Soviet mountain tourism originated in the Elbrus region - in the Greater Caucasus. It was here that young participants of mountaineering clubs came to carry out sports expeditions. Almost all ascents began from the Urusbiev aul, and the beginning was laid even before the revolution.
In addition to Elbrus itself and its peaks, tourists were interested in the ice giants that cover most of the mountain ranges of our planet - glaciers. On Elbrus is located not one but several.
General information on the icing of Elbrus
The total area of glaciers on Elbrus is 134 square kilometers. This is almost ten percent of the total area of available North Caucasian glaciation. But despite such an impressive figure, the length of the glaciers themselves is not very long, some of them extend only six or nine kilometers. Although there is more. For example, Besengi has a body length of 16 kilometers and 600 meters, and the largest Himalayan glacier of Elbrus - Gangotri - stretches for 33 kilometers along the ridges.
Glaciers
The total number of glaciers on Elbrus today is twenty-three. All of them are completely different in shape and appearance. Some hang from the slopes, over time, their tongues fall off with a roar from the main body, forming the strongest avalanches.
The names of the Elbrus glaciers are quite interesting: Big Azau, Kokurtly, Irik, Garabashi, Teskol, Kogutai (the last three are the same ones hanging). Many settled in valleys and depressions.
The largest revived glacier on Elbrus is Ulluk. Its top covers the edge of the barrier remaining after the ancient eruption. Usually, after its collapse, a powerful icefall forms: pieces of ice fall hundreds of meters down and connect with the river waters of the Kuban.
Geographical location of glaciers
Eternal snows on Elbrus occur at an altitude of 3850 meters from the northern slope, the south side has an icing line slightly lower. The geography of glaciers is uneven. The thickness of the cover depends on the terrain, as well as the depth of the valley where the melting ice flows. Snow can accumulate up to a hundred meters in depth.
In ancient times, the glacial flows of Elbrus were much longer. In the lowland, they merged with glaciers of other mountain ranges located nearby, and cut the surface of the soil with the power of a water stream. In this area later formed the valleys of the rivers Kuban, Malki and Baksan.
Climate change has led glaciers to descend below the snow line. One of the largest glaciers - Big Azau - rises at an altitude of two kilometers above sea level. Many glaciers at their end points form incredibly beautiful ice grottoes, from which numerous streams flow picturesquely. In their middle part, one can find giant cone-shaped moraines created by nature from clay and boulders and knocked down by glaciers of antiquity. In some places you can find traces of inactive lakes once also created by glaciers. Several centuries ago, glaciers on Elbrus reached the village of Khurzuk.
Thickness
The thickness of the glaciers on Elbrus does not exceed 150 meters. Measurements were taken at more than 500 points. The most significant are located at an altitude of 3600 meters to 4200 meters, and the lower the glacier goes, the thicker it becomes.
On steep slopes near the peaks, the ice thickness reaches only 40 meters, and on the saddle 50. The eastern part of Elbrus is also surrounded by eternal ice 50 meters thick. In the western zone, the glacier on Elbrus increases its power to 100 meters in depth.
Volume
An interesting fact is the volume of these glaciers. According to the latest data, the total ice cover of Elbrus is approximately 11 km 3 , and the total mass is 10 billion tons. If all the Elbrus glaciers had melted, then the amount of water received would be equal to the three values that the Moscow River can give in 3 years.
Glacier movement
It should be noted the excellent plastic properties of glaciers, due to which their movement occurs. This can be noticed only with the help of special measurements, however, the speed itself depends on several reasons. Most of the ice cover of Elbrus moves at a speed of 10 centimeters per day. Two glaciers on Elbrus - Big Azau and Terskol - move with greater speed - about 50 centimeters per day in the summer, but in some areas their movement is reduced to a couple of millimeters in 24 hours.
Thanks to the movement of glaciers, they are constantly updating their cover. And if we take into account the length of the glacier of 10 kilometers, and the movement of 10 centimeters per day, then the renewed ice will reach the tongue only after two hundred and fifty years or more. We can conclude that a complete update of the glacier occurs just over this period. But the oldest ice can be found in places where it is practically immobilized: at the very bottom of the firn sequence that fills the crater cavities of Elbrus.
Ice formation on Elbrus
Scientists managed to find out that in ancient times there were peculiar battles between the ice on the mountain peaks and the lava that erupted from the crater. In this connection, lava flows melted the glaciers, and some of them were completely destroyed.
It was established that the last time the activity of Elbrus as a volcano appeared two thousand years ago, after which it acquired its modern form. The ice was actively expanding and spreading, forming several languages. Going down from the peaks, he filled all the nearby valleys and empty grooves between the frozen lava flows.
But over the past centuries, the quality of the Elbrus glaciers has deteriorated significantly: their “body” has become thinner, and the so-called “dead ice” has formed in the lowlands (ice covered with debris left from mudflows, landslides, etc.). "Dead ice" is not able to move itself, so it quickly separates from the retreating glacier.
Moraine shafts left by nature in the form of nicks speak of the former greatness of the Elbrus glaciers. They are perfectly preserved due to the lack of fertile soil on their surface and stand out clearly on grassy areas. Over the past two centuries, glaciers have reduced their thickness by about sixty centimeters, and volume - up to a quarter of the total mass. Languages retreated as much as two kilometers.
Given the fact that scientists call the climatic conditions of our planet cyclical, atmospheric updates occur over 1800 years. And in each such cycle, global warming is gradually replaced by a strong cooling.
Today, the Earth is in a cycle of warming, which is provoked not only by the harmful life of humanity. Presumably the cooling will come only by the year 2400, which means that until this time the glaciers will continue to recede.
Description of the most significant glaciers of Elbrus
Which one is considered the longest? Its name is known to any climber or lover of mountain trekking. This is the Big Azau. And he stretched for 9 km. Its total area is 23 km 2 .
Every year he retreats thirty meters. The tongue of this Elbrus glacier is hidden under the thickness of gravel.
His brother - small Azau - has an area of 8.5 km, a length of 7.6 km, a thickness of 100 m. A glacier feeds from the pool located between Shelter of Eleven and Shelter of Nine.
From the southeast of the sleeping volcano descends the Garbashi glacier with a length of 7 km and a total area of 5 km 2 . The Terskol glacier is also of the same length, but Irik is equal in length to Bolshoi Arzau, but inferior in area to it - only 10 km 2 . Well and quite small - the Irikchat glacier with a length of 2.5 km 2 and an area of 1 km 2 .