The weekend is ahead, and all the surrounding routes have been explored? We are going to the Olkhinsky plateau!

The route to the rocks of the Olkhinsky plateau (60 km from Irkutsk) can be planned for one day, or overnight. The plateau itself is a plateau between the valleys of the Angara and the Irkut with numerous remnant rocks. Stone placers and lonely rocks on the flat tops of the mountains are the usual landscape of these places. Many original forms of rock shoes have beautiful names- Old fortress, Old Woman Izergil, Crow, Pharaoh, Cleopatra. Upstream there is a rapid with large stones and a compact group of remnant rocks, which is especially spectacular in spring in high water. You can get here by car. On the weekends, it is interesting to watch climbers training. You can spend the night in Mongolian felt yurts right at the foot of the cliff.

About 40 years ago, Vityaz was very popular, every Sunday a crowded train delivered several hundred tourists to the Orlyonok station, who walked 6 km to the rock. Climbing competitions were regularly held here. Now on Vityaz, 19 nominal routes 25-35 meters long of the most difficult categories V-VI are marked with hooks. Skala is an ideal climbing wall with shelves, plumb lines and monolithic sections. Now there are much fewer tourists, although it leads to Vityaz highway, and nearby on the banks of the Olkha there is a camp site.

From the nearest settlement - the village of Bolshoi Lug - to Vityaz there are 20.5 km of forest roads, it is unlikely to get here without a guide. Numerous bifurcations end with a departure to the side or a forest dead end. Previously, it was possible to drive to Vityaz by road through the stations of Khanchin and Orlyonok, then up the valley of the Bolshaya Olkha River. Now this old logging road is difficult to pass even for off-road vehicles. All wooden bridges are destroyed, Olkha (in the area between Rassokha and Orlyonok) can only be overcome through two deep fords with large boulders at the bottom. On the road - a lot of treacherous pits filled with water filled with mud.

Knowledgeable drivers prefer a long detour through the mountains, but for beginners it is difficult to guess the right turn here. The reference point for the correct exit from the village is a garbage dump in the Molta valley, it is past it in the southeast direction that the road to Vityaz passes. If you reset the counter immediately after the dump, at noticeable forks after 4 km and 11 km you need to turn right, at the third fork after 12 km - left uphill to the pass - along a forest road with large stones. Along the edges of the road there will be blocks of stones with traces of holes drilled to split the boulders. Poorly rolled secondary forest turns should be ignored and kept to the well-trodden track. On the descent from the pass (after 13 km) at the fork, turn right downhill along the Zyryansky spring. The road is rocky, in heavy rain it is dangerous with deep winding gullies hidden by water. After 14.1 km - turn right again, a mistake threatens that after a kilometer the road will lead to an abandoned ski base with a rusting dismantled lift, two dozen houses and winter quarters near the road. In front of the ski slope, on the right, you will see the bend of the Bolshaya Olkha River and, in the distance, above the crowns of a dense forest, the rocky crown of the Vityaz. It is less than a kilometer along the path along the river, and 4.3 km on the way to the detour. http://doktor-vet.ru/

From the ski slope or the last fork, you need to drive down the valley for 2 km to the next fork with a concrete bridge across the Olkha, to the right - about 5 km of a bad road to the Orlyonok station, to the left to Vityaz - through the bridge along the road, adhering to the main roll, to the fork at 19- ohm km (a pointer with an arrow to Vityaz is nailed to a pine trunk), there you need to turn left from the knurled forest road - downhill.

On the way, it is better to collect firewood, there is little dead wood near the Vityaz rock. After 1.6 km, a narrow road with many deep puddles will lead to a clearing at the foot of a cliff on the banks of the Olkha. The most difficult section is the last 200 m in a lowland with a stream. The road here is with bumps and fragments of the old gati. You can only drive on all-wheel drive, skidding in the mud. We at Renault Koleos irretrievably tore off the decorative pipe on the exhaust pipe and the electrical connector for the towed trailer in these pits with muddy water. We got stuck twice - the car had to be freed from the mud with the help of a pickup truck and a long cable.

Up to 12 people can live in heated yurts (400 rubles/bed). A bridge of logs is thrown across the Olkha. In the neighborhood, the rocks Idol, Turtle, Old Woman, Fortress, popular among climbers. With the help of the information stand, you can determine where they are. They got their names because of the characteristic contours. The 30-meter Idol resembles the famous stone idols of Easter Island - the same pillar-shaped stone monolith with a slab and a head-like stone at the top. It takes about 30 minutes (2.5 km) to walk along the path from Vityaz to the rock Idol hidden in the forest. The places here are reminiscent of the famous Krasnoyarsk Pillars, however, the rocks of the Olkhinsky plateau are less known, and are popular only among local rock climbers.

If you drive from the Bolshaya Olkha valley along the old roads up the Zyryansky 2nd stream to the top (923.7 meters), then you can walk (200 m) to the rocks of the Old Woman and the Fortress. The first is so named for its massive protruding "nose", angry "eyes" and wrinkled "face", and the second - for its resemblance to medieval castle. The routes of climbers here are pierced with bolt hooks. beautiful rocks, to which you can almost drive up close by car, there are also in the area of ​​​​st. Andriyanovskaya and in the upper reaches of the Zazara River. The rocks themselves are clearly visible from the Kultuk tract, and from the tops of some rocks you can even see the blue expanse of Lake Baikal.

Only 80 - 150 km from Irkutsk is the Olkha plateau. It is famous for its beautiful nature, dense forests and, of course, rock climbing. The most famous of them is Vityaz. Even in Soviet times, it was chosen by novice climbers, and to this day there is a great chance to meet guys in equipment, stubbornly climbing the 40-meter height of Vityaz.

In addition to climbers, tourists often come here for 1-2 days. Especially crowded near the rock on some sunny September weekend. Therefore, if you want to be alone with nature, try to come to Vityaz on a weekday.

From the rock opens very handsome mind to the Olkha river. And although many consider this view to be the main reward of the hike, I prefer the path itself along the paths among the beautiful forest.

For a hike you need a little: comfortable shoes, clothes for the weather. If you go when it's warm, wear a T-shirt and a thin jacket/sweatshirt so you can take it off and stay in your T-shirt. Climbing the mountain is very hot. Plus water and food.

How to get to the Vityaz rock?

There are two ways to get to Vityaz: by car or by train to Orlyonok station. Exact (route: Irkutsk pass. - Eaglet), the price will also be indicated there, usually 60-70 rubles. I do not write the schedule and price here because they change from time to time. It is better to see the exact information first hand.

Skalnik Vityaz, Irkutsk: how to get there by car

If you, like me, are a topographical cretin and route descriptions in the spirit of “follow the marks” are not enough for you, this is not a problem. Every year on the Olkhinsky plateau someone manages to get lost. Fortunately, we are in the age of high technology, just download an offline map to your phone Maps.Me. It is available for both iPhones and Android phones, it automatically plots the desired route, supports GPS and, in general, an infinitely useful application for any traveler. Cards that need internet will not work. After 10 - 15 minutes of travel, all communication will be cut off and you will only have to rely on tags.

The route to Vityaz itself is not difficult. But if you are a city dweller and you have little experience in hiking in the forest, you just have to mix up the turn to get lost. You can, of course, join a group of other tourists, but usually neither they nor you will be happy with such a neighborhood. On the way to Vityaz, everyone tries to disperse as much as possible along the road in order to enjoy nature, there are enough crowds of people in the city.

That is why I decided to describe the route in as much detail as possible and provide you with a convenient map with GPS support. On any modern smartphone, even without the Internet, you will see your position relative to the route.

So let's go.

Olkhinskoye Plateau: hiking trails

Orlyonok station is an 80-minute drive away. Get off at the station, wait for the train to leave and cross to the other side of the railway tracks. There, go down the stairs from a small hill and turn right. And then in a straight line, without turning anywhere to a small bridge across the Malaya Olkha.

Way to the bridge on Malaya Olkha

After the bridge, a couple more minutes of walking straight, and you will reach the first fork. Wherever you turn, you can't go wrong, these are two routes to Vityaz.

If you go right, then take a short route (5.2 km), where you need to climb the mountain. It is on this route that you can turn the wrong way, but it offers very beautiful views.

If you turn left, you will take a longer path (about 8 km), but along a straight road without a chance of getting lost, most importantly, go along the river.

Many go to Vityaz by a short road, and return bypassing.

The long road is easy - walk along the river for a long time, then turn right to the bridge. After the bridge - to the left (on the yellow route, see the map below) and again along the path along the Olkha. The river is your main landmark, go along it and don't get lost.

The purple line is a bicycle route, to get on it, turn right after the bridge.

And I'll tell you more about the short route

The main rule here is stick to the most beaten path and during the forks look at marks on trees. It can be a red stripe on a tree or a red ribbon indicating the desired turn (or maybe a different color, in 2017 they were red).

First, 20-30 minutes you will climb uphill through the forest. Toward the end of the ascent, you will see large beautiful stones, as if from the Avatar movie. After the stones, you will reach a power line (power line). It is impossible not to notice it, it is a wide clearing in the forest.

Hooray, you have reached the power line

Just go straight, there are no forks here. Ahead of you is a picturesque aspen alley. After the alley, you will find yourself at a fork. It's not on the map, but it's actually there. You need to choose a more trodden left path. In 2017, the adjacent right path was blocked with thick branches, and besides, it is more overgrown.

After choosing the desired path, go straight again. The map shows that soon you will come to another fork. The left path is half-grown, just pass by, and on the right there is a forest road, it can also lead you in the wrong direction. Choose the path in the middle (blue).

On the way to Vityaz, there will be a steep descent on the right. It is more convenient to go down it to get to the camp site of the same name.

If you go straight, then you will come to the top of the Vityaz rock, from where the same view of Olkha opens.

That's all. I wish you an easy road and only pleasant adventures!

Once again I am convinced that in order to have an interesting weekend, you do not need to buy a plane ticket. You can just take a ticket for the local train. Here, for example, in Irkutsk, just an hour and a half drive from the city, there are fascinating places: rock climbing. They are located at some distance from each other, but the more interesting. You can plan and make a small hike to each of them along a completely simple route.

Skalnik Idol, Olkhinsky Plateau

For example, last weekend we made a small two-day excursion to two of them: Vityaz and Idol. On the Idol, we even performed a sacrifice (as we were advised by the "tourism watchmen" to these places)

How to get to the Vityaz rock?

And so, from Irkutsk, from any stop: Irkutsk-passenger, Akademicheskaya, Melnikovo, etc. we go to the railway station Orlyonok.
Trains run in the morning at 9:30, at 10:30, in the evening at 16:00, at 19:00, at 21:00.

One-way fare - 61 rubles.
Travel time is approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.


Information sheet: Skalnik Vityaz is also called the Nest of climbers - a granite wall on the Olkhinsky plateau 40 meters high. To all future climbers who have just embarked on their "climbing" path - the "path of climbers" this rock is of great interest for its diverse terrain. Skalnik has many ledges, overhanging cornices, as well as absolutely smooth vertical surfaces.

From the station, along a well-trodden path (pay attention to the signs with arrows), we go to the Vityaz rock (about 1.5 hours on the way), admiring the winter landscapes, pure snow.

Usually on weekends, whole strings of tourists go to Vityaz, so if you are afraid of getting lost, you can join someone. The main thing is that it should not be Susanin 🙂

At the foot of the Vityaz itself there is a camp site (4 houses).

Previously, there were yurts at the camp site where you could spend the night for 300 rubles, now for some reason the yurts have been removed, although, as far as I know, they have always been in demand.

House on Vityaz

The camp site has a separate house, something like a common kitchen-dining room. There you can warm up for a small fee, drink tea, heat up and cook food, there are dishes, a gas stove and a potbelly stove. There is no electricity (as well as cellular communications) on Vityaz. No Wi-Fi TVs and other benefits for you, so that nothing distracts from contemplation the most beautiful places and unity with nature) as well as heart-to-heart talks and songs with a guitar (the instrument was seen in the kitchen)

What a blue sky...

There is a generator at the camp site, they give light for a short time in the evening)

The prices for accommodation on Vityaz, in my opinion, are not modest (we paid 2000 rubles per night for two), given that in the double house at night we constantly had to heat the potbelly stove, and then, from the rapid heating of the room, to air it. And so all night - every hour. If you are planning an overnight trip, decide in advance who in your company will not sleep 🙂 🙂 🙂

But all the inconveniences are compensated by the impressions)

Olkhinskoe plateau in winter, view of the tourist center Vityaz

From Vityaz, a 30-minute walk is the Idol rock. An impressive stone column rises monumentally among the snowy splendor of the winter forest. An almost regular rectangular shape of a huge stone in front of the rock evokes associations with a sacrificial altar. Fortunately, no human casualties were avoided, as well as not a single animal was harmed during the shooting of the report. Profiterole was given for the slaughter and tea with thyme was drunk for the health of all local idols and spirits.

Sacrifice 🙂 later the person was replaced by a profiterole, they decided that it was more humane 🙂

With the approach of evening, a simple illumination is turned on at the camp site. Houses, from a distance resembling alpine chalets, covered with snow, against the backdrop of mountains and forest walls, look absolutely fabulous.

And with the rising of the full moon, the sensors of romanticism went off scale. Something had to be done about it. From an excess of feelings, it was decided to climb to the top of the Vityaz in order to light sparklers, candles and admire the view of the surroundings in the moonlight. Moonlight ruled all. Pearl moon dust covered trees, mountains, stones, moon milk was spilled in the air. The moon seemed to be very close, so just stretch out your hand from here, from the top of the Vityaz, who, pulling on a stone helmet, is on guard.

From the Idol you can walk to the no less picturesque rocky rock of the Old Woman (we didn’t get there, the path was covered with snow, there was a lot of snow)

Read and watch what else to do in winter in Irkutsk on the weekends.

09/30/15 That day off I spent at the Olkhinsky rocks and adjacent taiga wilds in Irkutsk region.
The train departed from Irkutsk-Passenger station at about half past eight in the morning, slowly swaying and banging comfortably on the rail joints.

The sunlight for the thirtieth of September was so pale, piercingly melancholic, transparent, which only happens at the beginning of autumn, when the variegation of the passing summer still lingers in someone's flower beds, in pots on windowsills and women's dresses. The controller just checked my ticket and I went to the window - reluctance to sit on the seat, lifted the top half, which creaked in the grooves due to accumulated dust. We pass Irkutsk, already awake, but reluctantly moving, because today is Sunday and sleepy houses and cars shrouded in a pale yellowish light, like a picture from a book. The morning fog was in no hurry to float away into the bushes and trees and bridges hanging over the Angara River, because soon October and this is its territory, not like in summer, where the air temperature even in the morning approaches forty degrees and the night haze disappears, evaporates without any hint of existence. But now from the river pulled a real coolness. The Angara is the only river that flows out of Baikal and divides the city of Irkutsk in half. Somewhere approximately in the middle of the city, it merges with the Irkut River, from which, as you know, the name of the city came from, and carries its waters to the mighty Yenisei, and that to the Arctic Ocean.
Our electric train rolled out of the city to the plain. The summer forbs had shrunk and worn out a little, dried up under the inexorable August rays, but now, the grasses, soaked at dawn from the dew, emitted a pleasant, so tart and reminiscent of the steppe homeland aroma. Feather grass, shepherd's purse, yarrow, several types of wormwood, thyme, timothy and dozens of others, whose names I find it difficult to name, have created a real symphony of scents with hundreds of undertones and shades. In the fields, covered with scraps of blue banners and polyethylene, small piles of straw are waiting to be harvested. Jet swifts and boorish sparrows rush in the air, picking up already half-dead flies and clumsy horseflies on the fly.
We pass Shelekhov. The scenery outside the window is changing. The onset of autumn is not so noticeable in the city than in open nature. Here, all deciduous trees change in color. The place of the dying chlorophyll is gradually occupied by anthocyanin, which colors the leaves in orange, red and even purple colors with many transitions and shades. Yellow-green patches of vegetation with reddish veins contrast especially well with huge firs, cedars and larches protruding from the shade and half-uprooted giant stumps with clods of earth that have not fallen off, full of ants and fat larvae. Birches with aspens are the first to start to shiver from the cold and throw off pieces of their clothes, although often even in dense and deep November cold and slush, they scratch the sky with unfallen dry leaves. But now they are wonderful. Birches and aspens, mountain ash, elderberry and pear with sour, darkened sweet and sour fruits, light spots shine against the background of conifers. And above all these clouds, shreds of heavenly fog, wiping from the already clear sky.

We drive past dachas, small villages, half-stations and solitary houses.

Mostly wooden, sun-roasted, saturated with wood smoke and steppe-cedar aroma, houses. In such it is good to close oneself from everything and drink tea with gingerbread. And cranberry jam. The Rossokha station swam to the left and the train again rolled further, towards the lake. The train makes a big turn, if you look out the right window in the direction of the train, you can see how all the cars are hiding behind the slope, approaching the next station. The next stop is the Orlyonok stopping point. For us, it's the end. Total, one and a half hours in the train from the station Irkutsk-Passenger.

Once upon a time, a pioneer camp of the same name took children here, it is somewhere very nearby. Now abandoned and taken apart for firewood, it was overgrown with grass and became a haven for magpies, squirrels, and quite possibly for someone larger. From a small but neat stopping point to the left and slightly upwards, a primer leaves, soon splitting into two, more modestly. A group of 5-6 cyclists who rushed forward disappeared from sight, and my friend and I slowly walked along the left road. The right one steeply climbed up and it was shorter, soon disappeared and practically lost sight of it, it jumped over streams, slippery boulders, dived between the roots. This path to the rocks was shorter, but we were not going to rush and moved along the left road, which cyclists had recently passed. We crossed a narrow bridge across the Malaya Olkha River, a small raging stream of water with mossy stones sticking out of it, between which birch leaves and scraps of bark stuck together fluttered.

Twenty minutes later we stopped in a small birch-aspen forest to drink tea. He took water in one of the small lakes, which are enough here, hung it over the fire to boil. The fireplace is neat and tidy - there were no bottles, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, only at the table, which was also there, an apple half-eaten by someone dried up, from which, like threads of a cobweb, paths of red ants stretched to a low anthill. The water in the kettle boiled, we threw tea - between the white trunks and the wind-hewn granite remnants, the aromas of Sri Lanka or the Yunnan province stretched, tart tea aromas.

The branches under the low alder tree stirred in surprise, something whistled softly from behind a driftwood, and a shaggy shadow flopped into the water. The tea was as always tastier than at home.
After eating and drinking tea, we moved on. Kolya asked me what we would do if a bear came out now. Of course, people sometimes pass through here, sometimes even rush through, during the holiday season. After all, here at the most visited rock-climb Vityaz, which is already very close, there is a small, I would even say a small base "Vityaz", which grows with tents and tents of rock climbers, children who came on an excursion and just tourists. Now the main tourist season has already ended and only occasionally single visitors go to the rocks and fellow bears come out of the deep taiga bolder. They, eaten over the summer, fattening up for hibernation, should not be aggressive. But if suddenly a bear comes out on the path close to you, he can attack. So we just talked - bears get scared by loud noises. You do not need to shout, but sometimes make it clear to potential predators that people are walking along the path. The claws of an adult bear are very long and a blow with a huge paw on the head or throat can instantly cut off the cries of an unfortunate tourist, so he should not suffer for long, but still it’s better not to risk it. If special bear pipes, somewhat reminiscent of those of sports fans, are very effective in preventing attacks. In Irkutsk, in an animal nursery, Asya lives, an elderly bear with small brown eyes and a faded matted coat. It was this celebrity who starred in the film "Peculiarities of the National Hunt". I saw these claws, these 10-12 cm blades on decrepit paws, though already worn out and rather reduced in length, very quickly, simply with lightning speed, turn into a weapon, albeit in eating apples, watermelons and cakes. It is impossible to be frivolous in moving around the taiga and it is desirable to walk in a group, adhering to simple rules.
The fate of the hunter Hugh Glass passed us, fortunately, and we finally reached the first rock. This is Vityaz, a forty-meter block of granite, towering over a spacious clearing, along the perimeter of which, at its southern side, there were houses of a camp site, now empty.

The rock is called the Vityaz, because if you look at it from the side of the river, it resembles a warrior in a helmet. To the left of the houses, the turbulent Olkha River flows, which merges with Malaya Olkha not far from here, forming the Big Olkha.

If you look up at the rock from the clearing at the bottom left, you will see a granite wall with many hammered pegs and rare marks - there are trails for practicing climbers and rock climbers, and a little lower there are small, but ridged sections for enthusiastic boulderers.

To the right and above all this is an observation platform, which is difficult to get to for those walking head-on from left to right along a narrow cornice, or, on the contrary, easily along the path that goes around the rocky outcrop from behind. For inexperienced climbers or for people who don't need adrenaline adventures, I recommend the second option.

The first one is also possible, but in case of an error, your remains will not lie below for long - there is someone to feast on them.
The Olkhinsky rocks are named after the river and plateau of the same name. There are many of them, but the most popular are the Knight, the Idol, the Old Woman and more distant ones: the Lizard, the Pharaoh, the Lion, the Mirrors, the White Church.

But not all of them are easily accessible. Some thickets are so thick that you have to break through the thickets to them, leaving shreds of clothes on the branches of sharp thorns and dead wood. The paths to them are completely overgrown, due to the remoteness from the main path.

Skalnik "Idol" in April

After admiring the beauty from the top of the Vityaz, we went to the southeast to the Staruha rock. This is just one of the remote granite exits, to which the paths have grown overgrown.

Finally we got to the Old Woman (I still hope that it was exactly the rock we were looking for), behind which there was a huge fall of trees, an innumerable number of fallen trunks reminded me of a similar fall of the forest, which can be remembered from photographs and documentary newsreels at the site of the fall of the famous Tunguska meteorite (also in the Irkutsk region). As if you are standing on the edge of something unknown and incomprehensible, the emotionality of this moment rolls over. Just imagine that you are walking along the taiga off-road, making your way through fallen thick trunks, climbing, jumping from stone to stone, seeing a maximum of thirty meters ahead of you, and then there is such a sharp space. Kolya, of course, visited the Olkhinsky plateau more than once, he did not see such a fall. Space place, I tell you.

An additional bonus to this was a huge clearing of lingonberries, brown-red bittersweet berries, which were very difficult to stop eating. There were so many that it was impossible to move without stepping on a bush, which is why bright scarlet drops scattered from under the boots.

It was possible to collect on the road, but there was no time. We had to catch the train that would take us back to the city.
We descended back to the river, adhering to the planned landmarks, tired but satisfied, filled with impressions to the very ears. It was evening. The air was filled with the chirping of insects and the distant cries of evening birds. The smell of rotting leaves intensified, mixed with the smell of mushrooms and freshly eaten lingonberries.

Soon the water murmured below and we went out onto the path. We crossed the now empty clearing with the Vityaz base, turned onto the dirt road and moved to Orlyonok.

On the territory of the Baikal region there are unique natural monuments - rocky outcrops formed as a result of weathering of rocks over hundreds of thousands of years. These stone statues, which are not inferior in their historical and cultural value to the famous Krasnoyarsk pillars, are hidden from prying eyes, although they are only 60 km from the capital Eastern Siberia- the city of Irkutsk.

The route to the rocks of the Olkhinsky plateau can be planned for one day off, or with an overnight stay. The plateau itself is a plateau between the valleys of the Angara and the Irkut with numerous remnant rocks.

Stone placers and lonely rocks on the flat tops of the mountains are the usual landscape of these places. Many original forms of rock shoes have beautiful names - the Old Fortress, the Old Woman Izergil, the Crow, the Pharaoh, Cleopatra.

ROUTE FEATURES

Due to its accessibility, this route can be recommended as an excellent active rest for a day off in any season, but especially bright colors in the autumn. More than half of the way the route runs along the bed of the picturesque river Olkha.

In the Soviet period, the most famous of the entire group of rock remains - the Vityaz rock was very popular with students and beginner climbers. Every Sunday, a crowded train delivered several hundred tourists to the Orlyonok station, who walked the distance of 8 km to this rock.

Climbing competitions were regularly held here. On Vityaz, 19 named routes 25-35 meters long of the most difficult categories V-VI are marked with hooks. Skala is an ideal climbing wall with shelves, plumb lines and monolithic sections. Now there are much fewer tourists, although a road leads to Vityaz, and nearby on the banks of the Olkha, next to the rock, there is a camp site with Mongolian felt yurts.
Every year in mid-September, in a clearing near the Vityaz rock, a traditional festival of bard songs is held, where performers from all over Siberia come together.

HOW TO GET TO

You can get to the stone guards of the Olkhinsky plateau by car right up to the foot of the rocks, but the part of the route from the Orlyonok station to the Vityaz rock (8 km) is much more interesting to overcome on foot or by bicycle. In winter, the route is easily overcome in 30-40 minutes on cross-country skis.

By car: from Irkutsk to the exit along the Kultuksky tract and further to Shelekhov immediately after refueling the Rosneft gas station (on the right side) turn left into settlements Olkha and Big Meadow. The asphalt highway runs along the railroad tracks through the settlements of Olkha and Bolshoy Lug. At the Orlyonok station, you can park your car and then, through the wooden masonry across the Olkha River, take a cycling or walking tour of no more than 7-8 km along a picturesque dirt road along the Olkha River.

ATTRACTIONS

The most famous and accessible rock climb is Vityaz.

The view that opens from this rock allows you to take in the view of the entire plateau and see the surrounding sights and neighboring rocks from a bird's eye view.

In the neighborhood popular among climbers rocks Idol, Turtle, Old Woman, Fortress. They got their names because of the characteristic contours. The 30-meter Idol resembles the famous stone idols of Easter Island - the same pillar-shaped stone monolith with a slab and a head-like stone at the top.

It takes about 30 minutes (2.5 km) to walk along the path from Vityaz to the rock Idol hidden in the forest. The places here are reminiscent of the famous Krasnoyarsk Pillars, however, the rocks of the Olkhinsky plateau are less known, and are popular only among local rock climbers.

If you drive from the Bolshaya Olkha valley along the old roads up the Zyryansky 2nd stream to the top (923.7 meters), then you can walk (200 m) to the rocks of the Old Woman and the Fortress. The first is so named for its massive protruding "nose", angry "eyes" and wrinkled "face",

and the second - for the resemblance to a medieval castle.

The routes of climbers here are pierced with bolt hooks. Beautiful rocks, to which you can almost drive up close by car, are also in the area of ​​​​st. Andriyanovskaya and in the upper reaches of the Zazara River. The rocks themselves are clearly visible from the Kultuk tract, and from the tops of some rocks, even the blue expanse of the lake is visible.

In order to have a complete picture of the location of rock remains and stone sights on the territory of the Olkhinsky plateau, I recommend looking at this map.