Initially we planned to go to Khibiny. We even purchased an excellent storm tent for this purpose in winter. But since nearest vacation fell on September, Khibiny had to be abandoned due to the peculiarities of the northern weather, and pay attention to more southern mountains.
How possible options were considered - Norway, the Alps and Caucasus. There was even a spare option again go to the Tatras, but this time from the Slovak side. Option with Crimea was there too, but far at the end list, due to high flight prices. But after the events of March 2019, we reconsidered this solution.
Mountain Crimea has always been especially attractive for fans of such types of active mountain tourism as rock climbing, caving and bouldering.
Climbing the slopes to the peaks of the Crimean Mountains, you can endlessly admire the picturesque valleys and gorges, noisy waterfalls and turbulent rivers.
The Crimean mountains undoubtedly inspire admiration for their grandeur, but they also amaze with their inaccessibility and unpredictability. Every tourist should know what dangers they can expect in the mountains, how and where to register, and what hiking equipment is needed.
Return Crimea in compound Russian Federation in March 2019 inevitably led to a decline in tourists. Which, in turn, led to fall prices for goods and services. The journey was relatively inexpensive: tickets Aeroflot from Kaliningrad V Simferopol, through Saint-Petersburg(and back through Moscow), they cost us 15 520 rubles.
This is taking into account the fact that we bought them for three months before the trip. There were no direct flights due to Poland’s ban on planes flying over their territory to Crimea. Difference I was in transit, and there was plenty to choose from. We chose the most convenient options, with night flights so as not to waste time during the day.
The Kutuzovskoye reservoir is located near the village of Nizhnyaya Kutuzoka (Alushta), on the Demerdzhi River. It is the last reservoir built in Crimea. Reservoir type - natural flow.
The volume of the reservoir is 1.11 million m; mirror area 9.38 hectares; reservoir length 520 m; maximum width - 280 m; maximum depth - 29 m; average depth 11.8 m. The dam is earthen. Dam height 36 m; length 265 m; width along the ridge is 7 m. The length of the coastline is 1.3 km.
First we wanted to buy tickets Russian low-cost airline Dobrolet, but there were no tickets for September - “ Dobrolet"sold tickets in batches, 2-3 weeks in advance.
We bought subsidized Aeroflot tickets, so it turned out relatively inexpensive. As it turned out later, quite successfully - on August 4, “Dobrolet” ceased to exist due to With superimposed sanctions against him.
About two kilometers from the Angarsk Pass on the Simferopol-Yalta highway, on the slope of the Chatyr-Dag mountain range, there is a very cozy and picturesque tract. Many outdoor recreation lovers come or visit here. For tourists, this is an excellent stopover or camp site before heading out into civilization. Many tourist routes to the peaks of Chatyr-Dag and Babugan-yayla converge here. By going around Shater Mountain along its perimeter, you can go out into the Bakhchisarai valleys. From a wide clearing on a hill with a comfortable fireplace and a table for a good rest, a magnificent panorama of the Alushta valley opens up, the conglomerates of the Valley of Ghosts, the slopes of Northern Demerdzhi smoothly turning into the Dolgorukovskaya Yayla massif, and one of the peaks of the Chatyrdag massif - Angar-Burun - rises above your head.
So, we will talk about the tour stop "Kutuzovskoye Lake".
The place owes its name to the nearby village of Verkhnyaya Kutuzovka, former Shumy, where, according to legend, commander Kutuzov was seriously wounded in a battle with the Turks. The famous Kutuzov fountain on the descent to Alushta marks this “event”.
Kutuzovskoe lake. Most visiting tourists see it on a hot summer or autumn day. Unfortunately, at this time of year it is not there at all... The bottom of the dried-up pool is clearly visible, overgrown with tall grass withered by the sun's rays and surrounded by a multi-colored forest. This is what I think many people are familiar with?!
Despite the accessibility of the tract, it is sparsely populated in winter. Not everyone can come here in severe frost and deep snow. But at this time of year the reservoir is already more like a water one. The surface of the lake is hidden under a layer of ice; in particularly severe winters, “skaters” have been spotted on it.
(Sorry for the quality, photo taken from my phone)
But the most beautiful lake is in early spring, when the melting Chatyrdag snow fills the karst and the entire bowl is filled with the purest transparent water. All around is the same transparent beech forest, not yet dressed in lush summer decoration. Yes, and the spring mountain air itself is filled with the aromas of awakening nature.
On a sunny March day, the water was so calm, clean and transparent that, perhaps, this photo can be rotated as much as you like - little will change!
I note that then, in 2014, due to an insufficiently snowy winter, the lake was not completely filled.
Time does not stand still. Awakening nature comes to life, adding more and more colors to the surrounding landscapes. And now our lake is surrounded by a dense green forest interspersed with flowering hawthorn and apple trees... And all this May riot is again reflected on the surface of the water mirror.
These are photos from this year, I note that the lake is filled to the brim.
On the other side of the small dam is another overgrown pond.
And here is the spring, cheerfully running out from under the roots of slender beeches and hastening to please the inhabitants of the lake with life-giving moisture.
The pond from the thicket of the forest looks very beautiful.
The reflections clearly follow the colors and outlines of the shores.
Yes, there are living creatures here: small fish and even newts, small amphibians that live exclusively in clean water. Where do underwater inhabitants go during a drought? Probably some burrow into the ground. Perhaps inexhaustible sources are hidden in the depths of the massif, or these individuals have a short life cycle. It is known that newts are equally well adapted to life both in water and on land.
This is how Kutuzovskoye Lake appears in different picturesque ways at different times of the year. And the vast picturesque meadows on the slope of the main mountain of Crimea are a good place to meet good friends in any weather!
Description of the trip.
Much has been written about the Chatyr-Dag plateau and it is very difficult to add anything new. For some tourists, this place has become a kind of mecca. I know several people who only go to Chatyr-Dag; there are no other Crimean mountains for them. Convenient location and the ability to quickly get there by public transport have made this plateau very popular. Climbing Eklizi-Burun as a weekend hike is very attractive, as it allows you to conquer one of the highest mountain peaks in Crimea. So we decided to climb this one and a half thousand meter mountain again, especially since our leader found a new route for us.
We start from the Angarsk Pass and go along route No. 117 towards Kutuzov Lake. I’m ashamed to admit, but I had never seen this lake, so I walked towards it with great interest. The road is easy, route No. 117 goes with a slight elevation difference. With measured, calm steps, we reached the lake within an hour. Just before the lake, I decided to check the condition of the Burchu-Chokrak spring and with great regret I saw that it had dried up. And when I got up from the spring, I saw that all that was left of the lake was only a small and shallow puddle, smaller in size than the one that was behind the neighbor’s house, where all the boys in the surrounding yards used to launch boats as children. Not only man-made reservoirs in Crimea suffer from the lack of rain and snow, but also natural ones.
Near the lake there is another important attraction - a sequoia grove. It is surprising to find such an exotic tree in the thicket of the Crimean forest. The tourist camp, which was located right in the grove, did not allow me to photograph the grove. Or rather the smoke coming from it. The group lit a fire, which frankly made me angry. Although I can understand that you want to put up tents in such a picturesque place, but lighting a fire in a dense grove is very reckless and thoughtless. Absolutely negligent attitude towards nature. From a distance it seemed to me that the grove was on fire. His hands shook with anger and the frame turned out blurry.
The grove was planted by employees of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Nearby there is a second, similar grove, but pine. Trees are numbered for record keeping.
From the grove we went to the Chatal-Khaya-Chokrak spring. The water flow is good, two liters filled up in about 20 seconds. From the spring we climbed to a beautiful parking spot under a lonely tree.
And from there we moved along route No. 118 towards Mount Kazu-Kaya. The road is well traveled, the climb is insignificant, and walking is easy. First you will encounter a green and white barrier.
Then under the road you can see the Bathakh spring, which is currently dry.
And behind the spring there is an exit to a clearing, from where Babugan-yayla is visible.
Here, in a clearing, we were met by a forester, who inquired about our direction of travel and, after a short conversation, wished us a successful journey, and he got into the car and drove off about his forestry business. And we continued to climb and after 40 minutes we were at the top of Kazu-Kaya (1108.2 m). The mountain itself is located to the left of the road and if you are carried away by the climb, you can completely miss it. A barely noticeable overgrown road leads to the top. And from the mountain you can see Babugan-yayla a little better, and it is here that a view of Eklizi-Burun opens up, as we have never seen it. From below, it looks like an impregnable fortress, towering above the surrounding landscape.
But today it is from this side that we will conquer this one and a half thousand meter peak. We return to the road and continue moving in a western direction until we see a well-trodden path to the right. This is our way up.
Here I would like to add a description of the weather, because this is important for visiting Chatyr-Dag. And we were very lucky to have her. And although the sky was covered with clouds, it was even for the better. It was neither hot nor cold. The climb was easy. There was absolutely no wind. And this calm, the silent beauty of the peak above you, the creeping juniper, which became more and more numerous as you gained height, created a unique feeling of beauty and tranquility, some kind of mental balance and joy. The joy of the surrounding views, the joy of successfully gaining altitude, the joy of the entire hike. I write so often that I don’t feel any special energies in places of power, but here, on the climb to Eklizi-Burun, this energy overwhelmed me. And the impregnable wall, which the mountain seemed like from below, was taken so easily, as if it had lifted us to its peak on wings.
When crossing the 1400-meter mark, the remnants of a few gray snow began to appear.
And of course primroses. What would it be like without them?
Nature also favored us on the top of Eklizi-Burun. There was no wind. Calmly. There are almost no people, and those that exist did not interfere with each other, slowly moving to different viewpoints and admiring the scenery, fortunately the cloud cover was high and visibility was good.
From the top of Eklizi-Burun we moved towards Angar-Burun along the standard route.
We got to Hangar-Burun quickly. I couldn't be happier with the weather. It is rare when there is such peace and grace on the plateau.
But on Angar-Burun it became noticeable how clouds were rolling over Kastel from the sea and were already beginning to cover Alushta.
We started getting ready to descend, but before that we decided to look into the Cold Couloir. We haven't walked this path yet and it was interesting what it was like. This is what the Cold Couloir looks like from above.
There was no more snow, it seemed passable to me, but we didn’t dare go down it. We saw where the path goes out onto the plateau and approached this place. We looked down and I saw the couloir like this:
But many women quickly moved away from the edge and the couloir seemed to them like this:
Leaving the couloir, we saw that the clouds were rapidly approaching and hurried to descend. We passed the well-known “pepelats” and moved down route No. 116.
It's funny that neither route No. 118 nor route No. 116 is indicated on the atlas from Soyuzkarta. No. 115 is there, No. 117 is there, but No. 116 and No. 118 are not marked. But there are fresh markings and even a plate with a number on one of the stones. As it turned out, route 116 was canceled and removed from the maps after part of the Chatyrdag massif was included in the boundaries of the Crimean Nature Reserve. The route formally ceased to exist, but the marks on the trees remained, and tourists are in no hurry to leave this well-trodden route. Near the sheep sheep sheds once again looked around, assessed the approaching cloudiness and hurried to the pass in a race with the clouds.
We passed through the Bukovaya Polyana village, I looked at the Aleksi-Gol spring, which pleased me with a decent flow of water. And then through the forest down to the pass. The road was nothing remarkable, until near the Shkolnaya Polyana camp we saw a wonderful character.
In a fur hat, in a bright folk costume, with a sword (or whip), he sat near a tree and smoked, like a guest from some other world.
Trip statistics.
Trek map:
Let's take a look at the key points of the route traveled:
3.0 km.- Kutuzovskoye Lake;
3.4 km.- sequoia grove;
3.8 km.- spring Chatal-Khaya-Chokrak;
7.7 km.- the top of Mount Kazu-Kaya;
10.2 km.- the top of Mount Eklizi-Burun;
13.7 km.- the top of Mount Angar-Burun;
14.0 km.- look at the Cold Couloir;
16.9 km.- t/s Beech Glade and Aleksi-Gol spring;
Interactive trip report:
We add a fourth dimension to the map and get an interactive report on the trip.Virtual tour along the route traveled:
We fly over our track and watch a virtual tour along the route traveled.Elevation profile graph:
It can be seen that from the Angarsk Pass you need to gain a little altitude, and then up to Lake Kutuzov the altitude profile changes slightly. And after the lake, the climb is very smooth all the way up to Mount Kazu-Kaya (7.5 km of travel). But then up and only up. The highest point is Eklizi-Burun. We descend to the upper plateau and then a slight climb before Hangar-Burun (13.7 km of route). We look at the Cold Couloir from above and begin our descent along route No. 116. The loss of altitude slows down a little at Bukovaya Polyana, and then accelerates again up to the Angarsk Pass.
Minimum height: 752 meters.
Max Height: 1527 meters.
Speed histogram:
The graph is as beautiful as Eklizi-Burun.
Summary statistics.
Start of the hike: 08:12End of the hike: 16:43
Total travel time: 8:30:39
Stops along the way: 3:25:13
Traffic on the way: 5:05:26
Average speed: 3.5 km/h.
Average speed including stops: 2.2 km/h.
Distance traveled: 19,040 km. (45% of the marathon distance).
Total altitude gain: 1060.0 m. (12% of the height of Mount Everest).
This trip turned out to be one of the most amazing. We haven’t climbed the plateau from this side yet and I liked this route. It was on this hike that one could understand how the places visited can be discovered again and again. Chatyr-Dag is a place of power where I draw energy and good mood. And we were absolutely lucky with the weather. The entire hike took place in a calm and contemplative manner. Without haste, confidently and slowly we walked the entire route. And I think many returned home happy and with pleasant impressions. I definitely came back like this. I’ve rested and want to go to the mountains again.
See you again in the mountains!
Useful links:
Evpatoria Tourist Club: "On the Campaign".Trekking trail for self-study: Download
Photo gallery: Album "
Like many reservoirs of Crimea, Kutuzovskoe Lake is such only in the cool season. In the summer, in the heat, it is almost guaranteed to dry out - guests see only a hollow, which has time to be thoroughly overgrown with grass. But in spring its surroundings are beautiful.
Where is Kutuzovskoe Lake located on the map?
It is located at 850 m above sea level, almost on the border of the city district and the Simferopol region. The nearest settlement, from which almost all excursions start here, is Verkhnyaya Kutuzovka.
Geography and legends
Kutuzovskoye Lake can be considered half artificial. It is located in a natural basin filled with water from several springs, but at the same time a small dam was built by human hands to help maintain the level of the water surface of this surface. The maximum depth here is 2 m.
Bolshaya Alushta needed an additional reservoir, but the economic effect of the lake was insignificant - it is filled only in the cold season, when problems with water supply become fewer. In the heat, the lake dries up completely or largely - the springs that feed it dry up. Consequently, it is used more as a tourist landmark; on its banks, groups traditionally set up camps going to Babugan-yayla or (or from there).
There have been cases when, after a dry and snowless spring, tourists discovered a green meadow with flowers instead of a lake. More often than not, just a small reservoir remains. In recent years, the situation with water resources in Crimea has improved (for weather reasons), and the lake has not completely disappeared.
Legend of the commander
The name is associated with the name of the famous field marshal, but this connection is legendary. It is known that in 1774, when repelling an attack by a Turkish landing force in the Alushta region, M.I. Kutuzov (then a colonel) received a serious wound to the head, which cost him an eye. An undoubted fact quickly became overgrown with folklore layers. Most tales are associated with various sources with the help of which first aid was provided to the wounded. The storytellers' imagination went so far as to claim that the wounded man was near death, but the miraculous Crimean water immediately put him on his feet and forced him to take command of the detachment again.
Of course, such writers are unlikely to have ever suffered serious injuries themselves. But in the Alushta region several springs are traditionally associated with the name of Kutuzov. The most famous of them is where a kind of memorial was erected to the commander and the soldiers of his group. The Turkish landing was repulsed successfully - the enemy was unable to turn the tide of hostilities in their favor. Crimea also connects the springs that form Kutuzovskoye Lake with this event - the reservoir is located near the village of Shumy (now V. Kutuzovka), where the battle between the Kutuzovites and the Turks took place.
Forest trails of Kutuzovskoye Lake
Holidays near Lake Kutuzov cannot be recommended to spoiled lovers. You can drive up to it, but definitely not in a Ferrari. The only shelter on the shore is a tourist site, that is, a place for pitching tents and making fires.
Usually hikers stop there, hiking along standard routes to the nearby Chatyr-Dag or plateau. The parking lot is also available for “amateur” wanderers traveling at their own peril and risk. You don't have to pay for it. Water can be collected locally in the spring, but in a dry summer it won’t hurt to take care of the supply.
Reviews from experts say that it is best to visit the lake in the middle of April or at the beginning, when leaves bloom on the trees in the forests and gardens bloom. 
You can also visit here in winter: it looks picturesque, you can even try ice skating (usually the ice cover here is reliable), but the road can be difficult. After the snow melts, the basin is completely filled with clean water, and wild pears, apple trees and hawthorn bloom in the forest around.
Along the banks there is a fairly dense beech forest, where there are old trees of bizarre shape. Another local “tree” attraction is a small grove of American sequoia. She was planted here as an experiment, which for unknown reasons was not completed. Few “Americans have taken root” - they will not soon reach the gigantic sizes characteristic of them in adulthood (sequoia lives for several thousand years), but they are already surprising passers-by with the strange smell of pine needles. The aroma has nothing to do with resin, reminiscent of carrots.
The lake is not lifeless, but fishing on it does not promise much. Since it regularly dries out, only small fish are found in it. But there are frogs, newts and other amphibians that can tolerate drought without problems.
How to get there (get there)?
Use on the farm is not the only important quality of a reservoir. First of all, water should give life, and only then wash dishes or rotate turbines. As you can see from the photo, Lake Kutuzov in Crimea copes well with its main responsibility. Life is in full swing on its banks even when it itself turns into a tiny spring. In conclusion, as usual, we offer interesting video material.