The Lost World of Ayan. Notes for the violent
One of the most interesting components of the local landscape. There are more than 22 thousand lakes here, and they occupy about 10% of the plateau area. Nowhere in the world are there such a number of long (50–150 km) and deep (50–420 m) lakes in a limited area as on the Putorana Plateau.
The largest Putorana lakes arose in large basalt cracks, which are very similar to fjords northern Norway, just not on the coast, but in the middle of the land. The total volume of water in Putorana lakes is the second largest surface reservoir fresh water in Russia after Lake Baikal. The largest lakes (Lama, Omuk-Kyuel, Yt-Kyuel, Keta, Khantaiskoye, Kutaramakan) crash into the plateau from the west.
The second place in depth is occupied by lakes preserved in old channels large rivers who left their valleys during the restructuring of the hydraulic network. A huge number of small and medium-sized lakes by local standards are occupied by oxbow lakes, thermokarst baths and depressions in basalt.
Local lakes have almost the same composition of basic crystalline rocks, which makes it easier to identify the climatic and chemical-biological components of the landscape. All lakes on the plateau are flowing, that is, with relatively rapid water exchange. This is one of the reasons for the low mineralization of water - from 13 to 42 mg/l - which is very close to ordinary rainwater, both in purity and taste. For comparison, Baikal water has a mineralization from 93 to 150 mg/l. When I was on the Putorana plateau in July-August 2015, even the seasoned participants in our hike often froze due to the very “soft” water. The fact is that soap in such water takes longer to wash off the body, so considerable effort had to be made. And the water was also cold, especially in the summit lakes - about 5°C!
It would seem that constantly cold water, as in Baikal, oxygen saturates the entire water column (the oxygen content even in winter does not fall below 8 mg/l), but due to the sparse aquatic vegetation and the slow soil-forming process, the content of nutrients in lake waters is extremely insignificant, which inhibits the development of life in lakes
The aesthetic significance of the plateau territory for sophisticated travelers is given by numerous waterfalls, differing both in shape and in flow power. Their scale and quantity are impressive (the Putorana Plateau has the largest concentration of waterfalls in Russia and, possibly, in the world). Here, on the Kanda River, there is one of the highest waterfalls in Russia - 108 meters high.
Perhaps in no other region of Russia is there such a contradictory constructed hydrographic network as in the Putorana mountains. It combines typical mountain streams with numerous rapids and waterfalls and deep basins occupied by flowing lakes and thick sediments. In some areas of the plateau, the rivers are typically flat with a silt-covered bottom - where the water did not have time to cut through the quickly rising surface. The beds of many rivers are dotted with canyons.
The combination of features of both a mountain and a lowland river is clearly visible in the example of the intricately curving Kureyka. Its history is closely connected with the ancient river, which existed on Putorana before the rise of the territory and crossed almost the entire middle, currently highest, part of the plateau. The source of the river was north of Lake Ayan, and its bed ran southeast through the modern middle part of the Kureyka valley into the Lower Tunguska basin. Tectonic movements that redistributed the flow of the ancient river about 10 thousand years ago caused the emergence of two beautiful fissure lakes: Ayan (55 km in length, maximum depth 256 m) and Anama (54 km in length, maximum depth 120 m). In the former bed of the Kureika there are residual lakes: Monomakli, Omutachi, Yadun. Along the southwestern part of the plateau, another ancient and subsequently also rebuilt river valley was identified - Vivi-Agatskaya.
Due to active tectonic movements, all the fissure lakes of the plateau deepened. Almost perpendicular to their previous directions, new ones arose deep cracks, therefore, the lakes on Putorana have angular outlines - with the exception of large lakes in the western part, which have bends only at their eastern ends, which are located directly in the mountains. At the bottom of Lake Agata, standing larches were discovered - evidence of the modern deepening of the lake.
Photo © Dmitry Zamorin from the site westsib.ru.
See also about the geography and geology of the Putorana Plateau:
Putorana stepped plateau, “Elements”, 09/27/2016.
Fedor Shabalin
The administrative center of the Ayano-Maisky district and the rural settlement “Selo Ayan”. This term has other meanings, Ayan is a polysemantic term: Ayan Male name Ayan is a river in Russia, a tributary of the Kheta River. Ayan Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk. Ayan is a populated area in Russia, Bauntovsky Evenki district of Buryatia.
Ayan is a lake beyond the Arctic Circle, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the center of the Putorana Plateau, in the northwestern part of the Central Siberian Plateau, in the river basin. Khatangi.
The catchment area, according to the State Water Register, is 1869 km2. In the north, the river flows out of the lake. Ayan, left component of the river. Khety, a tributary of the river. Khatangi.
The lake is of glacial-tectonic origin, located in a narrow tectonic depression.
The water's edge is located at an altitude of about 470 m above sea level. The area of the water mirror, according to the State Water Register, is 89.6 km2, the length of the lake is about 60 km, the greatest width is 3.2 km, the depth is up to 250 m. Ayan is the 23rd lake in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the 130th lake in Russia according to water surface area.
The lake stretches in a long narrow strip among the mountains from north-northwest to south-southeast, forming two long bays in the southern part - the so-called “pants”, as they are called local residents. The banks are mostly steep and steep, in some places rising above the water surface to a height of more than 1 km. In the northern part of the lake, at the source of the river. Ayan a wide valley is formed. The region has a developed trap topography - a complex of high flat-topped massifs separated by deep and wide stepped canyons. The watershed is located on the border of the northern sparse taiga and forest-tundra.
The lake is flowing, with clear clear water low mineralization, with a favorable oxygen regime; the content of nutrients is low. Characterized as oligotrophic. The lake is little studied.
The lake is fed by snow and rain. The spring rise in levels begins even during freeze-up, with maximum values occurring at the end of July - beginning of August. Usually the lake is covered with ice for about ten months; it is cleared of ice very late - sometimes ice floes float on its surface even in August.
The valley of the lake and the Ayan River is one of the highways of the daily circulation reindeer on North.
In the area between the rivers Ayan and Kholohit, including lake. Ayan, Putoransky was founded in 1988 nature reserve federal significance with an area of 1,887 thousand hectares, the main objects of research and protection of which were the Putorana subspecies of snow sheep, Arctic lesser goose, white-tailed eagle and gyrfalcon listed in the Red Book of Russia. In 2010, the Putorana Plateau was included in the list of World Cultural and Cultural Heritage Sites. natural heritage UNESCO.
Permanent settlements not on the lake shore. In Kapchug Bay at the southern end of the lake there is a cordon of the Putorana Nature Reserve.
The seasonal part of the work at the Northern Ayan cordon has been completed. Our employee Ivan Kobilyakov participated in the expedition for about three months, and now, having returned, he shared with us his impressions and some of the results of his work. The main work of the cordon continues, and in the meantime we will learn about it from a direct participant.
Work at the cordon of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Taimyr Nature Reserves” looks very romantic from afar. Beautiful landscapes, rare animals and birds, harmony with nature... This is what it really is. But at the same time, in order to achieve your goals and objectives, you cannot relax even for a minute.
Together with the inspector of our organization Vasily Sarana, we flew to the Northern Ayan cordon (the central part of the Putorana plateau) on April 24. I returned back on July 12, having spent a total of 80 days on Ayan. Vasily remained at the cordon at least until the fall. Now his partner will be Timofey Volkov, an employee of the environmental education department.
Thanks to the measured rhythm and regularity of our activities, we managed to accomplish quite a lot during the spring-summer stage of the expedition. First of all, we studied the spring migration of wild reindeer. From the first day, our small detachment conducted regular routes in the vicinity of the cordon, set up camera traps, and recorded tracks that appeared in the snow. Further processing of the information will make it possible to give a more accurate estimate of the number of deer, but it is already clear: compared to previous years, there are much fewer of them in the Ayana Valley.
Deer is the basis of life in the nature of the Putorana plateau. The predatory animals that live in the valley of Lake Ayan were waiting for the migration of deer no less than we were. What is a source of statistics for scientists is long-awaited food for wolves, bears and wolverines after severe winter frosts and the polar night. We were lucky to capture a very interesting shot on a camera trap. A bear that has recently awakened from hibernation, shaking its shaggy sides, is trying to catch up with the herd. Deer are rushing about. The bear makes a dash to catch up with at least one. But - failure! Deer easily hide from pursuit. The bear walks back and forth, puzzled, as if thinking about when else will there be an opportunity to sneak up so close to the prey and will he be lucky next time? “Eh, chewing roots again!” - the omnivorous bear probably thinks as he exits the field of view of the camera trap...
Due to the decline in the number of deer, wolves and wolverines have an even tougher time - they are poorly adapted for roots. The wolverine in the frame looks completely thin. But its Latin name Gulo gulo means “glutton”.
Only the birds really pleased us with their abundance. We watched with pleasure how our permanent neighbors, white-tailed eagles, fished at the source of the Ayan River in the second half of May, and then, after loud mating games, flew down the valley and sat on the nest. In the 20th of May, geese and... Bean bean birds were the first to fly over the cordon. Immediately behind them are mergansers, pintails, wigeons and other representatives of the noisy waterfowl. They landed on the opened water in large flocks and staged demonstration maneuvers right in front of the cordon. Waders and snow buntings completed the picture of spring. Along the river bank they tirelessly collected mayflies directly from the ice, not paying any attention to us.
Although there were several timid thaws at the beginning of May, the spring of 2017 turned out to be stormy and rapid. Vasily Sarana, who spent the last five springs on Ayana, says that he has never seen such a high flood as this year in these parts. The maximum water level occurred on May 16-17. During these days, the river overflowed its banks and flooded not only the floodplain, but also the depressions of the first terrace above the floodplain. After several sunny days, heavy, prolonged rains began, which quickly melted the remaining snow.
Summer season It really began when the larch needles blossomed and the first flowers began to appear. The forest was filled with the singing of birds and somehow immediately became empty. The deer migration has come to an end. Predators have also become less common in camera traps.
My part of the expedition to Lake Ayan is completed. Ahead is processing the collected materials and writing a report. Vasily Sarana still remains at the cordon. Now his partner is Timofey Volkov, an employee of the environmental education department. We wish good luck to the workers of the Northern Ayan cordon and the inviolability of the beauty of its surroundings!
We were dropped off at Lake Ayan, where a month earlier an expedition from the Fishery Laboratory of the Institute of Agriculture of the Far North had landed, flying out to inspect the spring concentrations of wild deer. The desire of game biologists to find out how the “savage” herd survived the winter and in what condition the deer would begin their traditional march to the ocean shores came in handy for us. Otherwise, it is unknown when else we would have been able to get there.
On the day of departure, an unexpectedly large number of passengers boarded the plane. Correspondents from Norilsk Television were with us, and the pilots, who saw the “loading” with their own eyes, initially refused to take off. Bronislav Borzhonov, the terror of the Taimyr wolves, who had flown with the pilots more than once, came to the rescue. For a long time he confidently convinced the pilots that backpacks and boxes only seemed so weighty in appearance. He opened one huge box and showed that it was empty, prepared for taking samples, and in the end he achieved his goal: he persuaded the pilots to take everyone on the flight. He turned around with a satisfied face, and then we saw his eyebrows creep up.
“That’s all we needed!” - he hummed, noticing a tiny dog from the breed of those cute bow-legged creatures that the townspeople love so much.
“She can’t even lift two kilos,” said Viktor Shust, her owner, offended, hiding the dog under his fur coat just in case. - Let her live in the forest, she also needs clean air.
Do you know that because of such a “fly”, our work almost fell through last year?
Not because of Mukha, but of Cheburashka,” Shust corrected sadly.
Who cares! - And Borzhonov began to describe how one day a bear disease happened to the same dog, which was taken on an expedition by a female geobotanist, but bears themselves know how to recover from it, and this domestic animal, being among wildlife, had the intention of dying in front of everyone.
“Why haven’t I changed my mind,” said Borzhonov. -
It was time to at least call an ambulance flight! And then we realized: we need to immediately do an intestinal lavage... Well, here you are, a future veterinarian,” he turned to Shust. - Tell me, what would you do, how would you get out of the situation?
Shust grinned and rummaged in the pocket of his enormous fur coat.
“I’m not a geobotanist,” he said with dignity and handed Borzhonov a pink children’s syringe. - Will this do?
A friendly burst of laughter made Borjonov smile, he waved his hand: okay, they say, take it, if that’s what you are, and he was the first to board the plane. “What happened to the dog?” - they asked him. “They saved us, of course, we just had to suffer.”
Work on Ayana was already in full swing. From radio conversations we knew that Vladimir Kuksov with Slava Melnikov and Ernest Pilatov had built a road for snowmobiles along the mountainside to the plateau over the past month, set up a tent there with all the necessary equipment, and set up an additional observation post for the movements of wild deer. Evgeniy Gromov, a game warden from the Nature Conservation Laboratory, who came to study Taimyr wolves, was also at the hospital.
Lake Ayan is lost in the very center of the Putorana plateau - a mountainous country that stands like a tent over the monotony of the heights of the Central Siberian Plateau. Many rivers begin here, spreading in all directions, but after circling, they certainly turn towards the Arctic Ocean, creating many elongated lakes along the way. The Evenks called Putorana “The Country of Lakes with Steep Shores.” At one time, it was the steepness of the banks that forced the Cossack explorers and explorers of the North of later times to bypass the plateau. Only after the end of the Great Patriotic War were scientists able to study the mountainous country. First detailed maps Putoranas were compiled only about thirty years ago. Geologists, geographers, limnologists and other scientists visited here, the first groups of tourists arrived here, but for biologists these places continued to remain almost a “blank spot”.
Candidate of Biological Sciences Boris Mikhailovich Pavlov, who found a nesting place of the pink gull in Taimyr, where no one expected to see it, assured that Putorana can present many surprises. He was one of the first to visit Ayan and, recalling his campaigns, never tired of repeating that for a long time he couldn't shake the feeling that he was in a lost world...
In order to comprehensively study the fauna of Putorana and determine the possibility of fishing, a permanent scientific expedition was organized on Ayana on the eve of the International Biological Year. The first studies showed that animal world Putorana is unique. In addition to wolves, deer, wolverines, and bears, “bighorns” are found here - endangered bighorn sheep, which have become rare in other places in Taimyr. Game wardens found nesting sites of white-tailed eagles, buzzards, and white gyrfalcons here. These finds indicated that new amazing discoveries should be expected in those places. And I hoped, when I set off, to be present at this.
We landed on the mirror-like surface of a lake that had fallen into a deep gorge. The lake froze at around four hundred and seventy meters, and the shores rose to a height of more than a kilometer. And we saw a lot of such failures on the way to the plateau; It’s no wonder that the Evenks gave birth to legends about “stone bags”, from which people and animals could not find a way out for centuries.
Before we had time to look around the snow-covered slopes, overgrown with the dark stubble of the forest, dogs barked loudly, the engines of snowmobiles began to rumble, and people who were greeting us dashed out of the nearest forest. We marveled at their carefree, resort-like appearance. The frost was in the twenties, and the game wardens were wearing sweaters and no hats. The heads of the three, shaved bald, sparkled blue, like the halos of saints,
“We were completely alone,” Shust sympathized. - Did you decide to take the bears out of fear?
The hunting experts pursed their lips: “You, shaggy devil, should have broken through the road to the slope with us, otherwise I wouldn’t have told you!”
But Viktor Shust did not let up and roared with laughter:
Well... they came to film you, they will show you on television in Norilsk. They are also trendsetters for me!.. Put on your hats, at least take mine...
The game wardens' hut was hidden among the trees on a shallow bank that had been washed out over many years by an unnamed mountain stream. The snow carried her up to the roof, on which traces of wolverine paws were clearly visible. Guns with optical sights and binoculars were hung on the branches of larch trees, and expedition belongings were scattered everywhere. Barrels, canisters, boxes with clothes, tools, test tubes. Wide hunting skis lined the wall. Two black and white animal huskies were straining at their leash in an angry bark. In the hut with a low ceiling, against which everyone tested their foreheads as they entered, there were ordinary bunks covered with sleeping bags, a table made of roughly hewn boards, a bench and logs of wood instead of chairs. At the entrance there is a water tank, a washbasin, on the right there is a large iron stove, and behind it, in the corner... a real chicken coop. A half-faded hen with a singed tail and a cocky-looking rooster were walking around the roost.
While they were introducing themselves and sorting things out, I managed to find out that the owner of the frenzied dogs was Pilatov, and the chickens were brought to Ayan by Kuksov, a candidate of biological sciences, who from early childhood lived in Norilsk, a stone, industrial city in the Arctic, where one could only dream of such a household as somewhere in the middle zone was impossible. Going to Ayan, he begged from the experimental laboratory of the institute for a laying hen that had served its purpose. At the same time, he was presented with a rooster, which they decided to write off as unnecessary. The rooster was born in an incubator, spent his whole life indoors, did not know, did not know in the darkness of the polar night when to crow, and then he immediately began to sing, and so loudly that he often drowned out the voice of the Nedra radio station.
At dinner, Shust, of course, remembered the mockery of the game wardens’ “hairstyles.” He was offered to go to the top of the plateau tomorrow.
Enough is enough, the game wardens said, we’ll have enough. We've been so tired these days that we can rest for a day.
Shust needed to conduct observations of the movements of reindeer herds instead.
Hehehe,” Victor grinned. “Even if I climb the mountain a hundred times, you won’t see me with my hair cut.”
“We can give you a snowmobile,” the skinheads suggested, winking.
They also found me a car! Ride it yourself. Yes, I will always beat any snowmobile on my own two feet...
Victor was on a roll; he argued that a real hunter had no need for such a machine, clearly provoking the game managers.
Let’s see, let’s see,” Kuksov and Pilatov smiled conspiratorially, “what the bird will sing when it returns.”
The stove was burning hot. The argument was humorous; people had known each other for a long time and were, of course, pleased that they had gathered together again. The light above the table was burning brightly. An engine rumbled behind the wall. The chickens were muttering about something in their sleep. Tangled huskies growled under the bunks, which, it turns out, were hidden in the house at night, so as not to be devoured by wolves. Tired from the hectic day, I quietly fell asleep.
Victor shook me by the shoulder:
It's time. Yesterday they wanted to go upstairs with me. There is a tent, a stove and a primus stove.
Shust was already dressed. It seemed to me that I had just fallen asleep, but the sun was already shining through the window.
The wind caught us as soon as we left the forest. We crossed the lake almost at a run and decided not to follow the beaten path, but to climb straight to the top along the cleft of the nearest stream. So, it seemed to us that it would be closer. Sinking waist-deep in soft snow, balancing on huge boulders, we made our way forward for at least an hour until we were convinced that the climb could not be overcome. We decided to return and follow the well-worn path. But the descent turned out to be so difficult that I suggested turning towards home. Snow flags were already snaking at the peaks, the wind was getting stronger, but Victor was offended: “Was it worth going out because of this?” It became a matter of honor for him to get to the tent, and I agreed - come what may. The tent seemed to me at that moment to be as reliable a home as the hospital hut.
It was easier to walk along the snowmobile trail. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the wind was blowing at our back. A scythe ran out of the forest onto the lake. But the dog Shusta, instead of running after him, looked questioningly at his owner.
“Room,” Victor said, as if apologizing. - I started it for my wife’s sake. - And he said that since we saw him on the Bikada River, where he was erecting a fence for a corral for Canadian musk oxen, quite a lot had happened in his life. an important event: he got married.
The road turned into the forest and went up a steep slope. I realized how difficult it was for snowmobiles with heavy loads to climb up here. In the calm of the forest, where sometimes you had to drag cars on yourself, of course, such work made it a little hot, and at the top a piercing wind and frost awaited the hot people. It’s no wonder that Kuksov’s guys decided to shave their heads so as not to catch a cold. Perhaps, in their place, I would have done the same, but Victor smiled cheerfully at my words.
No way,” he said. - How will I show myself to my wife then?
While climbing up, I tried to rest more often. But Victor was dressed lightly: rubber boots, canvas trousers, a jacket. He needed to move to stay warm, so I suggested we split up. At first he didn’t even want to hear it - how can you leave him alone in the forest! - but after one of the protracted halts, when I said that I knew how to handle a carbine and that this was not the first time in the North, he gave up. Promising to have tea ready for my arrival, Victor walked forward, followed by the dog, its tail cockily curled into a ring.
The forest became smaller and thinner closer to the top; bald patches began to appear. In some places there are still trees that have not shed their autumn plumage. Among the sparkling snow, against the blue background of the sky, the larches burned with golden fire. The wind increased with altitude...
The landscape at the top turned out to be dull: bare tundra and huge stones blackened like tombstones. As I climbed, I prepared myself that I would immediately see a tent. But the road continued to wind through gnarled, low-growing birch trees. I immediately felt tired and it became harder to walk. Several times I stumbled and fell. I was very thirsty, and I couldn’t stand it and started eating snow. The wind grew stronger, a snowstorm began, clouds covered the sky to the horizon.
I looked around again and again, but the tent was nowhere to be found. A lot of time has passed since we parted with Victor, and doubts began to creep into our souls. “Maybe I got lost and am following the wrong trail? - I sometimes thought. “Or maybe we misunderstood Kuksov, who said that it was an hour’s walk to the tent?” Circles swam before my eyes, my body refused to obey, a kind of indifference began to take possession of me. Having dragged myself with difficulty for a dozen steps, I collapsed on the snow and rested, staring at the sky. I remembered how I was lost in a snowstorm on Novaya Zemlya, how I completely despaired of finding the way to housing on Dikson - and yet I got out! This spurred me on. I stuck a Kuksov carbine with an optical sight into the snow and hung cameras on it. It immediately became easier. So, falling and rising, he continued to move forward, trying in vain to find the tent. The road kept turning to the side, and it was infuriating, but I continued to hold on to it, like a saving thread.
I saw a tent in a ravine, among the stones that I had looked at many times before. A man stood next to her. If it weren’t for him, if Victor hadn’t come out worried, I would have missed him. The game wardens did a great job of camouflaging their shelter. For some reason I didn’t feel any stronger from joy, and I thought that this is probably how the unfortunate people freeze - in full view of their homes.
I rolled into the ravine like a doll and got out of it on all fours; I stood five steps from the tent for a long time to make the final push, and kept imagining a mug of hot tea, a soft bed where you can lie even until the morning, without worrying that you will be covered in snow...
Shust's little dog was warming up in a sleeping bag on a cot, shivering. The place was busy. I carefully sat down on the edge.
“We have to leave,” said Shust, standing with his back to me at the barely glowing primus stove. - There is nothing to heat the stove with. They brought firewood, but apparently in their haste they forgot to leave the ax. The larch is fresh, you can’t break it with your hands.
Only then did I feel how cold it was in the tent. The wind tore the tarpaulin with such force that it seemed that it was about to tear it to pieces.
“Eco has tired you out,” only then did Victor take a good look at me. - And I’m thinking, why are you taking so long? Go ahead and lie down. Look to the sky. He began to get angry with you, I think it’s good for him to enjoy the sky in felt boots and a fur coat...
He handed me a mug of the strongest tea. Noticing how his hands were shaking, he complained:
I'm good too. He dragged you along with him. “They probably scolded him,” he asked, “they cursed him on the road...
At that moment, Viktor noticed through the window deer that had appeared not far from the tent, thrust a sandwich with hot stew into my hand and ran away. His task, in addition to observations, was to hunt the beast. I was amazed that he did not give up this idea even in such a situation. Shust’s job was not easy at all. He had to skin the deer himself, examine the internal organs, collect botfly larvae, and take material for analysis. While working, his hands were constantly covered in blood and snow. I remember him well at the moment when, out of breath, he ran to Kuksov with the news that he had found a sick deer. “Brucellosis,” he said. “We need to send it to the laboratory.” The institute was allowed to shoot deer to study diseases of the “savage”, about which little was known. But after examination, the carcasses of slaughtered deer were transferred to the state industrial enterprise, and it was important that not a single sick deer would subsequently reach the consumer. Shust was very meticulous about his work, with great pickiness...
The tea restored my strength with every sip. I stood up, deciding to break some branches and heat the stove at least for a little while. The wind tirelessly tormented the tent, swung the door open, blowing out the remaining heat, and I no longer doubted that I would not have to stay here overnight...
The damp larch did not burn well, so we had to throw in some gasoline. Recoiling from the flames, I lost my balance and fell onto the bed. With a squeal, a little dog jumped out of the bag, which I had completely forgotten about, rushed out of the tent and rushed off in a completely different direction from where the owner had gone. It’s a room, it could get lost! Without resting, I went to look for her. Hiding behind the stones, she looked sideways at me in fear, not wanting to return. When Victor returned, I said that I was ready to go anywhere as long as not to stay.
After circling around, we hardly found a carbine and cameras in the snow and moved towards the house. The wind knocked us off our feet, we fell, sliding down the slopes, climbed up on all fours so as not to lose our way, but hope never left me. It was much more fun to go with the three of us.
We arrived at the hut in such excitement that it seemed like we could cover the entire path we had traveled all over again.
At the hut we were greeted with wary faces. Kuksov admitted that they were going to go out and search. After listening to our story, where we presented all the torment as a funny adventure, he said sternly:
No, you can't walk together. And in general, Shust, I won’t let you go further than the hut.
Victor smiled guiltily. At that moment, he did not at all resemble the bully who had been arguing at the same table yesterday.
An hour and a half later, the house shook from gusts of wind, the hurricane reached its apogee, the door could not be opened, as if we were in a chamber from which the air had been pumped out. The nearest trees disappeared behind a veil of snow, I thought that we had managed to leave the top just in time.
Soon sunny and clear days arrived. Life in the hospital returned to normal. Petya was the first to wake up. I can still see this scene, how he, scratching his spurs, stomps on his perch, inflates himself like a balloon, squints his eyes like an old man and, flapping his wings, yells his heart-rending “crow” in a cold voice.
He repeated this song fifteen times a day, and each time I restrained myself so as not to throw a felt boot at him. But the Norilsk residents, who were not spoiled by domestic animals, liked his singing; Kuksov constantly took care of the chickens, fed them fish, meat, millet, selected their diet and did not regret crushing the most beautiful druses into quartz, which they supposedly lacked. And, looking ahead, I will say that he achieved some successes: at the end of the expedition, the lost hen began to lay eggs!
Gromov and Melnikov were the first to respond to the rooster wake-up call. They slept next to each other in the corner. Both, tall, first of all tried on glasses on their eyes, managing to touch the low cross-beams of the ceiling in their sleepiness. Having finished writing, they washed themselves, had breakfast and scattered in different directions. Gromov - to “trail” wolves, Melnikov - to look for animals unknown to science... Early morning was the best time for them.
The others followed suit. Kuksov and Pilatov launched Burans and, with carbines at the ready, drove to the top of the plateau to the tent. Shust and I went to the ice-free source of the Ayan River. Seeing running water in this ghostly kingdom of frosty silence was amazing, and I was constantly drawn to the stream. It seemed that life should concentrate there. And it’s true, on the banks of the stream I often met wary partridges in the morning, watched the mating games of hares, saw traces of wolves, moose...
Once, armed with a five-hundred-millimeter “gun,” I spied hares crossing a river. Hearing the rumble of snowmobiles climbing the mountain, the hares became indescribably excited. They rushed towards each other from both banks and jumped from ice floe to ice floe. Having settled down behind an upturned rhizome, I was filming hares from about twenty meters away, I spent all the film, confident that I was taking rare shots, and when I turned around, I saw a luxurious white giant three steps away from me. Kosoy nervously twitched his lip and looked past somewhere, as if he was hiding behind me, like behind a tree stump.
In the evening, hunters arrived with the deer they had hunted. Slava Melnikov sat down to weigh mouse adrenal glands or began to gut the caught cuckoos. Everyone was lucky except Gromov - the “wolfman”, as we called him among ourselves. During this time, everyone managed to meet wolves, and Gromov so far only read their traces.
An amazingly interesting and not fully understood creature is a wolf,” he reasoned. - What a plastic look! After all, if you think about it, the person pursues him and destroys his entire conscious life.
How many animals have disappeared from the face of the earth during this time, but the wolf lives!
Gromov worked for a long time in the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve. He was well acquainted with the wolf breed, but the local wolves, it turns out, were not like the Far Eastern ones. Those, for example, kicked the victim out open place- river, lake. Having killed the animals, they moved to a new place. Here they did not carry out such reprisals. Boris Pavlov said that only once did he happen to see a wolf chasing a deer across the lake. But it looked more like a game between a cat and a mouse. Gray overtook the deer, jumped on the neck, but either the deer dodged, or the wolf was not agile enough, the pursuit continued until the wolf noticed the people and turned back. Gromov met his first wolf in Putorana on the eighteenth day of relentless persecution. He entered the hut joyfully, scooped up a ladle of water and, without undressing, sat down on the bench:
I watched for forty minutes! A beautiful animal, smart, lively. It’s interesting to watch how he walks, as if he’s solving a new problem every time. Large, light gray, with tan marks. I hid myself so much that I was afraid that someone might come at me and have to shoot. And he seemed to hear my request, stood, looked and walked away.
The sun suddenly began to warm up so much that large puddles appeared on the lake.
“Everyone,” Pilatov said, “we’ve left for the summit, “Buran” will not pass through such snow.
It was decided to go north along the source of the Ayan to find out if the deer had begun to descend to the crossings, and to set up an observation post there.
With a roar, we rolled out onto the ice and rushed across the lake. The sleigh was bouncing over the potholes, the husky, which Pilatov had captured, was licking my face. Pilatov deftly controlled the Buran, managing to guide it along the very edge of the ice. Having passed the stream, we saw fresh tracks of a wolf. While Gromov, with a ruler in his hands, measured the tracks, describing them in a notebook, I managed to take a lot of shots. Bright yellow hoods of snowmobiles, people dressed in camping gear, husky ears pricked up against the backdrop of boulders sprinkled with snow - I didn’t want to spare the film.
We raced across the ice for a long time. The river made its way through two-meter-thick ice, sometimes hiding under it, going into the depths. The ice in those places arched, subsided, forming greenish lakes. The snowmobile dived into ice holes, breathtakingly, but at the same moment jumped out with a sled on the other side.
Suddenly, around the bend, we saw very close light-backed deer standing on blue ice rivers. There were many of them, about a hundred. The deer got excited, ran at first timidly, not quickly, and then, stretched out in the run, almost rushed to the shore. Not far from this place, on an island, opposite the mouth of the Bolshaya Honna-Makit River, we pitched a tent. Pilatov helped us settle in, drank some tea and hurried back.
Gromov and I were left alone. The weather, which had been setting up for spring all these days, suddenly turned back. By evening it got colder, the frost dropped to seventeen degrees. It was cold to sleep, my face and feet were freezing; I couldn’t resist and pulled fur mittens over my feet. Having somehow waited for the morning, we immediately began to make a fire and took a long time to warm up.
The wild deer trail was nearby. They came out of the forest from the other bank and, looking around warily, went onto the ice of the river. Tired from long treks through the mountains, the reindeer stood on the ice for hours, resting. Others immediately went to bed.
During the day there were small herds. Light against the backdrop of dark coastal terraces and the indistinct silhouettes of mountains rising in the distance, they seemed like ethereal forest spirits. Stretching out in a chain, without a single sound they crossed the river and disappeared into the forest. By sunset, herds of up to a thousand head gathered at the crossing points.
Having risen higher on the shore, we could observe how, obeying an unknown rhythm, deer accumulated on the tops of the opposite mountains. Then, like an avalanche, they quickly rolled down and easily made their way through the open forest. Here they walked confidently and felt calm, but when they reached the river bank, they stopped. Hornless, yellowish in the light of the low-lying sun, they resembled sheep from above in a pen, waiting for the gate to open. It seemed as if a multivocal bleating would come from below. But it was quiet.
In wary silence, a lonely important woman emerged from the herd. Must be the oldest and most experienced. Sniffing, she lowered her head to the ice, studying the tracks of the deer that had passed earlier, and was the first to begin crossing. As soon as she reached the middle, the herd immediately rushed after her. Reindeer hurried to the ocean, to the tundra, to calving grounds...
In the following days we explored the shores of Amnunda - the Aufeis Tract. Ayan had frozen a huge amount of ice in this place over the winter, which from an airplane could have been mistaken for a frozen lake. Frosts, creating ice jams, forced the river to constantly change its course, break through jams, and spread over the ice. The ice in this gorge grew gradually and resembled a layer cake in cross-section. Once, while crossing the ice, I slipped and fell - from the shaking, a layer of ice collapsed behind us, and we found ourselves over a hole in which a river flowed. If you got into it, it would probably be impossible to get out of there. We have seen many such failures. And Gromov was constantly drawn to them, because there were many wolf tracks here.
He walked with some kind of insatiability, trying to examine all corners of the tract, constantly measuring, sketching, studying wolf tracks. Comparing them, he reconstructed the picture of the life of animals, noticing permanent inhabitants, distinguishing traces of aliens. He hoped to find out from them where the wolf's lair was.
The crescent of the month rose above the snow-capped peaks of the gloomy mountains. Hares ran out onto the banks of the shallows to nibble on the frozen grass, and partridges fluttered in the forest. One day we noticed a wolverine going out hunting - an animal that hunters manage to meet very rarely. Taken by surprise, the predator froze, realizing that she had been noticed, and immediately rushed into the forest. But the wolves, as luck would have it, continued to lurk. And I suggested that Gromov make a bait. This way, it seemed to me, it would be easier to get to know the pack.
No good,” he said. - You can’t fool wolves on chaff. Look how many deer there are around. Yes, and I don’t need this staging.
In the evening, when we were having tea by the fire, he told us that in his work he adheres to the principles bequeathed by the famous Far Eastern game manager Kaplanov. He, according to Gromov, was a real trapper, tireless in his search. Even while studying the life of Ussuri tigers, he never resorted to bait. I followed the trail to find them and lived nearby in the taiga for a long time. Like all hunters, he constantly carried weapons, but never resorted to their help, believing that knowledge of the habits of animals makes it possible to avoid a dangerous encounter...
Gromov told how, following the same observation methods, he managed to track down the lair and live near it for a long time. Much unknown was revealed to him in the life of Far Eastern wolves. He watched the training of grown-up wolf cubs, saw their games and fun, knows how “uncles” - wounded seasoned males - “babysit” the cubs in the absence of the she-wolf, how lone wolves drive stags into lakes and wait for them, tired, on the other shore... Now he wanted to know everything about the local wolves. But endurance is needed - more than one summer and more than one year. And Gromov was in no hurry, confident that he would definitely get his way.
In the mornings we watched deer silently emerge from the forest, like paratroopers in camouflage suits. They cross the river, and after a few minutes they can be seen at the top, beyond the border of the forest. It seems that it is impossible to stand there, the slopes are so steep, and the deer walk through the snow between the black rocky gutters, not stopping for a minute...
After drying our foot wraps by the fire, we changed our shoes without much desire, imagining the upcoming path along the Honna-Makit gorge, where, we knew, we would have to fall into loose snow, one by one trampling the road. We needed to find out if the white gyrfalcons had nested this year.
The reddish-black rocks of the gorge rose vertically to a height of a hundred meters, withered tree trunks hanging from the cliffs, ready to collapse at any moment. Sometimes the rocks came together like the walls of a narrow well. In some places, bluish-yellow ice undulated down the wall to the ground, as if the flow of a waterfall had suddenly stopped...
We never found the gyrfalcons. We just found a lonely nest of ravens. Black vultures circled in anxiety, filling the gorge with hoarse cries. Returning, we saw traces of a brown bear, who had crossed into bottleneck canyon. “We woke up, my dears,” Gromov smiled. “So that’s it: spring has come.”
We did not wait for Pilatov at the appointed time, and Gromov became worried. We decided to return on foot. We left in the evening. A headwind blew in my face. The river froze, at times we ran and skated as if on ice skates. Ragged gray clouds crawled over the mountains. My heart was uneasy. We were almost halfway through the road when we heard the rumble of a snowmobile. We were surprised to recognize Viktor Shust as the helmsman. His eyes were shining, it was clear that he enjoyed racing across the ice. “Skinheads,” he said, “they are drowning the bathhouse, they sent me for you.” I reminded him that he once said that he would “never drive a snowmobile in his life.”
Did you really believe that I fell in love with this crackling cart? - Victor got excited. - It was only to take you to the bathhouse that I got behind the wheel...
But his eyes gave him away entirely.
Still, the “skinheads” were surprisingly caring people. Ernest Mikhailovich Pilatov did not forget to bring birch brooms from Norilsk. And how pleasant it was after living in the taiga for a week, where you had to sleep without undressing, climb onto the shelves, bask in the hot steam, steam yourself with a fragrant birch broom so that you could jump out into the snow, roll around in it and fly up onto the hot shelf again.
Kuksov took out a bottle of tincture that his wife had prepared. From all diseases and colds.
And how good it was to sit on a bench in a warm hut with people who had become even closer and dearer. Why, there are people there, even Akol, this dog who hates everyone with fierce hatred, ran up when we met and licked my hand.
Pilatov was resting, sprawled on a sleeping bag, his bare heels shining. Gromov, having changed into a clean shirt, shaven, looking younger, sat by the window, writing down what he saw in his diaries. Shust bent over his notebooks, preparing test papers, - and here he continued to study by correspondence. We sat at the table with Kuksov and talked as if we had not seen each other for a year.
The biologist assured that in Putorana the world of birds is least explored and in the spring it is necessary to take an especially careful look at the small birds. This is where you should expect surprises. The next route he was going to explore the gorges southern rivers, flowing into the Ayan. There, he had no doubt, there would certainly be a nest of a white gyrfalcon - the rarest falcon on Earth. No one has ever been able to come across its nest on Ayan, but the birds were here and they were seen.
Then, he developed his plans, he would have to start counting the “bighorn sheep” - bighorn sheep. There's enough to do for several seasons...
The night was bright, the sun had no longer set, but was only hiding behind the mountains for a while. Large snowflakes flew obliquely to the ground, streaking the dark surface of the forest with white threads. On the other side, in the thicket, a wolf howled. He hid somewhere above, and his melancholy howl seemed to be coming from the sky. Kuksov decided to immediately set off on another route.
Why put it off? - he said. - We will always have time to sleep.
And I began to get ready.
Lake Ayan, Putorana plateau
V. Orlov, our specialist. corr.
Lake Ayan is located in the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets district, in the very center of the Putorana plateau, composed of ancient basalts. The length of the reservoir is 58 kilometers, its northern and central parts have a north-northwest - south-southeast direction. Then the reservoir changes direction several times, following the contours of the fault; its southern part is oriented strictly from north to south. The width of the lake is variable, in the northern part it is narrower (about one kilometer), in the southern part the width of the reservoir reaches two and a half kilometers. Here the lake is divided into two deep bays. The length of each bay is about 10 kilometers, the average width is about 800 meters. One of the bays extends from north to south, the other from east to west. The bays are located almost perpendicular to each other. A river with the same name – Ayan – flows out of the lake.
The water in the lake is clean, very slightly mineralized; from a boat the reservoir can be seen to a depth of almost twenty meters. The shores are flat in some places, steep in others, steep cliffs go straight to the water.
Lake Ayan is surrounded high mountains with steep slopes and flat, leveled peaks. The tops of the mountains are either completely devoid of vegetation or covered with sparse bushes, lichens grow on the rocks, and northern mosses grow in the depressions between the rocks. On the steepest mountain slopes (60-90 degrees) there is no vegetation; where the steepness is less than 60 degrees, shrubs, dwarf birch, and low larch grow, which descend to streams, rivers and the lake.
The mountains, combined with the smooth surface of the lake and stormy rivers, create unique, inimitable landscapes, but visitation to this region is limited by the fact that most of The Putorana plateau is the territory of the State Putorana Nature Reserve. To hunt and fish in these places, you must obtain permission from the reserve management and submit an application in advance.
The waters of Lake Ayan are home to one and a half dozen species of fish, the most common being whitefish (whitefish, redfish), several types of char, peled, perch, grayling, vendace, burbot, and pike. Visiting tourists fish with spinning rods; they are considered the best bait. artificial flies and insects. Rowing boats are permitted on the lake, but motorized boats are restricted to reserve staff only. On the shore of the lake, in Kapchug Bay, there is a cordon in which rangers are constantly working (who can deliver fishermen to the right place).
