118 SIBERIA 



opinion that the north side of Belukha would be 

 extremely difficult to climb in summer, and was quite 

 sure that it would be im^possible in winter, even if 

 we succeeded in reaching the mountain at all, which 

 was doubtful. The east side of Belukha and the 

 Toplifka Valley, he told us, had never been visited 

 by any one, and numbers of glaciers and peaks 

 awaited the explorer and discoverer. He also in- 

 fornied me that the deep pass was supposed to lead 

 from the south of Belukha to the east, but it had 

 never been explored. He gave m'e permission to 

 use his maps, and to add any peaks or glaciers to 

 theffl that I imight discover, and, as I am much more 

 of a niierchant than a Maker of maps, I thanked 

 hits and accepted his offer. 



On his journey to the Altai in 1899 Professor 

 Sapozhnikoff had explored the upper valley of the 

 Kotchurla, a tributary of the Katun until then 

 unknown. Twenty-three fililes from the mouth of the 

 Kotchurla is a lake thr«e miles long, with a maximum 

 breadth of 700 yards and a depth of 175 feet. The 

 water is muddy, and its temperature in summer, when 

 Mr. Sapozhnikoff visited it, varied from' 48 to ,54 

 degrees Fahr. Its surface lies 5,700 feet above 

 sea-level. The lake is now marked in rough outline 

 on the map of the Omsk staff, but no information is 

 given about the valley beyond it, which is narrow, 

 hemmed in by rocky cliffs, and strewn with old 

 moraine and wood. The Mush-tu-Aire river was 

 traced by Mr. Sapozhnikoff to the glacier from which 

 it takes its rise. The route he recoffitriended after 

 Belukha was that of the Argout Valley, which leads 

 to the sources of the rivers Ungour and Toplifka. 

 He believed that there were glaciers there which had 

 never been explored. He would have been quite 

 willing to join nie if I had only come to visit the 

 mountain in June or July, but he refused to go in 

 winter. 



