Check out on Mountain.RU Crimea. August 2006. Monsters. Portfolio. Crimea. August 2006. Olga Bibik. Portfolio. Crimea. August 2006. Serik Kazbekov. Portfolio.

The Crimean peninsula is situated in the Southern part of Ukraine. The Southern Coast of Crimea is a narrow strip of rocky land of vineyards and limestone cliffs which is squeezed in between mountains and the Black Sea.

It is here where the most well-known rock climbing sites of Ukraine are. New sport rock climbing routes and boulder problems appear every single year.

The most popular sport rock climbing sites are: Krasny Kamen (ltr.Red Stone), Nikita, Simeiz (pronounced Simeyiz), Foros, Laspi, Ohrch-Kaya, Forossky Kant, Shahn-Kaya, Batiliman are areas of multi-pitch climbing :200-350 meters long, 5-10 pitches, usually trad climb, but some rock faces are bolted well.

There are sites for sport climbing as well. You can try also bouldering in areas called Krasny Kamen, Sosnyak (near Nikita), Shahn-Kaya (area of Alupka). All the information on the areas, guide-books, also rentable crash-pads you can get in Red Stone Shop(22, Tsentralnaya St, village of Red Stone Krasnokamenka). E-mail: redstone@yalta.crimea.ua

In spring and fall it is the best to climb, you can also climb in the summer time, but it is rather hot, and one climbs in sessions, from 7 to 11 a.m. and (or) from 5 to 9 p.m. Here you can come across the most eminent Uranian and Russian sportsmen: Serik Kazbekov and Nataliya Perlova, Olga Bibik and Eugeni Ovtchinnikov, Joulia Abramtchouk, Maxim Petrenko, Eugeni Krivocheicev, Olga Shalagina, Salavat Rakhmetov.

They come to the Crimea several times a year more often in spring and fall, sometimes between competitions in summer. The rock climbers like to improve their technic on cliffs just after winter before the summer competitions.

The sea adds the charming attraction to the Crimea. The special combination: Cliffs near the Sea makes it easier to enjoy the vacation in the full swing: swimming in the sea (which is less salty as the Mediterranean one), diving, boating.. Prices on food as well as accommodation are less expensive than in Europe. In the high season (July and August) you can rent a flat for your own at $25-60 per day. A room in villages near cliffs you can rent much cheaper: at $3-.. per day. Usually it takes 5 min by car, 20 min on foot to get to the sea.

There are shops running like supermarkets in villages and towns, as well as green markets and grocery stores. You can try local Uzbec and Tatar food on Ai-Petri mountain, above Yalta, where you can get by car or the cable car.

Ukranian money called grivnya (gr). $1=5 gr euro=6 gr.

The Crimea might be interesting to you also with its history. Usually guests to Yalta never miss to visit Livadia Palace, where Yalta Conference of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt was held in February,1945. There is also an exhibition devoted to the Royal Family in pre-Revolution Russia.

One who is interested in estates and cultural traditions of Russian Empire is welcome to see so-called Alupka Palace and Massandra Palace (Massandra, a small village near Yalta is also known by the winery producing sweet, semi-dry and dry wines). The history enthusiasts might be delighted to visit Khan Palace in Bakhchisarai.Cave cities comparable to the Turkish and Caucasian ones are situated also in that area. Bakhchisarai cliffs used to be a climbing site too, but now it is not a highly recommended area, it seems to have been in oblivion for a while and needs to be rebolted to be safe.

In the Eastern part of Crimea there is also a mixture of historical and climbing attractions (Genoa Castle in Sudak and Sokol Mt), but all in all if you don't possess much time and want to work at something special in the best climbing areas, you are advised to pay the major attention to Nikita and Red Stone, near Yalta. You can get info and a guide by e-mail: kazbekov@ a-teleport.com (but you must to write in subject “climbers” because spams.)