24 we started our way heading Tyutyusu gorge. Osman, the owner of cafe "Saklia" since the morning picked us up. And at once we got into a downpour. Having waited till the rain stopped for two hours finally we got to Tyutyusu gorge. This completely deserted gorge has its own tremendous beauty- falls, Alpine meadows, bends of the road and majestic mountain massif of Dzhaylyk and Tyu-Tyu-bashi that close gorge's perspective.

Climbers say that it is hard to get under the route beginning for a day there but we did not hasten. Up to a stone plateau from where it was 40 minutes up to our route we went for two days. But what a beautiful spending the night on border of forest we had! The fire, silence, smells of pine smoke, clean water from a creek... Like tourism in the best variant.

When the next day we left on the stone plateau, the weather decided to deteriorate - a thunder-storm began, and we were lucky to have time to set a tent and to cook something to eat. It was raining all the night long.

On June, 26 at about 10.00 the rain stopped for a little. We decided to start fixing the route. But in two hours we had to come back rather quickly: the diagnosis of route’s beginnings was clear: slush snow, danger of avalanche, blocks of ice collapsed from ice-falls every five minutes. A good thing- we dragged up needed gear under the beginning of the route.

On July, 27 we left at 6.30. The weather was half-and-halfer. But the good news was it did not rain, it was warm enough, and snow was slush. Up to a bergschrund we went on snow and started to belay right after a snow bridge over the bergschrund. We moved slowly and Lena dug holes for ice-screws till the midday.

Then the weather spoiled finally. David surveyed round a small snow shoulder and found a control cairn on it. Quickly we made a decision to set the camp and to stay the night there. In fact having worked with a shovel we could make rather good platform for a tent. Further we thanked the God that made this decision!

While David and I dug the platform, put tent, cooked, etc., Elena and Evgeny made three pitches on rocky "triangle" of the Northern face.

But after that - we had to have a forced rest because of bad weather. Staying on a ledge we felt how snow with rain ingurgitated us. That forced us to have food economy too.

But, probably, all of us really would like to climb this route very much. Finally it became cold, and on July, 30 in the morning the dark blue sky and rocks filled with ice and covered with snow met us.

Having put on everything, that we had we started climbing in crampons on firn, rocks and ice and mixed in places sites. Almost everywhere climbing was of 4-5 categories and the rocks did not want to ice out at all. Small avalanches, pieces of ice frequently collapsed from above. Thanks the God stones did not fall.

After working all the day we practically overcame the wall and reached to the ledge with obviously man-made traces of making a stone platform for tent there. With night coming on we dug a snow drift for 1,5 hours and finally the darkness came. It was a smart spending the night: we could spread out our legs.

On July, 1 having woken up we understood that we were ingulfed by snow. And snowfall continued “to rustle silently”. And this rustling lasted all the day. We had to sit in the tent again. And we felt really torn off the world.

On July, 2 it was clear and very cold again. We left on a ridge above the wall. 2-nd Western summit was already visible. But how far was it from us! The wall ended.

Now small rocky walls of 5-7 meters were alternating with abrupt ice-firn slopes. We climbed a sharp snow horizontal ridge. But we had no time to climb the main summit ridge before the darkness and had to dig a platform under the tent again.

As it appeared later it was just in two pitches from the summit. But what a wind was there! We were blown off all the rests of heat and forces

We could get to sleep only at four in the morning because of a gale-forced wind, but we began to move at five o'clock. If the weather suddenly would start to spoil in two steps from the top?!

And that two last pitched we did not valiantly slipped but more likely scratched them under an ice wind.

But we did that! And then we hardly dug out by hands the control cairn on Tyu-Tyu-bashi Second Western summit and took a previous notice about the expedition of 2003.

Then there was an euphoria and a usual “after mountain” vanity.

The main thing was all of us were safe and sound and had enough forces to climb this beautiful classical route.

For the first time in this season.