Altai - The Golden Mountains World Tour. 7 days.

Region: Russia, Southern Siberia, Altai (Altay)
Activity: sightseeing (cars, helicopter, vessel), resort relax, white water rafting, fishing, hiking, optional horse riding.
Trip Category: special, VIP
Difficulty: easy
Dates: June - mid-September.

Altai (Altay) - "The Golden Mountains" is the mountain land on the south of Siberia which keeps ecological purity and untouched wild nature so far. The communication with local people, some of whom are followers of exotic doctrines- pagans (Shamanists), followers of Nicolas Roerikh and Old Believers ("starovery")- gives an unique social experience. A number of archeological artefacts (from 1,500,000 BC- Ulala down paleolith sit in the host city of Altai Respublic - Gorno-Altaisk), including rock arts (petroglyphs), Paleolithical sits, numerous burial mounds, stone figures are en our route, it makes visit to Altai not only outdoor adventure but captivating trip as well!

The native population of Altai Mountains (and Altai Respublic within Russian Federation respectively) are Altai people originated from the upper part of Yenisey river, their close relatives are Kyrgyz people in Central Asia. They speak Altai language which is belonged to the Turk family of languages. Their way of life derived from the nomads but because they re-settled to the forestated areas, now they mostly follow the semi-settled traditions, with the main activities of hunting, cattle grazing and agriculture. The rest of population included Russians and Kazakhs.

In 1998 The Golden Mountains of Altai were included into UNESCO World Heritage list. The list of objects consists Altaiskiy Natural Reserve, Katun Natural Reserve and the Ukok Plateau Nature Refuge.

For those who have not much time but want to see as many sites as possible without significant physical efforts, we offer this unique 1-week multiactivity trip which includes helicopter sightseeing of the highest summit of Altai - Mt. Belukha (with the picnic on it's foot!) and famous archaeological sites (rock art sites, stone figures, burial mounds), white water rafting, short hiking to natural phenomenas sites (beauty waterfalls, stone musrooms etc.), fishing, horse riding, motoboating on Teletskoye Lake and Russian bania and rest in the best Altai resort.

This trip covers the most significant and impressive parts of Russian Altai. We start in the city of Barnaul- the host city of Altai region. After welcome furshet at the airport, the comfortable aircon minibus takes us to the Down Katun river (Katun is the biggest Altai river with the sourse in Katun Range on the South side of Mt. Belukha, after confluence with Biya river in Biysk the great Siberian river Ob gets it's beginning). We have a rest on the best Altai resort with the modern equipped wooden huts on the Katun river bank in cedar forest, then go on sighseeing trip to the Chemal village and have a short but adrenaline-taking rafting. Genuine Russian bania with chimney hall makes the pleasant final point of this day. Next day, we fly by helicopter over mountain taiga forests, beatiful lakes (with a possible stop on one of them - Ugul Lake- to have a nice trout fishing) and deep river gorges to the foothill of highest summit of entire Altai - Mt. Belukha (4506 m, Katunski Range). Nicolas Roerikh and his followers (Roerikh made an expedition in this area in 20s of XIX centure) did strongly believe that there is the Holy Land of Shambala entrance somewhere in that area. Anyone who visit Mt. Belukha could confirm this place is really very "energetic". Modern followers of Roerikh doctrine discovered the holy place in neighbour Yarlu Valley, with energetical stone, and built impressing "Stone Town" here. They have the annual meeting in Yarlu Valley in July-August to worship "The Mother of The World" and have a meditation. The neighbour valley hosts real ail (national Altai dwelling sometimes used as hunter's hut). There are also several beautifull mountain lakes in Mt. Belukha neighbourhood. The biggest of them - Kucherla Lake - we see from the air, as for the next - Akkem - we land on it's shore and have a picnic with the fantastic ice and snow-covered Mt. Belukha's Akkem Wall as the background. Further up, on the Akkem Glacier morain, by the heroical efforts of Altai rescue rangers and mountaineers, the wooden chapel in old Russian style dedicated to St. Michael was built several years ago to the commemoration of all who lost their lives in the mountains. The famous Altai artist, Choros Gurkin (killed by the Bolshevik's terror in 30s), has drawn his most impressive painting "The Mountain Spirits Lake" been inspired by one of the small lake on the Mt. Yarlu shoulder. These sites we'll see also from the air. During the BBQ preparations, the group can take a short hike to the another groups of lakes in the "7 Lakes Valley" and probably pick the famous Zolotoi Koren (Golden Root, Rhodeola Rosea, similar to Ginseng, used as strong immunomoderator and stimulator) medical herb, from which the best Altai balms are made. As one says, you didn't be in Altai if you didn't visit Belukha.

Next, we take off from Akkem shore and fly over Akkem, Tekelu and remote Argut gorges, then the Chuya river gorge (Chuya and Argut are main tributaries for Katun) over the M52 (Chuiskiy Trakt) road separating the apline-shaped Katunski Range from the series of smaller ranges, including 3000+ Kurai Range which holds several glaciers. We fly over a group of beautiful lakes, pure Altai village of Balyktuiul and land to observe the famous Scythian King's Pazyryk burial mounds. The series of 5 giant (over 40 m in diameter) stone hills were 1st excavated by Academist Rudenko in 1929, with the next expedition followed in 1947. Scythians were the aryan people (most probably of Persian language family with the closest modern descendants of Ossetian people in Caucasus) who inhabited the wide area from Altai to Kaspian Sea in VIII-III centures BCE. They developed very rich culture and dissappead suddenly by still unknown reasons (probably due to proto-Huns tribes invasion from the territory of modern China). The results of excavations were very impressing: the mummies of the King and Queen in the wooden sarcophagi (now in Novosibirsk) with the world's eldest tattoo on them, as well as mummies of horses and slaves were found, with a number of gold, silver and wooden adorments, bronze utensil and arms, clothes, giant wooden chariot and the world's eldest woollen carpet among a numerous of other artefacts (most of them are displayed in State Hermitage in St. Petrsburg). The tomb consists of a deep (3-5 m) pit in the stone substrate where the wooden construction similar to the hut - burial chamber- were placed. The mummies and most of the stuff were put inside the burial chamber, horses tombs- outside the chamber. On the multilayer top of the burial chamber, the over 10 m high stone hill was poured up. The tombs were robbed in ancient times but a lot of artefacts were still in place. Moreover, the rain water penetrated by the pits made by the thievs, got frozed and formed the lens of eternal ice - permafrost - which preserved the organic artefacts from the damage. Parts of a burial chambers made about 3,000 years ago from Siberian larch, are still in place (local Altai people considered the site as doomed place and avoid it, this protects the site better than any guard), and if you're not afraid of the Pharaoh's Damnation, you can even pick a pice as a VERY unusual souvenir!

Then, we take off again and proceed to the North to deep Chulyshman river canyon. The views over the Katuairyk Pass are very impressive: the taiga-covered plateau falls down by several hundred meters to the crystal clear waters of Chulyshman. We land near the small mountain base on the left bank of Chulyshman. The long day is finished! Visit the bania for relaxation wouldn't be bad idea...

We spend next 3 days on Chulyshman for numerous activities. Fishermen can go flyfish for grayling, lenok and even (if you're lucky!) genuine Siberian taimen! The fans of hiking can visit fascinating Kurkure waterfall and even giant remote Uchar waterfall on Chulcha river (not easy hike- about 8 km one way!). Others can take a short horse riding trips. Due to it's relatively warm microclimate, Chulyshman Gorge were inhabited for a thousands years. So, we can see a number of archaeological artefacts there: Scythian and Turk burial mounds, rock art near Kurkure waterfall, and very interesting and rare remains of ancient irrigation system near Chulcha mouth. Finally, we take short but really adrenaline-taking white water rafting, make a stop on the right bank of Chulyshman to Akkurum Stone Mushrooms natural phenomena and further we'll be taken by 6WD truck and the motoboat to the small but very cosy resort on the Lake Teletskoye South shore (Chulyshman is the biggest sourse for the Teletskoye Lake).

Lake Teletskoye (Russian: Ozero Teletzkoe, Altay: Altyn-Köl, literally: "Golden Lake") is the largest lake in the Altai Mountains and the entire Altai Republic. It is among the 25 world's deepest lakes, having a depth of up to 325 meters. Situated at a height of 434 m (1,424 ft) above sea level, the lake is 78 km (48 miles) long and 5 km (3 mi) wide and lies between the mountain ridges Korbu and Al-Tyntu, on the junction of Sailughem Mountains and Western Sayans. Its surface area is 233 sq. km (90 sq mi); however, due to its considerable depth (325 m, 1,066 ft), the lake contains no less than 40 cubic km (9.6 cubic miles) of fresh water. Annual water level fluctuations are estimated at some 348 sm. The lake transparency is high, with the visibility of the lake water ranging from 6 to 14 meters. About 70 rivers and 150 temporary streams flow into the lake, the largest of them, Chulyshman River, supplying more than half of the lake's water. The lake is drained through a single outlet, the Biya River. The lake is surrounded by mountains of 600-1,300 m in the northern part and about 1,700-2,400 m (5,600 - 7,900 ft) in the southern part. Lake Teletskoe is included into Altaisky Nature Reserve. The Altay people have a legend about the name of the lake in their language, which means Golden Lake. According to this story, once, a rich man had a ingot of gold, which he wanted to use to buy food. He travelled around Altai, but could not find anyone who would sell him any food. Eventually, he threw the gold into the lake; allegedly, this is where the name originates from.

On the resort we have a rest and short walking to the neighbouring not very big but nice waterfall. Next day, we take a comfortable motor ship trip across the entire Lake Teletskoye, from the very Southern part to the very Northern one. On this trip, we make an hour stop for nice Korbu waterfall sightseeing. There is also a cosy marketplace near the waterfall, where you can buy genuine Altai souvenirs - wooden and stone carving, Altai throat singing CDs and DVDs, posters, genuine Altai balms and even real Shaman's tambourine - tungur!

In the end of the sailing voyage, we reach the Artybash village - the modern resort place, where the comfortable minibus is waiting for us, and after several hours trip we get back to Barnaul hotel. Have a rest, and next morning we deparure from the airport full of impressions!

There are also many archaeological and historical sites which can be optionally visited in this trip: Kalbak Tash rock art site with the famous Giant Monster and Aliens figures, Elangash rock art site (World's 2nd Rock Art site- more than 40,000 petroglyphs!), Deer Stones in Chuya Valley, and, of course, Ukok Plateau where the famous Altai Princess or Ice Maiden (the mummy of noble Pazyryk culture woman) were found in 1993, the Stonehenge-like Tarhata Circle with the Stone Cradle and petroglyphs, and numerous of Scythian and Turk burial mounds, stone figures ("balbals") and so on.

The itinerary of below is a draft and of course may be changed according your wishes.

Itinerary

Cost: please for an offer