Mount Foros

Overview

Foros, or if you want more accuracy Forossky Kant is not the geographical name of this mountain. It is an unofficial name of the left part of the Mshatka-Kaya mountain which indeed looks like an independent mountain.

Foros is the name given to this mountain by climbers so I doubt whether you will find it on the regular maps. But if you ask any Russian rock climber - you will find out that this name is really famous and respected. The origin of the word Foros is Greek, it means "windy".

Another version of the roots of this name is from SP member МОСКВА: Faros or Pharos ... the same root in the French word phare - headlight < Ancient Greek öÜñïò, which is spelled as "fara" in Russian, Romanian, and a numer of regional languages).

Mount Foros is a cradle of many strong russian/ukraine mountaineers who climbed their first serious routes here, on the hospitable warm rock faces near the Black Sea. For me this mountain also was starting point of technical mountaineering. At this moment I have climbed many extremely difficult routes in Crimea mountains, but Foros has the special part in my heart because here was my first rendezvous with this beautiful sunny crags.
Foros is one of the most classic objects of Crimea mountaineering. The routes here are numerous and well equipped. The vertical part of the face is approximately 400 meters high. The rock is solid grey limestone, with many cracks which provides interesting climbing and secure protection.

Nuts and pitons are quite secure kind of belaying. But you don't need tons of equipment here - if you choose to climb classic routes you will find strong bolts and stationary pitons in places just where you need them.

Getting There

The mountain is in the mountain range which goes along the Black Sea shore from Yalta to Sevastopol. The name of the closest settlement is Foros as well. If you look for comfort you can find multiple lodgings and food there.

So, fly to Simferopol (domestic flights from Kiev and Moscow, 2 hours), take a taxi or regular bus to Foros. If there no direct busses available, take one to Yalta, from this town there are more local buses to Foros village.

There could be a problem if you don't speak Russian but it depends on your sociability :) The people are quite benevolent and friendly, but keep your eye on your things - if you don't want to be a sponsor of the local lazybones.

Red Tape

Formally, the mountains are in the region which is under protection of government and the situation with climbing is not clear there. It is not forbidden but as well not allowed. Normally people don't worry about such nuisance and climb for their pleasure, many of them live in the tents everywhere. The most unpleasant thing which can happen is necessity of bribing some dolt who comes by with wish to earn some money.

The only rules you must estimate here is to keep the area as clean as possible and try not to leave anything on the route which is not stationary equipment. That's all.

When To Climb

The most popular time to climb in Crimean mountains is from mid-April to the end of May, first decade of May is the most popular among Russian climbers because of the holidays - there are always crowds on the routes.

I think the best time is from mid September to November. Summer months are too hot for climbing, in winter daylight time is short - it is not good for climbing long routes, weather changes are quite sudden and can bring a problem - rocks are wet and often icy.

Camping

As I told above, officially camping is not allowed, but it is not a problem - there are many camping places in the forest below the mountain, and in the high season they are mostly busy by climbers and tourists.

To bribe the local dolt 10$ is more then enough. The more serious problem is thieves - if you are camping in Crimea, there must be at least one person in the camp all the time.

Mountain Conditions

No web cams or web sites which can inform of current mountain conditions - but the weather in the Foros region is almost the same as in Yalta - this info can be easily found on the official weather forecast web-sites.

External Links

Information on the organized tours and climbs in Crimean mountains you can find here

Fresh photos from the recent AlexClimb Crimea Climbing Trip 2009 here

Images

View Mount Foros Image Gallery - 17 Images