Ulagan Pass
Ulagan pass is located on the road Aktash - Ulagan. Outskirts of pass are very picturesque, there is plenty of lakes there. It is watershed of the Bashkaus and the Chuya River. Indigenous people consider this place sacred, so trees are thickly covered with ribbons and lined by stone pyramids. On the top of pass there is a monument to spirits, a stone circle with a wooden idol inside. Ulagan Pass is located at an altitude of just over 2000 meters, so the climate is closer to a mountain tundra than to a taiga. Summer is short and cold, even with snowfalls. Winter temperature can drop to - 50 ° C. The first frosts begin in mid-August. Ulagan pass is the highest in the Altai Mountains, with height of 2080 meters. Due to shallowness, pass almost doesn’t stands out from the surrounding outskirts. After a long, endless rise, you know that you are on top of the pass, only because of presence of monument. Places are pretty deserted and even gloomy. South side opens view of majestic snow-capped mountain peaks of Kurai Range and Eastern Altai, the Saryachuk river valley and Ulagan plateau, rolling hill covered with centuries-old taiga. Slopes of the pass are covered mountainous taiga: larch, cedar, juniper and dwarf birch. Air is extraordinary, filled with pine resinous smell and moisture of lake, frosty even in summer. The pass has peculiar energy. Locals believe Ulagan pass is sacred. There have long been worshiped to spirits of the Earth and to the Altai Mountains. It is not necessary to make noise, shout, and disturb spirits. Indeed, at the top of the pass, everybody speak in undertones Altai tradition is to tie kyira, a ribbon of light (white, blue, and yellow) or matter yalami (jalama) - blond hair of a horse's mane on trees and bushes in sacred place; or make pyramids of stone if there is no tree. This is a ritual symbol of worship of spirits of the land. Tying ribbon is blessing, peace, health, asking for successful road, calming spirits, permission of the Altai Mountains. |
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