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Art. Murino — r. Langutai — Langutai Gate pass — Nukhen-Daban pass — r. Barun-Yunkutsuk — city

Khan-Ula, 2,371 meters (climbing) — r. Zun-Baiga — r. Khara-Murin — stream. Irkut — pass — r.

B. Osinovka — st. Linked. The length of the route is 156 kilometers, duration is 14 days, of which 12 days are running days.

Amateur tourism is experiencing considerable difficulties. Indeed, increased tariffs for transport, rental of tourist equipment, and a shortage of necessary products discourage many people from traveling. But still, despite everything, the hiking trails are not empty. As soon as we returned from the Eastern Sayan last summer, we turned our gaze to Central Khamar-Daban.

The harsh nature, highly dissected mountainous terrain, inaccessibility of Khamar-Daban, its poor exploration — all this arouses increased interest among tourists. Soon the outline of the future route was determined. It started from the Murino station on the shore of Lake Baikal and, crossing the Khamar-Daban mountain range, turned around the peak of Khan-Uly, 2,371 meters above sea level, then descended along the Khara-Murin River and again led to the coast of Lake Baikal. The beginning of the path is an abandoned postal route, laid in ancient times along the Langutai River valley.

On every route you want to encounter something interesting and unusual. The highlight of the planned route was Mount Khan-Ula — the highest point of Khamar-Daban. It is known that the weather conditions in this area are quite difficult and not every group was able to climb Khan-Ulu. Many attempts ended in failure.

The peak is securely fenced off by high passes and stormy rivers. At the beginning of August, our group of eleven people went to the taiga wilds of Khamar-Daban. From that moment on, the dream began to become reality. Having overcome the Langutai Gate and Nukhen-Daban mountain passes in several walking days, they reached the Barun-Yunkutsuk River.

Here for the first time it was said: “Guys, look: Khan-Ula Mountain is ahead!” “It seems!” - Boris Agalakov exclaimed. Suddenly everyone perked up, because they had been dreaming about this moment for a whole year. And when we set foot on the Barun-Yunkutsuk River, the whole of Khan-Ula opened up to us, from the foot to the top.

Here you can’t confuse her with any other. Occupying a key position, it closes the Barun-Yunkutsuk valley and dominates its entire space. Wherever you look, all the ridges bow to her. And she rests her steep sides on their submissive backs.

Indeed, sir. The journey to the upper reaches of Barun-Yunkutsuk took the whole day. Only at the end of the day we climbed an unnamed pass, descended into the forest area and stopped for the night. Tomorrow the assault.

The night is starry and cold. The full moon has risen. We got up at five in the morning, and two hours later we started climbing to the top. We choose the shortest path from the northwest side.

We persistently continue to move towards the currently invisible goal. And the morning turned out to be sunny and quiet. And with every step up, the horizon expanded, more and more revealing a wonderful world, full of light and space. You can see far around.

We pass bizarre rock outcrops, stone placers and suddenly… After a few steps we stepped to the very top. Beyond that there is only sky. The summit was a vast area with a tripod of a triangulation sign in the middle.

Here and there, discreet flowers literally poked their way through the stones. While on tour, Viktor Faizulin finds a note from Moscow tourists who were here just yesterday. We missed them at the pass. “The weather is normal, cloudy,” they write. “We’re going to Langutai.”

Have a nice trip!”… The panorama from the top is breathtaking. Barun-Yunkutsuk shines silver below, the outlines of the Margasan hill can be discerned, and the Snezhnaya valley is densely packed with clouds, through which individual peaks appear to be islands protruding. Cameras are constantly clicking, a movie camera is chirping: this is Volodya Zharov, a cameraman at the Ulan-Ude television studio, trying to capture the beauty of the amazing mountainous country called Khamar-Daban.

Another important event awaited us at the top. The day before, we learned that Boris Agalakov first climbed Khan-Ulu 25 years ago: in July 1967. We warmly congratulated Boris on his unusual anniversary. It seemed to me that his eyes moistened for a short moment, but maybe the reason for this was just the sharp wind…

We leave a note on the tour, take stones as souvenirs and leave the peak. The peak disappeared from sight immediately, and we were swallowed up by the narrow, bottomless gorges of Zun-Baiga. After two days of off-road travel, we crossed the Khara-Murin River — one of the largest rivers in Khamar-Daban with rapids, rifts and powerful pressures. We rushed down the river, constantly climbing up and down the clamps or walking around them in the water.

There was wild taiga all around, and bear tracks could often be seen on the trail. But the bears themselves apparently did not want to meet us. Our further path lay north to the coast of Lake Baikal. The rains fell, and the Khara-Murin River, which yesterday was crossed without much difficulty, today turned into a continuous roaring stream, covered in white breakers and foam.

The view of the river simultaneously evoked both delight at its unbridled prowess and involuntary fear of the formidable elements. Even small tributaries required complex crossings. On the last day of the journey along Khamar-Daban, all that was left was to cross the ridge and reach the coast. They were rewarded for the courage and tenacity with which they pursued their goal.

From the last pass in front of us, as far as the eye could see, the expanse of Lake Baikal opened up. The day was approaching sunset, it was quiet and especially solemn. Behind us, as if not wanting to let us out of the wilds of Khamar-Daban, the mountains stood bristling. The picture was free, majestic and memorable for a long time.

Gennady Kozlovsky, an experienced tourist from the town of Krasnogorsk near Moscow, said: “After this amazing trip, I became several years younger.”