Lovozery 2010

So, an introduction for those who don't know:
The Lovozero mountain range is located on the Kola Peninsula beyond the Arctic Circle. Seid Lake is located in the middle of this massif, surrounded on all sides by mountains. Its length is approximately 8 km. Previously, the valley of Seyd-lake was the winter camp of the Sami. Thanks to the protection of the mountains, the climate in the valley is milder. Even the trees there are normal, not dwarf. You can only get there on foot. There is no road, horses will not pass over the blocks, the rivers are full of rapids, and there is nowhere for a helicopter to land. This is the land of Sannikov...
The three of us (Mikhalych, his wife Tatiana and I) started there on July 24th.

The first day. In the evening we leave by steam locomotive from Leningradsky. Satisfied, full of expectations.
Second day. All day we go by steam locomotive satisfied, full of expectations.

Day three. Arrived in Olenegorsk. Taxi drivers were happy to take us to Revda and further for one and a half price, but Mikhalych explained to them ... They took us without joy. An hour later, having passed Revda, we are at the gates of the Lovozersky Mining and Processing Plant. Mikhalych sat down to smoke and peered at the mountains - they waited for him.
It's starting to rain. We put on raincoats and backpacks. The rain is ending. We take off our backpacks and raincoats. The rain starts. We put on ... Hello local climate! At 11-00 we take the first step towards the mountains.
We cut down staves - an irreplaceable thing! We pass a picturesque stream - very characteristic, as it turned out, for the Fishing Lakes. Stones, emerald moss, clear water. You can drink from it! Stock up on water. We are drawn into decay. The kurumnik begins - solid boulders. We jump from one to the other. Tatyana is the hardest.

For me, kurumnik is not scary at all. Probably the long-term experience of jumping on the Crimean rocks affected. The slope gets steeper - the fog is lower. But pretty quickly we rise to the pass. At the top is an iron crowbar with a ribbon. And someone was not too lazy to drag ...

Behind the pass, mobile communication with civilization disappears ... A gentle and long descent along the kurumnik begins. The valley of Seyd-lake is visible and in the distance even a piece of it, protruding from behind the mountains. Then a steep descent, and we are in the valley. Before us is a sign of the reserve, in which, as usual, everything is prohibited.
We leave Tatyana with things, and we ourselves go aside to the pegmatite "Bear's lair". The hollowed out hole in the rock really reminds her. In the walls are aegirine stars, underfoot are veins of belankinite.

I scored a few stars that had already been beaten off by someone, knocked out belyankinit. I admired the beautiful view from the "Berlogi". After 2 hours we returned to Tatyana.
On the road again. We go through the bushes, then we jump on the stones of the dried up river. The jump is difficult and long. Mikhalych decides to climb the upper path. We are storming a cliff with a slope of 70 degrees. Instead of a diagonal, it somehow takes me to storm the cliff "on the forehead." I crawl to the top with a backpack already on my back. And I'm blissfully cool. The top trail is actually much easier to walk. Crap! The leg sprained... I fall, culturally, swearing in an undertone. Five minutes motionless. My leg hurts, but such things pass quickly for me. We move on, but this day and the floor of the next leg makes itself felt.
It's evening. And we still have to stomp and stomp ... And there is still a forest ahead, where there are no places for a camp. We decide to set up an intermediate camp for the night. There is an amazing river nearby, the same stones, the same moss, only there is more water than in a stream.

Day four. We broke camp, crossed the river and entered the forest. The path goes straight on the map, but Mikhalych said that he walked like that and he didn’t like it. Let's go his way. The trail is getting thinner. And wiggles to the right, then to the left. We climb over the windbreak, bend under the fallen trees. We force 3 rivers 4 streams.

The speed drops to the limit. The last kilometer through the forest was overcome in an hour. The trail disappears... And finally we leave the forest to the swamp! Somewhere to the left - Seid-lake. We go along the swamp and suddenly we go out to the lake. Hooray! But to the end point is another 2.5 km. And the path along the lake jumps not only left and right, but also up and down ... And the backpack is getting heavier ... How much more? 800m. That's 400 hits with the staff. 200... 300... 350... 400. There she is! I take off my backpack, my encephalitis, puff up the raid and fall on the rug. After 12 min. Tanya pulls herself up, a couple of minutes later Mikhalych. Lies next to. Time 16-20. We are lying. Want nothing.

It's been half an hour:
- Mikhalych, when will we go to pegmatite?
We equip the camp and climb the 47th pegmatite. Again we storm a steep mountain. Here he is. It contains natrolite, saamite, lamprofilite, arvedsonite. All this is in plagioclase. Once upon a time, they blew up here to search for iridescent plagioclase, but things didn’t go any further. There are many fragments in which we are looking for druses of natrolite. Shards of Saamit crystals lie between them. Along the way, I find two decent Saamite crystals. Having collected friends, we go down in the evening. Mine and prick.

Day five. We go to 45 pegmatite. It is located to the right and above the 47th. The climb is even steeper. I'm moving forward. I rise high. I sit and wait. There is no one ... From below, a shout: "Leonid?"
Mikhalych says: "I climbed onto pegmatite. And where is Leonid? It's strange ... It seems that no one flew by. There was no characteristic sound Aaaaaa !!!" 15 up.
Pegmatite 45: yield of eudialyte. According to sources - its crystals up to 6 cm are found in the cavities! Where are these cavities?... Digging and digging, digging and digging... No... Along the way, in the dark concretions we find tainiolite stars. Mikhalych finds a cool specimen, presumably gelausite. Me too - but fragments. Mikhalych is delighted - he found some black dots! And in another sample - blue dots!
Digging and splitting continues ... Toward evening I pull out a cobblestone of eudialyte in feldspar. Cavernous. Heart skips... Blow! Here they are eudialyte crystals! And Mikhalych also beats off a piece the size of a watermelon from a rock and splits it along a crack .... Well, actually! He has a cool druse with lots of eudialyte crystals. The photo does not convey all the beauty.

We mess around for another hour or two - but no more rushing. We go down. And it is more difficult to go down... It is difficult for Tatyana, but she does everything herself. There are women in Russian villages!
Evening. Mine and prick. The wind is rising. Lambs on the lake. Doesn't bite. 50 grams and sleep.

Day six. In the plans - 47 pegmatite. Purposefully - Sami. But it has been raining since morning. We sit in tents. Patience bursts - I propose to go dig in the rain. A thunderstorm begins .... By lunchtime, it stopped pouring. We climb on pegmatite.
Mikhalych:
- What are we looking for, ores or individual crystals?
- We take only fillets!
- Then dig from the place where I dug last year to the "fence".
I'm digging. At a depth of 20 cm. below the bottom of the swollen pit I find 2 gobies and the first piece. At a depth of 30 cm I find a rather large separate crystal. I dig further. Crystals come across. Mikhalych knocks with a hammer somewhere below. Tatiana is digging her trench nearby. At 20 o'clock Mikhalych rises and says that the "fence" is in the other direction. I dig in another - only individual crystals. But I dig out a crystal with a thickness of 50 * 45mm and a length of 60mm.

The largest on this pegmatite was 20 cm. Of course, like most large crystals, it is not very aesthetic. Finally, by 22 hours in a row, several pieces come across. Then the "peck" stops. We finish our work and head down. Mikhalych walks angry - he has lost his knife. The fog descends. Clouds and fog merge - the opposite coast is not visible at all. 50 grams each, then another 50, then ... I listen to Mikhalych's reasoning, as usual, I keep quiet more. Mikhalych - Dersu Uzala of our time! Tatyana leans out of the tent: "Are you going to sleep? 5 in the morning!" Indeed, it is time to sleep - everything is drunk. I go to the tent, falling off the path a couple of times.

Day seven. What a headache!!! Analgin. Mikhalych walks peacefully - he found a knife in his backpack. Return home today. Mikhalych, for the sake of order, also tapped with a hammer on pegmatite, and I pack and recover. I pick up my backpack... It's hard. And before climbing to the pass, it is still buried, what I scored on the Bear's lair. I post some samples. It's a pity, but ... Especially sorry for lamprophyllite in spar, but 400 grams of weight! I walk around it all day. And, was not - I put it back. We leave at 19:00.
- the first 100m. God! If I don't lay out half of the stones, I'll die right now!
- the next 200 m. I will definitely die, but not immediately.
Sweat pours in streams, I don’t even brush it off. Encephalitka is wet through again. And they just started...
- the next 300 m. And life is getting better!
- after - got involved, the sweat no longer pours. The backpack seems to be lighter. I walk easily, like on a walk.
Went out to the swamp. It is covered in cloudberries. What a delicious berry. It is a pity that most have not yet ripened. The footprints of a small bear lead from the tourist path through the swamp with cloudberries to the forest. Mikhalych decides how to go: along the tourist path or along his own path. Decides on a touring path. And lo and behold: suddenly a bridge appears across the river! And this is 3 km. saved way, Yes, no way - through the forest with obstacles. We cross the river, get on the upper path and soon we are already standing at the place of the former intermediate overnight stay, having spent 2 hours less on the road. We are fresh and optimistic! At the beginning of the first we go to bed.

Day eight. Rise at 5-30. Nothing interesting - stupid horse work - bring backpacks. The path leads smoothly up. Strangely, when she led down, it was imperceptible. Quite quickly we go to the foot of the pass. I take bottles - I go for water. A kilometer to the river, a kilometer back. I take stashed samples of aegirine and belyankinite. Leave half. The assault on the pass begins...
The average slope is 50 degrees. Hard. 5-10 steps - pause. 5-10 steps - pause. Movements are slow. I carefully choose where to put my foot. Somewhere on the slopes, blueberries ripened - not up to it ... Everything ends someday. Here began a gentle rise - it is already easier. And here is the pass. The GOK pipe is visible - our goal.
The main thing is not to get carried away - haste is dangerous. We are gradually descending. Here is the treasured stream. Halt. To meet a strange procession - "tourists". 4 boys, 4 girls. Girls in tight jeans, with bright clip-ons in their ears. School bags. Barbecue grills. They go to the lake.
- Is it still far?
Wow! But for them, nothing had yet begun ... The procession stretched out. The last girl squeals on every stone. This is how they die. After all, a couple of days before us there was a snowstorm with snow and hail. God bless them.
We have a snack. We get up. I throw a backpack on my back - it leads me to the side. result of fatigue. I'm falling. I cut my hand on a stone, blood drips onto the ground - after all, I left a piece of myself on Kola!
I bandage and in half an hour we are already sitting in a taxi.
The first impression of civilization is a soft seat!
Second impression - yogurt in the store!
Still good to be back!

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