- Easy routes for one day
- Multi-day routes
- On a note
Of course, all tourists in the world know the most popular hiking song of Soviet times - "Dombai Waltz" by Y. Vizbor. The Dombai region in the North Caucasus around the Dombai-Elgen peak (or Dombai-Ulgen, they say and write differently) has been a place of pilgrimage for numerous tourists and climbers for several decades.
Currently, it is a huge complex of hotels, hotels, camp sites for ski and summer holidays. Here you can find a place for a traditional "wild" hike with your own tent and backpack, and for a modern trekking tour with a guide and rented equipment, designed even for young children.
Easy routes for one day
The mountain landscapes of Dombay are amazingly beautiful, and the nature is extremely rich and varied, so you should come here to relax from the stuffiness and bustle of big cities.
- "Russian glade" - the easiest and most popular route with a very small elevation difference - you will have to climb about 200 meters at a slight incline. Russkaya Polyana is a green plateau, which is essentially one huge observation deck. It has been known since the 19th century, when the Russian Geological Society worked here, after which it was named. The path begins from the LII cable car station and leads along the Dombai-Elgen valley. From here you can clearly see the snow-capped mountains with tongues of glaciers and waterfalls and the Dombai-Elgen peak itself. The length of the route is 3 km.
- "To the Chuchkhur waterfall" - continuation of the previous route. The waterfall is visible from the Russian glade, but the path to it is not so easy. You need to climb the valley higher, the fir forest will be replaced by an alpine meadow, with grasses of human height, and then you need to reach the very foot of the Dombai-Elgen mountain, from which the Chuchkhur River flows. The final part of the path is a rather steep ascent to the most cascading waterfall. There are several stops on it - viewing platforms, so you can not climb to the very top. But the best view, of course, is from the upper platform. The length of the route is 12 km.
- "To the Alibek waterfall and the Turiy lake" - the route from the village of Dombay leads up to the Alibek climbing camp, through the climbers' cemetery. From the camp itself, fantastic views of the highest mountain in these places open up - the Belalakaya peak (3861 m.) The road here is good and trampled, the climb is small, the waterfall is not in a deep gorge, as often happens, but flows down from the mountains. Its source is a retreating glacier, so the waterfall is very young, less than 100 years old. Its height is 25 meters. There is an observation deck above it. If you go back a little from the waterfall, then a fork will open to another attraction - Lake Turie. Here the road is more complicated, it crosses the turbulent Dzhalovchatka River several times. There is also an observation deck, from where you can see the glacier, and then the glacial dark turquoise Lake Turye itself will open. It can be found without ice only at the end of summer, but it is also amazingly beautiful when partially frozen. The length of the complete route is 17 km. You can make it easier for yourself and get to the Alibek camp by car, then the length of the route to the waterfall and back will be 5 km, and together with Lake Turim - 9 km.
- "Devil's Mill" - This is a turbulent whirlpool, which is formed by the Amanauz River in a narrow gorge thirty meters deep. You can see it from above from the observation deck (be careful with children - no fences are provided here!). Further, there is a whole system of waterfalls that flow down from the Sofrudzhu cliff. The tallest of them is truly grandiose - 70 m. In height, water dust and noise all over the area. The length of the route is 7 km.
- "Jamagad Narzans" - you can get here from the village. Dombay, but this will already be a climbing route that requires an instructor and special equipment. Or you can, without straining, walk here from Tiberda. The road goes along the old irrigation canal, through the Pionersky Pass (it is named so for its simplicity and accessibility even for beginners). There are as many as four cold mineral springs near the Jamagat River, similar in composition to the famous narzan. On the way, you will meet another attraction - marble canyons near the Kendellelar ridge, where you can see protrusions of beautiful marble rocks. The length of the route is 12 km.
Multi-day routes
One of the most popular types of multi-day hikes in these places without heavy backpacks is to set up a base camp somewhere in the Tiberda Valley (there are several parking places in it), and every day leave the camp for the whole day to some one attraction. This is justified - the terrain here is non-linear, waterfalls, rocks and gorges are scattered chaotically, and in this way you can see a lot more than just moving with a backpack along a certain route. However, there are also options for traveling for two or three days to a specific destination.
- "Muruja Lakes" - a chain of mountain lakes, which have "colored" names: Black, Blue, Azure, Violet … The route takes about 3 days with two nights. It starts near the village. Tiberda, from the highway from which there is an ascent to the valley of the Ullu-Muruju River. You can spend the night in the Golden Glade - a very beautiful place where, according to legend, gold was once mined. The second convenient place to spend the night is a birch grove on the banks of the Muruju River. From here, the ascent to the Blue Lake begins, and then through a rather steep mountain jumper you can get to the next one - Black Lake. Here you can observe an amazing phenomenon: the shadows of people standing on the pass are projected onto the fog rising above the lake, and it looks creepy and fantastic. The length of the route is 25 km.
- From Dombai to Arkhyz (or vice versa) - the route starts from Dombai and leads through the climbing camp and the Alibek pass, from where an incredible view of the surrounding mountains opens, along the Aksaut river valley and the Kara-Kaya pass, and further through the Marukh river valley to the Lower Arkhyz. Once upon a time, it was through Maruha that the Great Silk Road passed. This is one of the most beautiful rivers - a narrow rocky gorge gives way to a wide river valley. The length of the route is 77 km.
On a note
The territory, which is usually called Dombai, is rather arbitrary and has no clear boundaries. But most of it is part of the Tiberdinsky Biosphere Reserve, so almost all routes, even the simplest ones, require permission from him. To obtain it, you must have a passport and pay an environmental fee - in 2019 it is about 100 rubles per person.
The state border with Abkhazia is very close, so the border guards may also need permission and the presence of a passport during the campaign. Some of the popular routes go past border posts and a check is inevitable. As a rule, if you are walking in an organized group, the guide takes care of all these troubles. To participate in multi-day routes, an application must be submitted one to two months in advance.
In the mountains, even in summer it is cool and sunny at the same time, so you need to take care of warm clothing, sunscreen and good non-slip shoes. There are almost no ticks and mosquitoes. You can safely drink water from mountain streams - it is glacial and very clean.
Route markings, information posters, wooden bridge crossings - all this can be whole and new, or it can become unusable or completely disappear, if this is not the most popular and closest route.
