This report is about the tour: Above the Sea
The task for this hike sounded simple - to go through the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains. Start from Alushta with the conquest of Babugan and end in Laspi Bay. There were no beginners on this hike - all the participants were, to one degree or another, familiar with camp life, and there should have been no difficulties in completing the task.
Scared by the harsh weather on my previous hike, I prepared myself for cold nights and snow fields on the peaks. However, according to the law of meanness, difficulties arise not at all where you expect them. Ours was plagued by chronic time pressure.
Due to problems with tickets, the group arrived in Simferopol in the evening. We started at 7 pm and on the first day we walked only 4 kilometers, instead of the planned 10. In addition, the evenings turned out to be unusually warm, which contributed to long gatherings around the fire. As a result, the morning camp preparations were delayed due to the general sleepy state. I tried as best I could to adjust our daily routine, but apparently I was not yet wild enough and was not strict enough in matters of morning wake-up. As a result, we set out on the route around 11 o’clock in the morning. We had to pay for this with later overnight stops and a faster pace of walking.
Of course, it was possible to shorten the route and refuse to go to Laspi. But the group decisively rejected this option and agreed to go as long as necessary.
On the second day we walked about 12 kilometers, gaining more than 900 meters of altitude. These faceless numbers say little. But for us it was a busy day - we climbed the Babugan plateau, crossed it from east to west, went to the radial exit to Roman-Kosh and spent the night at a spring under the Gurzuf saddle. The sun was scorching all day, and the guys were pretty sunburned, despite the protective creams. There was a lot of snow on the plateau, on which we cheerfully stomped in shorts and T-shirts. And after lunch, in order to unwind, we even went a little downhill on the mats.
After a stuffy night, no one was surprised by the morning thunderstorm with a terrible downpour and one single lightning. It struck somewhere nearby and its flash was seen even by those who were lying with their eyes closed in their sleeping bags in their tents. The elements refreshed us a little and we merrily walked to the west, periodically sprinkled with rain from clouds flying past. But in the evening the sun came out again and illuminated Yalta and the sea far below.
The next day we raced across the Ai-Petri plateau. We were running out of time, so we didn’t go to the battlements, so as not to get stuck in the shopping arcades and numerous teahouses. Our reward for our patience was a wonderful evening at the parking lot in the Besh-Tekne basin. It was May 9th and we had a gala dinner. We sang “Victory Day”, watched the Yalta fireworks and just chatted nicely.
Nobody canceled our plans to reach the sea, and the next day we ran with redoubled zeal. We walked the entire Baydaro-Kastropol wall from Simeiz to Foros, had lunch on the Devil’s Staircase, found several caches (there was a geocaching enthusiast among us), looked at the Foros church and, already dark, went out to the Laspi tourist site. It’s incredible, but we fulfilled our plan, even if it meant walking 25 kilometers today. The most impatient ones ran to the sea (about 4 kilometers) that same evening, or rather at night.
In the morning we leisurely got ready, beat off the remains of our evening cookies from the local artiodactyls and went to the sea.
Laspi Bay was magnificent as always. It was real summer here. Bright sun, exotic plants, picturesque coves and gentle sea. Against the backdrop of all this, the memories of the snowy fields of Babugan seemed something distant and unreal, although only 3 days had passed since then. We relaxed and plunged into the sea.