| The North Caucasus republics opposed “wild” mountaineering On Saturday, on Elbrus, in the area of the base camp of the missing climbers from Ulyanovsk, the bodies of two more people were found. The head of the Elbrus search and rescue team, Boris Tilov, believes that these are the bodies of Ulyanovsk residents, the search for which has been going on for more than a week. Let us recall that earlier, on May 18, the bodies of two people were found, most likely from the same ill-fated group.
On April 29, seven tourists from Ulyanovsk set off to conquer Elbrus (5642 m) from the village of Khurzuk in Karachay-Cherkessia without the registration required in such cases with rescue services. They were last seen on May 6 at the approaches to the highest peak in Europe at the base camp of a group of Rostov climbers. The alarm was sounded when the Ulyanovsk athletes did not return home at the agreed time - May 11.
According to the head of the Southern Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Lieutenant General Ivan Teterin, incidents similar to what happened with tourists from Ulyanovsk in the mountains of the North Caucasus have recently begun to occur too often. The problem is aggravated by the fact that in addition to Russian climbers, foreigners are increasingly going to Elbrus. To the Poles, Czechs, Italians, French and Germans already familiar in these places, groups from the USA and China have recently been added. Therefore, a number of North Caucasian republics have now taken the initiative to adopt a federal law on organizing tourist activities in mountainous and forested areas.
The new law should not only clearly define the procedure for organizing mountaineering ascents, but also make it as strict as possible. According to General Teterin, only on the approaches to the highest peak in Europe, Elbrus, about 30 people disappear annually, many of whom remain “missing in action” forever. The level of responsibility of travel agencies, the climbers themselves and other interested parties, for example, for the lack of special registration or means of communication, according to North Caucasian officials, should be sufficient to deter “wild” tourists from informal ascents and unreasonable risks. The government of Kabardino-Balkaria, in particular, has already developed the so-called mountain tourism regulations, which could form the basis of a federal law.
According to Ivan Teterin, this year the Ministry of Emergency Situations has organized several additional rescue posts in the Elbrus region, in Krasnaya Polyana, but, as the general admitted, it will still not be possible to completely “cover” all dangerous areas with such measures. If “wild” climbers are not registered anywhere, their searches in the event of an emergency obviously have a low chance of success. Igor BURAKOV, Rostov-on-Don |
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