Pamir Sights Tour.

“The Peter the Great Ridge - discovered and named in such a way in 1878 by the expedition of V. F. Oshanin, stretches for more than 200 miles along the left bank of the Surkhaba River on the southern border of Karategin (bekstvo in mountain Bukhara, see), between 40 ° and 42 ° East longitude from Pulkovo. In the western, relatively low snow-free part, the ridge of P. the Great is broken by the left tributary of the Surkh Khullas, or Ob-Hingou; on the meridian of Garma (see) snow appears on it, and somewhat east of the mountain rise no lower than 18,000 feet (Sary-kaudal); further east, peaks covered with eternal snow reach 20 thousand feet in places, at the eastern end of the ridge, where it seems to be connected with the Darvaz Range and where the huge Sandal massif covered with glaciers rises, the ridge rises to 24 - 25 thousand feet above sea level. Through the ridge of P. the Great there are 3 passes open for movement only in summer and leading from Karategin to Darvaz, namely to the Hullas valley. Of these, the westernmost Kamchirak is accessible for pack movement; Luli Harvey Pass to the east is covered with eternal snow and very difficult; almost at 41 ° east longitude there is a third, also very difficult Gardani-kaftar pass”

V.M. ESBE. Russia, St. Petersburg, 1890 – 1907.

Cultural walks from Dushanbe to Ishkashim village.

The ridge of Peter I has a latitudinal direction, its length is more than 200 kilometers, it leaves the ridge of the Academy of Sciences in the area of ​​Communism peak, where the famous Pamir firn plateau is located.
The ridge of Peter the Great is located in the Western Pamirs between the Surkhob and Obihingou rivers. The average height of the ridge is from 4300 meters above sea level in the west to 6000 meters above sea level in the east.
The ridge is characterized by sawtooth ridges, deep gorges and high seismicity. Maple forests grow on the slopes, replaced by juniper woodlands and bushes; higher alpine meadows. There are 487 glaciers on the ridge with a total area of ​​about 480 square kilometers.
The ridge is composed mainly of sandstones and conglomerates. A characteristic feature of the relief of the ridge of Peter I are the remains of ancient flat surfaces raised to a great height, along the edges there are blockages from the trees torn out from the root.
The highest point of the ridge is Moscow peak, 6,785 meters above sea level. The ridge is mostly located in the Sangvor region and partially (eastern spurs) in the Murgab district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan.
Due to the great heights, as well as the fact that the ridge of the Academy of Sciences closes from the east of the Western Pamir Valley, there is the largest site of modern glaciation. The name behind the ridge has been strengthened since 1932, before that the name of the Peter the Great Ridge, assigned by V.F. Oshanin in 1878 at the opening of the ridge.
The following peaks directly refer to the ridge and its spurs in the vicinity of the Fortambek glacier system: in the axial part (from east to west) - Communism, Kuibyshev, Kroshka, Leningrad, Abalakova, Borodino, Moscow.
In the northern spur, departing from the peak of Moscow - the 30th anniversary of the Soviet state, Oshanin, Rodionov, Krupskaya, Shapak, Shataeva, Suloeva and a number of other lower peaks. In addition, the peak of Kirov, located in the northern part of the Pamir fir plateau, peaks 5203 and 4962 in the northern spur, extending from the peak of Kirov, belong to the ridge of Peter the Great.
An attempt to isolate the western shoulder of the peak of Communism with a height of 6950 m as an independent peak (Dushanbe peak, 1974) was unsuccessful. Such is the fate of the upper end of the Petrel rib, named the peak of Parachutis, in honor of the parachute landing made on the Pamir fir plateau in 1967.
There are two passes over the ridge: the Shini-Bini pass - between the Rodionov and Krupskaya peaks, connecting the glaciers of the Sugran and Fortambek systems, and the Kurai-Shapak pass north of the Shapak peak connecting the Khodyrsha and Shapak glaciers.
In the spur of the ridge north-east of Krupskaya peak between the Shataeva and Suloeva peaks, there is the Suloev pass.

Authority:
"Fortambek and its peaks." G. Kalinin. Uzbekistan, Tashkent. 1983. "Glaciers." L.D. Dolgushin, G.B. Osipova. Series "Nature of the world." Moscow, the publishing house "Thought". 1989.

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.