Today is the second and one of the most interesting days our hike. If the weather was like this now, it could hardly be called such.
But today the weather is just a gift, so just go ahead!
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Along the way, there were many runners who specially trained at altitude, where there is less oxygen, in order to show better results when they go down.
In general, this place is unique in that everyone trains here, from young to old, and not only runners. Sports and tourist trails of different categories of complexity are present here in large numbers.
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And this is a monument of nature local importance. The photo shows the lava exits of the volcano extinct millions of years ago.
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As we progressed, the character of the area changed. Dwarf pines disappeared, alpine meadows began. The opposite slopes of the mountains became visible as if in the palm of your hand.
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On the horizon, in the distance, the peaks and ridges of the Eastern Sayan are visible in the clouds.
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Climbing Chersky Peak in practice turns out to be even easier than it seems before. Only 2090 meters, there are no steep and long climbs, rocky drops, gendarmes and glaciers. In a word, paradise for a beginner.
Of course, there is one relatively difficult area on the ridge in the hollow (it is clearly visible in the first photo).
This is a stone plane inclined to the side, about 40 degrees, with layers protruding from it at different angles.
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In some places it is crossed by depressions and faults. There is no need to rush, just carefully choose the path to carefully pass.
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In general, ridges as narrow as a knife blade are very characteristic of the Baikal Mountains. In other, more difficult places, such sharp ridges are crossed by sheer rock ledges (they are also called gendarmes) and represent a big obstacle on the way to the top, where climbing equipment and the necessary skills are indispensable. Well, everything is not so difficult here, so you can relax for now.
After this section, there is a main ascent, ending already at the top.
Here it is, the climax of our entire three-day radial.
At the top there is a cross, a flag and a memorial sign to the victims of Beslan near the triangulation tower.
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Our acquaintance with Baikal began from afar, not only from afar, but also from a height. From Chersky Peak to good weather can see southern part lakes, boundless expanse of water stretching beyond the horizon and indented mountainous shores.
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While we were here, several more groups came to the summit.
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Baikal is not the only thing that catches the eye. On the way to the top, already from a height you can see famous lake A heart. You can admire its view throughout the final part of the ascent to Chersky Peak and it is simply impossible not to notice.
The bizarre shape of the lake really exactly resembles an inverted heart, but this will be discussed in the next part.

Chersky Peak, Khabar-Daman ridge, 2090 meters high, one of the most popular tourist peaks in the Irkutsk region.
One of the stages of the Russian Cup in skyrunning (high-altitude running) takes place on it, the road takes more than 20 km, and the climb is 1600 meters high. Plus, it's incredibly beautiful. Here are some pictures from my one day trip.

I was walking alone and for the first time, so I downloaded the track to my Garmin navigator in advance.
The road starts from the small town of Slyudyanka. From here to Irkutsk about 110 km, there are minibuses and electric trains, and a taxi with a good man Kostya took me for 1800 rubles. I start my journey from the ore mining department.


The road is excellent, its differences from our Urals are sand and stones, there is almost no mud, although it has recently rained.

The road crosses the Slyudanka River many times, through which bridges were built by volunteers from the "Great Baikal Trail"

Slyudanka mountain, swift, pure

I didn’t have sticks, but my friend, a former Irkutsk citizen, climber Sasha Yakovenko, advised me to contact the local skyrunner Sasha Gutentog, who kindly lent me her sticks, for which I am very grateful to her.

The dump of the quarry, once the city-forming enterprise of Slyudanka, dazzles in the sun.


another bridge. I lost count, there are at least 7-8 of them

the higher the faster the river

10 km passed, here is a small base, you can eat, spend the night and go to the bathhouse

oldaushki are being prepared in the kitchen

hot sweet tea with lemon and hot pancakes instantly restore strength


harsh Siberian tourists

A few more miles later, a signpost to second base. Usually tourists reach it, spend the night and ascend to the peak in the morning. But I don't have that much time.

Light snack. Altitude 1000 meters, covered 14 km, travel time 3 hours. The speed is lower than expected.
During this time, women's skyrunners reach the top (the time of the winners of men is even less - 2 hours for 20 km!)

On the firs beard

I walk through magical valleys, a comfortable path, beauty, an unusually pleasant smell of pine needles and herbs in the air. Even the leaves don't move.


. I often overtake tourists who go overnight and therefore drag huge backpacks on themselves.


Near the path, this grass, unfamiliar to me, is everywhere. upd This is badan


but Chemeritsa often came across on grandfather's high-mountain mowing in the South Urals


Someone's horse is grazing!!


raindrops on branches


roots form fabulous steps


I go out to the Khamar-Daban radio station.


she's just like in the movies and books


wonderful guys at the weather station, I will write a separate, long post about them. By the way, the horse turned out to be from a weather station. It carries food.


I was treated to canned fish soup and tea. Just at that time it started to rain, I waited it out and went on

I climb the mountain serpentine, the wet path soars under the peeking sun


on the fork is a sacred tree, on it are various offerings to shamanic spirits. This is adopted by tourists from the Buryats.)


I climb the pass, then the clouds roll in, then the clouds disappear


family of tourists


the sign warns

a sharp ridge, it even has insurance. A little scary because of the fog. How do marathons run here?


The peak is very close, 100 meters to it


as soon as I climbed to the top, the clouds instantly dissipated


and I was able to see the famous Lake "Heart" so named because of its characteristic shape


there is still a piece of snow on the northern slope


and here is the path I took. Without the fog, it's not scary at all)


I walked 25 km, my time with photography, food and stops was a whopping 7 hours and 20 minutes!
thought it would be less

clouds at this height flow up, down, sideways, fold and scatter in amazing shapes
Everything happens at a great speed, just the sun and transparent distances, and after 3 minutes you are again in milk soup


a young man ran up the mountain, his name was Eugene, he was training for the skyrunner race on August 25th.
I gave him Coca-Cola, which is used by skyrunners and triathletes for a quick recuperation.

On the way back, we ran together, chatted (Eugene engineer from Angarsk), and then he dropped me off to Irkutsk.
Hello, Zhenya!!


credit photo with a courageous face)


Valley below. Snow avalanches come here in winter


Return trip. See how the ridge clearly separates the fog?


mime photo. Chipmunk, there are a lot of them, they go through the trees like squirrels.


In short, not Baikal alone) I sincerely recommend to those who will be in the Irkutsk region to go to Chersky Peak.

Trekking to Chersky Peak is probably the most popular route along Khamar-Daban. Every summer, thousands of tourists, from young to old, go along the trail from the town of Slyudyanka to Chersky Peak. different cities and countries, solo travelers, families with children, groups of friends. The trail is relatively easy recent times volunteers built a large number of bridges, which greatly facilitated the route. The road is also notable for the fact that once an ancient caravan route from Russia to Mongolia and China passed here, along the Starokomarskaya road.

I didn't go this route for three years. Previously, my friends and I went here often, but recently I went to other places and there was no time for this route, and, to be honest, there was also little desire. But this year I decided to organize a weekend trip, three days to be exact.

On Friday morning we took the train to Slyudyanka, my friend went with me, who had long wanted to go to Chersky Peak. In Slyudyanka we had a bite to eat, picked up another of our comrades and went to the beginning of the trail.

I must say that in the morning the weather alerted us, I ran to the train under a fine and not very pleasant rain, but then it ended. When we were already walking along the path, there were only menacing clouds in the sky, but the rain did not start anymore.

Waterfall at the beginning of the trail

We reached the weather station in about four and a half hours. We decided to spend the night at the base, renting a place for a tent from them. This is convenient - you can safely walk all day and not worry about things left in the camp.

Such a place has risen in price and began to cost 400 rubles per night from a tent against 300 three years ago (it also became more expensive to rent a house, 400 rubles per person) and at the same time we were told that they did not want to rent places for tents at all, because this not profitable. At first I did not understand why, but then, when we were given firewood, they explained to me that the price includes a place for a tent and a bunch of firewood, and firewood is very expensive. But we didn’t use firewood, we cooked on a burner, and somehow we didn’t have time to sit by the fire, and then we didn’t have the strength.

The first night was pretty cold. Of course, it was not cold in the tent and in the sleeping bag, but when you stand outside, the cold gets under the fleece, and all desire to look at the stars disappears.

The next day, after a light breakfast, we first went to Chersky Peak, we reached it in 2-2.5 hours, taking a lot of pictures along the way. In June, I have never been here and have not seen much, for example, such an abundance of different colors, colors and smells.

At the peak, we sat for a while and admired the fog that hid the whole Baikal from our view. There were a lot of clouds and the sun could hardly break through them, and the wind pierced through, but it was only at the top, below it was calm and warm. When we descended from the peak and went to the serpentine, we decided to go to the waterfalls.

The road to the first waterfalls is not difficult and we reached quickly, we immediately decided that it was time for lunch. When we were about to go further, we caught up with large group, we learned from them about the path that goes directly to the base. And if you follow this path, you do not need to go back to the serpentine. The guys assured us that they would go the same way after lunch. Without waiting for them, we moved on. To our surprise, we discovered several more waterfalls, which were much more interesting than the first two.

Without knowing the path, it is difficult to go, and even more so when this very path passes through the kurumnik. After going pretty long distance along the path, we began to realize that we were moving away from the mountain on which our base is located. Meanwhile, the path became less and less visible, from a normal path it turned into a barely noticeable path, with slightly jammed grass.

The sun was already setting, and we had a choice: to go further along the dubious path and take risks, or to go back and hope to meet the group. But the group may have already turned off at a turn that we somehow missed. Nevertheless, we decided to go back, even though we did not want to.

Almost at a run, we went back along the path, as we understood that it would soon become dark, and there was a barn ahead. At this pace, we walked for about 15 minutes and climbing one of the slides, one of the guys noticed people.

This was the same group of guys, they were delighted with us, and we were happy for them too. The guys showed us the place where the trail turns. It turns out that the trail continues along the dry bed of the stream, I must say that we thought to go up it, but did not dare. It took only about an hour to climb along the riverbed, at a fairly calm pace, and we came to a clearing where the sun was shining.

Tired, but satisfied, we came to the tent and prepared a meal, dinner was especially delicious.
The morning of the third day was quiet and very sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

The walk to Chersky Peak was a success, we only had to go down to Slyudyanka and wait for the train.

Route schemes are taken from the site of Yuri Gukov, you can also see there detailed description route. True, the information is a little outdated - everything related to the fords described by Yuri Gukov across the Slyudyanka River is not relevant, since many good bridges, which provide all transitions from one coast to another.

The tourist route Slyudyanka - Chersky Peak is one of the most popular on Baikal. This path cannot be called easy. But in terms of the beauty of landscapes and the amount of positive emotions received during the ascent, it has no equal in the region. In addition, in Slyudyanka itself there is something for tourists to see.

We will tell about the main and features of climbing Chersky Peak in our article.

Slyudyanka on the map of the Irkutsk region

Slyudyanka - small town with a population of about 18 thousand people. It is located on the shore of Lake Baikal, in the southern part. On the map below you can see the exact location of Slyudyanka.

The settlement was officially founded in 1899, in connection with the construction. Although in the middle of the 17th century there was a small prison for the extraction of mica. By the way, it comes from the word "mica" modern name cities.

Slyudyanka is the administrative center of the district of the same name (since 1930). The main branches of the local economy are mining and woodworking, fishing and agriculture. The largest enterprise in Slyudyanka and the entire Slyudyansky district is Open Joint-Stock Company "Pereval Quarry", where marbled limestone has been mined since the middle of the last century. Today this plant is the main supplier of raw materials for the cement industry of the Irkutsk region.

Slyudyanka is located in the foothill zone of the mountainous country of Khamar-Daban, consisting of Baikal and Early Caledonian rocks. This explains the huge reserves of mineral resources concentrated in the vicinity of the city. In particular, deposits of mica, marble, lapis lazuli, granite and slate have been explored here. In addition, the bowels of the Slyudyansky district contain at least 300 names of various minerals and gems.

Slyudyanka has also earned itself the reputation of one of the fish capitals of Russia. Catching and smoking of the most delicious endemic of Baikal - omul is very developed here. You can buy this gastronomic "souvenir" both in the central market and in one of the city's fish shops.

But Slyudyanka attracts travelers not only with fish and gems. Fans of mountain peaks are well acquainted with this Baikal city. After all, it is from here, as a rule, that all trips to Chersky Peak begin.

Chersky Peak: description of the mountain peak

First of all, do not confuse Chersky Peak with the mountain of the same name or the so-called Chersky Stone. It's completely different geographic features. Where is Chersky Peak located?

Slyudyanka is the closest to this peak locality. The mountain is located seventeen kilometers south of the city. This is Nai highest point within the Komarinsky Range mountain system Khamar-Dabana. It is named after Ivan Chersky, a famous Russian geographer and explorer of Siberia. The absolute height of Chersky Peak is 2090 meters.

Several natural streams flow down from the slopes of the mountain, in particular the Slyudyanka, Bezymyannaya and Podkomarnaya rivers. At the western foot of the peak, there is the Starokomarskaya road, which is part of the ancient tea route from Kyakhta.

Tourist walking route Slyudyanka - Chersky peak is one of the most popular in the Southern Baikal region, as evidenced by numerous reviews. The popularity of this route is largely due to its accessibility. Thousands of tourists climb the peak every year.

Slyudyanka - Chersky Peak: distance and general description of the route

In general, this a tourist route is not particularly difficult and does not require special climbing equipment. However, you should not relax too much. In bad weather it is easy to lose your way and get lost.

The best time to hike along the route Slyudyanka - Chersky Peak is from mid-May to September. The total length of the tourist route is 20 kilometers (one way). Altitude difference - 1620 meters. A group of trained tourists will be able to overcome this climb in one day. However, it is best to split the hike over at least two days in order to move at a moderate pace and have time to enjoy picturesque views, which are opened from the route.

The trail from Slyudyanka to Chersky peak is distinguished by great landscape diversity. Here you will see rocky cliffs and lakes with waterfalls, make numerous crossings through noisy mountain streams.

Stage one: climb from Slyudyanka to the weather station

The route Slyudyanka - Chersky Peak begins at a concrete dam on the right bank of the river of the same name (a few kilometers from the city railway station). At the very beginning, it is the Slyudyanka, which repeatedly crosses the channel. Bridges or wooden masonry were built at the crossing points. There are 14 such crossings in total.

Quite a lot at the start convenient places for organizing parking, which is very convenient for those tourists who begin their ascent to Chersky Peak in the evening.

Approximately five kilometers from the city, the route passes by snow-white dumps and marble blocks of the Pereval quarry (the noise from the work of mining dump trucks is almost always heard from above). Even further, somewhere in the middle of the path, there is a small recreation center. Here you can relax, drink tea and eat delicious pancakes with condensed milk.

After about 30-40 minutes of walking from the last crossing over Slyudyanka, the path leads to the wide Gorelyaya Polyana. Here the river sharply goes to the left, but the track, quickly gaining altitude, soon enters another clearing - Cossack. This is a rather vast treeless space with fragrant herbs and shrubs. The route bypasses this clearing on the left side and then leads to the Khamar-Daban weather station.

The distance from the city to the weather station is 16 km. At an average pace, this section of the route can be covered in five hours.

Stage two: conquering Chersky Peak

Tourists, as a rule, are advised to camp near the Khamar-Daban weather station. There is a comfortable area for tents, a well and even a sauna. From the weather station it is convenient to make radial exits to Lake Heart, the pass, as well as to the waterfalls on the Podkomarnaya River. Chersky Peak is within easy reach from here - only four kilometers. You can walk this distance in one and a half to two hours.

It is best to conquer the summit the next day, in the morning. The first two kilometers pass along a winding serpentine - the remains of that very ancient "tea road". Then the trail goes to a rather steep slope, generously strewn with rhododendron flowers. At first, climbing it is quite difficult, but then it becomes much easier to go.

Soon the trail reaches the top - it is a large rocky platform with a cross and an information sign. A wonderful panorama of Khamar-Daban opens from the peak, in the north you can see the blue expanse of Lake Baikal. AT tourist season and in good weather, Chersky Peak tends to be quite crowded.

If you have already conquered the peak of Chersokgo, do not rush to go down to Slyudyanka. If time permits, you should definitely visit the sights located nearby. First of all, Lake Heart and waterfalls on the Podkomarnaya River.

When going to the mountains, do not forget to use a protective cream with a protection factor of 30 or 50. It is also advisable to wear a panama hat with wide edges. This will protect you from sunstroke and burns.

Since the tourist route periodically passes through rocky terrain, it is recommended to take care of comfortable shoes in advance. This will save you from sprains and sprains.

Top attractions in Slyudyanka

Experienced travelers advise: after descending from Chersky Peak, do not rush to leave home. After all, Slyudyanka also has something to surprise tourists with! Ideally, it is worth allocating one full day to explore all the “interesting things” of this city.

We list the most important sights of Slyudyanka:

• Mineralogical Museum of V. A. Zhigalov;
• Shaman cape;
• the beginning of the Circum-Baikal Railway (the most expensive railway in the world);
• marble quarry "Pass";
• springs with silver water;
• the building of the city railway station;
• St. Nicholas wooden church (1906);
• city ​​water tower;
• monument to the Cosmonaut;
• monument to the Bear and the Monkey.

Mineralogical Museum

The unique museum of rocks and minerals in Slyudyanka was created by local historian and enthusiast Valery Zhigalov. He opened the doors for his visitors in 1990. Today it is one of the main tourist sites of the Baikal region. There are about 3500 different minerals in his collections. Famous mineralogists of the planet have repeatedly expressed their admiration for this museum.

The museum in Slyudyanka is open daily from 8:00 to 20:00. It is located at the address: Slyudyanaya street, 36.

Shaman cape

Shamansky Cape is one of the favorite places for recreation for the residents of the city. It is located on the northern outskirts of Slyudyanka and goes deep into the water area of ​​the lake. The total length of the cape is 640 meters, and the width is no more than 30. Geologically, the Shaman Cape is the completion of one of the spurs of Khamar-Daban.

This is one of the most mysterious objects on Baikal. According to legends, in ancient times, shamanic rituals with sacrifices were performed on the cape. The Buryats consider this place sacred, as their shaman is buried in one of the caves. Excavations are often carried out on the Shaman Cape. Archaeologists have discovered here several Bronze Age sites, as well as mysterious drawings left by ancient people on the local rocks.

Architectural and sculptural monuments of the city

The architectural heritage of Slyudyanka is quite diverse. The buildings of the pre-revolutionary period have been preserved here. And in the 40-50s, a number of buildings in the Stalinist Empire style were erected in the city (the city administration, the Gornyak House of Culture, and others).

The building of the railway station is one of the main architectural sights of Slyudyanka. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century from unpolished marble. Architects from Italy worked on the development of the project for the Slyudyansk railway station. Another iconic building of Slyudyanka is an old gothic-style water tower located in the city center.

In Slyudyanka, tourists may also be interested in some of the sculptural compositions. So, at the exit from the city, right by the road, there is a monument to the Cosmonaut. It was installed here immediately after the famous space flight of Yuri Gagarin. But the intersection of Lenin and Gornaya streets is decorated with an unusual sculptural composition. It depicts a scene from Krylov's famous fable "The Mirror and the Monkey".

Route June 2017: Irkutsk - Slyudyanka - Chersky Peak - Heart Lake - Waterfalls - Irkutsk.

June, there is a sultry heat, the temperature on the thermometer is +36, for Eastern Siberia considered abnormal weather. Summer has been hot!

There are three days off ahead, my friend and I decided to go hiking to Chersky Peak - this is the highest point (2090 m) of the Komarinsky Range in Khamar-Daban. The summit is named Russian geographers in honor of Ivan Dementievich Chersky - famous researcher Siberia. This is one of the most popular and most accessible routes in the Southern Baikal region. Thousands of tourists visit the summit every year. The ascent route is safe and does not require special climbing equipment. In the vicinity of Chersky Peak there is a mountain lake "Heart", as well as many waterfalls.

The route was planned in such a way that it included: auto off-road, climbing Chersky Peak, visiting mountain lake"Heart", viewing waterfalls. Calculated for two days, one day left.

By car from the city of Irkutsk we reached the city of Slyudyanka along a good asphalt road. At the end of the city of Slyudyanka there is a station of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, where tourists usually leave their cars and go further on foot.

From the station of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, we decided to go further by car until the last, while we can go. We had to make our way through rivers, steep ascents and descents, blocks of stones. In total, we drove 6-7 km along a difficult road, damaging the car a little - the bumper came off, the engine protection was lost). On the way I came across a difficult section of the road with large boulders, which I could not overcome on my unprepared car. We left the car in a clearing, went further with backpacks.

On the route from the station of the Ministry of Emergency Situations to Mount Chersky Peak, there is a small private area in the forest with a bathhouse, a guest house, and a cafe. Prices are quite reasonable!

The trail to the peak of "Chersky" is well trodden, many bridges have been laid across the river, there are places for spending the night, containers for collecting garbage. Throughout the route, there is practically no problem with drinking water. In the valley, the route runs along a mountain river, at the top of the Khamar Daban weather station there is a well with drinking water. But on a short stretch of 3 km to the weather station, there is nowhere to get water, since the path goes away from the river, so it’s better to take care of the water supply here in advance.

The valley of the Slyudyanka River is very picturesque: diverse vegetation - thickets of ferns, boulders overgrown with bergenia, cedars, mountain ash, currants, honeysuckle. In some places the road passes under the crowns of relict poplars. On both sides of the valley, pointed peaks, overgrown with forests, with numerous rocky outcrops are now and then visible.

A few words about the experiment with nutrition. My friend Sergey took a pack of emergency food package with him on a hike, he was going to live all day on the water and three "plates" from this miracle package. At the end of the story I will write how it ended))

On the first day of the hike, we reached the Kazachya glade, which is located near the weather station " Hamar-Daban"Putting up a tent, we stopped for the night. It was pouring rain with thunderstorms all night, mentally I imagined how tomorrow we would climb Chersky Peak on wet and slippery stones. I was so tired that I did not notice how I fell asleep. We got up at 6.00 in the morning, the weather is clear, having breakfast and leaving things in a tent, we set off to conquer the mountain.After 1 km from the glade, we reached the operating weather station "Khamar-Daban", where you can arrange an overnight stay for a fee.There is a well with drinking water on its territory Near the weather station there is a recreation center with all amenities for tourists.

On the site near the weather station, they usually install base camp, from which they make exits along radial routes: to Chersky Peak, to Heart Lake, to waterfalls on the river. Podkomarnaya and its tributaries, to the Devil's Gate pass, to the Chekanovsky peak.

Climbing to Chersky Peak from the meteorological station begins along the serpentine of the Starokomarskaya road. This road, built at the end of the 18th century, crosses the entire Khamar-Daban from north to south, and for more than a hundred years served as one of the caravan routes from Russia to Mongolia and China. After the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the caravan route turned out to be unnecessary.

The higher we went up the mountain, the lower the vegetation became, at an altitude of 1500m it turned into the "Siberian Alps".

Gradually gaining height, the road reaches the bald zone, where the cedar forest is replaced by small vegetation: dwarf willow and elfin cedar, as well as vast alpine meadows.

Having overcome the difficult bridge separating the loach from Chersky Peak, we climbed to its summit. Chersky Peak is the highest point of this part of Khamar-Daban. Its height is 2090 m above sea level. From the top, a majestic panorama of mountain ranges opens up, in the distance you can see the snow-covered three-thousanders of the Tunkinsky Alps, you can see the southern tip of Lake Baikal.

The Chersky Ridge is named after Ivan Dementievich Chersky (born May 3, 1845 - died June 25, 1892). Chersky was a geographer, a famous explorer of Siberia, hemomorphologist, geologist and paleontologist. He was engaged in geological research on the shores of Lake Baikal

At the southern foot of Chersky Peak, at an altitude of about 1720 meters above sea level, there is Lake "Heart", which is clearly visible from the top. We slowly went down to the lake, where we settled down for lunch.

Having rested, having swum in the lake, we gained strength and went further along the path to the Visitor Pass, from which we had to descend into the valley of waterfalls. To be continued