The route is spectacular and very interesting for tourists with any level of training; it can be visited at any time of the year.
Mount Shize, located 2 kilometers from the village of Erivanskaya, is business card Abinsky district. The name of the peak is translated from Adyghe as “Lonely Horse”. From a height of 542 meters you can see almost all the notable peaks from the east back.
The route starts from Erivanskaya; The road running between the plots ends in the forest, where a steep winding path begins. There are no difficult sections on this route. There will be several stops along the way, one of them is a clearing of mounds with ancient burials, which are more than 4 thousand years old.
Next we climb to the top of Mount Shize, from which a magnificent view opens from east to southwest. At the farthest point in the mountain haze you can see the western slope of Mount Sober-bash, a little closer stretches the rock saw of Mount Papai, right before your eyes is Mount Tkhab and the Kotsekhur ridge, and a little to the right is Mount Svintsovaya and the Markkhotsky ridge, going towards Novorossiysk.

At the very top there is a small observation deck and a memorial cross. During the war, Mount Shize was a key outpost; from its top it was possible to control a vast area around. The defense line ran along the northern slope of the Gruzinka ridge; some defensive structures have survived to this day.
After resting and enjoying the view at the top, we move to the western lookout of Shize. The trail traverses along a sloping rocky slope covered with Mediterranean vegetation. Also, Mount Shize is interesting not only for tourists, but also for paragliders who go to the top to fly in the valley of the Abin River.

From the lookout we move along an overgrown, barely noticeable path to the beginning of the Gruzinka ridge. For a long time the road stretches through the forest, and finally comes out into a mountain meadow. From here an excellent panorama opens from south-west to north-west; the elevators of Slavyansk-on-Kuban are visible on the horizon, and a little closer new houses above Krymsk. The road along the open part of the ridge passes through wide meadows covered with blackberries and tall grass. Gradually, the road plunges into the forest, and the further route will depend on the time of year, the composition of the group and the purpose of the hike.

1) The easiest option is to continue descending from the ridge onto the road and get to transport near the village of Shapsugskaya. It is necessary to cross the wide ford of the Abin River; in dry times there will be no problems with overcoming the ford.
2) When choosing this option, the road goes out to the same ford, but with a visit to the remains of the fortifications and trenches of the Second World War on the northwestern slope of the ridge.
3) The longest interesting option involves descending into the Abin River Valley, through Rotten Mountain, and returning to the village of Erivan. This route is considered a circular route and is accessible at any time of the year.
Regardless of which route option you choose, you will receive a lot of positive emotions!

The finds, sometimes very valuable, showed the need to equip scientific expeditions. Against the background of devastation and lack of money, there were both scientists and amateurs who became involved in the preservation of antiquities. One of these groups was the former Society of Lovers of the Study of the Kuban Region (OLIKO), now renamed the Society of Lovers of the Study of the Caucasus Region. Since the end of the 19th century, it has been organizing expeditions and excursions around the region, and the revolution did not prevent it from continuing its noble work. The Society published Yearbooks (Izvestia OLIKO) with reports, some of which can be found online in the form of scans. As an example of interesting finds, I would like to cite here in full one of the articles of the 8th issue of News about the study of a cave on Mount Shize (Abinsk region), as well as several excerpts from other articles in the same issue. The cave on Shiz has not yet been studied, as it was collapsed, as they say, during the war. But is it?

Cave on the Shize ridge.

During his excursion in the fall of 1922 to the river valley. Abin, A.S. Lizarev examined a very interesting artificial cave, located 1/2 verst northwest of the station. Erivanskaya, on the northern slope of the Shize ridge. The cave became known to residents of the village only about 10-12 years ago, when it was accidentally discovered by one of the local hunters. The entrance to the cave has not yet been found and people enter it through a hole in the ceiling. In the part accessible for inspection, the cave looks like a corridor one and a half arshins wide and about a fathom high. The walls of the corridor are made of marl slabs, fastened with lime, and covered with huge marl slabs that form the ceiling; these slabs bear traces of gaps. Thanks to the rubble, there is no way to penetrate deep into the cave either to the right of this gap or to the left, and therefore how long this corridor lasts and where it ends without clearing the rubble is not possible. In some places, the slabs forming the roof of the corridor passage have settled somewhat, due to which several small depressions have formed on the surface of the earth, making it possible to determine that the cave stretches from northwest to southeast.
The people of Erivan say that this cave stretches across the entire Shize ridge and comes out to the surface of the earth already on its southern slope, high above the river. Abin, and that in the depths of the ridge there seems to be a whole cave city, in which countless treasures are hidden. Thanks to these rumors, many village residents are showing increased interest in the cave and are going to carry out excavations in it in order to extract these mythical treasures.
Therefore, it would not hurt the Administration for Museums and the Protection of Ancient Monuments to pay attention to this cave and take, before it is too late, appropriate measures to protect it, since this cave, taking into account the proximity to it of an extremely interesting ancient burial ground and peculiar ancient fortifications on the top of Mount Ostroy near the station. Shapsugskaya can provide a number of valuable finds and discoveries from her research, all the more likely since, apparently, it has not yet been plundered by anyone.
(Izvestia OLIKO, 1924)

In addition, the same issue talks about the Nogai-Kale settlement, discovered by the same Lizarev near the station. Raevskaya. The excavations carried out dated it to the 2nd century AD, but today it is already known that it is much older. In 2011, a tower from the early Roman period was excavated on its territory.
Teacher V. Latyshev and his students made an interesting and dangerous excursion in the vicinity of the village. Andryuki, having walked with the children through a cave at the source of the Gunkina Balka, a tributary of the Malaya Laba. According to the descriptions of the excursion participants, before this, none of the village residents dared to enter the collapse-threatening depths of the cave, which had been carved out by a small stream over thousands of years. The vaults of the halls were so high that even the beam of a lantern barely reached the ceiling. Having examined the ravine, the excursionists made an assumption about the existence of two more caves, where at times the stream disappeared and then re-emerged from the ground.

The karst of Gunkina Balka is now one of the most visited sites in Psebay. ()

And finally, another study of the famous-unknown Psekupskaya stalactite cave, now called Phanagorian. Its structure apparently has not changed for many years. The change is of interest natural landscape around her. If Dyachkov-Tarasov in the 19th century. describes the open slopes of the mountain, then in Lizarev in 1923 everything around was already overgrown with forest and bushes. In addition, Lizarev describes the dolmen “in the clearing of Gabriel Kirasi, near the northern outskirts of the village of Fanagoriysky.” Shortly before this, the dolmen was discovered by village residents and destroyed for the same purpose, to take countless treasures from it. However, instead of treasures, the men discovered only “earth with which the dolmen was filled to the very roof.” Of course, both the dolmen itself and the possible objects contained in it were irretrievably lost.

There is no limit to the thirst for knowledge!

Excavations of a Roman tower at the site of Nogai-Kale, 2011.

Some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes- these are those where there are alpine meadows. But alpine meadows are usually far away and high... If you don’t have time to go, say, to Fisht, but only have half a day of time and a great desire to get out of the city, then the solution has been found! Param-pam-pam!

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44.739921 , 38.164659 Not very high, but beautiful mountain Shize is ideal for a weekend hike. Just 100 km from Krasnodar, and you are already in this beauty. Description (Calculate route)

Mount Shize: what you need to know?

Exactly 100 km separate the mountain from Krasnodar. You need to go to the Abinsk region, the end point is the village of Erivanskaya. Mountain height - 542 meters. This is the highest point of the Gruzinka ridge.

Lonely horse - this is how the name of Mount Shize stands for.

During the Great Patriotic War, the mountain was the site of fierce battles. IN this place Novorossiysk's defense line ran along the northern slopes of the Gruzinka ridge. The Nazis at that time had specialized units of the third division of mountain riflemen, defeated on this mountain. In memory of the events of the war years, a cross was erected on the mountain.

When?

Any time of the year is suitable for climbing Mount Shize: summer, autumn, spring and even winter. Sun, rain... Any weather has its charms. However, you must be prepared for minor inconveniences associated with wet weather. This is dirt. The path up becomes slippery and nasty. So if you decide to go in the rain or after the rain, then take trekking poles with you, which will give you stability. And also shoes that won’t get wet - boots or boots.


Shize in the summer




Shize in winter





How to get there?

Of course, the best way is by car. A good asphalt road leads to the village of Erivansky. But don’t be confused, we need to go even further, to the village of Erivan, which is located 8 km from Erivan. What a tautology! And these last 8 km will have to be driven without asphalt, but the road here is good, even in the rain you can drive a car.

If you don’t have your own car, you can use the bus. First get from Krasnodar to Abinsk, and then from the Abinsk bus station to Erivanskaya (unfortunately, current schedule not on the Internet).

Climbing Shize

When you find yourself in the village of Erivanskaya, go to the outskirts of the village, to Podgornaya Street. Here, at the intersection of Podgornaya and Krylov, the path into the forest and up the mountain begins. There are a lot of different roads and paths in the forest, so it’s impossible to explain how to walk “on your fingers.” To avoid wasting time wandering through the forest, download the app to your smartphone maps.me, all these paths are marked there, and it is clear which of them to follow to get to the top.

If you have a tourist navigator, you can download this track.

The first section of the path is quite steep. All the time up and up the path. Through the forest. Almost no views, but a pleasant walk through the dense forest. In autumn, near the trail you can find a lot of honey mushrooms, and in spring - primroses: hellebores, scillas, primroses.


The second section of the route is a wide road with deep ruts. Apparently, they often drive SUVs and ATVs here. In the off-season this road is very dirty and slippery.

Well, the third stage, the final one, is a steep climb up the path. The route will not spoil you with gorgeous views, impressive landscapes and other bonuses hiking. The stronger the impression of being taken away at the top!


Wide meadow, space, panoramas blue mountains... Inhale, exhale, you want to stay here for a long time!

What's next?

Hiking to Shize is a three-hour activity at most. So, if you want more, you can walk along the trail further along the Gruzinka ridge. The path is good, it goes along the slope of Mount Shize and further, further. If you set a goal, then you can go straight to the village of Shapsugskaya, where there is also a lot of interesting things. But it will take a long time to walk - as much as 7 km.

  • From the beginning of the trail to the top of Shize - 2.6 km.
  • This is how long your walk will take – 3 hours.
  • From Krasnodar to the village of Erivanskaya - 100 km.

Climbing the mountain is quite simple and does not take much time, so the route is suitable for tourists with a basic level of training. Mount Shize – highest point Gruzinka ridge, its height reaches 542 meters. This is an excellent vantage point for the surrounding area.

The trail to Mount Shize begins in the village of Erivanskaya. The name of the mountain can be translated as “lonely horse.”

Mount Shize on the map

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Popular a tourist route. Mount Shize is the highest point of the Gruzinka ridge, its height reaches 542 meters. This is an excellent vantage point for the surrounding area. The trail to Mount Shize begins in the village of Erivanskaya. There is some confusion in tourist circles about what is considered Mount Schize, the fact is that next to this mountain there is another one, which is also climbed - Michal.

44.739738 , 38.164787 Popular tourist route. Mount Shize is the highest point of the Gruzinka ridge, its height reaches 542 meters. This is an excellent vantage point for the surrounding area. The trail to Mount Shize begins in the village of Erivanskaya. There is some confusion in tourist circles about what is considered Mount Schize, the fact is that next to this mountain there is another one, which is also climbed - Michal. Mount Shize

During the war, fierce battles were fought here. The defense line ran along the northern slope of the Gruzinka ridge. The top of the mountain was a strategic point, so it passed into one hand or another. September 26, 1942 units German army were defeated, as the obelisk on the top of Mount Shize now reminds of. Not long ago, a large cross appeared here, which reminds of the feat of Soviet soldiers.

How to get there

The village of Erivanskaya is located 100 km from Krasnodar. After you pass the villages of Svetlogorskoye and Erivansky, the asphalt road ends. But the gravel surface is good, so a city car can drive here. You can leave your car in the village. The walking part of the route starts from Podgornaya Street. From the village you can clearly see the mountain.

Trail

As soon as you turn from Krylova Street (landmark children's playground) onto Podgornaya Street, turn into the first alley. The trail begins where the residents' plots border the forest.

First fork
There is a fork here, choose the path that leads up the mountain.

Second fork
After some time the trail comes out onto a dirt road. You go to the right.

Third fork


As you continually climb up the road, look around, there will be a faintly marked path on the left. It leads right to the top of the mountain. If you miss the fork, you can also go up the road, but the path will be longer.

Route duration: 2.5 km one way.
Climb: 400 m.

Features of the route

  • There are a lot of mushrooms growing around the path,
  • In rainy weather, climbing the trail is slippery, it is quite steep,
  • At the top the path is rocky, comfortable,
  • In summer there are a lot of mosquitoes in the forest.

It's time to write a little about one of my favorite routes in the Abinsk region. It's about about a linear route to Mount Shize with a descent along the Gruzinka ridge.
The route to Mount Shize is suitable for tourists of any level; in my practice, this mountain was climbed by both retired women 50-60 years old and small children from 6 years old.
The best linear option for conquering Mount Shize starts from the village of Erivanskaya and ends 3 kilometers from the village of Shapsugskaya. The length of the route in this case is about 15 km and takes on average 6-8 hours.

This route is available for groups not dependent on their own transport, since returning to Erivansk for a car will be quite difficult.

Route No. 1 (Erivan - Mount Shize - Gruzinka Range - Shapsugskaya) ~13 km

The presented track shows the path to another peak of Shize, but it is not necessary to visit. The following description corresponds specifically to this track.

Route No. 2 (Erivan Pass - Mount Shize - Erivan Pass) ~6 km

This route to Shize does not require starting in Erivan, for example in winter, but starting from the Erivan Pass, then the path to the top will be a little easier and shorter, this is the fastest and all-weather way to conquer Shize.

Route No. 3 (Erivan - Mount Shize - Rotten Mountain - Erivan) ~20 km

Another fresh track of a circular walk to Mount Shize, from the last exit in early May 2014. The circular track takes a walk through the meadows of the Gruzinka ridge and a descent along a good road to the valley of the Abin River.

The route begins from one of the alleys of Erivanskaya, the road passing between the sections ends in the forest, where a steep winding path begins after crossing a stream. To the right, without crossing the stream there is old road, you can also start climbing along it and soon these roads will converge. Moving along the path or road there are no difficult forks; the road is somewhat longer and gradually gains altitude. At any fork when climbing Mount Shize, you should choose the more trampled and/or upward path.
As you climb, there will be a gentle section; this is a clearing of mounds, ancient burials more than 5,000 years old. Only a small part of them was plundered, which suggests that the local tribes did not live richly (if only I could find details about the mounds and the peoples who lived here)

After a walk through the ancient churchyard, the main fork in the roads, the road to the Erivan pass goes from the bottom (we meet the road of Route No. 2), and sharply up to the top of Mount Shize. This is the final push on the way to the top, 100 meters from the intersection, a barely noticeable path goes off to the left, gaining height even steeper, this is the shortest path. You can take a shortcut or continue along the road; it will lead to a small saddle 400 meters from the top of the mountain.

Rest before the final section of the climb

Beginning of the ascent along the shortcut trail

Rarely will a schoolchild run to the top without stopping on this trail

Having reached the top in just two hours, you can lie down comfortably on a steep slope and enjoy the wonderful views of the surrounding area. Despite the obvious things, tourists often ask what kind of village is located at the bottom; this is the village of Erivanskaya, from which the ascent to Shiza began. They can be understood; such heights and beauty, especially in clear weather, take your breath away for a long time.

Panorama of Mount Shize, towards Erivan

Houses in the village from the top of Shize

Halt at the Shize lookout

The eye of an experienced tourist mountain panorama immediately recognizes the ridge and peak of Mount Tkhab, to the left the rocky ledges of Mount Papai, even further to the left Mount Sober-Bash and under the mountain cut by the Bear quarry. To the right of Mount Thab along the horizon are the lesser-known peaks of Botsekhur, Chubataya, Lysaya and Svintsovaya, the most famous of this list.

Having rested at the top, we continue our journey along a path that passes as a traverse along a steep slope. After some time we get to the second observation deck and remember interesting fact, that just now we were not on the top of Mount Shize, but on the nameless 541.0. On the Internet you can find active discussion and research on the true location of the Shize peak, from which no reasonable opinion follows except to call peaks 541 and 542 the Shize massif.
In my opinion, Mount Shize is still peak 542, since the path to it is very overgrown and the peak is rarely visited. On OSM maps Schize (Michal).
This is precisely the characteristic that suits the name Shize, which translated from Adyghe means Lonely Horse.

Traverse along a steep slope towards the next lookout

Having rested at the second panoramic point of Shize, we move towards the Gruzinka ridge, along the same narrow path, now passing along a wooded slope, soon the path turns into a road. There is an old spring near the road, which doesn’t always have water, and I recommend drinking from it only as a last resort. Since water flows extremely slowly into the recess. There is no path to the spring; you can find it by following a sign with a religious bias.

The road in the forest after the spring has a fork towards Abinsk, from this fork you can go down to the bridge on the bypass of Abinsk. The main road leads to the edge of the forest and another panoramic point on the Gruzinka ridge. On the left side of the ridge, Mount Svintsovaya will be noteworthy, and to the right, in the distance, the city of Krymsk. The Gruzinka ridge itself from this point is not very similar to the usual concept of this word. At the top of the ridge there are black earth meadows with rare trees; they are not used in agriculture and by mid-summer wild blackberries (a'zhina) ripen there.

While in these clearings we encounter the first scars of war, the remains of dugouts and fortifications. After so many years, unexploded or unused ammunition and remains of weapons can still be easily found in the vicinity of Mount Shize.

German shell found in the forest

Meadows of the Gruzinka ridge, May 2014

Moving along the ridge road, we again find ourselves in the forest at a fork, turning left you can go down to the Abin River through Gnilaya (Route No. 3) between Erivan and Shapsugskaya, and going straight to the west, we come to another fork, at which we practically turn around and go to the right a little up and after approaching the clearing we move down again. On these slopes of the ridge the forest is older and denser, even in the summer heat it is always cool here. At the next fork we give preference to the main road going down through the meadows to the Abin River.

In order to get out onto the road you need to cross the Abin ford. In winter and spring, the river is capricious and may not allow tourists to reach the other side. It is worth thinking about the moment of crossing the river in advance, since the nearest bridge is very far away. In summer and during drought, this ford can be crossed by car.

Once on the road, you can go to Shapsugskaya or towards Abinsk, there is a regular bus service along this road.

Recent photos from a youth hike in May 2014, this time the route was closed in a ring.

Group photo at the second examination

At the beginning of May, the viper is still sleepy and in no hurry to run away

General photo against the background of the hr. Georgians and the peaks of Shize