Kuznetskii Alatau is a mountain range in South-West Siberia. The nearest big towns are Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk.

I was 16, and part of a large group of friends. Our means of transport were skis, and we also had big and heavy Russian crampons for the difficult stretches. Since we had a large group (19 people!!) we had *two* big tents. The group was too large, really. We were totally self-contained and carried all our food. There were many days when we didn't meet any other people. Pure Siberian wilderness, beautiful as ever.

The highest point of our journey was 2230m, near the top of Staroi Gorod massif which is the highest point of Kuznetskii Alatau. On the maps however, the nearby Verhni Zub (2178m) was marked highest -- the reason being that Verhni Zub was in Kemerovo Oblast, which is an important industrial region, whereas Staroi Gorod was in another area, the status of which was a mere autonomous region for some ethnic minority. Obviously Kemerovo had the upper hand in inventing the new truth about who holds the highest peak in Kuznetski area.

One of the most awful mishaps we had was a long snowstorm near the end of the trip, when we were trying to cross back west over Karatash Pass (1700m). Visibility was about 5m, we decided to camp in a nearby forest, and try again the next day. The next day was the same, if not worse. The problem was that we had left most of our remaining food on the other side of the pass (hidden under snow, you know). So we were running out of food! Snowstorms like that usually last two days in this area; our head honcho said the longest he had experienced was three days. This third day was our last in terms of food, so we had to cross on the third day. Which we did... and these were some of the most terrible 6 hours I have experienced in my life. One guy nearly lost a finger due to the cold. On the fourth, when we were safely in the sheltering Maly Kozyr valley (and enjoying our food!), we could see that on the pass, the storm was still continuing.

The B&W photo on the left is half of the group on Karatash Pass, the first time we crossed it (i.e. not during the snowstorm!)

I have many unforgettable memories from this trip, like a dinner in an eatery in Mezhduretchensk, where they only had borsh and champagne. The menu was much more extensive of course, but hey this is Soviet Union -- you can't have everything.