Dykh-Tau or Dykhtau (; , derived from
Turkic "dik dagh" which means 'Jagged Mount'), is the
second-highest mountain in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
with an elevation of 5,205 m (17,077 ft) above sea level. It is located in
Kabardino-Balkaria
Kabardino-Balkaria (), officially the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 904,200. Its capital is Nalchik. The area contains the highest mountain in ...
, Russia; its peak standing about north of the border with
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
.
Access
Dykh-Tau is best accessed from the north (Russia). Bezingi village may be reached from Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria with infrequent public transport, here a 4WD vehicle must be hired. Thus Bezingi Alpine Camp is reached at . From here it takes a further 2 days to reach the base of the climb.
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Climbing routes
This is one of the Caucasian Peaks, facing the Bezingi Wall across the Bezingi Glacier. The first ascent in 1888 by
Albert Mummery and Heinrich Zurfluh of
Meiringen
Meiringen () is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Meiringen, the municipality includes the settlements of Balm, Brünigen, Eisenbolgen, Hausen, Prasti, ...
was a major achievement at the time.
Their route up the SW Ridge is no longer used as the normal route which is now the North Ridge graded 4B (
Russian Grading).
Starting from Misses Kosh the ridge is accessed by crossing the West Ridge of Misses-Tau then continuing to the Russian Bivouac located by a hanging glacier descending from the North Ridge of Dykhtau, 4 hours from Misses-Kosh. Once a notch between Misses-Tau and Dykhtau is gained, the North Ridge is followed to the summit. Allow 2 and a half days from the Russian Bivouac, there are several good bivouac sites on the North Ridge
Details and map).
Mapping
Various Soviet military maps annotated in the
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
script can found on the internet; two of the maps cover the Dykhtau area.
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]
References
External links
*
summitpost.org: Dykhtau
{{Ultras of Europe
Mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria
Seven Second Summits
Five-thousanders of the Caucasus
Climbing areas of Russia