The authors: Maxim Pankov, Sergey Konyaev and MASANNA ADVENTURES Tourist Club (masanna2003@mail.ru).

Beyond the Arctic Circle there is white - white snow...
Mountaineering and ice-climbing in the Khibiny.

The Khibiny - is small mountain range with flat tops located in the center of Kola peninsula. Average differences of altitudes are from 700 up to 1000 meters. Northern geographical position and affinity to the Barents Sea in common predetermine the area’s climatic features. The season begins at the end of January. In December and January in the Khibiny it is too dark and cold. February as a rule is cold enough (-15-20C), windy and snowy. In March it becomes sunny, ice crust appears on the slopes. In April there is even sunnier, it begins active insolation avalanche collapses.

The end of the season is in the middle of May. During the all seasons a high dangerous of avalanche collapses remains. The Khibiny is very interesting area by way of an every possible winter extreme sport. The basic directions: freeride snowboarding and skiing, ski-tours and mountaineering and ice-climbing. The location of the Khibiny beyond the Arctic Circle, severe climatic conditions and short daylight make winter ascents in this area quite interesting and extreme. The majority of the routes have only a winter category, but it makes them more attractive.

Specificity of winter ascents consists in the following: you have to take into account the short daylight period for making the right tactics of ascents, bearing in mind strong negative temperatures (in January up to -43 C, in March up to -27 Ñ) in a combination with strong winds. Especially it is necessary to pay attention to selection of your gear, in view of that the majority of cracks and rocky sites are filled with water ice or are covered in "hoarfrost". "Khibinsky hoarfrost" is formed in the result of "sticking" of snow material to a rocky wall under influence of a strong (sometimes more than 30 m|s) wind. Capacity of such structure reaches sometimes 30 - 40 cm.

Complexity of climbing on of the sites with hoarfrost is present because of the fact that a blade of a "tool" will cut the thickness of hoarfrost if it does not find a point. The "mix" technique (a combination of techniques of rock-climbing and ice-climbing and climbing the rocky sites using ice "tools" and crampons) is frequently used. The wide spectrum of routes from 1^st up to 5^th categories of complexity makes the area very interesting to climbers of different levels. "Internal" slopes of mountains Tahtarvumchorr and Vudjavrcorr are the most popular for winter ascents. Every spring the team of rescuers from Kirovsk makes the annual ascent on mountain Judychvumchorr (1201m) - the highest point of Kola peninsula closing the climbing season.

Ice-climbing: every year escalating interest to ice-climbing makes climbers search new ice cascades on all corners of our immense country. The Khibiny, possessing significant potential of ice resources, are not exception. There is a wide choice of cascade ice of various hardness and steepness, and also separate icicles there present. The lovers of mix-climbing can apply in practice their skill "to work mix" on excellent sites.

There are very interesting icicles in a crevice on a slope of mountain Aykayvenchorr from the part of Kirovsk city, but in especially snowy winters of they are usually hidden by 15-km-snowdrift. In career of Kirov mine (the 25-th km bus-station) there is a fine ice cascade with total excess about 170 m. In this place it is convenient to spend trainings and train beginners. In 500 meters to the north from Kukisvumchorr pass on a rocky wall of an ancient glacial kar (Bastion peak) there is accumulated thin and long (and practically steep) ice.... In our opinion this route should be related to a class of climbing ascents. We have no data about any climbing of this route. Even for today the area remains not familiar by way of mountaineering and ice-climbing, hiding the treasures (rocks and ice) in the places where the foot of man has never stepped in yet.