Magnificent nature, majestic mountains, turquoise rivers, clean air and hospitable people - all this is the North Caucasus. Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to these places to admire the wonderful nature. Once, one of the most picturesque places was the Karmadon Gorge (Republic of North Ossetia). It is often called Genaldon. The second name it received in honor of the river Genaldon, which flows here. Everything changed after the terrible tragedy that occurred in 2002.
Gorge
The Karmadon Gorge, a photo of which appeared on the covers of many world publications thirteen years ago, became known to many after the glacier disappeared. It is part of the Greater Caucasus. These are two rows of stately brown sheer cliffs. Previously, there were nice houses between them, camp sites were located, people were resting. Now it’s black, like a dump of a mine, a nosy mass. This is a glacier that came down and buried one hundred and thirty-four people overnight.
The extraordinary beauty of the gorge on one September day of 2002 was destroyed by a natural disaster.
Kolka Glacier
Karovo is a valley glacier located in the upper reaches of the Genaldon River (basin of the Terek River). It enters the mountain system of the Caucasus on the northern side of the Kazbek-Jimarai massif, called Kolka.
The dimensions of the glacier are quite impressive: its length is 8.4 kilometers, the area is 7.2 square kilometers. It originates on a mountain peak (4780 m high), the tongue of the glacier is at an altitude of 1980 meters. The height of the snowy border (firn line) is 3000 meters.
Kolka Glacier is a so-called pulsating type. They are characterized by active and sometimes unexpected at certain periods, the advancement of the body. Such movements of the glacier (sergei), as a rule, are accompanied by landslides of ice, the formation of mudflows. Sergi often have disastrous consequences.
Glacier before the tragedy
It is known that the Kolka glacier occurred three times in the twentieth century - in 1902, 1969 and 2002. Although glaciological experts believe that he was distinguished by movements of ice in previous centuries. For example, the "classic", or "delayed" Serge Kolka, was celebrated in 1834. But then he did not bring big troubles.
In the 20th century, the most destructive glacier advance was recorded in July 1902. During this meeting, thirty-six people died, more than one and a half thousand heads of cattle. The famous resort of Karmadon was buried under the thickness of ice, many buildings were destroyed.
The destructive movement was accompanied by ice-stone mudflow. At great speed, he walked nine kilometers along the Genaldon Valley. About seventy-five million cubic meters of ice and stones were made that year, which can be compared to a cube with a side of four hundred and fifteen meters. The drifted ice melted for twelve years, and in 1914 the valley below the Miley Glacier was freed from it. Comparing how the Kolka glacier behaved in 1902, when the speed of the ice-mudflow reached 150 km / h, it can be argued that the 1902 movement was very similar to the 2002 catastrophe.
In 1969, the Kolka glacier behaved much more restrained - the movement was smoothed and did not lead to disastrous consequences. The ice movement began on September 28, 1969, and a week later the Kolka glacier overcame only a thousand three hundred meters, reaching the end of the Miley Glacier tongue. Thus, its average speed was 10 m / h. Then it slowed down to 1 m / h, and on January 10 (1970) the glacier stopped. Over the entire period, the glacier advanced four kilometers. He sank down the valley seven hundred eighty meters.
In 1970, glaciologists were sure that the melting of the moving glacier would take about two and a half decades.
No signs of trouble
Locals have always considered the Kolka glacier to be extremely dangerous. This colossal mass of ice that hung over the gorge inspired fear in the impending catastrophe, but glaciologists (specialists observing the glaciers) were rather optimistic. In addition, the local residents of the village of Upper Karmadon over the long history could not recall any disturbing manifestations from their formidable neighbor. Nothing foreshadowed the impending catastrophe.
The tragedy in Karmadon was a complete surprise for all its participants - for a group of Sergei Bodrov, local residents, rescue services. People were quite calmly engaged in everyday affairs, and the crew of S. Bodrov finished shooting. They were scheduled to start in the morning, but for several reasons they were postponed until the afternoon. Around 19.00, as it gets dark very early in the mountains, people began to gather. And at this time in the upper reaches of the gorge, changes began to occur, leading to events that no one could dream in a nightmare.
Accident of 2002
People often forget the past. The last catastrophic gathering of the Kolka glacier occurred a hundred years ago. Naturally, there were no eyewitnesses of those events, and the Republic of North Ossetia kept only the stories of its old people transmitted from father to son. True, there were a few descriptions of the consequences of the catastrophe of 1902. They were made by Russian scientists who visited the Karmadon Gorge immediately after the collapse of the glacier.
Over time, the horror of that tragedy began to fade, and people began to build new ones in the places of villages destroyed by the glacier.
At twenty hours (September 20), a glacier descended along the channel of Genaldon in the Karmadon Gorge. Its length was five kilometers, thickness - from 10 to 100 meters and a width of more than 200 meters. The volume of ice mass is 21 million cubic meters.
During the movement of ice, eleven kilometers of mud formed, with a width of about 50 meters, a thickness of more than 10 meters, and a volume of twelve million cubic meters. He completed his movement seven kilometers south of the village of Gisel.
Consequences of the disaster
The descent of the Kolka glacier destroyed the village of Upper Karmadon and everyone who was in the gorge at that time. The non-residential three-story building of the Karmadon sanatorium, wonderful recreation centers of the Ministry of Justice and the Ossetian University, over one and a half kilometers of power lines, water intake wells and treatment facilities were completely destroyed.
In the village of Karmadon, under the ice, there were fifteen houses. The descent of the Kolka glacier provoked a severe flood on the Gizeldon River.
Human sacrifice
The most terrible consequence of the glacial descent is the death of people. At the time of the disaster, the group of S. Bodrov worked in the gorge, filming the film "The Messenger" in these beautiful places. The Interdepartmental Commission concluded that after such a gathering no one could survive here. Nevertheless, for a long time there was a hope that someone could be saved. Relatives distraught with grief took an active part in rescue operations, although experts were sure that there was no one to save here.
Rescue operations
For a long and painful year and a half, search and rescue operations were carried out in the gorge. Unfortunately, the efforts of rescuers, scientists, and voluntary assistants were unsuccessful. Under the mass of ice found only seventeen bodies of the dead. Under the hundred-meter mass of ice, it was impossible to find either the dead, much less the living. For a year, relatives of the victims lived together with professional rescuers and their volunteers. For them, the tunnel of ice filled with ice remained the last hope, in which, according to some versions, people could hide.
Tunnel
Experts assured that the idea with a tunnel was unpromising, no one could survive there. Nevertheless, no one could refuse the relatives of the victims, who insisted that they drill wells into the tunnel. For a long time, rescuers could not find the former tunnel under a huge layer of ice. Nineteen wells were drilled. The twentieth attempt was successful. Divers descended into the tunnel through a 69-meter well. As expected, it turned out to be empty. After that, many relatives who until recently believed in miracles recognized the death of their loved ones.
During the search operation, seventeen bodies were discovered. One hundred and seventeen people are missing. Searches were terminated on May 7, 2004.
Glacier Cause
What caused the glacier to melt in 2002? There are several versions of the tragedy. But most scientists are inclined to believe that the main cause was the gas emission from the Kazbek volcano (sleeping).
This was confirmed in 2007 at an international conference that was held in North Ossetia. At it, geologists summed up the research, which lasted five. The causes of the disaster in the Karmadon Gorge were identified.
Scientists have recognized that today it is the largest ice disaster in the world in terms of volume of displaced material. The mass of ice, stones, and water that came down passed seventeen kilometers along the valley and formed a huge blockage, the length of which exceeds four kilometers.
According to another popular version, this natural disaster could have been caused by numerous rockfalls and rocks in the rear of the glacier.
Gorge today
The Karmadon Gorge presents a terrible picture today: long, with torn "skin", black tunnels, cut off like a razor, the banks of the river, and mountains of soil.
In Vladikavkaz and, of course, at the scene of the tragedy, monuments were erected with the names of all those who died and went missing on that fateful September day of 2002.
At the end of October 2002, a memorial plate was erected in memory of all the dead in front of the entrance to the Karmadon Gorge.
A year later (2003), a memorial memorial was opened. He is a figure of a young man, frozen in a block of ice. The monument is installed on the plain, near the village of Gisel. This is where the glacier reached.
In 2004, in the place where the camp of volunteer search engines was located, in Karmadon, the memory of the “Grieving Mother” was established, created by voluntary donations. This is a twenty-five-ton stone brought by a glacier, and next to it is the figure of a grieving woman waiting for her son.
Relatives do not know how long the Kolka glacier will melt, but everyone is waiting for it to happen, and they can find the remains of their relatives. The problem is that every year the melting slows down - the mudcrust on its surface increases, which slows down the process.
Kolka Glacier before and after the tragedy
Once the Karmadon Gorge, the photo of which you can see in this article, was a picturesque resort area. Its upper reaches were especially beautiful. Very close to the glacier you could see the "Glade Shelestenko" with a shelter house. A little lower than the Miley Glacier were the Upper Karmadon thermal springs. It fascinated with its appearance a grotto in the Miley language, icefall, the Kazbek plateau.
The Kolka Glacier before and after the tragedy poses a serious danger. In recent years, it has been increasing ice masses again. According to scientists, the next gathering can be expected in fifteen years. Therefore, the attention of researchers is now riveted to him.
In recent years, it has been noted that the Kolka glacier is melting intensively. Now, experts have recorded flooding in the Koban Gorge - it is in it that the Karmadon Gorge buried in 2002 “rests”. A lake formed on the body of the glacier, the waters from which are dangerous for the village of Saniba. Water poses a threat to several large flat villages located in the Gizeldon riverbed.
According to experts, the melting of the Kolka glacier may take several decades. It is terrible that over all these years it will be extremely dangerous for the people living here.
Many scientists believe that the Karmadon mountain basin and gorge should have been declared a dangerous territory at the end of the sixties of the last century, after the movements of the Kolka glacier. But, unfortunately, people too quickly began to forget about them.
Research continues
Scientists are still studying the Kolka glacier. Most recently, the leading glaciologist of our country Nikolai Osokin came from the Karmadon Gorge. He conducted serious research work at the site of the glacier. And next summer a representative expedition of scientists will go to these places. I'd like to believe that their work will help prevent the terrible consequences of the next glacier descent. And there is no doubt that this will ever happen.