Mountain photos - amateur and professional photos of mountains.

Author: Elena Safonova
Photo: Artem Gromov, Maxim Belomestnykh

 

Indescribable fingers
Kamchatka, Ganalsky ridge
Palets (Finger) peak, 5À

Pieces of ice were flying nearby at mad speed..... I've never thought, that falling ice can sound so nasty.

Palets (Finger)

Gathering.

Three together, even if we were even Herculeses, would not manage this burden. Besides the belongings we had more than sixty kg of food and gear.

Many thanks the guys from club "Kutkh", they helped us.

We left the city early in the morning. Weather frowned, hinting that it was raining in Ganaly, at least. We could drive only third of our way. “Land Cruiser” stuck over head and ears in the snow and did not want to move from that place. Well, we had to hard break trail.

Alas, the heaviest part of the way we had to go on foot. All Ganalsky corrie was tightened by dense fog. When we dragged all our things to the camp site it began raining. The guys went further, and we began to assort things and to adjust our life there hoping for weather improvement.

29-30 of May. Weather was worse than ever. The maximal visibility - 50 meters. It was spitting with small and disgusting up to loathing rain.

They speak that dream is the best medicine for all illnesses. But when you sleep on 16 - 18 hours a day, you start to doubt of the validity of this postulate.

It seemed, we turned to susliks: got out of the tent for a few times a day, accepted the rack, and looked around: it was visible nothing and we went to sleep again. Barometers on watches and GPS became our main entertainment. Each thirty minutes our conversation was about:

- What about you?
- 973. And you?
- 972.
- The pressure plot falls?
- Yes …

I remember, that our instructor told, that they waited for weather almost 10 days to start climbing Hunter peak in Alaska. What tenacity!

For some reason these ideas helped us to fall asleep.

Panorama of Ganalsky ridge

31st of May

As usual we got up at two o'clock in the afternoon. Everything around was covered with snow. The trip under the mountain foot fell again.

We did not want to sleep completely, and were lazy to play cards, and it was already impossible to sit in the tent. But in the street there was a deep fog and when you got out from the tent a sensation that you looked at a white sheet of a paper appeared.

Only deep night the sky began to clear up. The moon got out, and we at last saw the mountains. And then I started to feel terrible. They were white. Completely. Even at light of the moon we saw, that all Ganalskie paltsy (fingers) were covered with snow. But, of course, it was grandiose. Calm, cold light of the moon, blinking of the rocks strewn lightly with snow. From time to time it was even a little horrible.

We got to sleep only at half past two hoping to get up at five.

1st of June.

In the morning it was hard to get up, just impossible. All my body opposed getting out from a sleeping bag and especially moving somewhere, moreover uphill.

The Finger, a view from a pass

There was not pleasant thing in the corrie, avalanche cones led downwards from all rocky spurs.

The couloir added our impressions too. The snow river flew in the middle of it. Rocks started to thaw and threw off ice blocks which were flying downwards at mad speed.

They sounded unpleasantly and horrible like someone polished glass by polyfoam.

After the first 250 meters climbing we began to fix the rope as pieces of ice, becoming larger and larger, together with stones started to fall from rocks. If such stone rest against your forehead your will have to pay for it. In two hours such trying experiences we got out on the pass saddle. The guys seemed to feel normally, but I, to put it mildly, felt disgustingly.

Palets (Finger) was similar to a granite obelisk to lost heroes and was covered by snow which at the slightest whiff of a wind was ready to come down of avalanche. Visibility again began to worsen. A strong wind began to blow and we, being afraid to catch "cold" spending the night, descended.

2nd of June.

And again we had to sleep till afternoon. We got out of the tent at 4 and at 5 and at 6 o'clock, but the picture remained constant. Paltsy (Fingers) were tightened by clouds at all.

It was decided to devote this day in the afternoon to sanitary clearing of the place of our dwelling from dust and small washing.

3rd of June.

Lena on the pass

And again the weather was bad. This time it was even worse, than we could think. We had a trip under the Finger but were "blown off" by a wind from there. From the nearest rocks, cobble-stones were falling roaring like trolleys. While, sitting on a small ledge, we observed of this action, Artem's backpack was gone. First we laughed, but we did not feel like laughing just then.

It turned out that the backpack with all equipment, a satellite phone, a camera and other belongings fell downwards, and to the other corrie. And we had to descend the whole kilometer and moved an avalanche right from under Max's feet.

The backpack was lying about the very bottom. It appeared that while flying all fine things, including the expensive digital camera fell out from it. Fortunately, all technical equipment remained safe and sound.

In general, we walked so much that did not have coffee in the evening.

 

We are making preparations for start

4th of June.

We got up early at 3.30. At 10 o'clock Max, Artem and I already stood under the Finger. We disemboweled our backpacks and started fixing the rope.

Max

Artem was the first, Max belayed him. Though the relief was not so combined for climbing, altitude and steepness of Finger's wall did their job. Artem climbed slowly.

By 12.00 he climbed the first 40 meters and organized to lead the next pitch. Max climbed the second and removed the gear that Artem left. I climbed after him. Our two backpacks were left on the pass and became smaller and smaller. If to be fair, I felt a bit terrible.

At the pitch

When we climbed the next 40 meters, it became absolutely terrible. The wall was combined from freely laying stones and they were ready to collapse at any moment.

While we climbed, the weather began to spoil again, a wind started to blow, fog beclouded the rocks. In spite that there were a few meters left up to the summit it was impossible to climb further in such conditions. At any moment a stone or a piece of ice could fall down your head. And we decided to descend again.

Artem Gromov

We made 7 rappels in the couloir: to descend in different way we had no any forces remained. And somehow we moved two kilometer more up to the tent.

In the camp we came already in the dark. We were so tired, that we had no forces to cook supper.

 

5th of June.

We were short of time. A car should take away us at 6.00 at the evening. And we had no choice.

Ganaly remained behind, and already in a pair of kilometers the Finger vanished from sight, and the other tops disappeared too. We were sad to leave that place. But we will return there without fail.