Ioldo-Ayry Pass I, Main Crest of Katun'skie Belki, Altay

Our Altay route briefly crosses into the Southern slopes here, barely for a mile before we recross back North through the 2nd Ioldo-Ayry Pass, and reenter Russian territory from Kazakhstan. March is an iffy time for Siberian travel, since the Mongolian High Pressure Area is no longer strong, and occasional troughs could bring blizzards and heavy snowfalls from the West. So this windy, cloudy day makes us pick up speed. We don't want to be caught by the weather up in the glacier zone, just in case if it turns worse. Olya skiing. March 1988, Day 8 (and exactly the mid-point) of our Altay ski tour.