Hiking in the mountains. Mount Shize and the Georgian ridge, all known routes Legends of Mount Shize

Mount Shize is the most highest point Gruzinka ridge, its height above sea level is 542 m. The peak is located in the north-west direction, approximately 5.5 km from the station. Erivanskaya. The peak is quite flat, stretching from east to west. The southern part, the peaks are located towards the Abin River, the slopes are quite steep, in some places there are cliffs with characteristic powerful rocky outcrops approximately 1.5 km long, their height is 80-100 m.

A picturesque panorama of the summit opens from Erivanskaya. During the Second World War, this area was the site of fierce battles. Here the Novorossiysk defense line stretched along the northern slopes of the ridge. Georgian. The peak was the most important strategic bridgehead and was constantly transferred from the Germans to our troops and vice versa. The Nazis had special units of the third division of mountain riflemen, which were defeated on September 26, 1942. The obelisk, which is installed on the top of Shize, speaks about these events.

At the top of the mountain grow wild pear, apple, dogwood, hawthorn, and rose hips. Juniper grows on rocky outcrops. At the end of spring - beginning of summer, the Caucasian ash tree blooms, upon contact with which biological burns appear on the skin. This plant is dangerous only during flowering. On the jumper between the ridge. Gruzinka and Vasikov ridge. there is a spring. According to hr. The Georgian woman follows a good trail; in the summer, the trail turns into a road along which jeeps drive.

The name of the peak has Adyghe roots “Shy” - one, “Zy” - horse. The name of the peak can be translated as “Lonely Horse”.

Route Erivanskaya village - Shize mountain (542 m) - Erivanskaya village.

Length 7 km, walking time 1.5 hours.

To the station Erivanskaya can be reached either by regular bus next to Abinsk, or by car through the village. Svetlogorskoe. Up to x. There is an asphalt road in Erivan, then a gravel road; you can drive a passenger car without difficulty in any season of the year.

About 2 km before the station. Erivanskaya, you need to get off at the Erivan Pass. It is also possible to get off at Erivanskaya, but our route will be two kilometers longer. From the final stop in the village you need to go in the opposite direction, towards the city of Abinsk, to the top of the Erivan Pass. You can also follow the street behind the bridge to the north and follow the dirt road from the village to the pass shoulder along which the trail goes. From the pass along the shoulder of the pass in a western direction there is a path to the top of Shize. The trail first goes along relatively flat terrain for about 10 minutes, then a good, sometimes very steep climb begins. In some places there are rocky and scree areas; overcoming them will not be difficult. After a steep scree climb, after about 50 minutes, the trail leads to the top of Shize. You must return along the same route.

It was drizzling in the morning, then fog appeared, the clouds cleared at the top and we saw the village of Erivan from above, then wet snow began to fall, but by lunchtime the weather cleared up and the sun came out. This is the weather in the mountains, very unpredictable.

Mount Shize is translated from Adyghe as “lonely horse”.

In the warm season, paragliders fly from the mountain. There are legends that Mount Shize has healing powers. Every man who breathes the air of mountain flowers becomes young and strong.

The hike can be called childish; it is absolutely not difficult if the ascent is done in the warm season. From the village of Erivanskaya to Mount Shize - only 5 km (1.5-2 hours one way). From Erivanskaya, through Shize and the Gruzinka ridge, you can go to the village of Shapsugskaya, it is nearby. On the way we came across a spring.

2. We started from the village of Erivanskaya (Abinsky district) - this is 100 km from Krasnodar. There was fog in the mountains, but there was little snow.

3. The higher we climbed, the more snow and humidity there was, and everyone’s shoes got wet. Conclusion: in this weather you should only wear rubber boots.

4. Despite the snow, we climbed 1.5 hours to the top of Shize.

5. Fields.

7. View of the village of Erivan. Before we could admire the view, it began to rain, and then sleet.

8. Just going up Mount Shize and going down is too little for us, we decided to go to the Gruzinka ridge.

10. This is what the Gruzinka ridge looks like. One of the tourists saw a roe deer in these places.

11. In order not to take the opposite path, we decided to make a circle and climb Mount Rotten along the way. We turned off the well-trodden road into the bushes (as the track showed on the navigator). And then we accidentally found an RGD-33 grenade. Most likely she ended up here during the Second World War. It is fragmentation offensive-defensive. During the war, fierce battles took place here, because it was an important segment of the front aimed at defending Novorossiysk. The defense line ran along the northern slope of the Gruzinka ridge. The peak - the most important strategic bridgehead - passed into one hand or another. The Germans had specially trained units of the mountain rifle division, which were defeated in September 1942.

12.

13. We descend from the Gruzinka ridge, following the tracks of wild boars.

14. Some people from the group were tired, and we decided not to climb Mount Rotten. We went down to the Abin River, and here it’s good highway walks along the river, and here are these views.

15. There are 5 km left to the village.

16. We met several horses.

17.

18. Approaching almost the village of Erivanskaya, our trek showed that we had to ford the Abin River, but the river was very flooded in December, most likely it would have been waist-deep. But there was a backup option nearby - the road again ran along the river.

It's time to write a little about one of my favorite routes in the Abinsk region. We are talking about a linear route to Mount Shize with a descent along the Gruzinka ridge.
The route to Mount Shize is suitable for tourists of any level; in my practice, this mountain was climbed by both retired women 50-60 years old and small children from 6 years old.
The best linear option for conquering Mount Shize starts from the village of Erivanskaya and ends 3 kilometers from the village of Shapsugskaya. The length of the route in this case is about 15 km and takes on average 6-8 hours.

This route is available for groups not dependent on their own transport, since returning to Erivansk for a car will be quite difficult.

Route No. 1 (Erivan - Mount Shize - Gruzinka Range - Shapsugskaya) ~13 km

The presented track shows the path to another peak of Shize, but it is not necessary to visit. The following description corresponds specifically to this track.

Route No. 2 (Erivan Pass - Mount Shize - Erivan Pass) ~6 km

This route to Shize does not require starting in Erivan, for example in winter, but starting from the Erivan Pass, then the path to the top will be a little easier and shorter, this is the fastest and all-weather way to conquer Shize.

Route No. 3 (Erivan - Mount Shize - Rotten Mountain - Erivan) ~20 km

Another fresh track of a circular walk to Mount Shize, from the last exit in early May 2014. The circular track takes a walk through the meadows of the Gruzinka ridge and a descent along a good road to the valley of the Abin River.

The route begins from one of the alleys of Erivanskaya, the road passing between the sections ends in the forest, where a steep winding path begins after crossing a stream. To the right, without crossing the stream there is old road, you can also start climbing along it and soon these roads will converge. Moving along the path or road there are no difficult forks; the road is somewhat longer and gradually gains altitude. At any fork when climbing Mount Shize, you should choose the more trampled and/or upward path.
As you climb, there will be a gentle section; this is a clearing of mounds, ancient burials more than 5,000 years old. Only a small part of them was plundered, which suggests that the local tribes did not live richly (if only I could find details about the mounds and the peoples who lived here)

After a walk through the ancient churchyard, the main fork in the roads, the road to the Erivan pass goes from the bottom (we meet the road of Route No. 2), and sharply up to the top of Mount Shize. This is the final push on the way to the top, 100 meters from the intersection, a barely noticeable path goes off to the left, gaining height even steeper, this is the shortest path. You can take a shortcut or continue along the road; it will lead to a small saddle 400 meters from the top of the mountain.

Rest before the final section of the climb

Beginning of the ascent along the shortcut trail

Rarely will a schoolchild run to the top without stopping on this trail

Having reached the top in just two hours, you can lie down comfortably on a steep slope and enjoy the wonderful views of the surrounding area. Despite the obvious things, tourists often ask what kind of village is located at the bottom; this is the village of Erivanskaya, from which the ascent to Shiza began. They can be understood; such heights and beauty, especially in clear weather, take your breath away for a long time.

Panorama of Mount Shize, towards Erivan

Houses in the village from the top of Shize

Halt at the Shize lookout

The eye of an experienced tourist in a mountain panorama immediately recognizes the ridge and peak of Mount Thab, to the left the rocky ledges of Mount Papai, even to the left Mount Sober-Bash and under the Bear Mountain cut by the quarry. To the right of Mount Thab along the horizon are the lesser-known peaks of Botsekhur, Chubataya, Lysaya and Svintsovaya, the most famous of this list.

Having rested at the top, we continue our journey along a path that passes as a traverse along a steep slope. After some time we get to the second observation deck and remember interesting fact, that just now we were not on the top of Mount Shize, but on the nameless 541.0. On the Internet you can find active discussion and research on the true location of the Shize peak, from which no reasonable opinion follows except to call peaks 541 and 542 the Shize massif.
In my opinion, Mount Shize is still peak 542, since the path to it is very overgrown and the peak is rarely visited. On OSM maps Schize (Michal).
This is precisely the characteristic that suits the name Shize, which translated from Adyghe means Lonely Horse.

Traverse along a steep slope towards the next lookout

Having rested at the second panoramic point of Shize, we move towards the Gruzinka ridge, along the same narrow path, now passing along a wooded slope, soon the path turns into a road. There is an old spring near the road, which doesn’t always have water, and I recommend drinking from it only as a last resort. Since water flows extremely slowly into the recess. There is no path to the spring; you can find it by following a sign with a religious bias.

The road in the forest after the spring has a fork towards Abinsk, from this fork you can go down to the bridge on the bypass of Abinsk. The main road leads to the edge of the forest and another panoramic point on the Gruzinka ridge. On the left side of the ridge, Mount Svintsovaya will be noteworthy, and to the right, in the distance, the city of Krymsk. The Gruzinka ridge itself from this point is not very similar to the usual concept of this word. At the top of the ridge there are black earth meadows with rare trees; they are not used in agriculture and by mid-summer wild blackberries (a'zhina) ripen there.

While in these clearings we encounter the first scars of war, the remains of dugouts and fortifications. After so many years, unexploded or unused ammunition and remains of weapons can still be easily found in the vicinity of Mount Shize.

German shell found in the forest

Meadows of the Gruzinka ridge, May 2014

Moving along the ridge road, we again find ourselves in the forest at a fork, turning left you can go down to the Abin River through Gnilaya (Route No. 3) between Erivan and Shapsugskaya, and going straight to the west, we come to another fork, at which we practically turn around and go to the right a little up and after approaching the clearing we move down again. On these slopes of the ridge the forest is older and denser, even in the summer heat it is always cool here. At the next fork we give preference to the main road going down through the meadows to the Abin River.

In order to get out onto the road you need to cross the Abin ford. In winter and spring, the river is capricious and may not allow tourists to reach the other side. It is worth thinking about the moment of crossing the river in advance, since the nearest bridge is very far away. In summer and during drought, this ford can be crossed by car.

Once on the road, you can go to Shapsugskaya or towards Abinsk, there is a regular bus service along this road.

Recent photos from a youth hike in May 2014, this time the route was closed in a ring.

Group photo at the second examination

At the beginning of May, the viper is still sleepy and in no hurry to run away

General photo against the background of the hr. Georgians and the peaks of Shize

Mount Shize is translated from Adyghe as “lonely horse”.

In the warm season, paragliders fly from the mountain. There are legends that Mount Shize has healing powers. Every man who breathes the air of mountain flowers becomes young and strong.

2. We started from the village of Erivanskaya (Abinsky district) - this is 100 km from Krasnodar. There was fog in the mountains, but there was little snow.

3. The higher we climbed, the more snow and humidity there was, and everyone’s shoes got wet. Conclusion: in this weather you should only wear rubber boots.

4. Despite the snow, we climbed 1.5 hours to the top of Shize.

5. Fields.

7. View of the village of Erivan. Before we could admire the view, it began to rain, and then sleet.

8. Just going up Mount Shize and going down is too little for us, we decided to go to the Gruzinka ridge.

10. This is what the Gruzinka ridge looks like. One of the tourists saw a roe deer in these places.

12.

13. We descend from the Gruzinka ridge, following the tracks of wild boars.

14. Some people from the group were tired, and we decided not to climb Mount Rotten. We went down to the Abin River, and here a good road goes along the river, and here are such views.

15. There are 5 km left to the village.

16. We met several horses.

17.

I believed that only humans and some living creatures have mental disorders. But no, it turns out that mountains also sometimes suffer from split personality. I became acquainted with one such “crazy” mountain on a January day. Yes, that's her name - Shize.

Photo 1. Mount Shize. View from Erivanskaya

Of course, in fact, the toponym Shize has nothing to do with any diseases, the name comes from the Adyghe “shy” - one and “zy” - horse, lonely horse, but there is a heated debate about which mountain to call Shize. The thing is that there are two mountains, they are located near the village of Erivanskaya, one is part, the highest point of the Gruzinka ridge, stretching from Shapsugskaya to Erivanskaya, and the other stands nearby, separated by a deep lintel. And so, in some mouths, Shize takes on the appearance of a peak famous for its beautiful panoramic views, clearly visible from the village of Erivanskaya, while in others it remains a modest mountain, with the only attraction - a rusty triangulation point on the forest-covered crown. Without citing all versions of the name of the mountain, I will note that I am most impressed by one of two options - either to call Shize height 541, the same one that can be seen from the village of Erivanskaya, and call the other by the alternative name Michal, or to call both mountains the Shize massif. Just as Mount Papai has eastern, central, western and other peaks, Shize can also be called the main and eastern peaks. But you still can’t find the truth in this dispute, so it turns out that we have a mountain suffering from a personality disorder. And later in the story I will refer to height 541 under the name Shize, and height 542 will be referred to as Mount Michal.

Shize is one of the outstanding peaks of the foothills; its gentle peak stretches from east to west for more than a kilometer. The southern slopes facing the Abina valley are steep, free of forest and in some places even have rocky outcrops up to 80 meters high. From this, almost along the entire length of the peak, beautiful views open up from it, for which we - me, Zhenya and Vitalik - set off on the journey.

From Krasnodar to the village of Erivanskaya it is a little more than 90 kilometers. First, the path lies along the federal highway A-146, Krasnodar - Verkhnebakansky (Novorossiysk), before reaching Abinsk a few kilometers, we turn left. We pass Svetlogorskoye, Erivansky, after which the asphalt road ends and we cover the last 7 km along a country road. The dirt road to Erivanskaya is passable for any vehicle at any time of the year, but in a passenger car you have to sneak at a speed of 20–30 km/h - it’s a pity for the suspension.

Winter roads are treacherous. Immediately after Krasnodar, a dense fog fell on the highway, which dissipated only after Ilsky. In just 40 km of “milk”, 3 accidents were counted, one of which was quite serious...

Photo 2. Foggy Highway

We arrived in Erivanskaya around 10 am. Just before the entrance we stopped at the Erivan pass, there is an Orthodox cross on it, it’s hard to miss, just from this pass one of the options for climbing Shiza begins. In the village we drove up almost to the very beginning of the trail, on Podgornaya Street, saw an old housewife in one of the courtyards, asked permission to leave the car at her house, the granny kindly allowed it and promised to look after it. Let's cover up and hit the road.

Photo 3. At the Erivan pass. View of Mount Shize through the bare crowns of trees

Photo 4. Before entering Erivanskaya. Kotsekhur ridge on the horizon

An unnamed lane departs from Podgornaya Street, at the very foot of the mountain, Shize is in front of us in all its glory. The lane very quickly dives into the forest, runs across a stream and dissolves into the forest, becoming a narrow but noticeable forest path. We begin our ascent along it. The trail goes from the east, to the end of the mountain, bare crowns poorly cover the landscapes and we watch how the mountain grows higher and higher. At one point the slope directly becomes too steep and the path takes us to the right, around. Little by little we move from the eastern to the northern, gentler slope. And there's snow! There was heavy snowfall a week and a half ago, but by the 18th everything had long since melted, below, and here, at first there were sparse streaks, and then the entire road was covered with snow, well compacted, and therefore walking along it turned out to be quite easy.

Photo 5. The beginning of the ascent to Mount Shize

Photo 6. One of the beams on the slope of Mount Shize

Photo 7. Before reaching the top of Shize. There is snow on the road running along the north side

And now, the road makes the last turn and we are at the top. For a second my jaw dropped open, I expected good looking, but Shize was still surprised - the panorama is excellent. A flat, vast valley underfoot, along it the host river, the deep-flowing Abin, flows like a silvery snake, a little further the valley begins to gather in dark folds and soon ends up in Kotsekhur, which from the top of Shize is visible in all its glory, from the balls of Tkhaba in the east, to Lysaya, Chubataya and Khrebtovaya in the southwest. Somewhere in the west the village of Shapsugskaya is hidden behind a hill, Mount Ostraya sticks out nearby, abundantly watered with the drool of various schizoterics, oh, I’ll get to Shapsugskaya “ anomalous zone" We throw our backpacks, take pictures, drink tea, take pictures again. I lightly go towards the village. A couple of hundred steps and here is a new panorama. Wah! Handsome Popeye on the horizon and Erivanskaya at my feet, I take off the beauty and return to my backpacks.

Panorama 1. View from the top of Shize to the Abina valley, the Kotsekhur ridge and the village of Erivan. (if not displayed, refresh the page).

Photo 8. Close-up of the village of Erivanskaya from the top of Shize

Photo 9. Popeye on the horizon, hiding in the haze. View from the top of Shize

Photo 10. A few more close-ups of the surrounding peaks

Photo 11. The valley of the Abin River, view from the top of Shize. Kotsekhur ridge in the background

I note that from the car to the top it’s about 3 kilometers on the map, this is an hour and a half of walking ascent at the most leisurely pace, even the last nauseous and fragile young ladies will not fall apart and will climb to this peak in about two hours, this makes Shize one of the most easily accessible peaks with such quality species.

Lyrical digression: when you came to the mountain, don’t be an asshole, take the trash with you.

After tasting tea and chocolate, we move on. A narrow, barely visible path leads along the ridge of the mountain. On the left hand there is a steep slope almost a cliff, on the right there is a small rise, beyond which there is a forest and a pass to the northern slope. I note that there was not a trace of snow left on the southern slope. Dry stones and withered grass. After 10 minutes, the path leads to a neatly built wooden platform, three by three meters in size, most likely made by paragliders who, in the warm season, like to launch from the steep slopes of Shize. They say that this is a rather difficult slope for flying and that real masters of their craft fly here; it would be interesting to return in the summer and watch the flights. The path in the area of the site forks, one leads into the forest, to the north, the second continues its path along the top, but soon comes to a dead end - a deep gap opens in front of the traveler, behind which the main part of the Gruzinka ridge begins. We took the first branch. Snow appeared underfoot again, and in some places there were footprints on it, mostly similar to those of a dog, but very large, or a large dog or wolf had left them. More likely the first, since I am not sure that there are wolves left in these parts.

Photo 12. The southern slope of Shize and the path along the top

Photo 13. Abin River close-up

Photo 14. A piece of the village of Erivanskaya

Photo 15. Tree on a slope

Photo 16. Wooden platform at the top of Shize

Photo 17. Northern side of the Shize peak. Overgrown with forest, dusted with snow

Photo 18. View from the wooden platform

Photo 19. Gruzinka Ridge

The path turned into a direction and led to the bottom of a jumper between Shize and Michal, two entities of the mountain - the heroine of this story. The direction quite quickly turned again, not even into a path, but into a forest road. We didn’t walk along it for long, a dirt road not marked on the map led around the top, but we had to look at the rusty triangulator! We turn and go ahead, in ten minutes we are at the goal. We photograph the triangulation point with a sign reminding us that this piece of iron is protected by a state that no longer exists. There should be a path leading to the road through Gruzinka, but where the navigator says there is a stitch, in fact there begins a steep slope overgrown with undergrowth. Let's go in the direction again. A few hundred meters beyond Michal the direction turns into a road again and now we are briskly walking along the Gruzinka ridge. The goal is clearings in the middle of the ridge. Having reached them, we stop for lunch. The glades on Gruzinka are a vast, forest-free area, through which a country road runs right through. On top of the forest, on its edges, a few surrounding mountains are visible, and at one moment the haze on the horizon briefly parted under a ray of sun that accidentally jumped out of the clouds and Krymsk appeared in the distance. And so, in general, the place is quite ordinary, but “just for show” it’s worth a walk. If you continue your path through the glades, then in a little over an hour you can get out on the Shapsugskaya - Abinsk highway, you can turn right after the clearings and go down through Gniluya Mountain to Abin and return to Erivanskaya at the bottom, but this is a rather long path and we decided to return the same way way, which they did successfully. On the way back we walked a little further along Shiza, reaching the cross in memory of the soldiers who laid down their lives here during the Great Patriotic War. And the meat grinder, by the way, on Shiza was terrible, the peak of strategic importance changed hands several times until, finally, it remained in the hands of the Red Army on September 26, 1942.

Photo 20. Footprints in the snow

Photo 21. Triangulation point at the top of Mount Michal

Photo 22. Sign at the triangulation point

Photo 23. Northern slope of Mount Shize. View from Mount Michal

Photo 24. Another view of Mount Popeye. In the foreground is a fragment of the northern slope of Shize

Photo 25. The saddle between Shize and the main part of the Gruzinka ridge

Photo 26. Road along the Gruzinka ridge

Photo 27. Glades on the Gruzinka ridge

Photo 28. Krymsk on the horizon. View from the Gruzinka ridge

Photo 29. Another panorama of the village of Erivanskaya from the top of Shize

Photo 30. Cross on the top of Shize

Photo 31. Fresh tracks on the descent from Shize

Photo 32. Return to the village

Again the path marked on the map from the cross was not there, so we went down to the car the same way. It's already past six in the evening and it's getting dark. The entire hike stretched for thirteen kilometers and took about seven hours. It would be possible, of course, to go twice as fast, but Shiza is a place where you don’t want to rush. I want to grab an extra mug of tea and sit silently and admire the gray peaks of Kotsekhur, the silvery ribbon of Abin and the gloomy January sky.