CHAPTER VI 

 PEAK-BAGGING IN THE ALTAI 



Position of Katunda — Belukha — Difficulty of reaching the mountain 

 — A hunter refuses to accompany us — Slow progress — A Kal- 

 muck hut and a halt — We camp in a tent six feet six inches 

 long — Rough riding— Our first view of the Katunskie-Belki 

 range — We select a spot for a camp — Belukha glacier — 

 "Windy Camp" — Sleeping through a hurricane — Glacier 

 action — Hardness of the ice — Disposition of the mountains 

 — Falls of rock — The moraine — Lakes — Skis — A hanging 

 glacier — My hunter refuses to go any farther — I proceed 

 alone — Beauty of the view — Measurements of the mountains 

 — I begin the return — Am thoroughly exhausted — A Kalmuck 

 humorist — We sleep in the open — An ibex hunt — An ibex 

 dinner — Kalmuck appetite — The horns of the ibex 



Katunda is situated in 86° lo' east longitude, and 

 Belukha is 86° 30' east of Greenwich. 



From information I had received from Professor 

 Sapozhnikofif, I learned that Belukha, which was 

 believed to be the highest mountain in Siberia, some- 

 what resembles Mont Blanc, in that it consists largely 

 (on the .south side) of a slope and a glacier. I had 

 made inquiries about the most suitable route and 

 had learned that the southern approach is about three 

 times longer than that from the north. The passes, 

 moreover, were choked with snow, and therefore in- 

 accessible to horses. On the other hand, we could 

 not have succeeded in dragging the sledges con- 

 taining our instruments and provisions for fourteen 

 days in the mountains ourselves even if we had been 



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